sition on the left hand of each king, and Radhacant informed me, that the board consisted, like ours, of sixty-four squares, ́ half of them occupied by the forces, and half vacant. He added, that this game is mentioned in the oldest law books, and that it was invented by the wife of Ravan, king of Lanca, in order to amuse him with an image of war, while his metropolis was closely besieged by Rama, in the second age of the world. He had not heard the story told by Firdausi, near the close of the Shahnamah, and it was probably carried into Persia from Canyacuvja, by Borzu the favourite physician, thence called Vaidyapriya, of the great Anushiravan; but he said that the Brahmans of Gaur, or Bengal, were once celebrated for superior skill in the game, and that his father, together with his spiritual preceptor Jagannath, now living at Tribeni, had instructed two young Brahmans in all the rules of it, and had sent them to Jayanagar at the request of the late Raja, who had liberally rewarded them. A ship or boat is substituted, we see, in this complex game for the rut'h or armed chariot, which the Bengalese pronounce rot'h, and which the Persians changed into Rokh, whence came the rook of some European nations; as the vierge and fol of the French are supposed to be corruptions of ferz and fil, the prime minister and elephant of the Persians and Arabs. It were in vain to seek an etymology of the word rook in the modern Persian language; for, in all the passages extracted from Firdausi and Jami, where rokh is conceived to mean a hero or a fabulous bird, it signifies, I believe, no more than a cheek or a face; as in the following description of a procession in Egypt :-" When a thousand "youths, like cypresses, box-trees, and "" firs, with locks as fragrant, cheeks as "fair, and bosoms as delicate as lilies of "the valley, were marching gracefully "along, thou wouldst have said that the

friend Radhacant, that a ship is properly introduced in this imaginary warfare instead of a chariot, in which the old Indian warriors constantly fought; for, though the king might be supposed to sit in a car, so that the four angas would be complete, and though it may often be necessary in a real campaign to pass rivers or lakes, yet no river is marked on the Indian, as it is on the Chinese chess-board; and the intermixture of ships with horses, elephants, and infantry embattled on a plain, is an absurdity not to be defended. The use of dice may, perhaps, be justified in a representation of war, in which fortune has unquestionably a great share; but it seems to exclude chess from the rank which has been assigned to it among the sciences, and to give the game before us the appearance of whist, except that pieces are used only, instead of cards, which are held concealed: nevertheless, we find that the moves in the game described by Vyasa, were to a certain de gree regulated by chance; for he proceeds to tell his royal pupil, that, "if cinque "be thrown, the king or a pawn must "be moved; if quatre, the elephant; if "trois, the horse; and if deux, the "boat."

He then proceeds to the moves: "The "king passes freely on all sides, but over "one square only; and with the same "limitation the pawn moves, but he advances straight forward, and kills his

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enemy through an angle; the elephant "marches in all directions, as far as his "driver pleases; the horse runs oblique"ly, traversing three squares; and the "ship goes over two squares diagonally." The elephant, we find, has the powers of our queen, as we are pleased to call the minister, or general, of the Persians; and the ship has the motion of the piece to which we give the unaccountable appellation of bishop; but with a restriction which must greatly lessen his value.

The bard next exhibits a few general rules and superficial directions for the conduct of the game: " the pawns and the ship "both kill and may be voluntarily killed; "while the king, the elephant, and the "horse may slay the foe, but cannot expose themselves to be slain. Let each "player preserve his own forces with ex

treme care, securing his king above all, "and not sacrificing a superior to keep an

"inferior piece." Here the commenta tor on the Puran observes, that the horse who has the choice of eight moves from any central position, must be preferred to the ship, who has only the choice of four; but this argument would not have equal weight in the common game, where the bishop and tower command a whole line, and where a knight is always of less value than a tower in action, or a bishop of that side on which the attack is begun. "It is by the overbearing power of the "elephant that the king fights boldly; "let the whole army, therefore, be aban"doned, in order to secure the elephant: "the king must never place one elephant "before another, according to the rule " of Gotama, unless he be compelled for "want of room, for he would thus com"mit a dangerous fault; and, if he can slay one of two hostile elephants, he must destroy that on his left hand." The last rule is extremely obscure; but, as Gotama was an illustrious lawyer and philosopher, he would not have condescended to leave directions for the game of Chaturanga,if it had not been held in great estimation by the ancient sages of India.

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All that remains of the passage, which was copied for me by Radhacant and explained by him, relates to the several modes in which a partial success or complete victory may be obtained by any one of the four players; for we shall see that, as if a dispute had arisen between two allies, one of the kings may assume the command of all the forces, and aim at separate conquest. First, "When any one

king has placed himself on the square of "another king, which advantage is called "Sinhusana, or the throne, he wins a "stake, which is doubled, if he kills the "adverse monarch when he seizes his "place; and, if he can seat himself on "the throne of his ally, he takes the com"mand of the whole army." Secondly, "If he can occupy successively the thrones " of all the three princes, he obtains the "victory, which is named Chaturaji; " and the stake is doubled if he kills the "last of the three just before he takes "possession of his throne; but if he “kills him on his throne, the stake is 66 quadrupled." Thus as the commentator remarks, in a real warfare, a king may be considered as victorious when he seizes the metropolis of his adversary;

but if he can destroy his fee, he displays greater heroism, and relieves his people. from any further solicitude. "Both in "gaining the Sinhasana and the Chatu"raji," says Vyasa, "the king must be "supported by the elephants, or all the "forces united." Thirdly, "When one "player has his own king on the board, "but the king of his partner has been "taken, he may replace his captive ally, "if he can seize both the adverse kings; if he cannot effect their capture, he

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or,

may exchange his king for one of them, 66 against the general rule, and thus re"deem the allied prince, who will sup

ply his place." This advantage has the name of Nripachrishta, or recovered by the king; and the Naucacrishta seems to be analogous to it, but confined to the case of ships. Fourthly, "If a pawn can "march to any square on the opposite "extremity of the board, except that of "the king or that of the ship, he assumes "whatever power belonged to that cc square; and this promotion is called "Shatpada or the six strides." Here we find the rule, with a singular exception, concerning the advancement of the pawns, which often occasions a most interesting. struggle at our common chess, and which has furnished the poets and moralists of Arabia and Persia with many lively reflections on human life. It appears that this privilege of Shatpada was not allowable, in the opinion of Gotama, when a player had three pawns on the board; but, when only one pawn and one ship remained, the pawn might advance even to the square of a king or a ship, and assume the power of either. Fifthly, "Accord"ing to the Rachasas, or giants (that is, "the people of Lanca, where the game "was invented) there could be neither "victory nor defeat if a klng were left on "the plain without force; a situation "which they named Cacacasht'ha." Sixthly, "If three ships happen to meet, "and the fourth can be brought up to "them in the remaining angle, this has "the name of Vrihannauca, and the

From a hill we descried our sloop under sail. This sight rent my heart; but as Mr. Chlebnikow, who followed me, called to me, "Massily Michailowitsh! look for the last time at our Diana!" it shot like poison through my veins; my God, thought I, what do these words contain? Look for the last time at Russia; for the last time at Europe; we belong now to another part of the world; we are not dead, but every thing is dead to us there. Never shall we hear, never perceive what happens in our native country; what in Europe and the whole world! I felt myself in a frightful condition.

When about two wersts from the fort we heard a cannonade. We distinguished the discharges from the sloop and the fort very plainly in the report. The strong garrison of Japanese, and the thick earth wall round the fort, prevented our anticipating any favorable result. We feared that the sloop might take fire or run aground, and the whole crew fall into the hands of the Japanese, in which case the intelligence of our bitter lot would never penetrate to Russia; but I feared most that the friendly regard of Mr. Rikord, and the other officers, for me, might induce them, regardless of danger, to land the crew and storm the fort. They might perhaps attempt this, as they did not know how much the Japanese garrison exceeded the assembled crew of the sloop, which, officers, sailors and servants, only amounted to fifty-one men. This thought alarmed us the more, as we could not discover the fate of the Diana. I was so closely bound, particularly round the neck, that my breath became short before we had proceeded six or seven wersts. My companions told me that my face swelled and became brown; I could scarcely spit and spoke with the greatest difficulty. We made the Japanese many signs, and Alexei begged them to loosen the cord a little, but the thunder of the cannon had so much terrified them that they would hear nothing, but kept urging us to go faster and continually looked back. I now thought life the greatest burden, and determined in case we were carried over a river to end it quickly by springing into the water. I however immediately remarked, that great difficulty would attend the accomplishment of this design, as the Japanese held

us tight under the arms when the road lay over small streams. I at last fell down insensible. As I revived again I saw that the Japanese were sprinkling me with water, and that blood flowed from my mouth and nose. My unfortunate companions, Moor and Chlebnikow, with tearful eyes, entreated the Japanese to loosen my bands, which they were induced to do with the greatest difficulty. On this I felt much easier, and was able to proceed with some effort.

After marching about ten wersts we reached a small village on the coast of the strait, which separates this island from Mats-mai; they here conducted us into a house and offered us rice-milk, but the appetite for food was gone for the present. Afterwards we were laid on stuffs round a room, so that we could not touch each other. The strings by which we were led were fastened to iron hooks driven into the wall for that purpose. Our boots were now taken off and our legs bound close together as before. When the Japanese had finished this they seated themselves round a chafing dish in the middle of the room, and began to drink tea and smoke tobacco. Had lions been bound as fast as we were, they might have slept among them tranquilly—yet the Japanese never thought themselves sufficiently secured. Our bands were examined every quarter of an hour. At this time we considered them the worst barbarians on the face of the earth, but subsequent occurrences shewed that there were good men even among them, and we became easier; as easy as men in our circumstances could be.

The sailor Makarow, who was sepa rated from us in the fort, having also arrived here, mentioned that the Japanese led him to a cavern as soon as they had seized him, where the soldiers entertained him with saki and rice milk, which he received with the greatest appetite. His hands were afterwards bound and he was led out of the city; but, scarcely was he in the open country, when he was unbound and conducted to the village so, where he was bound again. He was often permitted to rest on the road, and one of the soldiers permitted him to drink saki out of his bottle sometimes.

In this situation we remained the whole of the night. Even now the bare recol

lection of that moment fills me with horror! My own fate, however, was not my first consideration. I would willingly have made any sacrifice to release my unfortunate companions from their bondage; for I alone had been the cause of their misfortune! In the mean time the generous conduct of my two officers, Moor and Chlebnikow, made a deep imInstead of casting the pression upon me. slightest reflection on my rash confidence in the Japanese, they endeavoured to console me, and reproached some of the and sailors when they began to murmur, to ascribe their misfortune to my want of prudence. I can, however, declare that no murmurs ever caused me to feel the slightest dissatisfaction towards those men. They had, indeed, ample reason for complaint, but while they bewailed their distressed situation, they observed such respect towards me, that I felt their complaints most severely. Our misfortune had placed us all on a footing of equality. Every hope of returning to Russia had vanished, and consequently men in their situation might have been expected to let loose their tongues against me in revenge for what they suffered. But our sailors were incapable of such conduct.

Notwithstanding the excessive and almost insupportable pain which the ban, dages had occasioned in my wrists and every joint in my body, yet severe anguish of mind rendered me, for the moment, regardless of all bodily suffering; every attempt at moving my position or even turning my head was accompanied by the most indescribable agony: I frequently prayed for death as the greatest of blessings.

We observed that the captain of our guard repeatedly received scraps of paper, which he read and handed to those about him. On reading those papers, they discoursed in a very low tone of voice, and with the utmost caution; though we understood not a single word of Japanese, they nevertheless seemed fearful lest we should comprehend what they said. I desired Alexei to attend to their conversation, and to endeavour to make us acquainted with it. He told me that the Japanese had received these papers from the garrison, and that they were talking of our sloop and the Rus

sians, but this was all he could collect from their discourse.

At the approach of twilight, our guards began to bestir themselves, and seemed to be preparing for a journey. About midnight a broad plank was brought in, to the four corners of which ropes were attached; these ropes were fastened at the top, and slung across a pole, the ends of which were laid on men's shoulders, and thus the whole was suspended. The Japanese placed me upon this plank and immediately bore me away. We now concluded that we were to be separated for ever, and that we could entertain no hope of seeing each other again. Our farewell was like the parting of friends at the hour of death.

The sailors wept aloud as they bade me adieu, and my heart was wrung on leav ing them. I was conveyed to the seaside and placed in a large boat with a mat beneath me. In a few moments, Mr. Moor was likewise brought to the shore in the same way as I had been, and placed in the boat beside me. This was indeed an unexpected happiness; I was so overjoyed that, for a few moments, I experienced a diminution of my torment. Moor was soon followed by Mr. Chlebnikow, and the sailors Simanow and Wassiljew; the rest were placed in another boat. A soldier under arms was stationed between each of us. After we were covered over with mats, the boats were rowed from the shore.

The Japanese sat beside us without erther saying a word, or taking the slightest notice of our complaints, except, however, a young man, about twenty years of age, who spoke the Kurile language, and who kept constantly singing aud mocking us while he assisted in rowing the boat. He counterfeited the sound of our voices, when anguish both of body and mind forced us to offer up supplications to Heaven, or to break forth in bitter lamentations.

At break of day, on the 12th of July, we landed near a little village, on the Here coast of the island of Matsmai,

we were removed into other boats, which were drawn with ropes along the shore in a south-easterly direction. In this way we were dragged the whole of that day and the following night. There was no halting, except at certain fixed places,