The main object of this paper is to propose some emendations of the text which have occurred to me in reading through ‘Omārah's History of Yemen and the other anecdoton, Al-Janadī's account of the Carmathians of Yemen, with which Mr. Kay has enriched our collection of Arabian histories. Incidentally I shall take occasion to remark on some passages in the accompanying translation which seem to be open to criticism, and I have also a few observations to make on the Introduction and Notes. As the paper will thus be occupied almost exclusively with matters in which the editor's work appears to me to admit of supplement or call for correction, I may be allowed at the outset to express my hearty recognition of all the loving labour that Mr. Kay has spent on his authors. For each of the texts but one MS. was available, and those who have handled Arabic codices know how difficult it is to produce a satisfactory edition on such a basis.

Professor Robertson Smith, in his paper on my version of Όmārah's history, concerns himself with two points. He deals with my treatment of the Arabic text, and he enters into certain observations upon the brief sketch I have supplied of the author's life.

No one can fully appreciate the great value of this work to all students of ethnology until they realize the historical importance of an accurate classification of the characteristic differences which divide the social strata known as the castes living in a country occupying the geographical position of Bengal. Bengal is practically the country of the Deltas of the Ganges and Brahmaputra, and of the Western rivers, which rise in the Vindhyan range, called by Hindu geographers the Sukti mountains, and flow down thence to the Ganges and the Bay of Bengal. It has always been one of the great highways by which Southern tribes moved northward and Northern tribes southward, and was, owing to its geographical advantages and its fertile soil, civilized and settled before the advent of the Aryan conquerors to North-western India. It is for this reason that we find in Bengal the undisturbed remains and the still living and almost unchanged representatives of some of the principal races who are described by the poets of the Rigveda under the general name of Dasyus, a name which, as Zimmer shows, merely means the people of the country or “desh.” It was from the union of the people of Bengal called the Maghadas or Mughs with the Northern Kushikas or sons of Kush the tortoise that the first great Indian Empire arose, which was formed by the two races ruled by the king called in the Mahābhārata Jarasandha.

The extensive literature of Buddhist legends may be divided into three groups: (1) the legends on the rebirths of the Buddha anterior to his last life in this world, these are the ‘Jātakas’ (proper); (2) legends of the Buddha in his last, historical, existence; (3) legends of the Buddhist disciples, these are the ‘Avadānas,’ which last name, however, is also applied to legends in general.

This Jātaka stands No. 541 in the Ceylon list under the title of Mūgapakkha or “The dumb cripple.” The Burmese, however, prefer to call it by the name of the Prince, who is the hero of the story. It is the first of the ten greater Jātaka, and, unlike the Bhūridatta, contains little or no folk-lore, but illustrates the value of asceticism.