herself for a certain price, and all that she can thus acquire she carries to the priest of the idol, that he may apply it to the service of the temple. Let us, says the Mohammedan relater, bless the almighty and glorious God, that he has chosen us, to exempt us from all the crimes into which men are led by their unbelief.-An

ciennes Relations.

Incited, unquestionably, says Mr Maurice, by the hieroglyphic emblem of vice so conspicuously elevated, and so strikingly painted in the temples of Mahadeo, the priests of that deity industriously selected the most beautiful females that could be found, and, in their tenderest years, with great pomp and solemnity, consecrated them (as it is impiously called) to the service of the presiding divinity of the pagoda. They were trained up in every art to delude and to delight; and, to the fascination of external beauty, their artful betrayers added the attractions arising from mental accomplishments. Thus was an invariable rule of the Hindoos, that women have no concern with literature, dispensed with upon this infamous occasion. The moment these hapless victims reached maturity, they fell victims to the lust of the Brahmins. They were early taught to practise the most alluring blandishments, to roll the expressive eye of wanton pleasure, and to invite to criminal indulgence, by stealing upon the beholder the tender look of voluptuous languishing. They were instructed to mould their elegant and airy forms into the most enticing attitudes and the most lascivious gestures, while the rapid and graceful motion of their feet, adorned with golden bells, and glittering with jewels, kept unison with the exquisite melody of their voices. Every pagoda has a band of these young syrens, whose business, ou great festivals, is to dance in public before the idol, to sing hymns in his honour, and in private to enrich the treasury of that pagoda with the wages of prostitution. These women are not, however, regarded in a dishonourable light; they are considered as wedded to the idol, and they partake of the veneration paid to him. They are forbidden ever to desert the pagoda where they are educated, and are never permitted to marry; but the offspring, if any, of their criminal embraces are considered as sacred to the idol: the boys are taught to play on the sacred instruments used at the festivals, and the daughters are devoted to the abandoned occupations of their mothers.-Indian Antiquities.

The fifth incarnation was in a Bramin dwarf, under the name of Vamen; it was wrought to restrain the pride of the giant Baly. The latter, after having conquered the gods, expelled them from Sorgon; he was generous, true under the form of a very little Bramin, presented himself to his word, compassionate, and charitable. Vichenou, before him while he was sacrificing, and asked him for three paces of land to build a hut. Baly ridiculed the ought not to limit his demand to a bequest so trifling; apparent imbecility of the dwarf, in telling him, that he that his generosity could bestow a much larger donation of land. Vamen answered, That, being of so small a stature, what he asked was more than sufficient. The prince immediately granted his request, and, to ratify his donation, poured water into his right hand, which was no sooner done than the dwarf grew so prodigiously, that his body filled the universe! He measured the earth with one pace, and the heavens with another, and then summoned Baly to give him his word for the third. The prince then recognised Vichenou, adored him, and presented his head to him; but the god, satisfied with his submission, sent him to govern the Padalon, and permitted him to return every year to the earth, the day of the full moon, in the month of November.-SONNE RAT'S Voyages, vol. i, p. 24.

Note 71, page 331, col. 2.

The sacred cord.

The Brahmans who officiate at the temples generally go with their heads uncovered, and the upper part of the body naked. The Zennar, or sacred string, is hung round the body from the left shoulder; a piece of white cotton cloth is wrapped round the loins, which descends under the knee, but lower on the left side than on the other; and in cold weather they sometimes cover their bodies with a shawl, and their heads with a red cap.The Zennar is made of a particular kind of perennial cotton, called Verma: it is composed of a certain number of threads of a fixed length: the Zennar worn by the Khatries has fewer threads than that worn by the Brahmans, and that worn by the Bhyse fewer than that worn by the Khatries; but those of the Soodra cast are excluded from this distinction, none of them being per mitted to wear it.-CRAUFURD.

Note 72, page 332, col. 1.
The City of Baly.

Ruins of Mahabalipûr, the City of the great Baly.
A rock, or rather bill of stone, is that which first en-

These impostors take a young maid, of the fairest they can meet with, to be the bride (as they speak and bear the besotted people in hand) of Jagannat, and they leave her all night in the temple (whither they have carried her) with the idol, making her believe that Jagannat himself will come and embrace her, and ap-grosses the attention on approaching the place; for as it pointing her to ask him, whether it will be a fruitful year, what kind of processions, feasts, prayers, and alms he demands to be made for it. In the mean time one of these lustful priest enters at night by a little back-door into the temple, deflowereth this young maid, and maketh her believe any thing he pleaseth; and the next day, being transported from this temple into another with the same magnificence, she was carried before upon the chariot of triumph, on the side of Jagannat her bridegroom: these Erahmans make her say aloud, before all the people, whatsoever she hath been taught of these cheats, as if she had learnt it from the very mouth of Jagannat BERNIER.

rises abruptly out of a level plain of great extent, consists chiefly of one single stone, and is situated very near to the sea-beach, it is such a kind of object as an inquisitive traveller would naturally turn aside to examine. Its shape is also singular and romantic, aud, from a distant view, has an appearance like some antique and lofty edifice. On coming near to the foot of the rock from the north, works of imagery and sculpture crowd so thick upon the eye, as might seem to favour the idea of a petrified town, like those that have been fabled in different parts of the world, by too credulous travellers. Proceeding on by the foot of the hill, on the side facing the sea, there is a pagoda rising out of the ground, of one

solid stone, about sixteen or eighteen feet high, which seems to have been cut upon the spot, out of a detached rock, that has been found of a proper size for that purpose. The top is arched, and the style of architecture according to which it is formed different from any now used in those parts. A little further on, there appears, upon a huge surface of stone, that juts out a little from the side of the hill, a numerous group of human figures, in bass-relief, considerably larger than life, representing the most remarkable persons whose actions are celebrated in the Mahabharit, each of them in an attitude, or with weapons, or other insignia, expressive of his character; or of some one of his most famous exploits. All these figures are doubtless much less distinct than they were at first; for upon comparing these and the rest of the sculptures that are exposed to the sea-air, with others at the same place, whose situation has afforded them protection from that element, the difference is striking; the former being every where much defaced, while the others are fresh as recently finished. An excavation in another part of the east side of the great rock appears to have been made on the same plan, and for the same purpose, that Chowltries are usually built in that country, that is to say, for the accommodation of travellers. The rock is hollowed out to the size of a spacious room, and two or three rows of pillars are left, as a seeming support to the mountainous mass of stone which forms the roof.

than a bed, is matter for future enquiry. A circumstance, however, which may seem to favour this idea is, that a throne, in the Shanscrit and other Hindoo languages, is called Singhåsen, which is compounded of Sing, a lion, and âsen, a seat.

But though these works may be deemed stupendous, they are surpassed by others that are to be seen at the distance of about a mile or mile and half, to the south of the hill. They consist of two pagodas, of about 30 feet long, by 20 feet wide, and about as many in height, cut out of the solid rock, and each consisting originally of one single stone. Their form is different from the style of architecture according to which idol temples are now built in that country. These sculptures approach nearer to the Gothic taste, being surmounted by arched roofs, or domes, not semicircular, but composed of two segments of circles meeting in a point at top. Near these also stand an elephant full as big as life, and a lion much larger than the natural size, both hewn also out of one stone.

The great rock is about 50 or 100 yards from the sea; but close to the sea are the remains of a pagoda built of brick, and dedicated to Sib, the greatest part of which has evidently been swallowed up by that element; for the door of the innermost apartment, in which the idol is placed, and before which there are always two or three spacious courts surrounded with walls, is now washed by the waves, and the pillar used to discover the meridian at the time of founding the pagoda, is seen standing at some distance in the sea. In the neighbourhood of this building there are some detached rocks, washed also by the waves, on which there appear sculptures, though now much worn and defaced: And the natives of the place declared to the writer of this account, that the more aged people among them remembered to have seen the tops of several pagodas far out in the sea, which, being covered with copper, (probably gilt,) were particularly visible at sun-rise, as their shining surface used then to reflect the sun's rays, but that now that effect was no longer produced, as the copper had since become incrusted with mould and verdigrease.-CHAMBERS. Asiatic Researches.

The ascent of the hill on the north is, from its natural shape, gradual and easy at first, and is in other parts rendered more so, by very excellent steps, cut out in several places where the communication would be difficult or impracticable without them. A winding stair of this sort leads to a kind of temple cut out of the solid rock, with some figures of idols in high relief upon the walls, very well finished. From this temple there are flights of steps, that seem to have led to some edifice formerly standing upon the hill; nor does it seem absurd to suppose that this may have been a palace, to which this temple may have appertained; for, besides the small detached ranges of stairs that are here and there cut in the rock, and seem as if they had once led to different parts of one great building, there appear in many places small water channels cut also in the rock, as if for drains to an house; and the whole top of the hill is strewed with small round pieces of brick, which may be supposed, from their appearance, to have been worn down to their present form during the lapse of many ages. On a plain-sufficiently resembling this part of the poem to be

surface of the rock, which may once have served as the floor of some apartment, there is a platform of stone, about 8 or 9 feet long, by 3 or 4 wide, in a situation rather elevated, with two or three steps leading up to it, perfectly resembling a couch or bed, and a lion very well executed at the upper end of it, by way of pillow: the whole of one piece, being part of the hill itself. This the Bramins, inhabitants of the place, call the bed of Dhermarajah, or Judishter, the eldest of the five brothers, whose exploits are the leading subject in the Mabablarit. And at a considerable distance from this, at such a distance, indeed, as the apartments of the women might be supposed to be from that of the men, is a bath, excavated also from the rock, with steps in the inside, which the Bramins call the Bath of Dropedy, the wife of Judishter and his brothers. How much credit is due to this tradition, and whether this stone couch may not have been anciently used as a kind of throne, rather

Note 73, page 333, col. 1.

Thon hast been called, O Sleep! the friend of Woe,
But 't is the happy who have call d thee so.
Daniel has a beautiful passage concerning Richard II

inserted here:

To Flint, from thence, into a restless bed,
That miserable night he comes convey'd;
Poorly provided, poorly followed,
Uncourted, unrespected, unobey'd;
Where, if uncertain Sleep but hovered
Over the drooping cares that heavy weigh'd,
Millions of figures Fantasy presents
Unto that sorrow waken'd grief augments.

His new misfortune makes deluded Sleep
Say 't was not so:-false dreams the truth deny:
Wherewith he starts; feels waking cares do creep
Upon his soul, and give his dreams the lie,
Then sleeps again:-and then again as deep
Deceits of darkness mock his misery.

Civil War, Book ii, st. 52, 53.

Note 74, page 333, col. 2.
The Aullay.

This monster of Hindoo imagination is a horse with the trunk of an elephant, but bearing about the same

proportion to the elephant in size, that the elephant itself does to a common sheep. In one of the prints to Mr Kindersley's «Specimens of Hindoo Literature,» an aullay is represented taking up an elephant with his trunk.

Note 75, page 333, col. 2.

Did then the Ocean wage

His war for love and envy, not in rage,

O thou fair City, that he spares thee thus? Malecheren, (which is probably another name for Baly), in an excursion which he made one day alone, and in disguise, came to a garden in the environs of his city Mahabalipoor, where was a fountain so inviting, that two celestial nymphs had come down to bathe there. The Rajah became enamoured of one of them, who condescended to allow of his attachment to her; and she and her sister nymph used thenceforward to have frequent interviews with him in that garden. On one of those occasions they brought with them a male inhabitant of the heavenly regions, to whom they introduced the Rajah; and between him and Malecheren a strict friendship ensued; in consequence of which he agreed, at the Rajah's earnest request, to carry him in disguise to see the court of the divine Inder,-a favour never before granted to any mortal. The Rajah returned from thence with new ideas of splendour and magnificence, which he immediately adopted in regulating his court and his retinue, and in beautifying his seat of government. By this means Mahabalipoor became soon celebrated beyond all the cities of the earth; and an account of its magnificence having been brought to the gods assembled at the court of Inder, their jealousy was so much excited at it, that they sent orders to the God of the Sea to let loose his billows, and overflow a place which impiously pretended to vie in splendour with their celestial mansions. This command he obeyed, and the city was at once overflowed by that furious element, nor has it ever since been able to rear its head.

-CHAMBERS. Asiat. Res.

Note 76, page 334, col. 1.

Round those strange waters they repair.

In the Bahia dos Artifices, which is between the river Jagoarive and S. Miguel, there are many springs of fresh water, which may be seen at low tide, and these springs are frequented by fish and by the sea-cow, which they say comes to drink there.-Noticias do Brazil. MSS. i, 8.

The inhabitants of the Feroe Islands seek for cod in places where there is a fresh-water spring at the bottom. -LANDT.

Note 77, page 337, col. 2.

The sheckra.

It is by the sutures of the skull that these lines of destiny are formed. See also a note to Thalaba upon a like superstition of the Mahommedans.

« Quand on leur reproche quelque vice, ou qu'on les reprend d'une mauvaise action, ils répondent froidement, que cela est écrit sur leur tête, et qu'ils n'ont pu faire autrement. Si vous paroissez étonné de ce langage nouveau, et que vous demandiez à voir où cela est ecrit, ils vous montrent les diverses jointures du crâne de leur tète, prétendant que les sutures même sont les caractères de cette écriture mysterieuse. Si vous les pressez de dechiffrer ces caractères, et de vous faire connoître ce qu'ils signifient, ils avouent qu'ils ne le sçavent pas. Mais puisque vous ne sçavez pas lire cette écriture, disois-je quelquefois à ces gens entêtés, qui est-ce donc qui vous la lit? qui estce qui vous en explique le sens, et qui vous fait conuoitre ce qu'elle contient? D'ailleurs ces pretendus caractères étant les memes sur la tête de tous les hommes, d'où vient qu'ils agissent si différemment, et qu'ils sont si contraires les uns aux autres dans leurs vues, dans leurs desseins, et dans leurs projets ?>>

«Les Brames m'écoutoient de sang froid, et sans s'inquiéter ni des contradictions où ils tomboient, ni des consequences ridicules qu'ils étoient obligés d'avouer. Enfin, lorsqu'ils se sentoient vivement pressés, toute leur ressource étoit de se retirer sans rien dire.»>-P. MAUDUIT, Lettres Edifiantes, t. x, p. 248.

Note 79, page 339, col. 1.

The Seven Earths.

The seas which surround these earths are, 1. of salt

water, inclosing our inmost earth; 2. of fresh water; 3. of tyre, curdled milk; 4. of ghee, clarified butter; 5. of cauloo, a liquor drawn from the pullum tree; 6. of liquid sugar; 7. of milk. The whole system is inclosed in one broad circumference of pure gold, beyond which reigns impenetrable darkness.-KINDERSLEY.

I know not whether the following fable was invented to account for the saltness of our sea:

Agastya is recorded to have been very low in stature; and one day, previously to the rectifying the too oblique posture of the earth, walking with Veeshuu on the shore of the ocean, the insolent Deep asked the god, who that dwarf was strutting by his side? Veeshnu replied, it was the patriarch Agastya going to restore the earth to its true balance. The sea, in utter contempt of his pigmy form, dashed him with his spray as he passed along; on which the sage, greatly incensed at the designed affront, scooped up some of the water in the hollow of his hand, and drank it off: he again and again repeated the draught, nor desisted till he had drained the bed of the ocean of the entire volume of its waters. Alarmed at this effect of his holy indignation, and dreading an universal relent from his anger, and again restore an element so drought, the Devatas made intercession with Agastya to necessary to the existence of nature, both animate and inanimate. Agastya, pacified, granted their request, discharged the imbibed fluid in a way becoming the The writing which, at thy nativity, histories of a gross physical people to relate, but by no All-knowing Nature wrought upon thy brain. means proper for this page; a way, however, that Brahma is considered as the immediate creator of all evinced his sovereign power, while it marked his in- ! things, and particularly as the disposer of each person's effable contempt for the vain fury of an element, confate, which he inscribes within the skull of every creat-tending with a being armed with the delegated power ed being, and which the gods themselves cannot avert. of the Creator of all things. After this miracle, the -KINDERSLEY, p. 21. NIECAMP. vol. i, p. 10. sect. 7. earth being, by the same power, restored to its just ba

This weapon, which is often to be seen in one of the wheel-spoke hands of a Hindoo god, resembles a quoit the external edge is sharp: it is held in the middle, and, being whirled along, cuts wherever it strikes.

Note 78, pag. 8, col. 1.

and

lance, Agastya and Veeshnu separated: when the latter, to prevent any similar accident occurring, commanded the great serpent (that is, of the sphere) to wind its enormous folds round the seven continents, of which, according to Sansereet geography, the earth consists, and appointed, as perpetual guardians, to watch over and protect it, the eight powerful genii, so renowned in the Hindoo system of mythology, as presiding over the eight points of the world.»-MAURICE.

« Even I was even at first, not any other thing; that which exists, unperceived, supreme: afterwards I am that which is; and he who must remain, am I.

"

Except the First Cause, whatever may appear, and may not appear, in the mind, know that to be the mind's Mayà, or delusion, as light, as darkness.

« As the great elements are in various beings, entering, yet not entering, (that is, pervading, not destroying,) thus am I in them, yet not in them.

to

« Even thus far may inquiry be made by him who seeks know the principle of mind in union and separation, which must be everywhere, always.»—Asiat. Researches. Sir W. JONES, from the Bhagavat.

The Pauranics (said Ramachandra to Sir William Jones) will tell you that our earth is a plane figure studded with eight mountains, and sorrounded by seven seas of milk, nectar, and other fluids; that the part which we inhabit is one of seven islands, to which eleven smaller I am the creation and the dissolution of the whole uniisles are subordinate; that a god, riding on a huge ele-verse. There is not any thing greater than I, and all phant, guards each of the eight regions; and that a things hang on me, even as precious gems upon a string. mountain of gold rises and gleams in the centre.-Asia-I am moisture in the water, light in the sun and moon, tic Researches.

«Eight original mountains and seven seas, BRAHMA, INDRA, the SUN, and RUDRA, these are permanent; not thou, not I, not this or that people. Wherefore then should anxiety be raised in our minds?»-Asiatic Res.

Note 80, page 339, col. 2.

Mount Calasay.

invocation in the Veds, sound in the firmament, human nature in mankind, sweet-smelling savour in the earth, glory in the source of light: In all things I am life; and I am zeal in the zealous: and know, O Arjoon! that I am the eternal seed of all nature. I am the understanding of the wise, the glory of the proud, the strength of the strong, free from lust and anger; and in animals I am desire regulated by moral fitness.-KREESHNA, in the Bhagavat-Geeta.

Note 82, page 340, col. 1.

Heart cannot think, nor tongue declare,
Nor eyes of angel bear

That glory, unimaginably bright.

The residence of Ixora is upon the silver mount Calaja, to the south of the famous mountain Mahameru, being a most delicious place, planted with all sorts of trees, that bear fruit all the year round. The roses and other flowers send forth a most odoriferous scent; and the pond at the foot of the mount is inclosed with pleasant walks of Being now in the splendorous lustre of the divine trees, that afford an agreeable shade, whilst the peacocks bliss and glory, I there saw in spirit the choir of the and divers other birds entertain the ear with their har-holy angels, the choir of the prophets and apostles, monious noise, as the beautiful women do the eyes. The circumjacent woods are inhabited by a certain people called Munis, or Rixis, who, avoiding the conversation of others, spend their time in offering daily sacrifices to their god.

It is observable, that though these pagans are generally black themselves, they do represent these Rixis to be of a fair complexion, with long white beards, and long garments hanging cross-ways, from about the neck down over the breast. They are in such high esteem among them, they believe that whom they bless are blessed, and whom they curse are cursed.

who, with heavenly tongues and music, sing and play around the throne of God; yet not in just such corporeal forms or shapes as are those we now bear and walk about in; no, but in shapes all spiritual; the holy angels in the shape of a multitude of flames of fire, the souls of believers in the shape of a multitude of glittering or luminous sparkles; God's throne in the shape, or under the appearance of a great splendour.-HANS EN

GELBRECHT.

devouring flames? Our backs are not brass, nor our sinews iron, to dwell with God in heaven. »>- Dispute between the Woman and the Powers of Darkness.

Something analogous to this unendurable presence of Seeva is found amid the nonsense of Joanna Southcott. Apollyon is there made to say of the Lord, «<thou Within the mountain lives another generation, called knowest it is written, he is a consuming fire, and who Jexaquinnera and Quendra, who are free from all trou-can dwell in everlasting burnings? who could abide in ble, spend their days in continual contemplations, praises, and prayers to God. Round about the mountain stand seven ladders, by which you ascend to a spacious plain, in the middle whereof is a bell of silver, and a square table, surrounded with nine precious stones, of divers colours. Upon this table lies a silver rose, called Tamara Pua, which contains two women as bright and fair as a pearl: one is called Brigasiri, i. e. the Lady of the Mouth; the other Tarasiri, i. e. the Lady of the Tongue,-because they praise God with the mouth and tongue. In the centre of this rose is the triangle of Quivelinga, which they say is the permanent residence of God.ened.»-From the Yajurveda. Asiat. Res.

BALDEUS.

Note 81, page 340, col. 1.

O All-embracing Mind,

Thou who art every-where.

Perhaps it would have been better if I had written all-containing mind.

Note 83, page 340, col. 1.

The Sun himself had seem'd
A speck of darkness there.

«There the sun shines not, nor the moon and stars : these lightnings flash not in that place: bow should God irradiates all this bright even fire blaze there? substance, and by its effulgence the universe is enlight

Hæc ait, et sese radiorum nocte suorum
Claudit inaccessum.-Carrara.

Note 84, page 341, col. 2.

Whose cradles from some tree
Unnatural hands suspended.

I heard a voice crying out under my window;