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without any previous smoothing of its surface, which was now so covered with the moss and dirt of ages, as to require the labour of the whole of the day to make the letters distinct and visible. On the 19th, after covering the surface of the rock with ink, Mr. Masson hoped to be able to get a fac-simile of the inscription on native paper, pressed upon it, but he was unsuccessful. Calico was then used instead of paper, and answered better; but Mr. Masson found he had not enough of that material for the purpose. On the 20th, after scraping out the letters with sharp tools, Mr. Masson had had made for the purpose, and marking their cavities by a chalky stone, he succeeded in taking a copy of the whole inscription by the eye and on the next day, having procured an additional supply of English calico, he managed to get a tolerable fac-simile of that on the north side of the rock. Another day was spent in correcting the copies taken, and on the 23rd our traveller and his party started on the return to Peshawur. The Malek, who had throughout evinced the utmost kindness towards Mr. Masson, accompanied the party to the borders of his dominions, and furnished them with a guide for the rest of the journey. Our traveller reached Peshawur in safety, and sent back the guide with a Korán and other presents for the Malek, as well to shew his appreciation of the hospitable treatment he had received from him and his people, as to ensure for future Feringhi travellers a favourable reception by them.

The fac-simile on calico taken by Mr. Masson was suspended in the society's room; it is twenty feet in length, by eight or nine in breadth. The characters are not unlike Phoenician, and are those of the Bactro-Pahlevi, anterior to the Christian era. We are glad to learn that the society purposes to have the in. scriptions lithographed and published, and that Mr. Norris, the assistant secretary to the institution, has undertaken a critical comparison of the calico impression with the copies taken by sight, as well as a philological analysis of the whole. Mr. Masson, who was present, received the thanks of the meeting for his interesting communication.

On the 1st of February, the society held another meeting; the Earl of Auckland in the chair. The honorary secretary read to the meeting a paper on the Progress and Present State of the Cinnamon Trade of Ceylon; by John Capper, Esq., of that island.

In commencing his paper, the writer briefly notices the probable uses made of Cinnamon among the ancients for sacrificial and other purposes. He then reviews the intercourse which existed between the traders of Egypt and the inhabitants of the northern part of Ceylon, and remarks that, after the discovery of the route to India round the Cape of Good Hope, the commerce of the northern ports of Ceylon declined rapidly, the native fleets dwindled away, and the trade formerly carried on by them passed into the hands of the Portuguese, on their settling upon the island. The quantity of Cinnamon exported by the Portuguese appears to have been very trifling, as the spice had not become an article of much demand in Europe. The greater quantity consumed was by the Arabs, who continued to trade with the Ceylonese; but the demand by them discontinued at the beginning of the present century, in consequence of their substituting Cassia, which could be procured at a much lower cost than Cinnamon. Through the Portuguese, the Spaniards became acquainted with the uses of Cinnamon, and through the latter, the spice was introduced into the new world.

Soon after the Dutch had gained possession of Ceylon, one of their go

vernors, M. Falk, turned his attention to the improvement of the culture of Cinnamon, in spite of the opposition of the Chalias, or native peelers, who maintained that the spice would be deteriorated by cultivation. Falk, however, persevered, and soon produced bushes of a size and quality superior to any that had been known before. By employing large numbers of the villagers in the culture, and by stimulating them to second his efforts of improvement by a judicious system of rewards, in a few years he had considerable tracts of land well planted with the shrub, and obtained a far more abundant supply of the spice than had been previously collected. To preserve his plantations, severe enactments were passed, and heavy fines, or floggings, were awarded to depredators.

During the Dutch rule, the exports of Cinnamon to Europe and the Indian continent appear to have been considerable. By treaties with the sovereigns of Kandy, they procured the monopoly of purchasing large quantities of the spice at a reduced price. From official documents it would seem that, about the middle of the 18th century, the quantity of Cinnamon exported from Ceylon, was 6,000 bales, of 88lbs each, to Europe; and 1,000 or 1,200 bales to the Indian continent; 400 to the Coromandel coast; and about 200 to Persia and the coasts of the Red Sea.

The English found the Cinnamon trade on the decrease, and the cultivation of the shrub confined to a few spots near Colombo, where Falk had commenced his experiments. The subject was not long neglected by us, and in 1799 Governor North inclosed the best portions of Cinnamon land near Colombo, and other places, with broad boundary ditches, and by employing a large number of labourers upon the gardens, they were soon brought into a flourishing state. In 1805, Mr. Carrington, the chief superintendent of the gardens, greatly improved and extended the culture. But in its extreme care to preserve Cinnamon bushes from destruction, government passed enactments which became very obnoxious to the natives. When the Cinnamon department fell into the hands of Mr. Montgomery, he recommended that Govern. ment should add to their own plantations, and thereby render themselves independent of the native gardens. His advice was taken as regarded the extension of the plantations; but none of the coercive restrictions upon the native gardeners were relaxed. Previous to 1804 there appears no accurate record of the amount of the crops, but from that time to 1814 the annual number of bales produced increased from 3,400 to 4,500. On the Kandyan Provinces being subjected to British rule, in 1815, the aggregate produce greatly increased. In 1823 a new spirit was infused into the Cinnamon cultivation by the exertions of Mr. Wallbeoff, the superintendent, whose judicious views were liberally supported by Sir J. Campbell, and by his successor, Sir E. Barnes: 900 men were now employed, and about 640 acres of new ground were planted. In 1833, however, Government suddenly relinquished their monopoly of the Cinnamon cultivation, the trade was thrown open to the natives, and the neglected gardens were sold in 1841, 1842, and 1843, fetching wretched prices. Although the opening of the trade to private dealers threw the business into its legitimate channels, the good effects at first exhibited were not permanent; and even the reduction of the export duty in 1836 did not increase the demand for the spice. Cassia, which could be procured at a tithe of the price of Cinnamon, rose rapidly into use, and has continued to supplant the latter in many of the continental markets, as well as our own. From this

Asiat.Journ.N.S. VOL. IV.No.23.

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period to the close of 1843, the trade languished, in spite of a further reduction of the export duty. Early in 1844, however, after the large imports at home of low-duty spice, the quantity in store on the island was barely sufficient for six months' supply; and in a very short time prices got up 50 per cent. ; and it is thought that that improved rate will be maintained.

The paper concludes with some curious particulars relating to the caste of Cinnamon-peelers on Ceylon, and of the grades and ranks into which they are divided; also of the system of compulsory labour enforced by the Dutch, which was abolished by the British. Some accounts are also given of the mode of cultivating the shrub, and of the wages paid to the labourers. The plant requires great attention and care, and the produce is extremely liable to injury from damp.

Chronicle.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

THE Session of Parliament was opened on the 4th of February by her Majesty in person. The Royal Speech touched upon no Eastern topic, nor was any such topic (except the Tahiti question) introduced in the debates on the Addresses, which were carried in both houses unanimously.

In the House of Commons, on the 10th of February, Mr. Hume inquired whether there would be any objection to the production of the correspondence between the Government and the Court of Directors respecting the recal of Lord Ellenborough?-Mr. Baring intimated that the government did not intend to produce the correspondence.--Mr. Hume subsequently gave notice that he would, on the 16th March, move for a copy of the correspondence, and also for a copy of the minute directing the recal.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Lord Viscount Jocelyn has been appointed Secretary to the Board of Control, in place of Mr. W. B. Baring.

The Rev. W. H. Johnstone, B. A., of St. John's College, Cambridge, has been appointed to the chaplaincy of the Hon. East-India Company's Military Seminary, Addiscombe.

The next see erected by the committee to whom has been intrusted the appropriation of the Colonial Bishoprics' Fund, will be that of Ceylon. The Rev. James Chapman, M.A., formerly Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, rector of Dunstan Wallet, Essex, and late assistant master at Eton School, will be the first bishop of the new diocese.

The Boden Professor of Sanscrit, at Oxford, commenced his lectures on the 10th of February, at the Clarendon,

The Arabic Professor at Cambridge commences his lectures on the 8th of April, in the Combination-room of St. Catherine's-hall, to be continued every day till the division of term. Subjects" The Chrestomathies of Kosegarten and De Sacy, the Koran and the Makamat of Hariri." The Arabic Professor also gives notice, that he purposes to deliver a course of Sanscrit lectures in the Easter Term. The early lectures will be elementary, being intended for persons desirous of beginning the study of the Sanscrit language. The subject of the remaining lectures will be, "The Episode of Nala," from the Mahabharata. The lectures to begin on the 8th of April, in the Combina

tion-room of St. Catherine's-hall; to be continued every day till the division of term.

Captain Grover has received intelligence of Dr. Wolff to the 10th of January, at which date he was at Erzeroum, endeavouring to recruit his strength for the journey over the mountains to Trebizond. At Teheran, the Doctor was received in the kindest manner by Colonel Shiel, her Majesty's envoy, who sent a government golam to meet him. He left Teheran in a tuckrawan (a sort of Here the judicious treatment of

litter), and by easy stages reached Tabreez. Dr. Casolani enabled him, after some days' repose, to proceed by a similar conveyance towards Erzeroum. On reaching the Turkish frontier, owing to the immense accumulation of snow, he was obliged to proceed on horseback, and after great bodily suffering, he reached Erzeroum on the 4th of January completely exhausted.

Dr. Beke communicates the following extract of a letter from Aden, dated October 11, 1844:-" The latest news from Shoa is, that Sahela Selassie has suddenly made extensive inroads into the adjoining countries, and murdered and captured many thousands-report says, 30,000 men, women, and children. The natural consequence is an increase in the exports, by sea, of slaves, to supply Mokha, Hodeidah, Loheia, Djidda, and Yembo. The Danákil (the slave-dealers) are in a terrible fright in consequence of their having expected 600 from Tadjúrrah.”—Anti-Slavery Reporter, Feb. 5.

The Berbice Gazette states, on the authority of Mr. George Laing, that 10,000 instead of 5,000 coolies are to be sent by Lord Stanley to British Guiana.-Ibid.

The Revue de Paris announces, that the marriage of the celebrated Arab Chief, Yussuf Bey, Colonel of the Spahis, with Miss Weyer, grand niece of General Guilleminot, was to be celebrated in Paris on the 27th of February. He has abjured Islamism, and embraced the Catholic religion at St. Thomas d' Aquin, in presence of the relatives of his wife and of a few friends. He received the sacrament of baptism, and had for his godfather M. Gentz de Bussy, formerly civil intendant of Algiers, and for his godmother Madame Gentz de Bussy. Yussuf is a Turk by birth, and 36 years of age. After his marriage he is to be promoted to the rank of Major-General, and invested with the military command of Oran.

The East-India and China Association have placed the portrait of Mr. Waghorn (by Sir George Hayter) in their board-room, as a memorial of his valuable services in acting as the first pioneer in the overland route to India.

The new Arctic Expedition is appointed to sail about the first week in May. The intended route is through Barrow Straits, between Cape Walker and Bankes' Land, and thence to the continent of America, to the westward of Wollaston Land. They will still be able to take two years' provisions, though the steam apparatus and coals will not admit of their taking three years' complete, as on former arctic voyages. Capt. Crozier is to accompany Sir J. Franklin.

Mr. Baily has just completed, for the College at Calcutta, a monument of the late Mr. David Hare, the statue being 6 feet in height.

The freedom of the City has been voted to Sir Henry Pottinger, in a box valued at 100 guineas.

The Precursor steamer arrived at the Sand Heads, Calcutta, on the 26th December. She had been looked for from about the 6th. The detention arose from bad weather at the Cape, which denied her communication with the shore for eight or nine days, and an accident to her machinery, which, with

coaling, detained her sixteen days at the Mauritius, where, through the stupidity of the pilot, she was put on a coral reef, but got off in a couple of hours, with some slight injury to her copper, sufficient, however, to send her into dock.-Overland Calcutta Star.

The merchants connected with the East Indies are in great consternation at an announcement from Marseilles, by which it appears that the Calcutta mail that left here on the 24th ult. found no vessel to convey it to Malta. The con. sequence is, that it will have to wait at Marseilles till the arrival of the Bombay mail that leaves here on Friday, before it can be carried on to Malta and Alexandria. When it reaches the latter place, one of two contingencies may arise--either it will be forwarded to Bombay with the Bombay mail, in which case the original and duplicate letters will both go by the same vessel; or it will be detained there a month for the next Calcutta conveyance, and in that case the duplicates will precede the originals. Great dissatisfaction is expressed at the oversight which seems to have been committed by the Admiralty in not providing a vessel to take the Calcutta mail from Marseilles to Malta. All the advantage that was held forth by the announcement of a special mail on the 24th ult. is completely thrown away. - Times, Feb. 5.

It appears the steam arrangements have undergone another change,-or rather, we should say, the negotiation that was pending between the Peninsular and Oriental Company and her Majesty's Government, for the conveyance of the mail to Alexandria on the 3rd of each month, has, for the present, fallen to the ground, we believe under an impression that the steamers belonging to her Majesty, which are now lying idle, may be economically employed on this service, and they are consequently refitting for the purpose. The Styx will lead off on the 3rd proximo; but as her Majesty's steamers will neither carry goods, parcels, nor passengers, the Peninsular and Oriental Company, for the accom. modation of the public, have determined to start their Constantinople boats on the 1st of each month. This comfortable medium of conveyance, with a branch boat from Malta to Alexandria, will enable passengers to reach Egypt two or three days prior to the arrival of the outward mail, and consequently they will pass through to Suez with much ease and comfort, and passengers from Bombay will proceed by the same means to England. The new arrangement of the Government cannot last long, because, on the homeward voyage, the Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamers will outrun her Majesty's smaller vessels; and then, doubtless, there will be strong and influential representations, and the public voice will compel the Government to build steamers suitable for the work, or to make an equitable contract with parties who have them already at command. As the last alternative will be the most economical, there can be no doubt that it will be adopted in the end.-Monthly Times.

On the 24th and 25th February, the trial took place before Lord Denman, and a special jury, in the Court of Queen's Bench at Guildhall, of "The Queen v. Douglas," which was an information filed at the instance of the East-India Company, against Captain Archibald Douglas, for having, whilst resident at the court of the Rajah of Tanjore, corruptly received Rs. 116,000 from the Rajah, and also about Rs. 17,000 from the Rajah of Pooda Cottah, in the neighbourhood of Tanjore, in violation of an act passed in the year 1793, and of the oath taken by him upon his appointment to the post of resident. It appeared that Capt. Douglas had filled that post from 2nd October, 1839, to 16th March, 1841, at which latter period he left Tanjore for the Neilgherry Hills, on sick leave, and Mr. Bayley, assistant to the secretary of the Governor of