The biography of the Nestorian patriarch Mār Yaḇalāhā III and of his teacher Rabban Ṣawmā is a well-known book, arguably the most interesting historical work in Syriac, and an important source for the history of the Ilkhanate and its relations with Western Europe.

The following pages bring together passages from Chinese books, some of which have been translated before in a different context, illustrating them by reproductions of woodcuts which are unfamiliar and of great interest.

There are two passages in the Soma hymns of maṇḍala IX which deserve special attention. Both of them are concerned with Agni, who in this book is a rare and insignificant occurrence: in 9,5,11 he is, in a final line, said to witness, together with Vāyu, Bṛhaspati, Sūrya and Indra, a Soma ceremony; in 22, 2 and 88, 5 he figures in similes; in 96, 5 Soma is described as the father of Heaven, Earth, Agni, Sūrya, Indra and Viṣṇu. The more interesting are the two Agni passages in the last sūktas of the first part of this maṇḍala, viz. the triplet 9, 66, 19–21 and the six stanzas 9, 67, 22–27.

In his interesting paper on “The Nāgarakretāgama List of Countries on the Indo-Chinese Mainland,” Colonel Gerini objects, reasonably enough, to the claim set up by the Javanese author of the Nāgara Krĕtāgama that the states of Kĕdah, Kĕlantan, Trĕngganu, and Pahang in the Malay Peninsula and the island of Singapore at the south of it were dependencies of the Javanese empire of Majapahit. This alleged Javanese supremacy over the Peninsula cannot, in view of the known facts of Malay history, have been much more than a mere pretension, never substantiated by any real effective occupation. The claim was no doubt made under the influence of the stirring events which in or about the year 1377 a.d. culminated in a great, though transient, expansion of the Javanese sway. Palembang, Jambi, Pasei, and Samudra (in Sumatra), Ujong Tanah (the “Land's End” of the Malay Peninsula, now known as Johor), Bangka, Bĕlitung, Riau, Lingga, Bentan, and a number of other small islands in this region, as well as certain points on the coast of Borneo and other places to the eastward, are in the Pasei Chronicle recorded as having been conquered by Majapahit at this period or as being tributary to it about this time.

Aromatics derived from animals have played a very important role in the history of perfumery. The most well-known of these materials are musk from the preputial glands of the musk deer, ambergris produced in the stomach of the sperm whale, and civet from the anal glands of the civet cat. Two other notable materials are castoreum from the beaver, and hyraceum from the solidified urine of the African hyrax. The material that I will call ‘sweet hoof’ in this article, also called blattes de Byzance and unguis odoratus, is another fragrant material derived from an animal, consisting of the opercula of certain marine snails. With its marine origins ‘sweet hoof’ is intrinsically linked to the ocean and to trade, and it has also long been of importance all the way from the Mediterranean to China and Japan. Indeed, it is probably the most ancient animal derived aromatic to have an extensive global use, being mentioned in ancient Babylonian incense recipes. Yet, quite probably owing to its very low profile in more commonly studied genres of Sanskrit texts, the South Asian chapter of the history of ‘sweet hoof’ has yet to be written.

Those who chance to sojourn in the land of the Pharaohs longer than tha ordinary run of travellers, and roam about the streets and environs of its large towns, can hardly fail to notice the strange appearance of certain females, whose features at once distinguish them from the ordinary Fellah Arabs and Copts of the country. In dress they differ little from the common Fellah females, the dark blue cotton tob being common to both; but they seldom wear the shintiyan (drawers), and are remarkable for going abroad without the burka, or veil. With the skin of a gazelle, or that of a sheep, thrown over their shoulders, they frequent the bazars and principal thoroughfares of the great towns, with unveiled faces bronzed by exposure, or stroll from village to village, occasionally calling out, in Arabic, in piercing but not unpleasing tones: “Come, ye that desire to foresee your destiny! the past and the future shall be revealed unto you;” or in shorter phrases, such as “Come and see your fortunes!” (Taali, taali, shuft el bakkt), &c.

Mankind had probably no sooner taken to the use of oysters as food, than pearls were discovered, and at no period could they be so rude as not to prize the beautiful animal gem; hence, in the most ancient records which have come down to us, we find the pearl enumerated amongst precious articles. In China, so early as twentytwo and a half centuries before our era, pearls are enumerated as tribute or tax; and, at a later period, they are mentioned in the Rh-'ya (the most ancient of dictionaries, compiled more than ten centuries before our era) as precious products of the western part of the empire. They are also mentioned as ornaments, as amulets against fire, &c.

On the 10th May, 1855, Brigadier C. Russell, Commanding at Rangoon, reported to Captain Thomson, the Assistant Adjutant-General of the Pegu Division, for the information of Major-General Sir S. W. Steel, K.C.B., Commanding the Division, that on the 13th April, 1855, some labourers employed at Rangoon in levelling a Buddhist temple for the future site of European barracks, had met with the gold relics enumerated in Brigadier Russell's letter. They, no doubt, had been placed under the floor of the temple, as was the practice in the Stupas, in the Punjab, in Afghanistan, at Sarnath, and elsewhere.

Among the various wonderful inventions, marking the astonishing advances which the Chinese had so early made towards civilization, is that of Paper-Money, which dates as far back as the year 119 before our era. The cause that led to its introduction was the low state of the finances of the Government, who, after various other experiments, issued at last regular paper assignats, which, from the ponderous nature of the rude coin then in use, and the security that the warranty of government afforded, soon obtained extensive circulation. The government who had thus introduced this new currency, made it an object of much legislation; and various were the schemes that were started and remoulded, in the hope of permanently establishing its use. But the numerous intestine wars, and the repeated subversion of dynasties that followed, tended seriously to detract from the credit of the government; and thus, owing to its bad faith, and the excessive issues, a complete failure of the system was the result, after a lapse of five centuries having been spent in unsuccessful attempts to establish it. Government paper-money seems to have disappeared in the early part of the late Ming dynasty; and the Manchus, on their accession, never attempted to revive its use. To Klaproth we are indebted for very elaborate researches on this interesting and oft-discussed subject.

In the districts of Bihár and Patna the Jains are called Sráwacs. The number of this sect settled there is not great, amounting only to three hundred and fifty families; but they possess considerable wealth, having all engaged in trade, and many of them with success. They have, therefore, seventeen priests (yatís); fifteen of whom constantly reside at Patna, and two at Bihár. With the two latter I had several interviews, and they were abundantly communicative, the chief of them being a man of considerable learning. At Patna they declined all intercourse with me; which, I am told, proceeded from their being very shallow, and afraid of exposing their ignorance. A Saryuriya-Bráhman, of the sect of Vishnu, named Góvinda, was brought to me at Patna, as the only person there able and willing to give me information relative to the Sráwacs. He said that he had been employed to instruct some of the Yatis in the Sanscrit language, which gave him an opportunity of reading their books and knowing their customs. Finding the employment profitable, he was, I believe, a principal means of keeping the Yatis at a distance from me: he was, however, abundantly diligent in procuring information. In travelling through the district I had also an opportunity of conversing with a great many pilgrims, who had come from Bundelkhund, and were visiting the holy places at Gaya, &c. From these sources I collected some information respecting this sect, which I now offer, in addition to that which I have given in my account of Mysore.

The Kathmandu valley in the seventeenth century was very prosperous, the bulk of its wealth derived from the trade which flowed through the valley between Tibet and the Indian plains. The ancient urban centres of the valley, Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur had emerged early in the century as three separate kingdoms. The tradition of jointrulership, whereby rule of each city-state was shared between branches of the ruling Malla dynasty had collapsed. The three kingdoms were engaged in constant rivalry which intermittently spilt over into open hostility and which consumed much of their energy and wealth. Yet it was also this rivalry which stimulated an era of generous royal patronage of the priesthood and the sponsoring of major pūjās and religious festivals, together with the building of new palaces and temples dedicated to the rulers' favourite deities. Support was extended not only to the artists commissioned to decorate the palaces and shrines, but also to poets, writers and musicians who found their work being encouraged, particularly when Nepalese court life underwent something of a renaissance under Mithila influence. This activity reached a peak during the reign of the enlightened and cultured King Pratapamalla of Kathmandu (1641–74), and under that of his contemporary and rival, King Jagatprakas'amalla of Bhaktapur (1643–72).

There are few objects of antiquarian research that have attracted more attention from the learned in Europe, than the history and purposes of the Cave Temples of India, but if we except the still unexplained antiquities of Mexico, I know none regarding which so little that is satisfactory has been elicited, or about which so many, and such discordant opinions exist: and while the age of every building of Greece and Rome is known with the utmost precision, and the dates of even the Egyptian monuments ascertained with almost as much certainty as those of mediæval cathedrals, still all in India is darkness and uncertainty, and there is scarcely a work on architecture published, or lecture read, which does not commence by a comparison between the styles of India and Egypt, and after pointing out a similarity which seems to be an established point of faith in Europe, though in reality no two styles are more discordant, the author generally proceeds to doubt which is the more ancient of the two, and in most cases ascribes the palm of antiquity to the Indian as the prototype. Yet, in truth, Egypt had ceased to be a Nation before the earliest of the cave temples was excavated, and if we except the copies of earlier structures erected by the Ptolemies and Cæsars, there is nothing on the banks of the Nile which does not belong to a different and far more ancient epoch than anything in India.

It has often struck me how helpless European students are when they are in search of books published in India. These books are so cheap, and their demand in Europe is so limited, that it does not pay Indian publishers to have agents for their sale here. In addition to this, students have no means of knowing what works are published in India; and even if they knew their names, that is no criterion of the value of their contents. I therefore put down the following notes regarding books which I myself have found useful in studying Hindī, in the hope that they may be acceptable to my fellowstudents.