It is a remarkable circumstance that the Queen of Great Britain rules over two hundred millions of people, who though deeply religious, possess a religion which cannot be designated by any one name. Most of the religions of the world, as, for example, Christianity, Muhammadanism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, are called by the names of their founders, though without the sanction of the founders themselves.

With reference to my paper on the Apology of Al-Kindy, I have received the following letter from Professor Ignatius Guidi, dated Rome, 24th February:—

“You will he glad to hear that in the Propaganda Library (Museo Borgiani) I found a MS. of the Apology of Al-Kindî, together with the letter of his Moslem friend. The amanuensis was, I think, a Jacobite (the MS. is written in Karshuni character), hence he says (page 5, line 18 of the printed text):

The Roman MS. is apparently of the same family with the Paris MS. as described by Zotenberg, Catalogue des MSS. Syriaques de la Biblioth. Nationale, Nos. 204, 205.”

In going through the Khyber Pass I saw numerous recesses in the rocks which struck me as places which might have been used by ascetics, but they indicated no signs of having been excavated, hence nothing definite could be assumed regarding them. In the scarp under the Ishpola Tope there is one of these rude niches which would be a very desirable spot for a holy man to retire to, who wished to give up the things of this world, but who at the same time had some intention that his light should not be hid under a bushel, for if an ascetic ever made it his residence, every passer-by must have seen him, high above the road, with little more than a fair allowance of space in which to sit cross-legged. From the immense number of caves I afterwards saw which had been excavated, indicating that a very large monastic population had existed, I have now little doubt that during the fervour of asceticism in the Buddhist period, most of these rocky niches had been thus occupied at one time or another. At Daka there are a few caves which have been excavated, but they are little more than holes.

The Sculptured Tope in plate xxviii. fig. i. of Tree and Serpent Worship suggested, from its height, to Mr. Fergusson, that it was formed after the Afghanistan models. He also hinted the possibility of the figures, who are performing pujah round it, being a race from the North, and perhaps from the Kábul Valley. The Rev. Mr. Beai has just added some most interesting evidences which tend to confirm the original suggestion. As the point is of great importance in many ways, the following additional evidence may be worth giving:— In the early part of 1879, when General Sir Samuel Browne's column was at Jelalabad, Mr. Jenkyns, who afterwards lost his life in the massacre at Kábul, somehow picked up a man from Kaffiristan. He had been born a Kaffir, but had been caught by the Mahomedans, and converted, — such persons are called “Nimchas.” He lived somewhere close to the borders of Kaffiristan, and Mr. Jenkyns commissioned him to return to his own district and bring back a couple of pure unconverted Kaffirs. Mr. Jenkyns' object in this was to study their language, and learn as much as he could as to their customs and other matters. The man promised to do this, and he was to bring them to Peshawer, or wherever Mr. Jenkyns was quartered. I went by appointment to make a sketch of this man, and I noticed that he did not leave his shoes on the outside of the tent-door; he doubled his legs under him, but after a little I noticed that his shoes were pieces of leather tied about his feet, and bound by thongs round the ankles. This explains why the “jooti dustoor” does not exist in Kaffiristan. Colonel Tanner, who was then on the Survey Department, caught some Chugunis, who belonged to the Northern slopes of the Ram Koond; this tribe is Mahomedan, but their district is not far from Kaffiristan.

Nearly fifty years have elapsed since James Prinsep first announced his discovery of ancient Indian Numerals, and attempted their decipherment. Towards this latter object gradual advance has been made from time to time, and now, thanks to the successive labours of Thomas, Cunningham, Bhao Dáji, Bühler, Bhagwán Lál and others, it is possible to give to each symbol used its proper meaning.

It is now more than half a century ago that the existence of inscriptions written in the Cuneiform character, and found in different parts of Armenia, first became known. The French Professor, Saint-Martin, in 1823, gave an account in the Journal Asiatique of the antiquities of Van, and drew attention to the fact that the Armenian historian, Moses of Khorene, has described them in such detail as to make it probable he had seen them with his own eyes. In the curious romance, compiled partly from the Old Testament, partly from the legends of Greek writers, partly from the names of localities, which was made to take the place of the forgotten early history of Armenia, these monuments were ascribed to Semiramis, to whom Van was imagined to owe its foundation. Saint-Martin concluded that some of them, at any rate, must still be in existence, and at his instigation, therefore, a young scholar from Hesse, Prof. Fr. Ed. Schulz, was sent by the French Government to Armenia, in 1826, in order to examine them. In 1828, accordingly, Van and its neighbourhood were thoroughly explored by Schulz, who succeeded in discovering and copying no less than forty-two Cuneiform inscriptions. Considering his utter ignorance of both the language and the character, the accuracy of his copies is really wonderful. They were published in the Journal Asiatique (3rd ser. vol. ix. No. 52) in 1840, but the unfortunate discoverer never returned home, having been murdered in 1829 by a Kurdish chief, along with several officers of the Shah of Persia. His papers were subsequently recovered from the Prince of Julamerk.