and instruction to lord Valentia's readers. With respect to geographical niceties, we hope that lord Valentia has studied correctness himself, having been very severe upon others. In the earlier part of this work (vol. i.) he makes a few cursory remarks, which should certainly be attended to, relative to charts. He says, the manner in which charts are published in England, is a disgrace to a mercantile country. He corrects an error relative to Cape Palmas, which, he says, is in longitude eight degrees west; and that a chart, said to be formed on the authority of five captains in the Liverpool tade, is greatly erroneous, and that many lives may be lost by the deception. He notices a similar mistake in regard to the island of Annabon. We understand a letter has been communicated by the publisher of the chart, alluded to by his lordship, partly accounting for a few mistakes, and partly conveying assurances that they will be rectified in some future chart; remonstrating, at the same time, against lord Valentia's manner of conveying the censures. It will be but justice, too, in case of another edition of these voyages and travels, to the elitors of the chart alluded to, page 4 of the first volume, to retract entirely the censure, or to announce, that the aforesaid chart, drawn by the geographer to his Catholic majesty, has been long superseded by a new chart of the Azores, Canaries, &c and was so before the pub. lication of lord Valentia's volumes. It should, in general, be observed, that the geography of India has been traced, with great credit to himself, by major Rennell, and by other moderns; but this seems no reason why a work of this kind, in the production of which the publisher's study seems to have been, to have spared no expense, should be unaccompanied with a chart of his voyage to India, and a map of Hindostan, as well as of the Red Sea. As to what may be called the politics of India, it is not necessary for us to say, that we should be little dis posed to approve or commend many transactions, that may appear highly commendable to lord Valentia; and there are those who may feel happy that they are not called upon to defend some transactions in that peninsula: Our author, however, does not go much into particular politics, and, on many occasions, he discovers a mind capable of thinking, and disposed to think, for itself. His observations relative to the moderation which should be shewn towards the religion of the Hindoos, are no less humane than prudent, and his occasional censure on East India directors and others, more anxious after a rapid acquisition of wealth, than the promotion of the principles of sound policy and huma nity, are just, and, though not strong enough, are too well grounded. An allusion has been already made to the embellishments of this work, and it should be added, that the gentleman who made the drawings, Mr. Salt, is a man of letters, and, besides what he has done as the draftsman, appears with much respectability in his jour nal. The engravers are men eminent in their profession; aud from the fiftyfour grand plates, published separate from the volumes, it seems as if the noble author aimed to give such a display of the art as might bring them into competition with Mr. Daniels. Having proceeded thus far in our observation, we feel ourselves almost compelled to go further. For though we have dwelt so long on the work, we are far from thinking, that the first volume, relating to India, is the most valuable. The peninsula of Hindostan has been explored in every direction, and by people of every description. But the ensuing volumes bring us into some regions, which have more of novelty, and which have been explored before, by no European, but Mr. Bruce, for this last century; they also bring us more back to ancient times, and may, perhaps, lead eventually to a commercial transaction, that may prove benencial to this country. And while our inquiries are literary, and our transactions with foreign nations merely commercial, and while that commerce continues to be honourable, adventurers will go attended with the best wishes of the friends to science and humanity. For these reasons we shall present our readers with a few particulars relating to the two last volumes; though having already been more than ordinarily diffuse, we must, in what remains, be proportionably brief. It was just now hinted, that these last volumes bring us more back to ancient times; by which was meant, that they bring us to those coasts that have been little explored by the moderns, and which were better known to the ancients; we more particularly mean the eastern coast of Africa. Much has been said by ancient writers on this subject; and the commerce carried on upon the coast by the Egyptians and Romans was very considerable. But the occasion and object of this part of lord Valentia's volumes will be best explained by himself. "It had always appeared to me an extraordinary circumstance, that, if the western coast of the Red Sea were really as dangerous as the moderns represented it, the ancients should invariably have navigated it in preference to the Eastern coast, nor could any suspicion that a western passage existed be removed, by the silence of the British officers, after a long continuance of our fleet in that sea. The evils, which they have experienced from the want of water, fresh provisions, and fuel, pointed out, indeed, most strongly the importance of ascertaining whether these articles were not attainable at Mazsowah, Dhalac, or the adjacent islands, where, in former times, the Egyptian and Roman merchants were induced to fix their residence for the purpose of carrying on the trade with Abyssinia, and the interior of Africa. At Dhalac, Mr. Bruce has asserted, that 300 tanks, which had been erected by the munificence of the Ptolemies, were still in a preservation to afford, with care, a supply of water, more than sufficient for any fleet, which we could ever have occasion to send into that sea. "The commercial advantages which might attend opening a communication with Abyssinia appeared also wor thy of attention, and a more favourable time for making the attempt could never be expected, than immediately after the British naval power had been so fully displayed on the shores of Arabia and Egypt; and when the trade of the interior of Africa had been interrupted in its usual channel through the latter country, first by the conquest of the French, and afterwards by the civil war between the Porte and the Beys, which had caused a perfect separation between the upper and lower countries. "I confess, also, I felt it as a national reflection, that a coast, which had afforded a profitable and extensive trade in gold, ivory, and pearls, to the sovereigns of Egypt, should be a perfect blank in our charts; and that while new islands, and even continents, were discovered by the abilities of our seamen, we should have become so ignorant of the Eastern shore of Africa, as not to be able to ascertain many of the harbours and islands, described by an ancient navigator in the Periplus of the Erythrean sea. During my stay at Calcutta, I had the honour of frequently conversing with the marquis Wellesley on the subject of the Red Sea, and of stating to him my ideas and feelings; in which I had the happiness of finding that he fully concurred. At length Ï proposed to his excellency, that he should order one of the Bombay Cruizers to be prepared for a voyage to the Red Sea; and I offered my gratuitous services to endeavour to remove our disgraceful ignorance, by embarking in her for investigating the Eastern shores of Africa, and making the necessary enquiries into the present state of Abyssinia, and the neighbouring countries. His excellency approved of the plan, and it was determined, in order to obviate any difficulties which might arise, from the commanding officer differing from me in opinion, with respect to the elegibility of going to particular places, he should be placed under my orders. The necessary instructions were immediately transmitted to Bombay, and I hastened my departure to Columbo, as it was desirable to reach the Red Sea as early in the year as possible." Such are the motives assigned by lord Valentia for his journey to the Red Sea. Accordingly he sets sail from Mungalore, March 13, 1804, and, passing through the Streights of Babelmandab, arrives at Mocha. He departs thence for the African coast; visits several islands, one of which he calls after his own name, Valentia; and, after visiting Dhalac, departs for Massowah. Mr. Salt first, and afterward lord Valentia, returns to Mocha, and going thence they meet at Bombay. In Chapter the Second, among several particulars relative to different places in India, we have some political observations on the Mahratta empire, and in chapter the fourth an interesting account of a visit to the pagodas of Salsette and Elephanta. The account of Bombay, the third presidency in India, is entertaining; and the following extract, though it might, perhaps, have been made more in order before, (vol. ii. p. 185) is now introduced, as it throws a light on the course of literary inquiry at Bombay, and may even furnish lord Valentia with an argument in vindication of his silence on ancient mythology. "A society," his lordship tells us, "has been established at Bombay, on a plan somewhat similar to the Bengal Asiatic Society. But it intends to limit itself to the present state of manners among the inhabitants, rather than to launch into ancient mythology, or the history of the country. Much, I think, may be expected from the active superintendence of Sir James Mackintosh, whose talents would throw a lustre on any society, and whose discourse, on the first day of their meeting, would have been heard with satisfaction, by the father of Asiatic literature, by Sir William Jones himself. Sir James is ably supported by Mr. Duncan, who is, I believe, as learned as any European in the wild fancies of the Hindoo mythology, and was the writer of those papers on the singular Hindoo customs at Benares, and the two Sakers, that resided there, which were communicated by Sir John Shore to the Asiatic Society; but without stating from whom he had received the intelligence. To these are added the names of many other gentlemen, whose long residence in India, and known acquirements, may fairly justify an expectation in the public, that, without rivalling their prototype in Calcutta, they may communicate much interesting information respecting that part of India, which has come under their immediate observation." "The greater proportion of the inhabitants. of Bombay are Persees, a most amiable people, the authenticity of whose sacred code was too hastily attacked by Sir W. Jones; but himself, we are told, was convinced of his error before his death. In Chapter the Fifth lord Valentia arrives again at Mocha. The principal feature in this chapter is the account of Mr. Salt's tour to Dhalac, from which it is completely proved. Lord Valentia says, that the account given by Mr. Bruce is false, and that it is extremely probable he never landed on the island. In Chapter the Seventh, he makes observations on Mr. Bruce's supposed voyage from Cosseir to Macowar; and his adventures at and near Macowar he calls complete Romances. After leaving Macowar, our author visits his island Valentia, and visits Mocha, from which he haddeparted. The account of the Arabs resident in towns, and Bediween Arabs, is interesting; as, also, his description of Mocha, and, in a commercial point of view, likely to prove useful. In Chapter the Ninth his draftsman, and friend, Mr. Salt, goes to Abyssinia, and returns. Some of the most curious parts of the third volume consists of Mr. Salt's narrative relative to Abyssinia. The account of Axum, so long the seat of royalty in Abyssinia, is, in various ways, pleasing, and in several particulars novel: it is evidently prepared with much care; and the Ethiopic and Greek inscriptions will be very acceptable to the lovers of antiquity. Mr. Salt also notices a few inaccuracies of Mr. Bruce, but, in general, in more cautious terms than lord Valentia; and it may be thought by some, that the censures are made with too few allowances, and accompanied with too hasty conclusions. Strange as it may seem, different travellers, who have visited the same places, often give different accounts. They may not have enjoyed the same opportunities, been struck with the same objects, or they may have seen them only in part. The position of objects may be different at one time from what they may be at others; or the objects themselves may be altogether removed or effaced. Thus some ancient travellers describe the pyramids of Egypt as having numerous hieroglyphics on them; Mr. Greaves, a writer of great authority says, there are none; Mr. Scott Waring, speaking of Bushire, in Persia, observes, that "out of three witnesses, two assert the town is walled, and the third that it is defenceless; one that it abounds with fine gardens, which is denied by another evidence.. Mr. Jones confirms the latter assertion, but maintains the neck of land is never overflowed. Much depends on the time, when several witnesses visited Bushire. Walls built of mud are soon destroyed, and soon rebuilt. Bushire is only an island when the tides run very high; but, in such contradictory accounts, much also depends on the sense of words. One person may call a place, surrounded with ever so little water, an island; and another maintain the reverse, because a ship could not sail round it." See his Tour to Sheeraz. These sensible and candid concessions might be extended still further. Thus a place may be dirty and filthy at one time, and under the direction of one set of people, that may be fitted up with great elegance at another time, under people of another description. People, in taking observations, may make mistakes in latitudes or longitudes, as lord Valentia has noticed in the cases alluded to above, and in the case of Sir Home Popham; all of whom, however, were, du ing the time, at the place where the observations were taken. It is impossible to trace the source of all the m stakes which are made, where yet there may be no intention to mislead. It would be extremely difficult to conceive why a particular island has been left out in a very celebrated chart, unless the odd circumstance was known that occasioned the omission; and, perhaps, some who peruse lord Valentia's chart of the Red Sea may not immediately perceive why Massowah, which makes so conspicuous a figure in his book, and is to be read on the chart containing the Island of Valentia, is not to be read on the chart of the Red Sea. Perhaps, for this work evidently convicts Mr. Bruce of a few inaccuracies, he may have been hurried by the zeal of a first discoverer, which may mislead from the strict line of punctuality; and, in aiming to make his picture, in all parts, complete, he may have taken a few things upon trust; and what he could not see himself, he may have taken from the report of others: and yet a few inaccuracies of this kind, or from whatever other source they proceed, may not affect that credit which he now holds with the public. ASIATIC RESEARCHES, VOL. 10. [Our account unt of the valuable work before us must, from the swollen size of our volume, be necessarily general and concise.] ESSAY I. REMARKS on the STATE of AGRICULTURE in the DISTRICT of DINAJPUR. By WILLIAM CAREY. THERE is a great variety in the as explained in the essay, arising, mode of agriculture in this district in part, from the nature of the soil, and in part from the character of the inhabitants. In the southern part the ground rises in gentle acclivities, which are divided from each other by vallies running between them. Each valley is watered by one or two little streams, as the Tanguam, the Purnabhava, and several others, which empty themselves, either into the Mahananda or the Ganges. These vallies, at the distance of 50 miles from the Ganges, are scarcely higher than the surface of the waters. When, therefore, the periodical rains come on, the extent of these, for fifty miles, resembles one vast lake, from the overflowing of the waters, and becomes navigable for vessels of a very considerable size. The higher lands, in the southern parts of the district, are principally inhabited by Mussulmans, and the vallies by Hindus. The mode of cultivation, and the productions of the higher parts, differ so widely from those in the vallies, that a person, very competent for managing the one, can seldom manage the other to any advantage. 1 The people of the district of Dinagpur are in general poor, and their farming very simple. Their mode of watering their fields in dry seasons is worthy of remark. For this purpose an instrument, called a tant, is used. "A tant, Mr. C. observes, is a trough of light wood, from twelve to sixteen feet long, somewhat curved, to admit a greater depth in the middle; the bottom is five or six inches wide, the height of the sides, in the middle part, is six or eight inches, gradually decreasing towards the ends, one of which is excavated to a point, to prevent the water from running back, and being lost. When this instrument is used, it is slung to three bamboos, placed erect, and crossing each other in the centre. A long and heavy bamboo, loaded at the further end with a large ball of earth, is then fastened to the end, which is to be plunged into the water, and thrown over the three erect bamboos, resting on the top of them. A person standing on the stage, even with, or somewhat below, the surface of the water of a pond, river, &c. then plunges the end of the taut VOL. 11. into the water with his foot, by which means it is filled. The weight at the end of the long bamboo assists him in raising it out of the water, and throwing its contents into a small reservoir, or pit, from which it is conveyed into the fields, by channels cut for that purpose." Mr. Carey here asks, "Is not this the watering with the foot mentioned in scripture, Deut. xi. v. 10. and may there not be an allusion to the faci lity with which this water is directed at the will of the husbandman, in Prov. xxi. v. 1. ?" The account of their different instruments, and of the mode of cultivating the different sorts of rice, indigo, &c. is curious. In general, orchards, and the growths of timber, are said to have been neglected. A plate, descriptive of the different instruments, accompanies this essay. An ESSAY on the SACRED ISLES of the West, with other Essays connected with that work. By Capt. F. WILFORD. ESSAY. V. Origin and decline of the Christian Religion in India. It seems, by this account, that long before the appearance of Christ, there was an expectation of the appearance of some extraordinary prince and Saviour in India, and that it is frequently mentioned in the Puranas, more partcularly where the gods, complaining of the oppressions of the giants, Vishnu comforts the earth, his consort, and the gods, by assuring them, that a Saviour would come, and redress their griev ances, by putting an end to the tyranny of the daityas, or demons:-Further, that they have had prophecies among them, similar to what is recorded of the Sibylline oracles--and that what Vishnu says to the earth, when complaining of his oppressions, strongly resembles the well-known passage in the fourth eclogue of Virgil. But the Hindus supposed the prophecies relating to this Saviour were fulfilled in Crishna, who was prior to Christ. The avataras, however, are the principal supports of their religion, and that of Crish na is considered as the first in dignity Kk |