ever, is in shape the B of the Bengalee alphabet. In inscriptions, it sometimes represents Cha, which may possibly be intended by Sa. There is no doubt that the letters are of Indian origin, and the legends, although they have undergone some local modification, are from a similar source. Brahma is, by some Saiva-puranas, considered to have been created by Siva and Makeswara, and is so far his son. As the author of the Vedas, he is the inventor of letters. Again, the order of the alphabet, as taught by Punini, was communicated, it is said, to that grammarian by Siva, and the first rule of Punini's grammar, which contains the letter S, is called the Siva Sutra The rule of Siva K-jug-ju, Curia Draconis, is Rahu. The head of the Dragon Sakya, or Buddha, is called Arha Bandhava, the friend or relation of the sun, and as a Kshetriye, possibly of the solar line, may be called his progeny. The existence of different characters in different parts of India is indisputable, although the enumeration given by the Japanese author is not very correct. What

he means by Sitti Arasato, cannot be well conjectured, unless Arasato be intended for Akshara, a letter. The other circumstances adverted to are Buddha or Jaand find no equivalent in the panese, sacred literature of the Hindoos.

A paper was also read upon the literature of Thibet, the date of Buddha, and the progress of the Buddha religion, by the Secretary, as derived from information communicated by Mr. Goma de Korous, compared with the inquiries of ancient and modern writers in Europe on these subjects.

Mr. Korous, a Hungarian traveller and philologist, has succeeded in finding his way from Wallachia to Ladakh, and, with the aid of Mr. Moorcroft, has there enjoyed favourable opportunities of acquiring an insight into the language and literature of Thibet. After passing several months in Ladakh with Mr. Moorcroft, he studied a considerable time under an intelligent Lama at Zanskar, in that principality, and expects to be able, in the course of twelve months, to complete a grammar and vocabulary of the language, which are now in a state of great forwardness.

M. Klaproth presented the first thirteen sheets of the Georgian and French vocabulary, and intimated that the printing of the French and Geórgian vocabulary is about to commence, and will be completed in two months.

M. Stan. Julien presented three printed. sheets of his Mencius, and stated that the second part of this work will be completed before the next meeting of the council.

A member communicated a work undertaken by Messrs. E. Burnouf and Lassen, on the dialect known under the name of Pali. The examination of this work was referred to a committee composed of Messrs. Kieffer, Garcin, and Abel-Ré

musat.

A member adverted to the Sanscrit inscriptions, the originals of which exist in Portugal, which had been transmitted to the Society, and requested that a report be made on the subject. Referred to the next meeting of the council.

M. Schulz read a memoir on Hoaï-nantseu, a Chinese philosopher of the sect termed Rationals, or Free-thinkers.

TERMITES.

The termites, or white ant, so destructive in the East-Indies, are not less so in South America. The mode of destroying them is a little singular, that of turning the antipathy of the races to good account. As soon as they are observed, a little sugar is put down, which in a moment summons a tribe of brown or black ants, who instantly attack and destroy the termites.

NEW KIND OF STEREOTYPE.

The Gazette of Munich announces the invention of a new kind of stereotype, by M. Lanefelder, to whom the art of lithography is due. A sheet of ordinary printing paper is covered with a layer of stony earth (terre pierreuse), to the thickness of half an inch, and sufficiently moistened with water. In half an hour it assumes the consistency of paste, when it is put in frames and on types composed in the usual manner, but not blackened, and the paste becomes impressed with the characters. The sheet is then dried on a stone flag, and melted metal poured on it. The metal becomes a thin plate, and has all the characters standing out on it, as well formed as the original types. The proofs from those stereotype characters do not differ from those taken from moveable types. The author of this discovery offers to explain it fully for a subscription of 100 florins, as soon as he shall have thirty subscribers. He estimates the preparation neeessary for the casting at 100 florins, and the paper covered with the stony paste at six kreuss (2d English) a sheet.

METEM

1

METEMPSYCHOSIS.

Souls transmigrate, according to the tenets of the Fo religion, by means of six passages, to six orders or classes of beings: the first is that of the celestials; the second that of men; the third that of the genii; the fourth that of beasts; the fifth that of demons; the sixth that of the inhabitants of hell. Into one or other of these classes, by means of transmigration, whatsoever is animated passes and repasses perpetually, according to merit or demerit. To get to heaven it is necessary to do good and shun evil; but as beneficence is more or less perfect, so heaven has many degrees or stages, which, beginning at the earth, are elevated one upon another. There are thirteen of these heavens; after which there are five others, from whence the tenants, who are called saints, never return. Those in the fifth, or highest, are entirely purged from error, and behold clearly the nature of all things. They are still, however, material, not having yet arrived at perfect exinanition, or complete annihilation. Deshauterayes.

THERMOMETER IN INDIA.

According to a register published in the Calcutta John Bull, the greatest height of the thermometer at Nipal, during the month of March last, inside the house, was 74°, the least height 48°; outside, in the shade, the greatest height was 84°, and the least 32°. At Madras, the greatest height of the thermometer in the month of March was 8910; the least height 7430.

HINDOOSTANEE PROVERBS.

"Come, bull, gore me." Spoken of one who willingly brings misfortune on himself.

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"The barber, the shaver, and the beardscraper, I and my brother, the mare and her colt, and me you know." Applied to one who pretends, in a distribution of provisions, to receive the shares of several people, which are, in fact, all for himself.

His Turkish is expended." Angl. He has got to the length of his tether.

"The crowing of a hen is no rule." i. e. A woman's opinion is not to be depended upon.

"He fell from heaven, and stuck in a date-tree." Said of a person who commences great things, and is stopped by trifles. Angl. To swallow an ox and be choked with the tail.

"A gourd and pumpkin, curse on both!" Applied to a dispute between two persons equally worthless.

"Hear, drum, the lady's voice." Spoken by one to whom another has made many professions of kindness, which have not been fulfilled.

"May the devil be deaf." i. e. I hope this will not reach the ears of those who will found a calumny on it.

"What garden is this radish from?" An expression of contempt.

"My father has eaten ghee, smell my hand." Applied to one who, without any merit of his own, boasts that of his ancestors.

"The poor devil of mankind is man." "His eyes are covered with fat." i. e. He is too proud to recognize his old friends.

"Come, squirrel, another colour." i. e. Change the subject.

"Up with the fire-pan." i. e. Let us shift our quarters.

COPIOUSNESS OF THE ARABIC TONGUE.

According to Firouzabadi, an Arabian lexicographer, the Arabic language contains 1,000 words to designate a camel and a lion; and 500 to express a sword. This abundance of synonymes (arising from the multitude of tribes which composed the Arab nation) is not altogether_unexampled in modern languages: the Laplanders have 30 words to designate a reindeer; the French have more than 50 for a ship, with relation to its size, shape, and the purpose for which it is employed; the Germans have 100 words and the French 50 to express a horse.

It is reported of Saban, a celebrated orator and poet of Arabia, that he once spoke for half a day, without using the same word twice over.

CHINA INK-MAKERS.

Ink-making is considered a very respectable employment in China; it is even ranked among the liberal arts, on account of its utility to the sciences. In a city famous for the finest ink, the ink-makers have several small apartments illuminated night and day.

ARAB HORSES.

Arab horses of good extraction, says M. Jean Humboldt, called açil, display uncommon fidelity and intelligence. They follow their master like a dog. If he goes into a house, they stop on the threshold of the door, without being fastened by a halter, and wait for him there a whole night. Moreover, these horses have such an exquisite scent, that they smell their master's track when he is at several leagues distance. If he happen to die, it is not uncommon to see them lay down upon the earth that covers the body, and expire with hunger rather than quit the place. Anthologie Arabe.

27TH JULY, 1825.

The Rt. Hon. William Pitt, Lord Amherst, Governor-General, and Visitor of the College of Fort William, having ap. pointed Wednesday, the 27th July, for the distribution of the prizes and honorary rewards adjudged to the several students reported qualified for the public service, during the past year, the president and members of the College Council, the officers, professors, and students of the College met at ten o'clock in the forenoon, at the Government House, where the Hon. Sir Charles Grey, Chief Justice; the Hon. J. Fendall, Esq.; Sir Antony Buller; the officers of the Rt. Hon. the GovernorGeneral's suite; many of the civil and military officers of the presidency, together with several of the principal inhabitants of Calcutta, and some respectable natives, were also assembled.

Lady and Miss Amherst, Mrs. Pearson, the Misses Buller, and several other ladies, honoured the ceremony with their presence on the occasion.

Soon after 10 o'clock, the Rt. Hon. the Visitor, attended by the officers of his staff, entered the hall. When the Visitor had taken his seat, W. B. Bayley, Esq., President of the College Council, presented to the Rt. Hon, the Visitor the several students of the College who were entitled to receive medals of merit, adjudged to them at the public and private examinations of the College holden since June 1824, and read the certificates granted by the Council of the College to each student about to leave the institution.

The Visitor then presented to Lieut. A. D. Gordon and Lieut. H. Todd, entitled to receive degrees of honour, the usual diploma, inscribed on vellum, expressing

at the same time the satisfaction which he felt in conferring it.

The medals which had been awarded to the several students having been distributed to them respectively, the Rt. Hon. the Visitor delivered the following dis

Course:

"Gentlemen of the College of Fort William The proceedings of the College Council, with the several reports of the professors, and other public officers, relating to the affairs of the institution for the elapsed year, have been laid before me, and have been perused with attention and interest. The results are, upon the whole, extremely gratifying. Scarcely any instances of a serious breach of discipline, during the past year, have been brought to my knowledge, while the distinguished success of some, and the steady and assi

duous application of a great majority of the students, have been no less honourable to themselves than creditable to the institution to which they have been attached.

"The alterations which have, from time pursued in the College, and in the test to time, been adopted in the course of study of qualifications for the public service, will not admit of any very accurate comparison between the present and former years; but with every due allowance for the changes alluded to, I feel myself authorized to state, that both in the number of students who have qualified themselves for the public service by a competent knowledge of two of the native languages, and in the extent of that knowledge, with reference to the time in which it was acquired, the results of the past year are as favourable as those of the most flourishing periods of the institution.

"Thirteen medals of merit, for rapid languages, have been awarded to students and considerable proficiency in the native since June 1824; and degrees of honour in Persian and Hindoostanee have been conferred on Lieuts. Gordon and Todd for extraordinary proficiency in those lanportunity of rewarding the honourable guages. I am happy to have had an opacquirements of those meritorious officers, by nominating them to fill the respectable situation of public examiners in the College of Fort William.

"The collegiate year now under review gives a total amount of nineteen students competent to the discharge of their public duties, by the extent of their attainments in the Persian, and in the Hindoostanee or Bengalee language.

"Of that number, Messrs. Charles Horsley Robinson, Frederick Octavius Grant Udny, Henry Pidcock, Francis Wells, and Thomas Barbot Beale, were declared qualified in Persian, and Mr. Wells in Hindoostanee, at the late annual examination in June; Messrs. Edward Currie, Edward Lennox Campbell, Richard Walker, Henry Lushington, John Dunbar, and James William Alexander, were declared qualified in Persian; and Messrs. Edward Currie, Edward Deedes, Richard Walker, and Alexander Grant, in Hindoostance, at the half-yearly examinations in December last,

"The remaining students, viz., Messrs. James Stephen Lushington, Hugh Vans Hawthorn, Robert Neave, Charles William Truscott, David Brooke Morrieson, George James Taylor, Edward Deedes, and Alexander Grant, were pronounced qualified at intermediate examinations held at different times since June 1824.

"Messrs.

"Messrs. Udny, Pidcock, and Robinson, were admitted into the College in November 1824, and in the short space of seven months, their talents and assiduity enabled them to pass with great credit the requisite examinations in Persian and Bengalee. Medals of merit were awarded at the late examination to Messrs. Udny and Pidcock for rapid and considerable proficiency in the Persian, and to Mr. Robinson for rapid proficiency in the Bengalee language; and it is the opinion of the examiners, that if these gentlemen had remained attached to the College for a few months longer, they would have entitled themselves to those honours which are usually assigned as the reward of the highest attainments in the College. Similar praise is also due to Mr. Edmonstone for his knowledge of Persian; but as he has passed in that language only, his progress in his studies will be more properly commemorated at the next anniversary.

"Mr. Frederick Octavius Wells was admitted into the College in May 1824, and among the students reported qualified for the public service at the late annual examination, he ranks first in Hindoostanée, and fifth in Persian.

"Mr. Thomas B. Beale having commenced his studies in October 1824, was reported qualified in Hindoostanee at a separate examination in April last, and he obtained the sixth place in the first class of Persian students at the late examination in June, which entitles him to emancipation from the College.

Pre

"In the report of 1824 was noticed the rapid progress of Mr. James S. Lushington. He was not, however, declared qualified by a competent knowledge of two languages to enter the public service until July in that year, and he may, therefore, be more properly considered as holding a place among the students whose names are included in the present address. viously to his admission in May 1824, he had acquired a considerable knowledge of Persian, and at the annual examination in June, he held the first place among the qualified students in that language. Mr. Lushington's knowledge of Hindoostanee when he arrived in India was not extensive, and the fact of his having qualified himself to pass a very creditable examination in that language in the following July, furnishes a highly honourable proof of his talents and application.

"Mr. Hugh Vans Hawthorn commenced his collegiate course in October 1823, passed in Hindoostanee at the annual examination in June 1824, and in Persian at a separate examination in September of the same year.

"Mr. George James Taylor was admitted into College in May 1822, and it appearing at the annual examination in June 1823 that he had made inadequate pro

gress in study, he was removed from the institution to a station in the interior of the country, where he obtained such an ac quaintance with Persian and Hindoostanee, as enabled him to gain the usual certificate of qualification for the public service, by a competent knowledge of those languages at separate examinations in June and December 1824.

"Mr. James Wm. Alexander commenced his oriental studies in October 1824, obtained a medal of merit for rapid proficiency in Persian at the half-yearly examination in December 1824. He passed a separate examination in Hindoostance in February 1825, and was then declared competent to enter on the discharge of his public duties.

"Mr. Edward Deedes entered College in May 1823, and passed the requisite examination in the Persian and in the Hindoostanee languages in June and December 1824.

"Mr. Alexander Grant was admitted in October 1823, passed a separate examination in Persian in September 1824, and at the half-yearly examination in December of the same year held the fourth place in the first class of Hindoostanee students.

"Mr. Henry Lushington first joined the College as a student in October 1821, but having revisited England before his collegiate course was completed, he rejoined the institution on his return to Bengal in August 1824, passed in Persian at the half-yearly examination in December following, and in Hindoostance at a separate examination in March 1825, when be was reported qualified for the public service.

"Mr. Edward Currie was admitted in May 1824, and in the short space intervening between that date and the halfyearly examination in December following, his talents and application enabled him to attain the highest rank in the first classes of both Persian and Hindoostance, and at the same time entitled him to the reward of medals of merit for rapid and considerable proficiency in both those languages.

"Mr. David Brooke Morrieson was attached to the College in May 1824, and at the half-yearly examination in the following December, he held the first place in Bengalee, being distinguished upon that occasion by the reward of a medal of merit for his proficiency in that language, and at a separate examination in February 1825 he passed in Persian, and was then declared qualified to commence his public duties.

"Mr. John Dunbar was likewise admitted in May; at the half-yearly examination in December following he obtained the fifth place in the first Persian class, and was pronounced qualified at a separate examination in Hindoostanee in March 1824.

"Mr.

population throughout the provinces of Behar and Benares, and in the ceded and conquered provinces.

"Mr. Richard Walker commenced his Persian and Hindoostanee studies in June 1824, and his abilities and diligent application enabled him to pass very creditably, in both those languages, at the half-yearly examination in the following December, obtaining a medal of merit for rapid and considerable proficiency in Hindoostanee.

"Mr. Edward Lennox Campbell being admitted at the same time as the last-mentioned student, obtained the second place in the first Persian class at the half-yearly examination in December 1824, and pass ing, at a separate examination, in Hindoostanee, in March 1825, he was then, by his knowledge of both languages, reported qualified to enter upon the discharge of his public duties.

"Mr. Robert Neave likewise commenced his studies at the same time as the two last named students, and obtained his emancipation from College in April 1825, by passing a separate examination in Hindoostanee in February, and in Persian in April, of the above year.

"Mr. Charles William Truscott was admitted into the College in August 1824, and passed, at separate examinations, in Persian and Hindoostanee, in April and May 1825, being upon the latter date reported duly qualified for the public ser

vice.

"Two of the students who, by inattention to the rules of the institution, had incurred the penalty of the sixth statute, have lately been removed from the College, but in the hope that a sense of their duty and situation will induce more vigorous exertions, I forbear, on this occasion, to mention their names, or to animadvert any further upon their conduct.

"An alteration in the studies of the College has been introduced within the last year by the enactment of a new statute, requiring of every student, as a qualification for the public service, a knowledge either of the Hindee or of the Bengalee language in addition to the Persian.

"Experience had shewn that the students generally attended to Hindoostanee lectures in preference to Bengalee, because the simultaneous acquisition of the former and of Persian, was much less difficult than of Bengalee and Persian.

"The study of Bengalee and of the Hindee dialects was in consequence greatly neglected, and the exhortations delivered from this chair, at successive anniversaries, having failed to induce a more general cultivation of them, the acquisition either of Hindee or of Bengalee, in addition to Persian, has been made, by the statute before referred to, an indispensible part of the course of study now observed in the College. In the general term Hindee are included those vernacular dialects which, with some local variations and modifications, are used by the bulk of the Hindoo

"Every information which I have received from those best qualified to speak on the subject, prompts me to urge, in the strongest manner, an attention to these, which I may properly call, the languages of the country.

"In former times, when English gentlemen, comparatively few in number, were required to communicate chiefly with natives of rank or influence, by whom the details of the civil administration were conducted, a knowledge of Persian, the language of official record, and of Hindoostanee, the medium of personal communication among the higher orders, might enable the possessor adequately to discharge the functions that ordinarily belonged to the civil servants of the Company.

"But that state of things has long since ceased to exist. You are now constantly called upon to administer justice to the humblest, to ascertain the rights and interests, and institutions of the rudest classes. These, indeed, are they who, being most exposed to oppression, will chiefly demand your care their happiness will be the proudest glory of your country, the surest foundation of empire in India. We pro

fess to fence the cottage of the peasant by a barrier no less firm than that which guards the possessions of the highest and most opulent classes. And could the lowliness of the individuals reconcile the mind to a neglect of their humble, yet much prized rights, could you overlook the obligation recognized by every heart, of seeking, with more than ordinary care, to cherish and support those who most require protection, yet the number and importance of the class (they constitute, in fact, the yeomanry of the country) would sufficiently inculcate the duty of attending to their claims.

"But if you cannot speak their language (Persian and Oordoo are nearly as foreign to them as English), the best laws of the Government will be a mockery; your most generous resolves will end in disappointment; the real rudeness and ignorance of the people will be exaggerated; they will seem to be unreasonable because they cannot explain to you their reasons: you will appear to them capricious, if not tyrannical, even when actuated by the purest motives, because you cannot state your purposes, and because you canuot discover the real influence of your acts. In one word, you will be strangers to the people, and they to you; and the inconvenience may be aggravated into the most intolerable mischief through the designs of those who may seek their profit in the estrangement.

"I would, therefore, in the strongest manner, inculcate on those who are des