much curious intelligence respecting the destruction of Mungo Park and his party (which is confirmatory of preceding accounts), and concerning the city of Timbuctoo. A Moor, named Khalifa, told the Major that Timbuctoo was now governed by a woman (a statement confirmed by two letters received from Timbuctoo, which Major D. afterwards saw at Tripoli); and that the term wangara, hitherto supposed to be a state, is merely a title applied to gold countries: Bambara is therefore called Wangara. There is a camel-road from Sackatoo to Timbuctoo, but infested by the Kafirs of Cobee. The most splendid discovery is that of the great lake Tchad, a vast body of fresh water, without an outlet, upwards of 200 miles from east to west, by about 150 miles, in the broadest part, from north to south. This lake is situated between the 14th and 17th eastern meridians, and between 124° and 144° of north latitude. It was explored by Major Denham, except on its eastern and north-eastern sides: the only rivers he found communicating with it were the Yeou, on the west, the course of which is very short from the south-west (running into the Tchad at the rate of three miles an hour); and the Shary, on the south, which, according to information given to Major Denham, communicates with the Kowara, which passes Timbuctoo. The Yeou is called by the Arabs the Nile, a term which, in this part of Africa, denotes all sweet running water. The account which the inhabitants on the borders of the lake give of it is, that it once emptied itself into the Bahr-el-Ghazah by a stream which had dried up, but the bed remained; and that it wasted itself in an immense swamp. At four days' journey was, they said, another lake, called Fittre; not still water like the Tchad, but it received a river from the south-west, forming, in fact, the lake, which was also called Darfoor water, and Shilluk. The disturbed state of the country on the eastern borders of the lake prevented Major Denham from completing his survey of it; Barca Gana, the sheikh's general, encompassed it, however, four several times, in the course of his operations against the tribes in this quarter; and as he had a force of from 400 to 800 cavalry with him, the passage of a river or running stream could not, as Major D. remarks, have escaped his observation. The accessions to our geographical knowledge of Africa, which these travellers have contributed, conduct us but a little way towards a solution of the problems concerning that continent. We trust the efforts of Capt. Clapperton, now on another expedition thither, will carry us still farther. We have been able to afford the reader but a slender and imperfect idea of this work, which is one of the most interesting of the kind we have met with for some years. The narrative is unlaboured; the travellers appear to represent things just as they saw them; and there is quite as much scientific information as could be expected, under the peculiar circumstances of the expedition. The conduct of the travellers generally appears to have been judicious, and to have made its proper impression upon the natives. We are not disposed to blame the instance of excess exhibited by Capt. Clapperton, who, on finding that Dr. Oudney's grave had been outraged by a party of Arabs, under the eye of the Governor of Murmur, sent for his excellency, and applied a horsewhip to his shoulders! VARIETIES; PHILOSOPHICAL, SCIENTIFIC, AND LITERARY. ASIATIC SOCIETY OF CALCUTTA. A meeting of the members of the Asiatic Society was held at Chouringhee on Wednesday the 2d Nov.; the Hon. J. H. Harington, Esq., President, in the chair. At this meeting the Hon. Sir Charles Grey, Mr. J. Paxton, Captain T.. Macan, and Mr. Conolly, were unanimously elected members of the Society. Present, for the Museum. The impression of the foot of Gautama, by Dr. R. Tytler. A live Snake, the Boa Constrictor, from Saugor, and a hammock, or litter, used in Nepaul, by R. Hunter, Esq. Six images from Hammirpore, by M. Ainslie, Esq. A series of specimens illustrative of the strata in the coal field of New South Wales, by D. Ross, Esq.; with a descriptive sketch of the mineral basin as existing at the north-eastern end of Pontypool, Monmouthshire, referring to the substances enumerated. For the Library. Copies of all the oriental works published under the patronage of the College of Fort William, since October 1814, by the Council of the College. A Sanscrit manuscript, the moral sentences of Chanakya, with a Nevari transJation, by H. B. Hodgson, Esq. A coloured map of Benares, by James Prinsep, Esq. Several Burmese manuscripts, by F. P. Strong, Esq. in the name of Captain Wilson. The Secretary read a paper by Lieutenant-Colonel V. Blacker, on the geographical boundaries of India. This paper abounds with curious matter, and interesting illustrations, but we understand, that its communication to the Society was premature on the part of the Secretary, the intelligent author, not having yet, in his own estimation, fully developed the subject. We must therefore refrain from citing its substance beyond adverting to a point which we think the author has incontestibly made out, that the river Indus cannot be considered either geographically or politically as the western barrier of Hindoostan. The Secretary also read a letter from Mr. Moorcroft, dated Cashmeer, the 8th of February, 1823, but owing to the difficulties of transmission from that remote quarter, it was not received before the 2d of November 1825. The letter contains a sketch of the language of Tibet, illus trated by drawings of the various alphabets Mr. Mooremployed in that country. croft has sent at the same time some stereotype line engravings of mythological and real personages, and a few pen-drawings executed in a similar style. These productions are to us quite surprising, as exhibiting a degree of taste and skill in the art of design which could not have been expected from Tibet. The Grand Lama, seated on a chair of state, is gracefully formed, and the drapery well arranged. A figure at his feet very happily managed in a kneeling posture, and the two deities in the clouds, with halos round them, equally well conceived. The drawing of a beautiful Lama is also admirably executed, and the multitude of surrounding figures, depicted with the same taste and spirit. But the death of the mortal part of the Prophet Zacheeamoonee is, perhaps, the finest in point of composition. The figures surrounding the reclining Saint, are numerous, and the expression and attitudes of grief, well varied. These outlines remind us of Flaxman's Homer, by their freedom and simplicity, but, of course, in an inferior degree. Mr. Moorcroft, however, says, that they are merely the common productions of the country, and that those of a higher description are not procurable, being deposited in the temples, and in the houses of men of opulence. Mr. Moorcroft has given an account of every variety of letter used in Tibet, for familiar and religious purposes, and the enumeration is certainly curious. No. 1. Is termed the Lantsa, the letter of the Lhas, or Angels. It is used for inscriptions in the Temples, or Monasteries, and the sacred sentence of "Om ma nee put me hang," is usually written with it. This character is frequently met with in a line perpendicular to its present direction, accompanied by several ornamental strokes, or bars, to the right. No. 2. The Wurtoo, the letter of the Genii (Looee) or the guardian spirits of springs, rivers, mountains, &c. It is found at Lhassa in some religious books, but few persons understand it well, and it is seldom made use of. No. 3. The Gyager Kamate. The first of these words is the name given by the Tibetans to Hindoostan, and the second is that of the place to which the letter is peculiar. If it really exists, at present, it will probably not have escaped European research. No. No. 4. Is the Surchoo Pookhung character. This also belongs to Hindoostan, and it need only be observed that the first word signifies "East," and that the second is the name of the district, or town in which it was employed. No. 5. The Tchaklo. No. 6. The Skongkur dozhe. This and the preceding belong to Tibet, but they are as little studied and as little used as the Wurtoo. No. 7. Is the Oomet Brootsa. The first of these words is applied to every description of the vulgar, or common letter, of which this is a variety, sometimes, though not most frequently, used for works on subjects unconnected with religion, as medicine. No. 8, The Mootaghpe Oochun. No. 9. The Shinpooe Oochun. These are merely the established Ecclesiastical letters, with the omission of a few of the vowel signs, and the addition of a line betwixt some of the syllables, intended, as it is said, to prevent the writing being readily decyphered. No. 10. The Sunskreet. No. 11. The Oomet Peik, more generally used than the Brootsa. No. 12. The Oochun, or the character in which the Kangyoon, the Koghiur of Georgi, and every book treating of religion is either written or printed. No. 13. The Oomet Chookyik, the vulgar letter în general use. No. 14. The Thor. This name, with the addition of Po, is used to designate a race of Tartars supposed to inhabit a country bordering upon the north of Tibet, near the sources of the great Yangtse Kiang, and included between the frontier of Khoten, and the tract of country, through which passes the great commercial road from Lhassa to Siling, or Siningfoo. These people are distinct from the Kalmuks, who are named Sokpo. They are, perhaps, a tribe of the Eluths, but oriental research may be sufficiently advanced to recognise them. The cha racter resembles that of China, in being written in a line commencing at the top of the page and proceeding downwards. The Seal of the Grand Lama affords a specimen of it. Mr. Moorcroft observes that the incorrectness of the present maps of Asia may give rise to a suspicion that the country of Thor touches upon the boundary of Ladak. But the unexplored territory of Khoten extends far to the East, along the face of the Mooz Tagh, connected by irregular groups with Kantesee, or Kuelas, and the line of the ancient thoroughfare, between Kashkar and India, was through its capital and Roodokh, formerly the summer residence of the chief of Ladak. pears to have offered a secure asylum to refugees of different religious persuasions at different periods, and it is presumed that the Manichean and Nestorian Christians have profited by the tranquillity of the country, and the liberal, unpersecuting, spirit of its inhabitants. And from what I have myself seen of the indifference with which all classes of Lamaists behold an individual, born in their faith, embracing the doctrines of Mahomet, a suspicion is forced upon the mind, that if the missionaries who were domiciliated at Lassa, had confined their operation merely to making proselytes, and had not insulted the people by vilifying and degrading the national religion, they would not have been expelled from the country. But the same tolerating spirit does not exist among the Chinese who have now usurped the government of Lassa." Mr. Moorcroft has been led to believe, from what he has seen, that the libraries of Lassa abound with matter, which, considering the insulated situation of that country, would surprise the learned in Europe, were they accessible to European research. The Kangoor, or Kaghyoor, a book found in all the principal monasteries, consists of one hundred and eight folio volumes, each two feet six in length, and six inches and three-quarters in breadth, the first volume containing 1,088 pages. ASIATIC SOCIETY OF PARIS. Meeting of February 6.-The following persons were admitted members :Messrs. Biart; A. H. Brué, geographer; Gros, professor at the Royal College of St. Louis; Pacho, a traveller late from Cyrenaïs; P. Wynch, in the service of the English East-India Company. M. de Hammer communicated to the Council, certain fragments relative to Masoudi, and the origin of the Thousand and One Nights. M. Klaproth communicated the contents of a work which he proposes to publish on the ancient Turkish dialect, called Coman. M. Jouannin, of Constantinople, transmitted to the Council, a memoir of M. Ruffin, for insertion in the Journal Asiatique; also the design of an ancient monument found in a valley near Nicomedia. M. César Moreau transmitted from London some tables relating to the commerce of the English East-India Company; also a donation of a Chinese celestial planisphere, of which M. Abel Rémusat will give an account at the ensuing meeting. Some passages were communicated of a letter from Count Rzewouski, of Warsaw, relative to the labours of M. Majewski on the Sanscrit language, and announc ing the transmission of a work by the latter. A passage of a letter from M. L. Van Alstin, of Ghent, to Messrs. Dondey Dupré was communicated, offering the means of making scientific researches in different parts of Asia. M. Abel Rémusat made a verbal report of the reasons which prevented M. Klaproth and himself from making known to the Council the means of composing a Japanese vocabulary, and on the plan of a work of the same kind which he proposes to publish conjointly with M. Landresse, after the great Chinese and Japanese Dictionary recently obtained by the King's library. The President delivered a report of the presentation made to the King on the 31st January of the first six volumes of the Journal Asiatique. The following speech was addressed to his Majesty by the President: "Sire: The Asiatic Society has the honour to offer the first volumes of the Journal which it publishes. Founded in 1822, under the reign of the monarch who established amongst us, instruction in the languages of China and India, its object is to multiply and extend our acquaintance with the countries and the people of Asia, ancient and modern. No nation of Europe has done so much as France for oriental studies. The Asiatic Society will contribute its utmost to maintain this superiority. If your Majesty deigns to grant your august protection, it will feel assured of success, as well as obtain in advance the most flattering recompense.' The King's Reply. د, "I will always protect with pleasure, labours like yours, gentlemen, useful to the public. I am well satisfied with them, and urge you to continue them." LAWYERS IN CHINA. No attornies are authorized by law in China; those self-constituted, are thus defined and described by a Chinese classic writer: "Villainous and perverse vagabonds, who are fond of making a stir, and who, either by fraudulent and crafty schemes, excite discord; or by disorderly and illegal proceedings, intimidate and impose upon people!" CHESS. A work has been published at Paris, by M. Villot, keeper of the records of that city, to prove that the game of chess took its rise from the study of astronomy among the Egyptians. "The author," says the Révue Encyclopédique, " by a series of researches which he had undertaken upon the subject of the astronomy of the Egyptians, discovered that calendars or astronomical tables are to be met with on a great number of monuments, in the form of chess-boards. His object in the present work is to point out the remarkable coincidence which exists between the game of chess and the rules by which the various combinations of hours, days, months, and years, are arranged in the triple Egyptian calendar." EGYPTIAN COLLECTIONS. The Emperor of Austria has just purchased a splendid collection of Egyptian antiquities, now at Leghorn; the cost is 25,000 francs. The collection contains 3,000 articles. There are colossal sphinxes; the monolith sanctuary of Philoë, a royal sarcophagus, taken from a tomb at Thebes; the famous numerical wall of the palace of Carnac, entire; an immense bas-relief, relative to the conquests of Sesostris ; nearly eighty MSS. on papyrus, Egyptian, Greek, Coptic, and Arabic; many articles of gold, and precious stones; beautiful Greek and Egyptian inscriptions; the entire frescos of an Egyptian tomb at Thebes; several portraits of the times of the Greeks on pannel, and one on canvas.—[French Paper. from Greenwich. The natives were athletic and fierce, great thieves, and, from their shewing no symptoms of fear when muskets were discharged, evidently unacquainted with the effects of fire-arms. NAPOLEON WORSHIPPED BY THE CHINESE. An English missionary in Java states, that in the village of Buitenzorg, in the vicinity of Batavia, where there is a colony of 2,000 Chinese, he found in one of their houses a European picture of Bonaparte, in a gilt frame, to which the people offer incense, and pay their morning and evening vows! HORSES FED ON MILK. Major Denham says, that the horses of the Tibboos, in Central Africa, are fed entirely on camels' milk, corn being too scarce and valuable an article for the Tibboos to spare them; they drink it, he observes, both sweet and sour; and animals in higher health and condition I scarcely ever saw. BUDHUISM IN CHINA. The author of Ching-tsze-t'hung states that the religion of Fuh (or Budhu), entered China during the 7th year of the reign of the Emperor Ming of the dynasty Han, about A. D. 50. The compilers of Kang-he's Dictionary deny this, and say, that some of the Sha-mun, 'or priests of Fuh, came to China during the dynasty Tsin. The first Emperor of that dynasty, Che-hwang, who reigned about 250 years B. C., imprisoned those priests on account of their being foreigners; but, it is said, a golden man broke open the prison-doors at night. In the time of Woo-te (B. C. 150) an image of Fuh was obtained, and the images of the present day are according to that model. They allow, however, that it was during the reign of Ming that this religion entered China more effectually, in consequence of a dream of the emperor's, in which he saw a golden man flying about the palace. -Dr. Morrison. NEW MAP OF ASIA. From M. Klaproth, of Paris, has had a map of the part of Asia that lies between 210 and 31° north latitude and 899 and 101° of east longitude, engraved for the second number of his Magazin Asiatique, which is about to be published in Paris. a specimen of this map received in London, it appears, that it will be much superior to any map of that part of Asia already published, as M. Klaproth has availed himself of the Chinese and Mandchu maps of the countries east and north of Bengal, which are much better than those compiled by European geographers. What makes this map and the memoir that will accompany it peculiarly interesting at the present time, is, that it lays down the sources and course of the river Brahmaputra, about which there has lately been much speculation; and that it gives the course of the Yaru-dzangbo-tchu, or river of Tibet, which Major Rennel has erroneously connected with the Brahmaputra. The courses of these rivers, as laid down by M. Klaproth, afford strong confirmation of the opinion expressed by Capt. Lachlan, of the 17th Bengal regt., in a memoir on the Brahmaputra read before the Royal Asiatic Society about eighteen months since, namely:-" That the Sanpoo, or river of Tibet, is not connected with the Brahmaputra, but is probably connected with the Irrawaddy, or river of Ava." ASIATIC INTELLIGENCE. Calcutta, GOVERNMENT GENERAL ORDERS. MEDICAL APPOINTMENT ABOLISHED. Fort William, Oct. 6, 1825.-With reference to the advertisement published in the Gov. Gazette of the 11th Sept. 1823, notifying the appointment of Mr. Surg. W. P. Muston, to afford medical aid to the native officers in the employment of government at the Presidency in the civil department, &c. Notice is hereby given, that the Right Hon. the Governor General in council has been pleased in conformity to orders received on the subject from the hon. the Court of Directors to abolish the appointment in question from and after the 31st Inst. AUGMENTATION FOR THE SAPPERS AND MINERS. Fort William, Oct. 6, 1825-An augmentation of 1 Jemadar 2 Havildars, 2 Naicks and 40 privates per company, is authorized as a temporary arrangement for the corps of sappers and miners. ALLOWANCES TO OFFICERS. Fort William, Oct. 7, 1825.-The Governor-General in Council is pleased to sanction an allowance of Sonat Rupees (150) one hundred and fifty per mensem, and the usual allowance for one horse, to be |