The points discussed in the following pages, are the subject of an inquiry into which I was led, some time ago, by finding in the writings of an Arabian geographer, mention made of several places, which attracted my attention from their agreement in name with those to which we read that the Israelites were carried, when Samaria was destroyed by the armies of Assyria. Knowing that it was still a matter of doubt where the captives of Israel were placed, and finding in all that had been written on the subject, nothing which appeared satisfactory or conclusive, I was curious to ascertain, whether, in a case so authentic and so interesting, something like certainty could not be elicited by reflection and research; which led to an inquiry, somewhat longer than I anticipated, which forms the subject of the following pages.

A short time before my leaving Calcutta, a Maulavi, by name Gholaum Hosain, was introduced to me under the character of a great mathematician and astronomer. I found he was in the service of Mirza Khán Bahádur, the Mohammedan son of Mitrajít Singh, the well-known Mahá Rájá, of Takari, in Bahar. The Maulavi stated, that he had devoted himself to the study of mathematics and astronomy, not only as far as they are contained in the Arabian and Brahminical writings, but also as far as he could gain from the interpretation of European books, as given him by European friends, he himself being ignorant of English; that he had, under the patronage of Khán Bahádur, compiled a system of these sciences from all these sources, and that his patron had supplied him with a sum of money to publish this book at one of the lithographic presses of Calcutta. This was the purport of his present errand down the country, and he had already got about 100 pages carried through the press. His object in applying to me was to obtain a recommendation of his work to the Government Education Committee. He produced his MS., but it was much too long to examine minutely in the short time I had to remain in Calcutta, and in my then harassed state of mind and body. I saw enough, however, to convince me that it was a work of very considerable merit and information, compared with the author's opportunities. It commenced with the elements of geometry and arithmetic as known to the Hindús, and thence went on.In the course of the work are explained, the European methods of decimal fractions, logarithms, and trigonometrical tables. The author then gives a system of astronomy, first according to the Brahmins, then according to Ptolemy, and then according to Copernicus, together with an account of astronomical instruments, and the mode of calculating astronomical tables and almanacs. The whole MS., as will appear from the author's own computation, comprehends 900 closely-written quarto pages.

The accompanying two plates of coins present a type which is quite new to the numismatic world, if we except two or three specimens published in the second part of Vol. I., of the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, from the collection of my ingenious and indefatigable friend Colonel Tod, who has left no branch of Indian antiquities unexplored or unadorned. We are informed that he met with these coins in the whole of the district from Oujein to Cutch, as far as the Indus, and he ascribes them to the Balhara sovereigns, mentioned by the Arabian travellers of the ninth century, as translated by Renaudot, who conceives these princes to be the same as the Zamorin. In this attribution I must differ with Colonel Tod for several reasons, independent of one to which I shall now confine myself, and which is to be found in the text of the above work; viz., that the drachms coined by the Balhara princes are said to weigh one-half more than the Arab drachm, whereas the coins in question do not even reach the weight of this last.

Prosperity.—1. May that Samba, who is adorned with brown braided hair, from whom proceed mighty sovereigns, the source of all sciences, knowledge, charity and instruction! may this lord of the three worlds be always victorious!!

Be Prosperity.–—2. The frontal ornaments of the Silahar family, the increaser of the fame and power of the children of Jimúta-Váhana, on whose flag is the figure of a golden eagle (Garuda) possessor of this ocean-girt globe. A king whose praises are celebrated by the princes of the Karnataka country, who hath the auspicious mark called Malayanka, king of kings endued with great wisdom; dreaded by inimical princes; protector of the country of the city of Tagara (or the Tagaranagara-country-protector), “Tagaranagara-bhupalakah,” of splendid fame, of unchangeable determination, of renowned valour, who dwelt as a lion in the strong hill-fort of Pannala; of fair and vast valour, supreme lord of great princes, who seized the treasures of his enemies; such was the king Sri-Jatiga.

Destitute of the prospect of leisure to complete a general description and comparison, long since undertaken, of the cave-temples and excavations, Boodh, Jain, and Brahminical, on the western side of India, involving also the placing in juxtaposition the various inscriptions in unknown characters, to be found in these excavations, I am happy to anticipate a distant period, and at once to lay before the Society some inscriptions obtained lately from the Boodh excavations in the neighbourhood of the town of Joonur in the Poona collectorate. The multiplication of Boodh inscriptions in the hands of the learned, and the early introduction of any new inscriptions to the notice of the profound Orientalists in Europe, may facilitate the attempts now making to understand the lithographic records of a mighty people, who, equally with their language, have disappeared from India, leaving, however, such multitudinous and stupendous monuments of their industry, taste, power, wealth, and numbers, as to excite the most unlimited astonishment in the contemplative mind, that a great nation should have gone down the stream of time without leaving a tradition even of its existence in its native country, the present inhabitants of Western India being more ignorant of the origin of these mighty works of art, than the European stranger who visits them from curiosity.

In the third volume of Anquetil du Perron's translation of the Zand-Avastá, there are versions of two small liturgical works of the Pársís, entitled by him the “Lesser Si-rozé,” and the “Greater Sirozé.” There is another Sirozé, however, possessed by the Pársís, which he does not translate. It treats of the qualities of the thirty days of the month, as auspicious or inauspicious. Though its intimations are absurd in the highest degree, it exercises great influence over the whole body of Zoroastrians. It is so much regarded by them, that there is scarcely a family without a copy, and there are few individuals who have not its precepts written on the tablet of their hearts. On this account, as well as because of the brief information which it gives respecting the Amsháspands and Izads, to whom the days of the month are sacred, it is not unworthy of the attention of Europeans. It exists in the Persian language; but there are several Gujaráthí versions, which are generally used. The translation which I give is very literal, and is formed from a collation of these versions, and a careful comparison with the original. I have added a few explanatory notes. The only general remark which I would make on the Precepts of Fate which this Sirozé contains, is that its framers seem to have made such a distribution of good and evil throughout the month, and its different days, as is calculated to render those who credit it, neither much elated, nor much cast down, on account of any of its portions. Blessings and curses are made to go hand in hand during the whole journey of the moon.

It has been uniformly acknowledged by those travellers who have visited Siam, that scarcely any correct knowledge can be gained of its institutions and resources, beyond what may be gathered within a very confined range of personal observation.

It is the aim of the court, and the duty, if not the inclination, of the people, consequent on their state of political degradation and slavery, to involve a stranger in a constant delusion regarding all that concerns them and their country. And while they distort or magnify such pieces of intelligence as their interest prompts them to communicate, they carefully block up every avenue to truth, which they wish to keep concealed.

From all that is preserved in the Holy Scriptures, and in those ancient histories which treat of the subject now under discussion, we are justified in assuming, that from the days of Adam till the time of Noah, and subsequently till the confusion of languages at Babel, “the whole earth was of one language and of one speech.”— Genesis xi. 1. The question, therefore, resolves itself simply into this: Was the confusion of tongues which took place at Babel confined to those who were engaged on that great work of impiety and rebellion in the plains of Shinar, or was the punishment inflicted on the innocent as well as on the guilty, so as to affect Noah and those of his descendants who remained with the venerable patriarch in Armenia? For if it be acknowledged that the language of Noah remained unchanged, I hope to be able to prove satisfactorily, that that language was the Armenian.

A paper has been entrusted to me for communication to the Society by one of its members, Mr. Romer, which offers some valuable contributions towards the determination of a question of considerable difficulty and great literary importance,—the authenticity of the Zand and Pahlaví languages, as they appear in the religious writings of the Parsis. A very wide and irreconcileable difference of opinion has prevailed, and continues to prevail, with regard to the genuine or fictitious character of these dialects, and every thing which tends to establish either beyond the possibility of controversy, cannot fail to be interesting to the Society and the public.

The Society is indebted to Sir Charles Forbes, Bart., for the following interesting Narrative. It has been selected from a voluminous collection of the MSS. of the late Governor Duncan, which have been kindly entrusted to the care and inspection of the Editor, and of which a great portion, will, he trusts, from time to time, appear in this Journal. Some additional interest may perhaps attach to this narrative, from its correspondence with what has lately appeared relative to the Gaikwár affairs in the able and valuable “Dispatches of the Marquess Wellesley,” compiled by Mr. Montgomery Martin.

Some of the coins of which Mr. Steuart possesses so extensive a collection, and of which he has favoured the Society with such full and valuable illustrations, have from time to time found their way to Calcutta, and been noticed and delineated by Mr. James Prinsep in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Knowing the active interest which that gentleman has displayed in the investigation of the different important numismatic discoveries recently made in India, and anticipating from his singular talent for deciphering novel forms of Indian characters, the possibility of his finding the key of those which occur on Mr. Steuart's coins, I requested Captain Harkness to transmit to Mr. Prinsep a copy of the engravings now published. The advantages expected from this communication have been more than realized, as the characters have been deciphered and the inscriptions satisfactorily read. The May number of the Bengal Journal just received, contains an interesting account of Mr. Prinsep's success, and repeats the legends of Mr. Steuart's plate arranged in the order in which each is to be read, differing chiefly in this respect from the plate, in transferring to the head of the line the two or three letters which there stand at the end of it.