Bráhmens, are the only means of feparating truth from fable; and we may expect the most important discoveries from two of our members ; concerning whom it may be fafely afferted, that, if our fociety fhould have produced no other advantage than the invitation given to them for the publick difplay of their talents, we should have a claim to the thanks of our country and of all Europe. Lieutenant WILFORD has exhibited an interesting specimen of the geographical knowledge deducible from the Puránas, and will in time present you with so complete a treatise on the ancient world known to the Hindus, that the light acquired by the Greeks will appear but a glimmering in comparison of that, which He will diffufe; while Mr. DAVIS, who has given us a distinct idea of Indian computations and cycles, and afcertained the place of the colures at a time of great importance in hiftory, will hereafter disclose the systems of Hindu aftronomers from NARED and PARA'SAR to MEYA, VARA'HAMIHIR, and BHA'SCAR, and will foon, I truft, lay before you a perfect delineation of all the Indian afterifms in both hemifpheres, where you will perceive fo ftrong a general resemblance to the conftellations of the Greeks, as to prove that the two fyftems were originally one and the same, yet with fuch a diversity in parts, as to show incon

testably, that neither system was copied from the other; whence it will follow, that they must have had fome common fource.

The jurifprudence of the Hindus and Arabs being the field, which I have chosen for my peculiar toil, you cannot expect, that I fhould greatly enlarge your collection of historical knowledge; but I may be able to offer you fome occafional tribute, and I cannot help mentioning a discovery, which accident threw in my way; though my proofs must be reserved for an effay, which I have deftined for the fourth volume of your Tranfactions. To fix the fitua tion of that Palibothra (for there may have been several of the name), which was visited and described by MEGASTHENES had always appeared a very difficult problem; for, though it could not have been Prayága, where no ancient metropolis ever stood, nor Cányacubja, which has no epithet at all refembling the word used by the Greeks, nor Gaur, otherwise called Lacfbmanavati, which all know to be a town comparatively modern, yet we could not confidently decide that it was Pátaliputra, though names and most circumftances nearly correspond, because that renowned capital extended from the confluence of the Sone and the Ganges to the fcite of Patna, while Palibothra ftood at the junction of the Ganges and Erannoboas, which

the accurate M. D'ANVILLE had pronounced to be the Yamunà: but this only difficulty was removed, when I found in a claffical Sanferit book, near two thousand years old, that Hiranyabáhu, or golden-armed, which the Greeks changed into Erannoboas, or the river with a lovely murmur, was in fact another name for the Sóna itself, though MEGASTHENES, from ignorance or inattention, has named them separately. This discovery led to another of greater moment; for CHANDRAGUPTA, who, from a military adventurer, became, like SANDRACOTTUS, the fovereign of upper Hindustàn, actually fixed the feat of his empire at Pataliputra, where he received ambaffadors from foreign princes, and was no other than that very SANDRACOTTUS, who concluded a treaty with SELEUCUS NICATOR; so that we have folved another problem, to which we before alluded, and may in round numbers confider the twelve and three hundredth years before CHRIST as two certain epochs between RAMA, who conquered Silán a few centuries after the flood, and VICRAMA'DITYA, who died at Ujjayini fifty-feven years before the beginning of our era.

II. SINCE thefe difcuffions would lead us too far, I proceed to the history of Nature distinguished, for our prefent purpose, from that of Man; and divided into that of other animals,

who inhabit this globe, of the mineral fubftances, which it contains, and of the vegetables, which fo luxuriantly and fo beautifully adorn it.

1. Could the figure, inftincts, and qualities of birds, beafts, infects, reptiles, and fish be afcertained, either on the plan of BUFFON, or on that of LINNEUS, without giving pain to the objects of our examination, few studies would afford us more folid instruction or more exquifite delight; but I never could learn by what right, nor conceive with what feelings, a naturalift can occafion the misery of an innocent bird and leave its young, perhaps, to perish in a cold neft, because it has gay plumage and has never been accurately delineated, or deprive even a butterfly of its natural enjoyments, because it has the misfortune to be rare or beautiful; nor fhall I ever forget the couplet of FIRDAUSI, for which SADI, who cites it with applaufe, pours bleffings on his departed spirit :

Ah! spare yon emmet, rich in hoarded grain:
He lives with pleasure, and he dies with pain.

This may be only a confeffion of weakness, and it certainly is not meant as a boast of peculiar fenfibility; but, whatever name may be given to my opinion, it has fuch an effect on my conduct, that I never would fuffer the Cócila, whose wild native woodnotes announce the approach of

fpring, to be caught in my garden for the fake of comparing it with BUFFON's defcription; though I have often examined the domeftick and engaging Mayanà, which bids us good morrow at our windows, and expects, as its reward, little more than fecurity: even when a fine young Manis or Pangolin was brought me, against my wifh, from the mountains, I folicited his reftoration to his beloved rocks, because I found it impoffible to preferve him in comfort at a diftance from them. There are several treatises on animals in Arabick, and very particular accounts of them in Chinese with elegant outlines of their external appearance; but I have met with nothing valuable concerning them in Persian, except what may be gleaned from the medical dictionaries; nor have I yet feen a book in Sanfcrit, that exprefsly treats of them: on the whole, though rare animals may be found in all Afia, yet I can only recommend an examination of them with this condition, that they be left, as much as poffible, in a state of natural freedom, or made as happy as poffible, if it be neceffary to keep them confined.

2. The hiftory of minerals, to which no fuch objection can be made, is extremely fimple and easy, if we merely confider their exterior look and configuration, and their visible texture; but the analysis of their internal properties belongs