usually called Jewish, strikingly different from those of the other tribes; but with most, if not all, of the vices common to Asiatics, the Sindians appear to possess few or none of their virtues, and the ignorance in which the greater part of the population is involved surpasses what can well be imagined.

The conclusion of the paper was deferred till the next meeting, on the 5th of July.

VARIETIES.

Composition of Chinese Gongs.In the Annales de Chimie for November, there is the following account of the Chinese process of manufacturing gongs and cymbals, translated by M. St. Julien from the Teen-kong-kae-weh, a Chinese encyclopædia of arts and manufactures :

"The red copper, used in making musical instruments, must be alloyed with mountain-tin,*, which does not contain a particle (lit. a vapour) of lead. In order to make gongs (lo) &c., eight pounds of copper are alloyed with two pounds of tin. If you wish to make little bells or cymbals, the red copper and the tin must be much purer and finer than for gongs.

"When a gong is to be made, it must not be cast in the form it is to have, and then forged with the hammer. You must begin by founding a thick sheet of metal, which must be cut round, and then beaten with the hammer. For this last purpose, the round sheet of metal must be spread upon the ground, and if the instrument is required to be of large size, four or five workmen must be placed around, to hammer it. The sheet will spread out and enlarge under the hammer, and its edges will rise up. Then the instrument will begin to emit sounds, resembling those of a musical cord. All these sounds proceed from the points which the hammer has struck (lit. from the points struck by the cold hammer). In the centre of this drum of copper, a boss or round elevation is formed, which is struck, and the blows of the hammer give it the Two tones are distinguished in the gong; the male tone and the female tone. Both depend upon the rising being less or greater than ought to be given, with rigorous exactness, to the boss, according as one or other is desired. By doubling the blows of the hammer, the instrument acquires a grave tone."

tone.

M. Darcet, in a note upon this translation, observes: "The only thing I find correct in this account is the composition of the alloy, of which the Chinese author states these instruments are formed. I have ana❤ lysed seven gongs and twenty-two cymbals, and I have always found, in 100 parts, about 80 of copper and 20 of tin. It is true, about five or six years ago, an original letter was communicated to me from a missionary, which stated that gongs contained, besides copper and tin; of bismuth; but the properties of this alloy and the result of the analyses just mentioned show; that the workman'deceived the missionary on this point. I regard then, as a fact proved, that these gongs and cymbals are composed of an alloy formed with 80 parts copper and 20 of tin; but this is far from sufficient to enable us to fabricate these instruments; for this alloy is as brittle as glass, and ́if'it be used as it comes from the crucible, it would be not only impossible to forge it, but even to use such instruments, merely cast with this alloy, without their breaking. This happened to an untempered gong which had been made at the school of Châlons for the king of Prussia, and to the gong at the opera, which, being cracked, was heated in order that it might be mended with

* The Chinese have two sorts of tin, mountain-tin and river-tin; both are found in the province of Kwang-se. 2 E

Asiat.Journ.N.S.VOL.14.No.55.

silver solder. The alloy of 80 parts copper and 20 of tin is so brittle, especially when hot, that it may be reduced to powder. This alloy has great density; its grain is very fine, and its fracture almost as white as that of bellmetal. Chinese gongs and cymbals, on the contrary, have a small specific gravity, and a fibrous fracture exhibiting the colour of the alloy, of 90 parts copper and 10 tin, used for cannon. Fragments of gongs and cymbals, far from breaking under the pestle, are malleable, and may, moreover, be bent till the two sides of the piece form together an angle of 130 or 140 degrees, without breaking. It follows clearly from this comparison, that gongs and cymbals cannot be fabricated as the Chinese author pretends; that it is only by means of some peculiar process, some sleight of hand, that an alloy of 80 parts copper and 20 tin can be employed in this manufacture. This secret consists in tempering the alloy; in fact, when heated to a dull cherry red, and plunged into cold water, it takes instantly all the physical characters of the gong and cymbals: I have manufactured by this process upwards of sixty pairs of cymbals, and experience has fully justified what I have stated. Nothing is said in the Chinese account about tempering; yet without this operation, it is impossible to fabricate these articles. As to the mode of making them, the alloy of 80 parts copper and 20 tin, even when tempered, cannot possibly be forced, and especially beaten out. All the Chinese author says about casting the alloy in the form of a plate and beating it out with the hammer, is a mere fiction, imposed upon him by a Chinese artificer, just as our artificers endeavour to mislead curious visitors in our manufactories. The following method is, in my opinion, the true one.

"The model of the instrument is forged in red copper or brass; to this model is given exactly all the desired forms, by making the face of the hammer penetrate more or less on the two surfaces, so as to form that continuity of spherical hollows and saliant parts we see upon cymbals, and especially gongs, When the model is finished, it is employed to make a mould in sand, in putty or in metal. An alloy of 80 parts of pure copper and 20 of fine tin is prepared, which is run into an ingot; it is then re-cast and run into the mould. The piece, when taken out of the mould, is rough-scraped; it is tempered as is done with steel. If it is misshapen, by plunging it red hot into cold water, the shape may be rectified by the hammer and by flattening it with gentle blows. The required tone may be given, either at first, by forcing the temper more or less; or afterwards, by hammering; it is polished by means of a lathe, as is done with saucepans of copper or brass, and the instrument is finished."

Buildings of Canton. In the buildings of Canton, we have doubtless as great a variety of structure and style, and as fair specimens of Chinese taste and art, as can be found in the whole empire. A large part of the city and suburbs is built on low ground or flats. Special care, therefore, is requisite in order to secure for houses and temples a solid basis. Near the river, and in all the most loose or muddy situations, houses are raised on wooden piles, which make the foundation as secure as brick or stone, and perhaps more so. In some cases, the piles rise above the surface of the ground, and then the buildings, constructed of wood, rest directly on them; but in other instances, the piles reach only within a few feet of the surface, and the remaining part of the foundation is made of mud, brick, or stone. When this is done, the walls of the houses are usually carried up and completed with the same material. Not a few of the houses are entirely baseless, or have only a slender founda

tion of mud, of which also their walls are composed; and hence, in severe rain-storms and overflowings of the river, many of the walls are prostrated.

Bricks are in most general use for the walls of houses; perhaps three-fifths of the whole city are built of this material; of the remaining part, a very large portion is constructed of mud: most of the Tartars in the old city inhabit houses of this description. Stone and wood are not very extensively used for the walls of houses; the first is frequently employed about gateways and for door-posts; and the second for columns, beams, and rafters. Many of the floors of houses and temples are formed of indurated mud; marble flags are sometimes used for the same purpose, and often tiles. The latter, when made very thin, are used for roofs; they are laid on the rafters in rows alternately concave and convex, and forming ridges and furrows, luted by a cement of clay. Windows are small, and rarely supplied with glass; paper, mica, or shell, or some other similar translucent substance, taking its place. Very little iron is employed in building houses.

Such is the general style, and the usual material, of the buildings of Canton. In passing through the streets of the city, the spectator is struck with the difference he finds in its various buildings-though this diversity does by no means fully exhibit the relative condition and circumstances of the people. A few only are rich; and the external appearance of their houses does not at all exceed in elegance those of the middling class. Many are very poor; and the aspect of their habitations exhibits abundant evidence of their abject state. The poorest people are to be found in the extreme parts of the suburbs, along the banks of the canals, and in the northern part of the old city; their houses are mere mud hovels-low, narrow, dark, uncleanly, and without any division of apartments. A whole family of six, eight, ten, and sometimes twice that number of individuals, is crowded into one of these dreary abodes. It is surprising that people can live, and enjoy health, and even long life, in these circumstances. To pass through the streets or lanes of such a neighbourhood, is sufficient to reconcile a person to any ordinary condition of life. Neither intelligence nor industry could ever be confined in such miserable cells.

In habitations a little more spacious and cleanly than these, perhaps onethird part of the population of Canton have their abodes. These stand close on the streets, and have usually but single entrance, which is closed by a bamboo screen suspended from the top of the door. Within these houses there are no superfluous apartments; a single room, allotted to each branch of the family, serves for a dormitory, while a third, which completes the number into which the whole enclosure is divided, is used by all the household as a common eating-room. Chinese houses usually open towards the south; but in these, as also in the poorer kind, this favourite position is disregarded. Houses of this description are rented at four or five dollars a-month.-Chinese Repos.

Illustrations of the Botany and other branches of the Natural History of the Himalayan · Mountains, and of the Flora of Cashmere. By JOHN FORBES ROYLE, F. L. S., &c. Part III. 4to. London, 1834. Parbury, Allen, and Co.

THE third part of this magnificent work fully redeems the promises tacitly held out by the first. It is pregnant not merely with information of a purely scientific nature, but with facts of general practical utility, bearing upon agricultural and, mercantile topics.

The portion of the introduction, given with this part, contains some valuable geogra phical data, including corrected measurements of the lofty peaks of the Himalaya country, and remarks on the arrangements of the mountain groups, as far as this stu pendous country has been surveyed.

"The great length and enormous height of the Himalayas are evident," Mr. Royle observes; "but to form a true estimate of these mountains, it is necessary also to take into consideration their breadth. This is supposed to be greatest in the vicinity of the lofty peaks near which the great rivers have their rise; but as the whole extent has not yet been surveyed, this can only be considered as conjectural. In no part is there anything like table-land to be found; but seen from the plains of Northern India, the Himalayas seem formed of a succession of parallel ranges, though nothing of this kind is apparent when we enter the mountains themselves; for, in ascending any of the principal points, a number of arms are seen radiating in every direction, separating deep ravines connecting the different mountains together, and throwing the waters of the several rivers in opposite directions. But, notwithstanding this irregularity, the ridges generally run parallel to the direction of the mountain mass; for in proceeding transversely across it, we have constantly a series of ridges to ascend and descend, and narrow vallies to cross: in the bottom of these generally flow the rivulets collected by the various ravines from the surrounding peaks and ridges." Mr. Royle has cleared up the problem respecting the distances ascertained by a pundit's striding four feet, in Moorcroft's journey, which made the Quarterly reviewers so merry at the poor pundit's expense. The matter is explained by Mr. Royle: "these distances having been given in paces, of four feet, it has been objected that a man being employed to stride these, instead of stepping his usual paces, must have been a source of error; but the fact is, that, according to the native mode, only one foot was counted, so that each step taken by the pundit was only half the quantity generally supposed, and what a man would naturally take in a hilly country, This fact I learnt from Capt. Hearsay, who was one of the party."

In the botanical portion, we have the botanical and commercial history of the Lineæ, or flax family, the Malvaceae, the Bombaceæ, the Byttneriacea and Tiliaceae, and the mutual relation of these four families in botanical structure, and as containing in common many plants which yield mucilage and fibre, remarkable for its tenacity,

Mr. Royle has very appropriately devoted considerable space to the history of cotton, which will afford amusement to the historical reader.

There can be no doubt that the Burgos of the Greeks and byssus of the Latins were derived from the Hebrew, which is pronounced booj (not butz), and is evidently identical with the substance called w, both being translated by the LXX. Burgos, the latter of the two terms being expressive of whiteness. Our word " cotton is, doubtless, derived through the French from the Arabic kutun, probably from Cottonara (now Canara); in Malabar, where the Arabians traded in ancient times. The Sanscrit karpassée is the parent of the Bengalee karpase and the Hindi kupas, between which and Gossypium Mr. Royle endeavours, without success, we think, to establish a connection. But he has omitted to notice a curious link between the Sanscrit and the Greek and Latin names of cotton. Arrian mentions zúgravos as a vegetable substance, from which the Indians manufactured their common cloths. This word, which is the Sanscrit karpassee, appears to have been adopted into the Greek language as a name of fine linen or cloth; and hence came the Latin carbasus, the synonym of xúgtaros, used by Virgil to denote the cloth of which the sails of ships were made, and by Lucretius for the drapery extended over theatres to screen the spectators from the sun. We may add that, although the Chinese modern name for cotton is mëen-hwa, they have another older name for it, koo-pei, or keih-pei, which is phonetic, not significant, and therefore the representation of a proper name, evidently kupas. The name of Bengal cotton, in their old books, is Pang-ko la (Bengal) keih-pei (kupas).

Universal History, from the Creation of the World to the Beginning of the Eighteenth Century. By the late Hon. ALEX. FRASER TYTLER, LORD WOODHOUSELEE. In 3ix Vols. Vols. III, and IV. Being Vols. XLIII, and XLIV. of The Family Library. London, 1834. Murray.

THE additional portion of this work, now before us, justifies us in re-iterating, with more confidence, the favourable opinion we have expressed of it. The arrangement is new and ingenious, and the style polished and pleasing. These volumes continue

and conclude the Roman history, which (consistently with the author's plan) is sketched upon rather an extensive scale; and they contain, besides, a succinct account of Arabia and Mahomet; of the early history of France, of the Feudal System (which is, perhaps, too briefly despatched), of the Popedom, and a sketch of the early history of Britain, the several topics being connected together and diversified by summaries of contemporaneous history of a subordinate character. The English history is greatly compressed, and we are not sorry for it: too much suspicious and superfluous matter passes current in our best authors as genuine English history. The old facts in the chronicles require a good deal of winnowing.

A Treatise on Arithmetic, Theoretical and Practical. By the REV. D. LARDNER, LL.D. F.R.S., &c. Being Vol. LV. of Dr. Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopædia. London, 1834. Longman and Co. Taylor.

THIS is one of the most philosophical treatises on arithmetic we have ever seen, and is. every way worthy of a place in the rich department of this collection, dedicated to Natural Philosophy.

The remarks on nomenclature and notation, in different ages and parts of the world, are curious. It is remarkable that "the most perfect and symmetrical nomenclature, for decimal numeration, so far as it is known to extend, is found in the language of Thibet."

Dr. Lardner's analyses of the several rules of arithmetic are distinguished by great clearness, precision, and succinctness.

Letters addressed to a Young Master-Mariner, on some subjects connected with his calling. By CHARLES LORIMER. London, 1834. E. Wilson.

THIS little work contains practical information from a practical man, upon most points connected with the duties of a master-mariner, duties more important and responsible than is generally supposed. Letter VI., expecially that part relating to salvage, contains some very judicious observations.

Outline of the Geology of the Neighbourhood of Cheltenham. By RODERICK IMPEY MURCHISON, F. R.S., V.P. Geol. Soc. London. Cheltenham, 1834. Davies. London, Murray.

AN able little compendium, which will give scientific visitors at Cheltenham accurate information of the neighbourhood, more than is often found in works of much larger dimensions.

Encyclopædia of Geography. By HUGH MURRAY, F. R.S. E.

Encyclopædia of Gardening. By J. C. LOUDON, F.L.G. and Z.S.
Architectural Magazine. By the same.

WE notice these excellent works, which are publishing in periodical portions, under one head, as they are published by the same firm (Messrs. Longman and Co.), and because we have not space this month to do more than speak of them in general terms. The first, in particular, contains a mass of closely-printed matter, admirably digested and arranged.

Landscape Illustrations of the Bible.

Engraved by FINDEN, with descriptions by the
London, Murray.

Rev. T. H. HORNE, B. D. Part IV. THE fourth part of this splendid work contains four exquisite prints,-Mount Carmel (with Ptolemais in the distance), by Callcott; Arimathea, by Stanfield; Babylon, by Turner, and the Fords of the Jordan, a delightful piece, by Callcott. All for half-acrown!

Illustrations of the Bible. By WESTALL and MARTIN. With descriptions by the Rev. HOBART CAUNTER. Part III. London, Bull and Churton.

Most of these prints are very striking; the designs are excellent, but, though the artist has done his utmost, it is impossible to do justice to them on wood.

Cuvier's Animal Kingdom. Translated from the latest French edition. Published Monthly. London, Henderson.

A CHEAP and well-executed translation of Baron Cuvier's valuable work.