Parsis.

There is now at Benares a Brahmen of the name of Devidas, who is a native of Mesched; he was introduced lately to my acquaintance by Mr. Duncan; and he informed me that it was supposed there were about 2000 families of Hindus in Khorassan; that they called themselves Hindi; and are known to the Mussulmans of the country under that appellation.

THIS, in my opinion, accounts for the whole country to the south of the Caspian sea, from Khorassan and Arrokhage, as far as the Black Sea, being called India by the antients; and its inhabitants in various places Sindi: it is implicitly confirmed by the Puranas, in which it is said that the Surya-muc'hi-Ganga, or Volga, falls into the Sea of Sind. The Hindus near Baku and at Astrachan, call it the new sea, because they say it did not exist formerly. They have legends about it, which, however, my learned friend Vidhya-nath could not find in the Puranas.

ACCORDING to the pilgrims I have consulted, there are about twenty or thirty families of Hindus at Balk; and Eusebius informs us, that there were Hindus in Bactriana in his time. There are as many families at Gangawaz, or Congo; about one hundred at Bussora; and a few at Baharein: these informed Purana-puri, a Yoyi and famous traveller, called also Urd'hwabahu, because he always keeps his hands elevated above his head, that formerly they corresponded and traded with other Hindus on the banks of the river Nila, in the country of Misr; and that they had once a house or factory at Cairo; but

that,

that, on account of the oppression of the Turks and the roving Arabs, there had been no intercourse between them for several generations. There are no Hindus at Anayasadevi, or Corcoor; but they compute a large number in the vicinity of Baku and Derbend. The Shroffs at Samakhi are Banyans or Hindus, according to the Dictionary of Commerce, and of Trevoux, as cited in the French Encyclopædia.

THE Cubanis who live near Derbend, are Hindus, as my friend Purana - Puri was told at Baku and Astrachan, in his way to Moscow; and their Brahmens are said to be very learned; but, as he very properly observed, this ought to be understood relatively on a comparison with the other Hindus in Persia, who are extremely ignorant.

His relation is in a great measure confirmed by Strahlenberg, who calls them Cuba and Cubatzin; and says that they live near Derbend, and are a distinct people, supposed to be Jews, and to speak still the Hebrew language.

THE Sanscrit characters might easily be mistaken for the black Hebrew letters by superficial observers, or persons little conversant in subjects of this na

ture.

THE Arani, figuratively called the daughter of the Sami-tree, and the mother of fire, is a cubic piece of wood about five inches in diameter, with a small hole in the upper part. A stick of the same sort of wood is placed in this cavity, and put in motion by a string

*Ad vocem Cher affs.

held

held by two men, or fixed to a bow. The friction soon produces fire, which is used for all religious purposes, and also for dressing food. Every Brahmen ought to have an Arani; and when they cannot procure one from the Sami-tree, which is rather scarce in this part of India, they make it with the wood of the Asvatt' ha, or Pippala-tree. This is also a sacred tree, and they distinguish two species of it; the Pippala, called in the vulgar dialects Pipal, and the ChalatPalasha. The leaves of this last are larger, but the fruit is smaller, and not so numerous as in the former species. It is called Chalat-palasha, from the tremulous motion of its leaves. It is very common in the hills, and the vulgar name for it is Popala; from which I suppose is derived the Latin word Populus ; for it is certainly the trembling Poplar or Aspen

tree.

THE festival of Simiramis falls always on the tenth day of the lunar month of Aswina, which this year coincided with the fourth of October. On this day lamps are lighted in the evening under the Samitree; offerings are made of rice and flowers, and sometimes strong liquors; the votaries sing the praise of Sami-Rama-devi and the Sami-tree; and having worshipped them, carry away some of the leaves of the tree, and earth from the roots, which they keep carefully in their houses till the return of the festival of Semiramis in the ensuing year.

ON

XXVII.

ON THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS.

BY LIEUT. R. H. COLEBROOKE.

THE Andaman islands are situated on the eastern side of the bay of Bengal, extending from north latitude 10° 32' to 13°40'. Their longitude is from 90° 6' to 92° 59′ east of Greenwich. The Great Andaman, or that portion of the land hitherto so called, is about one hundred and forty British miles in length, but not more than twenty in the broadest part. Its coasts are indented by several deep bays, affording excellent harbours, and it is intersected by many vast inlets and creeks, one of which has been found to run quite through, and is navigable for

It is perhaps a wonder, that islands so extensive, and lying in the track of so many ships, should have been, till of late years, so little known; that while the countries by which they are almost encircled, have been increasing in popu lation and wealth, having been from time immemorial in a state of tolerable civilization, these islands should have remained in a state of nature, and their inhabitants plunged in the grossest ignorance and barbarity.

THE wild appearance of the country, and the untractable and ferocious disposi tion of the natives, have been the causes, probably, which have deterred navigators from frequenting them; and they have justly dreaded a shipwreck at the Andamans more than the danger of foundering in the ocean; for although it is highly probable, that in the course of time many vessels have been wrecked upon their coasts, an instance does not occur of any of the crews being saved, or of a single person returning to give any account of such a disaster,

VOL. IV.

3 F

small

small vessels. The Little Andaman is the most south

erly of the two, and lies within thirty leagues of the island Carnicobar. Its length is 28 miles by 17 in breadth, being more compact, but does not afford any harbour, although tolerable anchorage is found near its shores. The former is surrounded by a great number of smaller islands.

THE shores of the main island, and indeed of all the rest, are in some parts rocky, and in a few places are lined with a smooth and sandy beach, where boats may easily land. The interior shores of the bays and creeks are almost invariably lined with mangroves, prickly fern, and a species of wild rattan; while the inland parts are covered with a variety of tall trees, darkened by the intermixture of creepers, parasite plants, and underwood; which form altogether a vast and almost impervious forest, spreading over the whole country. The smaller islands are equally covered with wood; they mostly contain hills of a moderate height, but the main island is distinguished by a mountain of prodigious bulk, called from its shape the Saddle-Peak; it is visible in clear weather at the distance of twenty-five leagues, being nearly two thousand four hundred feet in perpendicular height. There are no rivers of any size upon these islands, but a number of small rills pour down from the mountains, affording good water, and exhibiting in their descent over the rocks a variety of little cascades, which are overshaded by the superincumbent woods.

THE soil is various in different parts of these

islands;