The Mosque of Ibn ḥūlūn was the third congregational Mosque built in the Muslim capital of Egypt. The first, originally built by 'Amr, the conqueror of the country, in a.h. 21 (a.d. 642), was re-built and extended by many governors in succession, and still remains—a monument of great historical, if of slight artistic interest. The second, known as Gāmi' al 'Askar, or the Camp Mosque, was built in a.h. 169 (a.d. ), in the military suburb which had grown up since a.h. 133 to the N.E. of the original capital. This Mosque was increased in size in a.h. 211 (a.d. ) and is heard of as late as a.h. 517 (a.d. 112¾); but all traces of it have been lost for many centuries, nor have any details come down to us with regard to its plan and architecture.

Such a cloud of mystery has from time immemorial involved the regions comprised under the somewhat vague designation of Central Asia, and so many misconceptions exist regarding that portion of them which has come under Russian rule, that it appears to me to be most desirable that any one who has visited those parts and thus had an opportunity of judging, however superficially, for himself, should do his best to convey to the public his unbiassed impressions on the subjects which have come under his notice, and this all the more that the general vagueness of the information obtainable hitherto on these points and the various misconceptions arising therefrom have formed the great obstacles to a satisfactory mutual understanding between the two great European Powers which should be working together in unison for the amelioration of the conditions of the Asiatic populations which Providence and their own individual energy and enterprise have brought under their respective rules, instead of, as has been too unfortunately the case more often hitherto, watching one another's progress with jealousy and distrust, and making use of every available opportunity of criticizing unfavourably the results, and depreciating or misrepresenting the motives of one another's policy.

The bird called Cātaka (Coccystes melanoleucos) is well known to naturalists iri India, as well as to students of native folklore and poetry; and I cannot introduce my remarks on its twofold character more appropriately than by quoting the following extract from a letter from Mrs. Mullens, the eminent Zenana missionary in Bengal.

The subject of the Lycian inscriptions appears to have been first brought prominently to notice by Sir Charles Fellows half a century ago. The first texts in this character were copied by Cockerell, and published in Walpole's travels. These were commented on, in 1821, by M. Saint Martin, who, judging from the bilingual in Greek and Lycian from Limyra, supposed the native version of the text to be comparable with the Syriac and Phoenician. Ten years later, in 1831, Dr. Grotefende communicated to the Royal Asiatic Society a paper, published in the third volume of the Transactions, treating of the five Lycian texts then known, and lie concluded from the declension of the verb that the Lycian must have belonged to the Aryan family of speech, and that it possessed long and short vowels as in Persian. In 1838–9 Sir C. Fellows collected copies of twenty-four Lycian inscriptions, including the great obelisk of Xanthus, on which are inscribed, in letters one and half inches long, no less than 246 lines of Lycian writing, and twelve lines of Greek hexameters. A certain number of coins of Lycian cities, with Lycian inscriptions, were also recovered, and the results published in 1840 in the volume called “ Lycia.” The copy of the great Xanthus text was however imperfect, and to this, as the most important of the Lycian monuments, Sir Charles Fellows devoted further attention, and in 1842 published a larger and very careful reproduction of the monument.