During the latter part of 1876, I travelled along the Makrān coast from Gwādar to Jāsk, and as it appeared to me that the identifications of the various places on this coast mentioned by Arrian as having been touched at by Alexander's Admiral Nearchus, and others, mentioned by Ptolemy and Marcian, had not, up to the present time, been satisfactorily established by Dr. Vincent, Otter, Kempthorne, Müller, or, indeed, by any one who has touched on the subject, I collected all the names of places along the coast I could, and made notes regarding its physical aspect, in the hope of finding some traces of the spots mentioned by the geographers above alluded to, and which might be sufficient to fix their positions with somewhat more certainty.

By “Gaurian” are meant what Mr. Beames, in his comparative grammar, has called the “Modern Aryan Languages of India,” but, as this last is too long a title for frequent use, and as the name, Gaurian, given by Professor Hoernle, has been adopted by Dr. Caldwell, I may venture to make use of it also. These languages, in order to make their origin, may also sometimes be termed the Neo-Sanskrit languages, as the Romance are spoken of for the same purpose as the Neo Latin or Novo-Latin Languages.

I Have lately been occupied with the examination of the legends stamped on a series of leaden coins recently discovered at Kolhapúr. These legends are found to illustrate, in a curious manner, the local custom of the children being designated after and identified by the name of the mother, and reproduce the dominant idea of recording the Metronymic to the subordination or exclusion of the Patronymic of the race or family.

Professor Monier Williams, of Oxford, in the course of his speech at our Annual Meeting in May, 1878, remarked on the scant interest shown in Oriental studies by the University Commissioners, and by the University itself. It is true that there is not in England, as in France and Russia, a special School for Instruction in the living Oriental languages; but I think I can show, that the out-turn of work done by volunteer scholars during the last thirty years is most creditable. Many of their names are either unknown in Europe, or have not received that honour, of which they are deserving.

In comparing Japanese and Korean with each other and with other languages, there are three things to be considered: —1st, their phonetic systems; 2nd, the functions of their grammar; and 3rd, the character of their grammatical procedures.

In the cold weather of the season 1872–3, Mr. Griffiths, decorative artist in the Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeeboy School of Art, with several pupils from that school, was deputed by the Government of Bombay to copy the paintings in the caves at Ajanta. One of the principal objects of his mission was to replace as far as possible the frescoes previously copied by Major Gill, which had unfortunately been destroyed by the fire at the Crystal Palace, in 1866. In addition to this, however, he was instructed to copy any others which might seem to him sufficiently interesting to be worthy of preservation.

An indescribable charm surrounds the early poetry of the Arabs. Dwelling in the wonderful creations of their genius with these ancient poets, you live, as it were, a new life. Cities, gardens, villages, the trace of even fields, left far out of sight, you get away into the free atmosphere of the desert; and, the trammels and conventionalities of settled society cast aside, you roam with the poet over the varied domain of Nature in all its freshness, artlessness, and freedom.

The Arabic language is commonly spoken throughout a very large area of the old hemisphere. It is the language of the whole of North Africa, which includes Morocca, Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, and Egypt. It is also spoken down the Eastern coast, and in a not inconsiderable portion of the interior of that vast continent. Its home is the peninsula of Arabia, whence it spread also to Palestine, Syria, and Mesopotamia.

It is well known that proper names in the East, and especially among the Mohammadans, follow no such simple rule as that which has long prevailed in modern Europe, where the Christian name or names conferred in infancy and the family name or surnames are usually borne through life, and where it is a matter of suspicion to have an alias. In the East, on the other hand, we hear of persons gathering up in the course of their career a variety of names, and being popularly known by one or other of them at different periods, and to an extent that gives rise to perplexity. This was notably the case among the Arabs in the height of their preeminence. A person might receive a name in his infancy (usually conferred on his birth or at his circumcision), and to this might be added a patronymic, or a name expressive of his paternal or family relations. He might then receive a title expressive of his zeal for the faith, and soubriquets descriptive of his personal qualities or appearance, or the country or town in which he was born or had settled, or the religious sect to which he belonged ; and if he played a part in public life, to all these might be added, as in Europe, a title or titles of dignity; and if he had acquired a reputation as an author, he might assume some name of fancy. These various names or titles might never be united in the same individual, but the combinations are numerous and shifting. Certain rules are observed in their formation or application, but it was a matter of accident by which of these designations a person might be known to his contemporaries, or his name transmitted to modern times.

It has often been said that there is no Grammar in Chinese; and the statement is true. When we speak of “grammar,” with reference to the written characters, or even to the spoken language, of the people of China, the term must be understood in a peculiar sense. Grammar, as the Greek derivation shows, has to do with words, and is applicable only to languages that have an alphabet; whereas the Chinese written characters were at first pictures and ideagrams, and they have continued to be so substantially during all the millenniums of their use, down to the present day.

In A.D. 1653 was published at Rome a small quarto of 470 pages, containing the “Itinerary of Missions in the East Indies, made by P. Maestro Fra Sebastian Manrique, an Eremite Monk of S. Augustine.” The first fifty-six chapters describe the travels of the missionary in Burma, Bengal, and Bahar; but, in chapter fifty-seven, we find him going to Hindustan; and the next ten chapters are devoted to an account of the cities of Agra and Lahore and of the Court of “the Mogul.” Then follows a journey to Multan, then one to Candahar; after which is a fresh description of the Mogul system, wealth, power, etc. Then comes a relation of the fall of Hughli some years before; and of the imprisonment and sufferings of the Catholic Priests of that place, especially of Prior Antonio de Christo, whose liberation the author undertook with success. The remainder of the book shows how the enterprising Father returned to Rome through Persia and the Levant.

[The following fragments were found among the papers of the late R. C. Childers. When his last illness overtook him, he was known to have been engaged for some time on a comprehensive handbook of the Pali language. Before, however, he had far proceeded with the elaboration of the greater work, he proposed to bring out an elementary grammar first, to meet the pressing want of intending students of that language. After his death, it was hoped that some other Pali scholar would be found willing to complete the work in either form from the materials collected by Mr. Childers: and with this view these were submitted to Prof. Pischel at Kiel. But as this gentleman has since expressed his intention of publishing a grammar on a plan of his own, it is thought that the following two fragments may, even as such, be of interest to Pali students. Each of them treats of the Sandhi rules, and is complete in itself. But while the former, intended for the shorter work, was left ready for the press, the latter, intended for the larger, had not yet received the benefit of the gifted author's revision.—R. R.]

In romanizing this Naga language, a has the sound of a in ‘far,’ ‘ah’ ‘ah’; ā has the sound of a in ‘fate,’ ‘rate’; c has only a soft sound, never that of k; e (single) has the sound of e in ‘met,’ ‘net’; g has only a hard sound as in ‘give’; i has the sound of i in ‘pin,’ ‘sin’; u has only the sound of u in ‘but,’ ‘nut.’ One object of this style of romanizing is to reserve this mark (′) for accent only. The accent mark is needed to distinguish some words spelt alike, but with different meanings, indicated by accentuation, as ázu, first syllable accented, means ‘a dog,’ but azu, without special accent, means ‘blood.’

The language of the Ḱorán has always teen beloved, and, I may almost say, worshipped by Muhammadans. Arabic, and especially the Arabic of the Ḱorán, is justly admired for its expressiveness, its subtle gradations of meaning, its cadence and rhythm, but above all for its adaptability to religious formulæ and pious ejaculations. Indeed, to the eloquence of Muḥammad and of his coadjutors, in their use of this rich language, may, in a great measure, be attributed the unparalleled success and the speedy propagation of Islám.