is ever trying to fan into a flame, and which even at this stage is shedding its calm radiance over the minds of men. Young men, graduates of our Universities, are swayed to and fro, now abject followers of the men of science, now inclined toward our Religion; now a rank skeptic, now a new convert to a belief in the Shastras. Brothers do not agree with each other; one a bigot of science, and the other no less a bigot of his idol. Father and son, younger and elder, husband and wife, master and servant, teacher and students, all of them disagree; the one a rigid Hindu, the other a hater of all beliefs and dogmas. Truly we are passing through strange and dangerous times, and none can say whether it will be all plain sailing hereafter or there is a breaker ahead.

Twenty years ago, it was twenty years and no more, we two students, while boldly declaring our Religion to be Hinduism, considered ourselves something like heroes; and now many seriously question the truth of that which they do not find in the Shastras. Now the question is, which is to win at last, bigotry or Theosophy? By bigotry I mean bigotry either in Science or Religion, materialism or transcendentalism; for they are equally pernicious, equally limiting further progress, intellectual as well as spiritual. Even now the war has commenced between disbelief and belief on the one hand and between reasonable belief and blind faith on the other, and many are passing from blind disbelief to blind faith without pausing to think what they are doing; so belief is between two fires, and yet hopes to win at last.

There are two very popular weekly papers in Bengal. One condemns all that is foreign, is opposed to all innovations and reforms (even the Railway and the Telegraph, strange as it may appear to you); the other would REFORM everything Indian, and condemns all that we have. Both are largely read, both admired by many. So those that think calmly and judge soundly are be tween two fires; yet they fondly hope that they will in time prevail.

On the one hand, the introduction of Western civilization is ever increasing our wants; on the other, we are, for many reasons, becoming poorer and poorer; many find themselves unable to make the two ends meet, others are in pinching want. While foreign luxuries are becoming common, our means of livelihood are becoming scarce, aud we find ourselves between two fires as regards our economic condition.

You in the far West may not sympathize with our thoughts and aspirations, with our movements and actions, yet purified, regenerated India, rising Phoenix-like from the ashes of its dark Kali Yuga, would be able to yet instruct the West by expounding its

time-honored Shastric teachings, and in that relation, if not in others, it is bound to the West by the holy tie of spiritual sisterhood, a tie that can not, should not, be ignored by you.

And it is in that belief that I write to you, let Theosophy and Brotherhood prevail all the world over, let us help each other in the cause of Spiritual Progress of Humanity, and there are those who will assist us, as they have founded the Society to which we all have the honor to belong.

Barakar, India.

A BRAHMIN.

H

FACES OF FRIENDS.

EVAVITARANA DHARMAPALA is a member of the Indian Section of the Theosophical Society, and visited the Chicago Parliament of Religions as the Buddhist delegate to the Parliament and at the request of the Managers of that gathering. Advantage was taken of his visit to have him represent the Ceylon Section of the T.S. in the Theosophical Society Congress in September, and he then appeared on our platform upon two occasions, the last being at the great extra meeting for a general representation of Theosophy to the Parliament, when 4000 people were present. He is also Secretary of the Maha Bodhi Society of India, which has for its object the restoration to the Buddhists of the Buddha Gya shrine in India, where, however, the Buddhists are not large in number.

Brother Dharmapala's visit enabled many Theosophists to make his personal acquaintance, as he stayed in Brooklyn, N. Y., with the members there, attended their meetings, and spoke to the Aryan. T.S. on the same evening with Prof. Chakravarti, Mrs. Besant, and Miss Müller. After the closing of the Parliament he went home by Japan, stopping at San Francisco, where he once more met members of the T. S. and lectured publicly for them, causing much favorable comment in the newspapers of the coast. From there he sailed for home, and in his latest letter at hand just before going to press he expresses the hope of being here again in two years. On all those who met him he made an impression of gentleness, sincerity, and devotion. He is spare in figure, his eyes are black and his complexion very dark. With his oriental face and dressed in the Ceylonese costume he attracted much attention everywhere, and at the Parliament was one of the most noticeable figures.

SING

IMMENSE ANTIQUITY OF AMERICA.

NO. I.

INCE some Theosophists have taken for granted that authorities agree as to the derivation of the aborigines of America from ancient India,' perhaps it would be well to place together as closely as possible the conclusions of an opposite character arrived at by some of the recognized authorities upon American antiquities. This is here attempted, not in a spirit of controversy, but to substantiate the statements of the Secret Doctrine, which has not taught that India was the cradle of the human family.

It will be evident from what follows that central Asia is deemed the starting-point for the races of the Old World only (although this is disputed by many"), while the origin of the first tribes of the Western hemisphere is-agreeably to all but a few fanciful writers who have no facts at their disposal to support absurd conclusions-wrapped in profound darkness. Parenthetically it could be added that they have had but little success in tracing other races than the Aryan-as, for example, the Ethiopian-to an original home in central Asia, and this is in agreement with the Secret Doctrine, which places them as one of the direct offshoots of the Atlanteans. The negro had the same physiognomy 3000 and 5000 years ago (as shown by Egyptian bas-reliefs) that he has to-day.

M. le Marquis G. de Saporta indicates the regions of the North Pole as the first home of the human family, and in this he agrees with the Secret Doctrine, for it is the "First Continent", hundreds of millions of years old. He also said:*

1 Vide PATH for October, p. 222.

2Dr. Fligier argues in Kosmos that the theory of the Asiatic origin of the Aryan race is not yet as firmly settled as has been supposed. Latham disputes it on geographical grounds in his Native Races of the Russian Empire. Pictet believes, on the evidence of the names of animals and plants that were known to them, that they originated farther north than the Asiatic theory supposes, and fixes their birthplace in southern Russia. Benfey and Prof. Thomaschek of Grätz agree with him, and indicate the region of the southern Volga as their primary home, [etc.] ... Dr. Fligier believes that the results of linguistic, anthropological, and archæological researches indicate that the [East] Indians and the Iranians lived near each other for a long time in eastern Europe or northwestern Asia, and that the Indians followed the Iranians into Asia.-"The Original Home of the Aryans", Popular Science Monthly, vol. xxi, p. 571.

It will be seen that we are inclined to remove to the circumpolar regions of the North the probable cradle of primitive humanity. From there only could it have radiated as from a center to spread to several continents at once. This theory agrees best with the presumed course of the human races. . . . The general laws of geology favor this hypothesis in a remarkable manner.-"How the Earth was Peopled", Popular Science Monthly, vol. xxiii, p. 678.

4" How the Earth was Peopled ", Popular Science Monthly, vol. xxiii, p. 673.