and the course and character of the seasons, were very largely within his own control, and he had many fanciful ways of his own for exerting a supposed influence over them. The supreme power over them was frequently thought to reside in some chosen person, who was more or less held responsible for the use he was assumed to have made of it. With the life of this great functionary the growth of the crops, the course of the seasons, and the maintenance of the entire order of things, were held to be bound up. Mr. Frazer further shows that among many races, and certainly among Aryan races, tree-worship was one of the most early and best-established forms of religious observance. The tree was thought to be the dwellingplace of the tree-spirit, and this spirit was very commonly represented by a living man, who was looked upon as its embodiment and as gifted to the full with its vast and all-pervading powers. The sacred tree was often known and addressed as a king, so that it was quite natural that its human representative should have had the same title conferred upon him. Mr. Frazer suggests, accordingly, that the Arician custom arose from such beliefs as the above. The Arician priest was an incarnation of the tree-spirit, and, as such, would have been credited with the miraculous powers of his divine original. He could

send rain and sunshine; the growth of the crops, the multiplication of the flocks and herds, the parturition of women-in a word, the beneficent and reproductive forces of nature would be under his control and dependent on his life. All this, strange as it sounds, is confirmed by ample proof of the prevalence of like beliefs in almost every country. They are found in some places as survivals; the belief has been lost, the custom based upon it has been preserved. Our Jack-in-the-Green and our harvest-home festivities are referred to by Mr. Frazer as unsuspected instances of this. Elsewhere they exist in their old form and in full original force, and they make it likely that in early prehistoric Latium the creed and habits of primitive man may have found their natural outcome in the rites of the Arician Grove.

But here a difficulty occurs. Since the life of the Arician priest was of such supreme importance, how came it that his licensed murder was a part of the Arician custom? An explanation must be sought after the same method as before. In this case, as in numerous others like it, it was held to be necessary that the divine priest should preserve in unabated force the energy of full manhood. If he grew old or feeble, the reproductive powers of nature would share his decay, and a general sterility would supervene. Against this danger, therefore, a special safeguard was contrived. The divine man was not suffered to grow old. His spirit and influence were detached from his body by his death, and were transferred in their unabated vigour to some new frame, and were thence passed on in turn to another and yet another. In this way the succession was kept up; the divine man was maintained in perpetual strength, and a fit habitation was always provided for the indwelling deity to occupy. On such terms as these has the joint office

of priest and king been held in many regions, and from immemorial time. But the death of the priest-king was not everywhere and always carried out in fact. In course of years, as men's manners became less rude, and as human life was held in more value, the old custom was modified. Sometimes an image was burnt or destroyed when the appointed day came round, and the human life was spared. Sometimes a temporary transfer of office was made to some new and less worthy occupant, and, in place of the royal priest, a stranger or a slave or a criminal was immolated. We may suppose that in the Arician rites a like modification had at some time been made. There was a human victim still, but it was not a freeman, but a slave. Mr. Frazer thinks it probable that, slave or freeman, he was originally put to death at the close of his year's office, burnt, dead or alive, at the Arician Diana's festival. The custom, as we read of it in historical times, had been so modified as to give him a chance of escape. The essential point was safe. As long as the Rex Nemorensis could hold his own against his assailants, he might be credited with retaining his physical force. Regna tenent fortesque manu, pedibusque fugaces. But when the Arician priest was neither strong nor fleet of foot, he must accept his doom; and the tree-spirit, dislodged from the person of its representative, must become incarnate immediately in some more vigorous and more worthy frame. How all this may have been in the earliest times of the institution we have no means of knowing; whether the priest was suffered to escape by the substitution of a slave when the day of death came round, or whether, as in Mexico, the doomed victim was carefully watched and not allowed to escape. The strange thing is that a priesthood on the Arician terms should at any time have been attractive even for a slave, and that willing competitors should have been found for it. But it seems certain that in later days, about which alone we have any positive information, the danger of assault was not what it may have formerly been. As we might well expect, the competition had ceased to be keen. In the reign of Caligula, the Arician priest had had so long a term, and had been so long left unattacked, that the Emperor for a freak gave orders for him to be attacked and killed. The need of such a mandate is some proof of the general security by which the office had come to be surrounded.

Of the two minor deities who were worshipped at the Arician Grove, the nymph Egeria seems to have been the creation of a cognate but independent personifying fancy. Virbius, as the first priest, calls for special notice here. The legend that he had been restored to life may have been an expression in legendary terms of the old belief in the continuity of his priestly office, each new priest being possessed by the same spirit as his predecessor, and thus being for all intents and purposes the self-same person. That Virbius was also identified with the sun is explained by the obvious similarity between the sun as the great source of life and growth, and the divine tree to which like functions were attributed. As the sun governs the seasons, so too did the tree-spirit, and so too did the priest in

whom the tree-spirit dwelt. On the plucking of the sacred branch, Mr. Frazer gives reasons for supposing that the sacred tree was the oak, the sacred branch the mistletoe growing on it, and, like the priest, a representative or second home of the tree-spirit's life. We have no space for the long and somewhat circuitous train of evidence which he brings in support of his conclusion. His book will be attractive for all readers. The serious student will find in it a comprehensive survey of some of the most obscure and interesting problems in early religious faith. To those who read. for amusement, it will offer an ample store of worldwide myths and legends and fairy tales and curious customs. They may begin by being amused, and may be led on from the fable to the moral, from the graphic descriptions to the theories which they are introduced to illustrate. [The Times of Aug. 30, 1890.]

The Eskimo Colour-names.

There is a large amount of interest in the colournames of various races, especially in view of the controversies as to the origin of and development of the sense amongst the ancient races. The American Bureau of Education have just issued English-Eskimo and Eskimo-English Vocabularies, compiled by Ensign Roger Wells, jun., United States Navy, and Interpreter John W. Kelly. This pamphlet of 72 pages contains a mass of interesting matter, and presents a very dark picture of the moral and social condition of the Arctic Eskimos of Alaska and Siberia. The status of the women-perhaps the most infallible of all the tests of real civilization that can be applied-is exceedingly low, and they are apparently the enforced victims of their male relations in many discreditable ways. Yet the translations of love-songs contained in this book show that the men are not incapable of tender feeling, and not unable to express them in suitable, and even poetical language. Judging from these vocabulariesthe only source of information accessible to me at the moment-the Eskimos are not very observant of colour variations. Black is Tawk toak, or Munok'toak; Blue is Tawk rek'toak; Brown is Kawek'suruk; Green is Shung ok'toak; Purple is Tung uk'toak; Red is Ka rek cho'ak; and White is Ka tek'toak. A few allied phrases may be named:-To blush is Ka rek pul'uk to; evidently connected with the colour of red. Red dye, however, is Enung ne'ak. Dark is Tawk to'ak. Light is Ikne a'to. The interest of the inquiry centres on the name for Blue, about which there has been so much controversy since the promulgation of Geiger's theory that the paucity of early references to that shade evidence a comparatively late development of the colour-sense. The weak point of such a theory is that it argues an exact correspondence between colour-names and colourdiscrimination a correspondence which notoriously does not exist. In the case of the Gipsies, as I have elsewhere shown (Stray Chapters, p. 28) they appear to have had and to have lost-in England at least-a name for blue, which is now absent from their vocabulary except in borrowed words. The Eskimos, so far as the evidence of this vocabulary extends, are amongst the many peoples who have no distinctive

term for blue. It is evident that Tawk rek'toak means a dark colour, possibly a dark red. This will be seen on comparing the words above given for black, red, blue and dark. It is another instance of the fact that the power of perception and the power of distinctive naming are not necessarily identical. The examples given are from the speech of the Alaskan Eskimos, now subjects of the United States. WILLIAM E. A. AXON.

Armytage, Bowdon, Cheshire.

Wörterbuch des Runa Simi oder der Keshua-Sprache. Von Dr. E. W. Middendorf. x. and 857 pages. (Leipzig, F. A. Brockhaus, 1890.)

This handsome volume forms the second issue of Dr. Middendorf's ponderous serial on the languages of Peru, and is a sequel to his Keshua grammar which was noticed in our previous number. The Dictionary is mainly based on the excellent "Vocabulario" of Diego Gonzalez Holguin (1608), as well as on the works of Domingo de S. Thomas, J. J. v. Tschudi and Honorio Mossi ; words and phrases now antiquated are marked with an asterisk, while there is an accession of a large number which the author himself collected on his travels. The whole material underwent a strict process of sifting at the hands of an intelligent native from the interior of the province of Cusco, and may be considered to represent the language both as it was 300 years ago, and as it is now spoken. It gives in a third column the Spanish for every word and phrase, and apart from its practical usefulness, highly commends itself to the student of the American aboriginal languages by its strictly scientific method, its completeness and critical accuracy. As to typography, and the general get-up, this publication leaves nothing to be desired.

These

Ollanta, ein Drama der Keshua-Sprache. Übersetzt und mit Anmerkungen versehen von Dr. E. W. Middendorf. (Leipzig, F. A. Brockhaus, 1890.) This third volume of Dr. Middendorf's comprehensive work on the indigenous languages of Peru contains not only the drama Ollanta (best known in this country through Mr. Markham's version) in text and annotated translation, but also an introductory treatise on the religious and political institutions of the Inkas. institutions form the background of the drama. Though, at least in its present form, it cannot have been composed before the Spanish conquest, it reflects the manners and customs of the antecedent period, and of these the first half of the introduction gives in its 76 pages the most lucid survey we have seen anywhere. This part is well worth being issued separately in an English translation. The second part deals with the drama itself and especially discusses the question as to its age. The volume is a monument of historical précis and of critical scholarship.

Obituary.

We announce with much regret that Sir Richard Burton, the eminent Eastern traveller and Orientalist, who has held the post of British Consul at Trieste since 1872, died there yesterday morning at the age of 69. In him there has passed away one of the most remarkable and cosmopolitan, and at the same time one of the most scholarly, explorers of our time. Sir Richard Burton's name is in popular estimation associated with Africa, and rightly so, for there he did his most valuable and most original work. His discovery of Lake Tanganyika, especially when combined with that of the Victoria Nyanza by his companion Speke, deserves to rank with Stanley's memorable journeys. He and his companions were lions in their day, and if the excitement then was less than it has been over Mr. Stanley's recent expedition, it was not due to the fact that the geographical work they did was less important or accomplished with less hazard. The conditions which fan excitement and nurse enthusiasm had not reached the development thirty years ago which they have attained now.

Richard Francis Burton was born on March 19, 1821, at Barham House, Herts, the son of Colonel Netterville Burton, of the 36th Regiment, and his wife Martha Baker. Richard's grandfather was rector of Tuam, in Ireland, and his grand-uncle Bishop of Killalo. They were the first of the family to settle in Ireland, and belonged to the Burtons of Barker Hill, near Shap, Westmorland, who, again, are connected with some of the leading Burton families all over the kingdom. Much of Richard Burton's eccentricity was inherited both on the father's and mother's side. Most of his boyhood and youth was spent at Tours and in wandering with his restless father over the Continent, from one temporary place of residence to another. Burton's training and education were thus of an irregular and spasmodic character, ill-fitted to qualify him for the routine of an official career. It, however, fostered his powers of observation, and gave him ample opportunity of exercising his wonderful faculty for the acquisition of languages. The Burton children were left very much to themselves, so that Richard's innate wayward disposition had little check. At last, in 1840, the family returned to England, and young Burton was entered at Oxford, going into residence at Trinity College in the Michaelmas Term of that year. His previous training was not conducive to compliance with Oxford ways. He was leader in the wildest pranks of his time; in Latin and Greek he made little headway, but he quickly mastered Arabic. Burton soon got disgusted with University life and resolved to quit it. This he did by deliberately attending a race meeting against orders, and was of course "sent down." This was precisely what he wanted. When he arrived suddenly in London (in 1842), he told his friends that he had been allowed an extra vacation for taking a double first-class with the very highest honours. Of course the truth was soon discovered, and in the end he obtained a commission in the East India Company's service. He sailed from England on June 18, 1842, his only companion being a bull-terrier of the Oxford breed. He landed at Bombay on October 28, and was posted as ensign to the 18th Regiment, Bombay Native Infantry, which he joined at Baroda. He soon became master of Hindustani and fencing, and astonished his fellow officers and displeased his superiors by the eccentricities of his conduct. Nevertheless, in 1843 he was made regimental interpreter, and succeeded in indulging his wandering propensities by expeditions to various parts of India. Burton's career as an

explorer, however, may be said to have begun in 1852, when he undertook, in the disguise of a Pathan, that journey to Medina and Mecca the description of which forms one of the most interesting of his many narratives. His life thenceforth, until he settled down as Consul at Trieste, was an almost uninterrupted series of exploring expeditions. Before this (1851) he had published a volume on "Scinde," giving the results of his observations while resident in the "unhappy valley," and in the same year a volume on "Goa and the Blue Mountains."

Burton's next expedition was to Somaliland, even now but little known, and then full of dangers. The expedition was undertaken by the Directors of the East India Company, and Burton was accompanied by Lieutenant Speke. The expedition left Aden at the end of 1854, and Burton alone, again in disguise, succeeded, amid the greatest risks, in entering the sacred city of Harrar. Returning again to Berbera in the beginning of 1855, Burton intended to penetrate to the Nile, but shortly after landing the expedition was attacked, Burton and Speke being wounded, and narrowly escaping with their lives. The narrative of this hazardous expedition was published in 1856, under the title of "First Footsteps in East Africa." After a short run to Constantinople in 1856, in the vain hope of being employed in the war against Russia, Burton returned to England still more disgusted with officialism, and still more determined to distinguish himself as an African explorer. He now undertook, after a trial trip to Zanzibar and other coast towns, the expedition into the heart of Africa on which his fame will mainly rest. For years rumours had been reaching the coast of great lakes in the interior; and Krapf and Rebmann, two missionaries, had actually seen a snow-covered mountain just under the Equator. Livingstone had made his great journey across the continent (he arrived in England in December, 1856), and had aroused an interest in Africa which has been increasing in intensity ever since. We have heard much recently of the great lakes and rivers and mountains which covered the old maps of Africa, but

which D'Anville rightly swept away. A great lake

was reported to exist in the Zanzibar interior, and it was to find this that Burton and his companion Speke left Zanzibar in June, 1857, under the auspices of the Royal Geographical Society. For the first time the route which has now become a well-trodden highway, from Bagamoyo to Ujiji, was traversed by the feet of white men. After more than the usual trouble, a final start was made, and through many trials and sufferings Ujiji was reached on February 14th, 1858, about eight months from leaving Bagamoyo. Thus the first of those great lakes of Central Africa, which probably form its most remarkable feature, found its place on the map. Moreover, the expedition went over hundreds of miles of new country, and in addition Speke made a run to the north to find that other great lake, Victoria Nyanza, around which English and German interests have of late been mainly centred. Altogether this may be regarded as one of the most notable of African expeditions, and Burton was rightly hailed on his return to England, in 1859, as an explorer of the first rank. He well deserved the gold medal which the Royal Geographical Society awarded him, and the many other honours which were showered upon him. He may justly be regarded as the pioneer in a region where subsequently splendid work was done by Livingstone, Cameron, and Stanley. To the unhappy dispute which followed between Burton and Speke, and which gave rise to so much bitter feeling, it is not necessary to do more than allude.

After a run to the United States in 1860, when Burton visited Salt Lake City and the West (about which he wrote in his "City of the Saints"), he was once more back in Africa. Meantime, January 22nd, 1861, he had married the lady who has been his loyal and helpful companion through life. Lady Burton belongs to the Arundells of Wardour. In August, 1861, Burton and his bride sailed for "the Foreign Office Grave," Fernando Po, to which he had been appointed Consul. His three years' stay here was spent in exploring the whole of the coast region round the Bight of Biafra, varied by a special mission to the King of Dahomey, the results of which are recorded in two separate works. Burton's excellent work in this unhealthy region brought him promotion, and in 1865 he went as British Consul to Sao Paulo, in Brazil. usual, this born explorer could not rest. He traversed all his province, voyaged down the San Francisco, visited the La Plata States, and subsequently crossed the continent to Chili and Peru, returning by the Straits of Magellan. As usual, the result was a big book, "The Highlands of Brazil” (1869).

As

From Brazil Burton was transferred to Damascus, where he landed in October, 1869. Damascus he made the basis of an exploration of Syria, but on the reduction of the Consulate he returned to England in 1871. A visit to Iceland in 1872 resulted in an elaborate work on the Island, one of the most complete in our language. In the same year Burton was appointed to the Consulship at Trieste, and that post he filled till the day of his death. But even there he could not rest. In 1876 and 1877-78 he made two visits to the Land of Midian to explore the old mines, the result being two works, too full of learning to be quite popular. In 1882, in company with Commander Cameron, Burton made an expedition to the interior of the Gold Coast for the purpose of prospecting the mines in that unhealthy region, but the only result was another book.

This may be regarded as Burton's last expedition. Since then his health began gradually to break down, and no wonder, considering the hardships he had had to endure from his boyhood upwards. But idleness with Burton meant unhappiness, and if he were not exploring, he was engaged on some scholarly investigation or some literary enterprise. His translation of Camoens (1880) is in itself a masterly performance, abounding with the most recondite and learned annotations. His literal translation of the " Arabian Nights" is the work of an accomplished Eastern scholar, who could treat the curious questions suggested by these stories of a comparatively primitive life with the frankness and some of the recklessness of science. Many memoirs and papers, besides the works we have mentioned, have come from Burton's busy hand, all of them marked by that keen research, frank criticism, and scholarly annotation which make his works a mine of knowledge, but which at the same time render them somewhat difficult reading.

Burton, as might have been expected, was never an official favourite, and his numerous friends are of opinion that his many services entitled him long ago to a handsome retiring pension; but Government was inexorable, and his only reward was a K.C.M.G., bestowed in 1886. Notwithstanding the apparent brusqueness of his manner and the frankness of his talk, Burton had many warm friends. No man ever succeeded better with the natives either of Africa or Asia; indeed, with barbarism he had almost more sympathy than with civilization. He was a man of real humanity and an unwavering friend. Like Livingstone and Stanley, he was one of those determined men of action who carry out their purpose through every obstacle. As an observer he was keen and accurate and in spite of his perplexingly allusive

style, was clear and graphic in his descriptions. In many respects Richard Burton was one of the most remarkable men of his time; but he will be longest remembered as the first pioneer in Central Africa, the discoverer of Lake Tanganyika.--[The Times of 21 Oct. 1890.]

Sir John Francis Davis died at his residence near Bristol on 13th November, 1890. Sir John Davis had reached the patriarchal age of 96, having been born on July 16, 1795, and the most important portion of his public career terminated forty years ago. But, although his services cannot be described as living fresh in the public mind to-day, the part he took in our early diplomatic intercourse with China was far too important for his name to be forgotten, and, as he was closely connected with the incidents that accompanied the first appearance of our officials on the Chinese coast, his death not only removes an interesting figure, but severs the only remaining link with the earlier and less satisfactory intercourse between England and China. Sir John Davis was the eldest son of a servant of the East India Company who had been attached to the missions sent to Tibet by Warren Hastings, and who at a later date distinguished himself in the defence of Benares. Through his influence Mr. John Davis was appointed a writer to the Canton Factory at the age of 18, and when Lord Amherst was sent in 1816 as envoy to Pekin, he was attached to the mission. After that abortive embassy returned he resumed his duties at Canton, and in 1832 he had risen to the post of president of the East India Company's factory in China. The withdrawal of the company's charter of exclusive trade with China introduced a totally new condition of things, and the presidentship lapsed. An English official, Lord Napier, came out with full powers from the Government to act as superintendent of trade, but on Lord Napier's death in October, 1834, Mr. Davis was nominated to the head of the commission entrusted with his duties. In the following year he returned to England, and he was absent from China during the trying period of the first Chinese war of 1840-2, which closed with the Treaty of Nankin. In June, 1844, he succeeded Sir Henry Pottinger as chief superintendent of trade and Governor of Hongkong, which post he held for four years. The most important event of his Governorship was the so-called Fatshan affair, which arose out of the attack on a party of Englishmen at that place. The Chinese were on this occasion not much to blame, but Sir John, who had received the dignity of a baronetcy in 1845, declared that he would "exact and require that British subjects should be as free from molestation and insult in China as they could be in England," which was in accordance neither with the treaty nor with possibility. In the execution of his intention to obtain redress, he sent a military expedition up the river to Canton. For this, although successful, he received no thanks from his Government, which entirely disapproved and peremptorily forbade any adventure of this kind. The Fatshan incident entailed the departure of Sir John Davis from China, for, taking Lord Grey's reproof very much to heart, he felt bound to resign. His interest in China and the Chinese during the last forty years remained quite as great as when he resided in the East, and he was particularly active in encouraging a study of the Chinese language, taking, among other things, a prominent part in the founding of the scholarships at Oxford, which bear his name. Sir John Davis, in addition to his diplomatic connexion with China, will be permanently remembered as the author of some of the earliest and most interesting works on the literature, customs and history of that country. No one wrote

more agreeably or with equal authority on the subject of the old China, with which he had to deal, from Lord Amherst's mission down to the Treaty of Pekin in 1860.-[Times of Nov. 14, 1890.]

Vilhelm Trenckner, one of the most learned Oriental scholars, died at Copenhagen on the 9th January after nearly four months' illness. Born in 1823 as the son of an immigrant German baker, he was placed for his first education at "Petri Deutsche Realschule." Subsequently he received private instruction to qualify him for the University, and passed his examen artium in 1841. As a student he attended Madvig's lectures on classical philology. The study of Rask's works led him to take up philosophy and general philology. He became a good Arabic scholar, and eventually took up Sanskrit and Pali, which latter language he cultivated to the end of his life. The three editions of Pali texts which we owe to him are (next to Fausböll's) unrivalled for critical scholarship. He was 55 years old before he wrote anything for publication. For the last thirty years he belonged to the staff of teachers at the Copenhagen Orphanage, where not a few of his more gifted pupils profited by his linguistic attainments. His vast collections towards a Pali-English Dictionary, the work of forty years, will be of the utmost service when a new Pali Dictionary comes to be compiled. He left to the Orphanage a legacy of 25,000 crowns, and a similar legacy to the Copenhagen Charity Organization Society.

Notes and News.

The Government of India has decided to discontinue the annual grant hitherto devoted to the search for, and purchase of, rare Sanskrit MSS., but the decision will not take effect until 1892. A regular staff of native searchers have been employed during the past ten years, and these have visited most of the large temples throughout India, examining and cataloguing the vast collections of works hoarded up in those fanes. The private libraries of many native gentlemen have been likewise carefully sifted, and their contents recorded. Out of the MSS. thus examined, no fewer than 2400 have been purchased by the Government, and rendered accessible to the public at Bombay and Calcutta. The most valuable "finds" have included numerous old Jain MSS., now being submitted to the scrutiny of competent scholars in Bombay. Although the search and purchase grants are to cease, the Indian Government has agreed to continue the allowance of Rs. 9000 per annum for the publication of texts and translations of the Sanskrit and Persian works discovered.

OF M. Ch. Apte's Ánandûśrama Sanskrit Series, adverted to in previous issues of the ORIENTAL RECORD, the following fresh instalments have been received. No. 10 The Mândûkyopanishad, with kârikâs by Gauḍapâda, with their bhâshya by S'ankara and its commentary by Ânandajñâna, also a dîpikâ of the Upanishad by S'ankarânanda, edited by A. V. Kâthavate; No. 14, Part I.: The Chhandogyopanishad, with the bhâshya of S'ankara and its commentary by Ânandajnâna, edited by Pandit Kâsinâtha S'âstrî Agâse (Part II. will comprise the dîpikâs of Vidyâraṇya and Nityânanda); No. 19: The Rasaratnasamuchchaya, a compendium of the treasures of medical preparations containing mercury, by Vâgbhaṭṭa, edited by Pandit Krishnarâva Vinayaka Bâpaṭa; and No. 21, Part I.: The Brahmasûtrâs of Krishna Dvaipâyana, with the bhâshya of S'ankara and its commentary by Anandajñâna, edited by Pandit Nârâynņa S'âstrî Eksâmbekara

(this work will be complete in two parts). These publications fully maintain the high character for careful editing which has been accorded to the previous volumes.

DR. S. VON OLDENBURG, successor to the late Professor J. Minayeff in the chair for Sanskrit at the University of St. Petersburg, has been entrusted with the editing of the various Oriental texts and literary papers which his predecessor had prepared for publication. Among them are comprised the index to the " Mahâvyutpatti," and editions of the " Rupasiddhi" (a Pali grammar), the "Pâpaparimocana" (a kind of Grihyasûtra), and the "Sasanavamsa"; also a History of Nepal, translated from two MSS. representing a recension different from the one followed by Dr. D. Wright, and an account of his last visit to Burma. There are also translations and analyses of about 250 Jâtakas, as well as other materials towards a complete history of Buddhism, which, however, require arranging and revising. Lastly, a Sanskrit-Newari glossary, explained in English. A collected edition of his many minor contributions to a number of serials, not easily accessible, is in contemplation.

AMONG the Ceylon Administration Reports for 1889 there is one by Mr. F. H. M. Corbet, Librarian of the Colombo Museum, to which we specially invite the attention of our readers. The Library of the Asiatic Society, founded in 1845, the Government Oriental Library, founded in 1870, and the Free Public Library, founded in 1876, are now housed in the Colombo Museum, and are under the same administration. Since April 1, 1885, quarterly lists of books printed in Ceylon have been issued, from which it appears that in the last three quarters of that year 100 books were registered; in 1886, 177; in 1887, 221; in 1888, 323; and in 1889, 260. One copy of each of these publications is placed in the Museum Library. The Museum building is now about to be enlarged so as to afford accommodation to the large collection of manuscript records of the Dutch administration of the island, which amount to no less than 6500 folio volumes. Their historical importance cannot be overrated, and it is due to the energetic representation of Mr. H. C. P. Bell, Government Archæologist, that they are now preserved from neglect and eventual ruin. Many of the accessions which the Government Oriental Library has received in the shape of palm-leaf MSS. in Pali, Sanskrit, and Sinhalese are described in detail; and among the lastnamed attention is drawn to a class of books called Vittipot or village records, which deal with family genealogies and village settlements. The future compiler of a detailed history of Ceylon will derive most material aid from these ancient records, the importance of which has only recently been fully recognized. Though it must in fairness be admitted that the Ceylon Government has done much to promote and stimulate the search for rare MSS. throughout the monasteries and temple libraries of the island, a still larger subvention is needed to bring the search to a successful issue. Nevertheless it compares in this respect most favourably with the Government of Burma, which years ago made a well-meant effort to do something for the archæology and literary history of the country, but has, it would appear, since Dr. Forchhammer's premature death in April, 1890, done nothing further in the noble work initiated by him than entrust-as we learn from the "Rangoon Gazette" of 25 December last-Mr. Taw Sein Ko, Government Translator, with the special duty of arranging Dr. Forchhammer's archæological papers.

AMONG valuable Pali texts printed in Ceylon within the last year, we mention Moggallayana Vyakaraṇa, edited by Devamitta Thera; Samantakûṭavanṇanâ, with Sinhalese explanation, edited by W. Dhammânanda Sthavira and M. Nâņissara; Abhidhamma Aṭṭhasâlinî Atthayojanâ, edited by K. Paññâsekhara Thera; Mahâbodhivamso, edited by Pedin