excavations that he had made at Dermach, in the centre of old Carthage, in a Byzantine basilica of the sixth century.-Mr. Botti spoke of some works in Egypt on the topography of Alexandria, and excavations made in that town.

America and the Orient. The problem of the Asiatic origin of the Indians has been broached by several learned men. Mr. Sergi has explained his idea of American anthropology (Asiatic, Melanesian and Negritic types); there were two tides of immigration (Asiatic and Oceanic).—Mr. Del Paso y Troncoso presented a paper on the phonology of the Mexican language; the author is of opinion that the Mexicans came from the shores of the Pacific.*-Mr. Grossi read a paper on the zoological mythology of the Indians of the Amazon, and also one on the language of the Fuegians; he finally explained the arguments, which he considered weak, that were brought forward in favour of the Asiatic origin of the Indians. The same scholar also made a communication about the pyramids and teocâlli of the Indians and the mummies of the Old and New Worlds. These various communications, generally, became the subject of lively discussions; this section, being few in numbers, only represented the South (Europe and America). Many views were expressed in this section regarding the development in Italy of American research (viz., the foundation in Rome of a museum, an American library, and an Italo-American Society).

The above is, I may say, but a very short and imperfect summary of the learning and activity of the Congress. One can see that its labours were great. If many of the subjects treated belonged to some special points of Oriental learning, it must be acknowledged that subjects of a general order have also been discussed. As I stated, in addressing the inaugural meeting. on the part of the Swiss Universities, it is in this spirit that future Congresses should labour if they wish to maintain their locus standi and to perpetuate their existence; for it is quite evident that strictly learned gatherings should address themselves to the study of the great problems which constitute the very essence of scientific investigations.‡

At the final sitting it was decided that the next Congress should meet at Hamburg in two years' time.

* The same scholar entertained the section with the proceedings adopted by the first missionaries in Mexico to inculcate the Divine truths.

+ I myself lectured in this section on some of the ethnographical and linguistic relations existing between the Orient and South America (Brazil and Argentina).

Whilst the Congress was proceeding some excavations which were being made in the Forum led to the discovery of a broken stela, bearing an inscription in archaic characters (query Latin or Etruscan). Several hypotheses have already been expressed. We saw the monument when still in the soil from which it was unearthed, surrounded, or, rather, buried, under the rubbish, and could only examine it by the light of a smoky torch. The letters on the stela struck one as resembling the Phoenician. I shall have something more to say on this subject at a future date, and also regarding the Oriental inscriptions which I have noticed in the old towns of Phoenician origin during my journey through the South of France whilst on my way to the Congress in Rome.

QUARTERLY REPORT ON SEMITIC STUDIES AND ORIENTALISM.

BY PROF. DR. EDWARD MONTET.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.

SINCE our last report the three last volumes of the "Transactions of the Eleventh Congress of Orientalists," which was held in Paris in 1897, have appeared. They contain papers on the languages and the archæology of Aryan and Mussulman countries, on Egypt and the languages of Africa, on Orient-Greece and Byzance, and also on the ethnography and folklore of the East. We need not dwell again on the interesting contents of these papers, with which we presented the readers of this Review in 1897, in the special report which we then submitted of the Paris Congress.t

The last parts (14-18) of the "Recueil d'archéologie orientale" (Vol. III.), by Clermont-Ganneau, which have appeared, include several interesting studies, and among others there is one about Palestine at the beginning of the sixth century, according to the Syriac treatise entitled "Les Plérophories," of a certain Jean Rufus, Bishop of Maioumas. This treatise, written about 512-518, is contained in a manuscript of the ninth century in the British Museum. We have to announce some further accounts of Gezer and its environs, Gath and Gath-Rimmon.

Noeldeke has published a second edition, corrected and improved, of his excellent sketch of Semitic languages, the first edition of which appeared in 1887. We recommend this work to those desirous of forming an idea of this important branch of languages.

The most remarkable work in general which we have to announce in the present report has been published in England; it is the first volume of the "Encyclopædia Biblica," a critical dictionary of the literary, political and religious history, the archæology, geography, and natural history of the Bible, edited by Cheyne and Sutherland Black. Among the contributors we notice the names of Addis, Tiele, Charles, Noeldeke, Moore, Bevan, Driver, Marti, Benzinger, etc. These names suffice to show the strictly scientific character and value of the work. As far as it is possible to judge from this first volume (letters A-D), the publication appears to be much more independent from a dogmatic point of view than the "Dictionary of the Bible" edited by Hastings, which we brought to our readers' notice in our last report. We cannot but congratulate the authors of the "Encyclopædia Biblica " on the method in which the work has been conceived and drawn up; it is remarkable for its clearness and preciseness; *Paris, E. Leroux, 1899.

† Asiatic Quarterly Review, October, 1897.

Paris, E. Leroux, 1899.

§ "Die semitischen Sprachen." Leipzig, Tauchnitz, 1899.
London, A. and C. Black, 1899.

The

the articles are, as a rule, short or of a moderate length in proportion to the importance of the matter treated of. The subject is divided into paragraphs, each having a heading in large type; nothing could be more practical, or more handy for the reader. The maps and engravings (too few in number) are extremely well done. Particularly interesting are the articles on "Amos," "Apocalypse," "Apocalyptic Literature," "Apocrypha," "Aram," "Baruch," "Canon," "Canticles," "Chronology," etc. article on the "Acts of the Apostles" does not sufficiently take into account the labours of the School of Baur, and does not render them justice; it is this school alone that has explained the particular character of this Biblical volume. The article "Asherah" concludes with the obscurity of the etymology and meaning of the word, and it is quite undecided on the character of this emblem. The author, however, should have been able to be more precise, considering the facts that we are possessed of for solving this problem. We have other remarks, but they would take too long; suffice it to say that the work is an excellent one, and that we shall look forward with impatience for the continuation.

OLD TESTAMENT.-HISTORY OF THE NATION AND RELIGION OF

ISRAEL.

The most curious publication we have to point out is perhaps the "Bible Polyglotte" of the Abbé Vigouroux, of which two volumes, including Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus, are on sale.* The print of the original. texts and the maps and figures are remarkable; and what deserves equally to be commended is the cheapness of the edition. The Hebrew is published from the (uncorrected) Masoretic text, the Greek (Vatican MS.) from the Sistine edition of Rome, 1587; to which must be added the Vulgate and the French translation by Glaire. The disparities between the Hebrew, the Septuagint, and the Vulgate are carefully shown; several introductions and notes accompany each volume. The archæological annotations, illustrated by figures copied from monuments, are the best parts of the work. As to the scientific character of the publication, one may judge from the following lines, which we have copied from the introduction to the Pentateuch: "Both the Jews and the Christians have always believed that Moses was the author of the five books of the Pentateuch. The authenticity of the Pentateuch is confirmed by the archaisms. and expressions which are characteristic of it. The books of Moses possess an old appearance produced by words and forms which have since become obsolete, as well as by the poetical character of its prose and the powerful originality of its poetry. These archaisms, moreover, are not met with in the Book of Joshua. The Pentateuch, besides, does not contain any foreign words other than Egyptian. All this proves that it was written during the time of the exodus, and that it is the work of Moses, as the Jewish and Christian traditions have always taught." This work will have the advantage of propagating amongst Roman Catholics a knowledge of the original texts of the Bible.

Two volumes have appeared of the series of "The Sacred Books of the * Paris, Roger et Chernoviz, 1899.

Old Testament printed in Colours," by Haupt*: Ezekiel by Toy, and Isaiah by Cheyne. These are the critical editions of the Hebrew to be recommended. The work of Cheyne, in which the various parts of Isaiah by different authors are indicated by a great variety of delicate tints, which the eye does not always clearly distinguish, is, above all, remarkable for the numerous critical notes which accompany the text. We may point out in this connection an interesting pamphlet by Littmann on the epoch of Tritojesaia (Isaiah lvi.-lxvi.), which he fixes between 457 and 445; the text of Ezekiel, annotated by Toy, is also a good work, and in which one is pleased to read a Hebrew text in black, without any addition of colours !

Wellhausen has published in a third edition‡ his well-known dissertations on the Hexateuch and the historical books of the Old Testament which appeared in 1876-77 in the "Jahrbücher für deutsche Theologie," and in the fourth edition (1878) of the Introduction to the Old Testament by Bleek. These important re-edited works are accompanied by about 70 pages of fresh notes (Nachträge).

Amongst the commentaries that have recently appeared, we specially desire to draw attention to that of Bertholet on Deuteronomy, in Marti's series. We finally note the edition by Prætorius of "Targum zum Josua in jemenischer Ueberlieferung."||

The publication of "Apokryphen und Pseudepigraphen des Alten Testaments," by Kautzsch (Parts 19-28), especially the last numbers, is particularly interesting; these numbers include, amongst others, the Song of Solomon, the Sibylline Oracles, of Jewish origin, Enoch, the Assumption of Moses, the 4th Esdras. We do not hesitate to say that Kautzsch's much-annotated translation will be of great service to the religious public and to specialists.

"Ecclesiasticus" continues to attract the attention of scholars. The Hebrew fragments have been published, criticised, commented on, and translated in a remarkable manner by Schechter and Taylor,** and have been the subject of a very interesting and very original treatise by Israel Lévy. This last author bases his arguments on the peculiarities of the Hebrew fragments in the alphabetical acrostic of the original LI. 13-20. Of the two different translations, which certain verses present, one certainly, according to the Syriac, concludes with the original Syriac of Ecclesiasticus, or, to be more exact: the Hebrew fragments of Ecclesiasticus are only a retranslation into Hebrew of a Syriac version.

The history of the people and religion of Israel has given rise to the publication of three works worthy of being noticed.

* Leipzig, Hinrichs, 1899.

t "Ueber die Abfassungszeit des Tritojesaia." Freiburg-i.-B., Mohr, 1899. "Die Composition des Hexateuchs und der historischen Bücher des A. T." Berlin, Reimer, 1899.

§ Freiburg-i.-B., Mohr, 1899.

|| Berlin, Reuther und Reichard, 1899.

¶ Freiburg-i.-B., Mohr, 1889.

** "The Wisdom of Ben Sira, etc." Cambridge University Press, 1899.

++ Revue des Etudes juives, July-September, 1899.

The first is a short summary of the history of Israel by Guthe,* giving in a clear and concise work the history of Jerusalem from its origin to its transformation in Ælia Capitolina. The second is called "A History of the Jewish People during the Babylonian, Persian and Greek Periods," by C. Foster Kent, an excellent popular scientific work. Finally, the third, and most important, is a remarkable production by Budde on the religion of Israel from the commencement to the exile.

In the Talmudic world we have before us the treatise "Erubin" of the Talmud of Babylon (German text and translation), by L. Goldschmidt,§ and a critical history of translations of the Talmud, which is very useful for understanding this encyclopædia of Judaism, by Bischoff.||

In conclusion, we cite a publication by F. v. Landau, which is a collection of all the known Phoenician inscriptions. The text is transcribed into Latin characters and translated.

ARABIC LITERATURE.

In the vast domain of vulgar Arabic, the study of which is constantly increasing, we have quite a series of interesting works to announce.

In the Journal Asiatique (May-August, 1899), Sonneck has published six songs in the Maghriban dialect. These popular songs are very curious, particularly the third, in which are found all the elements of the classical Qasida invocation to friends, picture of the loved woman, description of the horse, etc.

In the Zeitschrift des deutschen Palaestina-Vereins (XXII. 1, 2, 1899), which includes several works by the late lamented Socin, there is also to be found, by this eminent Orientalist, a very instructive list of names of appellative places; this list comprises a considerable number of words. from ab to zumle with the Arabic text, transcription, translation and notes. Lüderitz, in the Mittheilungen des Seminars für oriental. Sprachen of Berlin (II. 2, 1899), gives, and comments on, an important collection of Moroccan proverbs collected at Tangier and Casablanca. As it may be observed, Morocco more and more attracts the attention of scholars-and rightly so, Morocco being one of those parts of the Arabic world still comparatively unknown.

The Zeitschrift des deutschen Palaestina- Vereins (XXI. 3, 1899) continues the publication by L. Bauer of the Palestinian Arabic proverbs.

The "Récension égyptienne des Mille et une nuits "** has been the subject of some original researches by V. Chauvin. In the Egyptian portion of the "Thousand and One Nights" the eminent Liége professor takes notice of a very original and clever author who has written some small novels, which he has probably published separately, and of another writer, * "Geschichte des Volkes Israel." Freiburg-i.-B., Mohr, 1899.

+ London, Smith, Elder and Co., 1899.

"Die Religion des Volkes Israel bis zur Verbannung." Giessen, Ricker, 1900. Berlin, Calvary, 1899.

"Kritische Geschichte der Thalmud-Uebersetzungen aller Zeiten und Zungen." Frankfurt-a-M., Kauffmann, 1899.

¶ "Die phön. Inschriften." Leipzig, Pfeiffer, 1899.

Brussels, 1899.