The dawn of the nineteenth century marks a new era in the history of Arabic literature. After five centuries of mental lethargy, beginning with the irruption of the Mongols into the Muslim world in the thirteenth century, a renewed zeal for learning has dispelled the gloom which so long overshadowed the Arabic-speaking countries. Many factors were at work to bring about a beneficial change. The West began to take varied interest in the dormant East by collecting and studying its long-forgotten literatures.

When in 1916 the School of Oriental Studies was established on the old premises of the London Institution in Finsbury Circus, an agreement was come to whereby King's College, University College, and the University of London handed over to the School as a temporary loan all their Oriental books, in exchange for an equivalent number of European books belonging to the Library of the Institution.

This poem is mentioned by Steere (in the Preface to his Swahili Tales, p. xii) in the following terms: “I should have been glad to have exhibited the whole of the ‘Utenzi on Job’, which was the best I met with, but my authority could give me no more than the beginning, my copy breaking off short in the council of the fiends as to how to avail themselves of the permission to vex Job [st. 37–46]. The stanzas I have printed [1–6 in an imperfect form] are followed by a confession of God's greatness and a long commemoration of Mohammed, his family, and chief followers. Then there is an account of Job's prosperity, mentioning, amongst other things, the ducks and fowls which he had; then the colloquy between Satan and the Almighty, and the planning of the temptation. The language of this Utenzix is singularly clear and intelligible.”

The collection of books and manuscripts belonging to the library of William Marsden, and given by him to King's College in 1835, but now in the possession of the School of Oriental Studies, has in its valuable contents a few Marathi manuscripts. Sir E. Denison Ross, in his article on “The Manuscripts Collected by William Marsden”, published in the Bulletin (Vol. II, Pt. Ill), has reproduced on pp. 535 and 537 the entries made by Mr. Marsden on these Marathi MSS.

In the course of an examination of George Sale's translation of the Qurʼán, I was struck by certain remarks made by him in his address to the reader. He says first that, with the exception of a MS. of Baydawi's Commentary, which he borrowed from the Dutch Church in Austin Friars, he relied solely on MSS. and books in his own possession for his Moslem authorities.

The Zulu language proper, Isizulu, is now spoken by the natives of Zululand and of the greater part of Natal, though naturally there are dialectal differences within that area, and these differences become more pronounced as the Xosa border is approached. The language of the amaMpondo, for instance, seems to savour both of Zulu and of Xosa. One of the outstanding phonetic differences between Zulu and Xosa is that the latter uses the alveolar nasal combination nd where the former uses the velar ηg, e.g. Xosa ndi, and Zulu “cardinal” vowels and the use of the vowel chart, cf. the various phonetic readers published by the London University Press, and particularly the Italian Phonetic Reader. They are indicated on the chart by the numbers (1) to (8).

It is difficult to write correctly about the grammar of a language; it is almost impossible to be accurate about its pronunciation. It follows that the weakest and most unsatisfactory part of books on a language is nearly always that which deals with sounds. The reasons are various. I give some of them here with special reference to Urdu and Hindi.

The Lotuko language as here set forth is spoken by about 40,000 people, all of whom, with the exception of a few hundreds in the Opari district of Mongalla Province and the Chua District of Uganda, live in the district of that name.

The learned Father Paulinus a S. Bartholomœo (1749–1806), a discalceate Carmelitė and a missionary of Malabar, in his Examen Historico-criticum Codicum Indicorum Bibliothecœ Sacrœ Congregationis de Propaganda fide (Rome, 1792), p. 72, seq., records in the following way the work of one of his fellow-brethren of the Order of Carmelites, Father Ildephonsus a Prcesentatione (d. 1789): “Num. XXXI. Collectio omnium dogmatum & arcanorum ex Puránis seu libris Canonicis paganorum Indianorum, seu tractatus de falsa secta paganorum Asice maioris seu Indice Orientalis, & prœsertim de superstitionibus Gentilium Malabarium.

In the spring of 1921 Captain Geoffrey Bailey sent me two pairs of tracings made from Indian standards captured in the battle of Seringapatam, 4th May, 1799. The standards are among the treasures of the chapel of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea. On examination they proved to be of considerable interest, and readers of the Bulletin will perhaps be glad to have an opportunity of studying them in the facsimiles which, through the kindness of the editor, I am able to present, along with such notes as may be necessary for their elucidation.

The biography of this great Egyptian scholar and organizer was published in one volume in 1894 by Dr. Durry Pasha (1841–1900). It was mainly taken from the ninth volume cf in which 'Alī Pāsha had described his early studies at village schools and higher education at government institutions. Finally he was sent-to Paris in company with the sons of Mohammed Ah Pasha to complete his education. This life-story reveals to the reader the social and political conditions of Egypt and the introduction of the refo