the others being introduced merely to bring on the great system of regenera

tion.

There are also some singular legends among them, relative to the birth and death of Christ. With respect to St. Thomas, who preached, according to many writers, the gospel in India, Mr. Wilford observes, "that the mission of St. Thomas to India, with the surprizing progress of the Christian religion, are facts, in my humble opinion, sufficiently authenticated. Jerome, who died in the year 420, speaks of the mission of St. Thomas to India, as a fact universally acknowledged in his time;" and even that the Mahomedans acknowledge the early establishment of the Christians in that country and that Ferishta, in his general history of Hindostan, says, Formerly, before the rise of the religion of Islâm, a company of Jews and Christians came by sea into the country, (Malabar) and settled as merchants, or pishcaras. They continued to live there till the rise of the Mussulman religion." In connection with this subject, Mr. Wilford shews, that during the first centuries of the Christian era, the Hindus were very fond of travelling; that their kings sent frequent embassies to the Roman and Grecian emperors; and that some went as far as Spain; that others visited Alexandria and Egypt; and that (Mr. W. follows here what is said by the prophet Isaiah) their diviners and soothsayers went to Syria and Palestine 700 years before the Christian era. In reference also to the same subject, he aims to settle some important points in the chronology of India, concerning which so much has been written.

Mr. Wilford observes, further, that though the cross is not an object of worship among the Baudd'has, that it is yet a favourite emblem and device among them. It is exactly (he says) the cross of the Manichæaus, with leaves and flowers springing from it, and placed upon a mount Cavalry, as among the Roman Catholics. What is said on this subject is striking, and - there are annexed to the essay drawings of two singular crosses, from a

book entitled the Cshetra-samasa, given to captain W. by a Baudd'has.

ESSAY VI.

Of the two TRICUTADRI, or mountains with three peaks; one in the North West, and the other in the South Eastern quarters of the old Conti

nent.

These tricutadri answer to the Trikoryphas and Trinakrias of the Greeks. Polycenus calls mount Meru, or Meros, Tricoryphees. And Meru is considered, according to Mr. W. as the worldly temple of the supreme being, in an embodied state, and of the tri-murtte, or sacred triad of which so much has been said, which resides on its summits, either on a single or three-fold temple, or rather in both; for it is all one, according to Mr. W. as they are one and three three with respect to mea involved in the gloom of worldly illusion; but one to men who have emerged out of it; and their three-fold temple, and mountain with its three cones, become one equally.

This earthly temple is generally considered as the earthly residence of the supreme being, and represented as a triad, under the form of a pyramid, and resemblances have been found in it, by some writers, to the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity.

With respect to the sacred islands, Mr. W. says, they were well known to the ancients, under the names of Chryse, Argyrea, and Taprabane; he ascertains their modern names to be Jumcote, or Lauca-puri, Sumatra, or Ceylon, and a curious map is inserted of latitudes and longitudes.

Much erudition is exhibited in this production, to illustrate a subject of all others the most interesting to the human mind.

the college of Fort William, on the delivery of the prizes, compared this facility to inspiration. This essay, therefore, cannot fail of being greatly interesting to those who attend to Asiatic literature.

The following extract will shew what may be expected from this work.

"The inhabitants of the regions, which lie between India and China, and the greater parts of the islanders of the Eastern sea, though divided into numerous tribes, and equally distinct in their languages and manners, may yet be, with propriety, characterized by the term Indo-Chinese. Situ. ated between India and China, each of which proudly styles itself the most ancient among the nations of the earth, they have contented themselves with more modest claims to antiquity, and professed to borrow from one or other of their neighbours the principal features of their religion, laws, and manners. The different periods, however, at which these were adopted in different countries, the various degrees of civilization, and the pre-existing habits on which they were engrafted, have produced a diversity of national characteristics, by which they are not only distinguished from the Indian and Chinese nations, but also from one another, notwithstanding their common mixed origin.

"The intercourse of Europeans with the Indo-Chinese nations, though

for the first two centuries after the ar

rival of the Portuguese in the east, scarcely inferior to what was carried on with India or China, was not of such a kind as to furnish us with a very accurate or extensive knowledge of their laws, manners, or literature; and for more than a century it has been rather declining than increasing. Neither, since the late rapid acquisitions of Indian languages and literature, have we obtained any important accessions to our information in this quarter; though both political and literary reasons seem to require

them.

my health caused me to take to the Eastern isles, in 1805, during which I resided some time at Penang, and visited Achi, and some other places, on the coast of Sumatra, and the Malayan peninsula. Cultivating an intercourse with a variety of individuals, of different Eastern tribes, I availed myself of the facilities which the situation presented, to correct the vague ideas, which I had previously entertained, concerning their languages, literature, and the filiation of their tribes. Though my information was chiefly collected from native sources, yet it sometimes happened, that these were not exactly such as I would have preferred, had better been attainable; and sometimes, too, from the indifferent state of my health, and other causes, I was not able to avail myself of those sources of information, to the extent I could have wished. Feeling myself equally embarrassed by the extent of my subject, the difficulty of the research, and, perhaps, I may add, in some instances, by the novelty of the investigation, I should have hesitated to lay before the Asiatic Society these inperfect results, had I had any immediate prospect of pursuing the discussion. I do not, however, despair of being able, at no very distant period,

to offer some more minute and correct views of several of the subjects treated here in a cursory manner; and, at all events, I trust this attempt to introduce order and arrangement into a subject at once so extensive and iutricate, and to disentangle it from a degree of confusion, which seemed almost inextricable, may not be altoge ther without its use, but may, where even I have failed, serve to point out the proper method of investigation."

It would be difficult to follow Dr. Leyden in all his grammatical and critical remarks; but we may present our readers, as the account is deserving of note, with the names and numbers of the several languages, described in this singular essay. They are fourteen in number, and in the following order :— under the 1st head, the Malayu lan guage, he points out several histories, romances, and dramatic pieces, t ge

"The materials of this imperfect sketch were chiefly collected in the course of a voyage, which the state of

ther with the measure of the verse, and the style of the composition. II. Jawa, or Javanese language, which is admitted, by the Malays themselves, to be that of a more ancient nation than themselves. III. The Bugis. This is accounted the original language of the island Celibes, as the Javanese is of Java. IV. The Bema language. This is used by the state of Bema, which comprehends the eastern part of Sambawa, and the western part of the island, and which Dr. L. says, was childishly called Flores, by the early Portuguese navigators, and by succeeding voyagers and geographers.

V. The Batta language, which is considered as the most ancient language of Sumatra, and used by the Batta tribes, who principally inhabit the centre of the island. VI. The Tagala, Ta-Gala, or rather Gala language is described among the Philippines to be what the Malayu is in the Malay islands. It is described by a Spanish missionary, well acquainted with its character, in the following high terms. "The Tagala possesses the combined advantages of the four principal languages of the world: it is mysterious as the Hebrew; it has articles for the nouns, like the Greek; it is elegant and copious like the Latin; and equal to the Italian, as the language of compliment and business."

Among these islanders there are some, differing much both in features and language, of whom it is not so easy to speak, such as the Pampangos, on the north of Manilla; the Bisayas, dispersed over the Philippines; and the painted race, called by the Spaniards, Pintados, and others. In the VIIth place, Dr. L. mentions the Rukheng. He observes of these, that they are the first of that singular class of IndoChinese languages, which may be properly termed monosyllabic, from the mass of their radical words consisting of monosyllables, like the spoken dialects of China. This has not been cultivated by any Europeans, captain Tower's remarks, and a small list of its words, in the fifth volume of the Asiatic Researches, being the only observations made on it by any European.

The VIIIth language is that of Barma. This is the language of a very powerful nation, the Barmas, who always write Barma, though, by affecting an indistinct pronunciation, they often call themselves Byamma, Bomma, and Myamma, which are corruptions of the written name.

IX. The Mon language is used still by the original inhabitants of Pegu,who still denominate themselves Mon, though the Barmas call themselves Taleing, and the Siamese call them Mingmon. Neither has this language been cultivated by any European; and the only specimen that Dr. L. has been able to find is in the Asiatic Researches, vol. 5. It seems to be original. According to our author, these people attained civilization earlier than the Barmas, and though now in a low state, they were formerly a great people. The Xth, the Thuy language. This is that used by the Siamese, and this is their national name, as used in their own language. XI. Next we come to the Khohmen language, used by a people of that name residing on the river Meken, or river of Khambu-chát or Camboja.

XII. The Law language is used by an inland nation of that name, but which the Portuguese pronounce Lao, and Laos, in their plural, as these people consist of different races.

XIII. The Anam language, being that of Cochin-China and Tonkin. This has been better understood than several others; at least, it has been more cultivated by the Catholic missionaries, though Dr. L. thinks they should be called Multiplicis Idiomatis Propagatores. XIV. The last language is the Pali. This is the sacred language, the same as the Sanscrit among the Hindoos, or Arabic among the followers of Islam. The Pali, the Prakrit, and Zend, constitute the most ancient dialects derived from this sacred language, the Sanscrit. The great mass of words in these dialects are derived from Sanscrit systematically, according to certain laws, such as changing letters, contraction, and permutation: and their connection has been pointed out by Sir William Jones. With respect to that, which is the subject of the

Dr. Leyden pursues this way of making a comparative estimate to a considerable extent; and, after producing a specimen of Bali from the Hatamnan, which he says he has there restored to the Sanscrit without changing a single word, he observes as follows: "This specimen may serve, in some degree, to illustrate the relation which the Bali bears to its parent Sanscrit. The passage is chosen at random, but considerable portions of Bali have been subjected to the same, or to a similar process, with a similar result; and I am satisfied that it applies equally to Prakrit and Zend, though words of an origin foreign to Sanscrit, may occasionally occur in all the three dialects."

We have dwelt the longer on this article, on account of the. Pali being the sacred language, and so intimately related to the Sanscrit, of which notice will be taken in a subsequent article; and because we wish to shew the plan which Dr. L. pursues in the other languages, which we have passed over somewhat superficially.

In concluding, Dr. L. observes, "After having thus briefly stated the

Bali.

Zend.

Buruhsa.

Peooroscho.

Stree. Pothre.

Ithi Butre.

origin of both the Bali language, and written character, I should, in conformity to the plan which has been followed in this rapid sketch, proceed to the illustration of its characteristic structure, and grammatical peculiarities, with the relation which it bears to Prakrit and Zend: but these, with a view of Bali literature, and its influence, as a learned language, on the vernacular Indo-Chinese tongues, I reserve for the subject of another essay. The politeness and literary zeal of Mr. Colebrooke, have furnished me with ample facilities of investigating the Prakrit, in all its varieties of dialects; but the paucity of my original materials in Bali, and the total want of MSS. in Zend, have hitherto prevented me from giving the subject so full an investigation as its importance requires; but if the necessary materials can be procured, I hope to be soon able to submit to the Asiatic Society the result of my enquiries. Of the Bali language, different Koshas and Vyakaranas are known to exist, and several of them are to be procured in Ceylon, as the Bali Subdamala, Balavatara, Nigandu, and Nigunda Sana."

Captain L. in this essay, confines himself to the triangular operations in Connecting the two seas, and the me

thod by which the difference of longitude has been determined in his progress from east to west, and in a con