in the Acts are the Mountain Sina or Sinai. Simple Alif, in the middle of a word, is rendered by two, or more generally one alpha, as Icxxx Isaac, and 1 Aaprios Darius. As a general rule Alif is rendered by Alpha, the broad or long or short sounds being represented by the accents or aspirates. Alif is however sometimes represented by the Greek Epsilon; as is rendered Bewp Baöor, Baour, or Beör. Alif also repre It must be recollected that the question has nothing to do with Hebrew which was then and had long been a dead language. The question is what were the sounds and letters representing these names in the year 280 B. C. in the Arabic, Persian and Greek languages respectively. If we know the pronunciation of the former letters which we presume not to have changed up to the present time, we also know the sound or pronunciation of the Greek letters of that time,-the latter, with the exceptions of the terminations in os and as, being presumed to represent the former correctly, or at least nearly so. س 3 sin and shin represent indifferently sigma and ☛☛. ش swãd is also rendered by ☛ sigma; ↳ toe by tau; ε ain by í These few and imperfect hints and notices, we must here cut short. The subject is in itself a curious and an interesting one, and, in a literary point of view, not without its utility. From its very nature, however, it must always partake more or less of the assumptive and the conjectural. Of the significance and truth of this assertion, some of the foregoing fragmentary hypotheses and inferences may be viewed as a specimen. They must, therefore, be taken simply at what they are worth by those who are competent to form a judgment in such matters. Philology, temperately, wisely and judiciously cultivated, is capable of affording most useful results; though no branch of learning has more frequently, in the hands of fanciful and ingenious men, been pushed into the regions of the extravagant and the ridiculous. Hence, has it hitherto been its fate, in alternate succession, to be unduly exalted and unjustly depreciated. Recollections of Ceylon, after a residence of nearly thirteen years; with an account of the Church Missionary Society's Operations in the island : and extracts from a journal, by the Rev. J. Selhirh, 1844, 800. 66 THE author begins by giving a geographical description of Ceylonits four large rivers.-Galle, with its spacious harbour, sheltered by high lands from every wind that blows.-Kandy, with its "most sacred relic of Buddha's tooth."-Nuware Eliya (the city of Light) with its beautiful plain, Anuradhpura, with its Dagobas, 270 feet high and spacious temple containing 1600 pillars. He then notices the productions of the island,-the fine roads traversed by mail coaches-the coffee plantations and land clearances-the Jack, Bread Fruit, Talipat and Gamboge trees, the bo or God tree, sacred to Buddha, with its leaves always in motion, and the cinnamon tree, the duty on which yields government an annual revenue of five lakhs. The better educated among the Singhalese have learnt the English language and mix among English society, they are Buddhists and have caste, but it is a civil distinction. The Tamulians come from India and are more enterprising people than the Singhalese." The Portuguese rule ceased in Ceylon in 1656, and was succeeded by the Dutch which continued until 1796. "Those who are now called the Portuguese are the descendants of Portuguese by native women, of all classes and descriptions; they pass their time in idleness, filth and sin. The Dutch speak the Portuguese language in their families; the dress of an old Dutch lady approaches to that of English ladies in the middle of last century, and high-heeled shoes are still in vogue among them; they do not mix much with English society. The Moormen are travelling merchants." The Mussulmans of Ceylon seem to be as much averse to receiving education as those of Bengal. "The Vedas sleep in the trees or at the foot of them, or in caves of the ground; they were probably Singhalese who were banished into the jungles.” Mr. Selkirk gives a short history of Gautams' life, his mortification, preaching at Benares and itinerances, he falls into the common error that Buddhism is atheistic. Buddhism was introduced, according to Mr. S. into Ceylon B. C. 306, from Bahar, after various changes and successive decays and revivals: it received fresh vigour in consequence of a deputation of chiefs who were sent to Siam, and who brought over with them six Buddhist priests. He next notices the Viharas or Buddhist monasteries, the priests with their sermonisings and district visitingsthe Tamul "one of the most difficult of the eastern languages"-the Singhalese of Sanskrit origin, with its inverted order of sentences and want of the relative pronoun,-the Pali which differs chiefly from the Sanskrit by casting out aspirated and rough consonants-the Ceylon Portuguese, which adopts a number of Singhalese and Tamul words. Mr. Selkirk gives a brief account of the commencement, progress and present state of the Church Mission in Ceylon. It began in 1817. Mr. Lambrick opened the first school at Kandy, in 1818, in the centre of the heathen population. When Sir R. Brownrigg, the governor, was about to leave Ceylon, the Church Missionaries attended his levee and presented an address to him. Mr. Lambrick paid much attention to the instruction of the Singhalese prisoners confined in Kandy jail. In 1827 some of the sons of the Kandian chiefs, who attended the school to learn English, came of their own accord to purchase the Singhalese and English New Testament, to read and compare them at their own houses. In 1829 a plan was adopted of paying the masters their monthly salary according to the actual improvement of the children, ascertained by an examination of them under the inspection of the missionary. In 1831 Bishop Turner visited the station, and after examining the schools, said there was enough to encourage and nothing to elate the same year a Sunday school was established, which was the means of increasing the congregation. Mr. Selkirk remarks of the schools, "they are the means by which we have met ready access to the natives, and may most justly be considered as the means to do them real and lasting good." In 1832 all the masters were Christians. In 1839 there were 13 schools and 369 children; of whom 56 were girls. The influence of the priests in this quarter is on the wane. Mr. Oakley when appointed to the station, paid considerable attention to visiting the native hospital, villages, monasteries of the priests, and Protestant families of Kandy. In six families of the town occasional meetings are held for prayer and exposition of the Scriptures. Christian schools are flourishing in Kandy, the stronghold of Buddhism. Mr. Selkirk next mentions Baddagamey, a station of the C. M. S. 12 miles north of Galle, begun in 1818. Mr. Mayor was the first person stationed there. He remarked concerning it in 1818, "The natives are relinquishing the worship of Buddha for the worship of devils; temples of the devils are in almost every village and the Kapuwas or devil priests are quite as numerous as the Buddhist priests." Seven hundred pounds of gunpowder were required to blast the rocks in order to lay the foundation of a church. In 1822 the missionaries undertook the charge of superintending the government schools in the southern district of the island. Devil worship is extensively practised. Bishop Turner in examining the children observed, "They are as sharp as needles, I do anticipate great things from the rising generation." 1 Nellore, two miles from Jafna, is the next station, begun in 1818: a printing press was established there in 1821, from which a great number of tracts issued: the plan of distributing them was, " to get a company together to listen to the reading of a tract and to the comments made upon it, and then to give one to each person that could read: several who could not read begged for tracts for their children or relatives who could." The instruction of girls was attempted at the time, but "on account of the missionary being a single man, and on that account, having no personal communication with the mothers of the children at their houses, little progress was made." In 1823 a boarding school was commenced, having on an average 30 boys, selected from the day schools, "the greatest part of those who have been admitted into this seminary were heathens at the time of their admission, and few if any have left it heathens. The festival days amounting to 75 in the year have a strong tendency to drive serious thoughts from the minds of the people. In 4 years from 1835 to 1838, over one million of tracts have been distributed in this district. In 1839 the station had 2 missionaries, 17 schools, with 761 children and 30 seminary youths. Cotta station near Colombo was entered on in 1823: the neighbourhood was then one mass of jungle, which had to be cleared away ere a house could be erected; an English school and a printing press formed the first branch of labour. In 1831 Bishop Turner confirmed 17 youths. Poverty which makes the parents frequently detain their sons at home after they pass the age of twelve, has been a great hinderance to the efficiency of the schools. A great desire for a knowledge of English has sprung up. In 1840 the station had 40 schools and 1700 children. In 1827 the Cotta Head Seminary was established for training, as school-masters and catechists, young men selected from the inferior schools; they were to be instructed in English, and their native classical tongues. In 1829 there were 10 students. In 1830 they commenced the study of Pali. In December 1831 an examination of the pupils, in Geometry, Latin, Greek and Scripture took place in the presence of the Governor of Ceylon and a number of the civil and military authorities, who all breakfasted with the missionaries. Nearly 100 students have been trained up in this institution, and the best catechists and school-masters in the island have come from it. In the Cotta schools there are 1629 pupils. The latter part of this book is occupied with extracts from Mr. S.'s journal throwing light on the manners, superstitions, &c., of the Singhalese, and the nature of Buddhism. The island of Ceylon is assuming a position of increasing importance in the eyes of the Anglo Indians of continental India, now that the lovely sanatarium of Nuware Eliya* is becoming a place of resort from the parched plains of Hindustanwhile steam is binding as with an electric chain Ceylon to India and to the remote isles which cluster in the eastern Archipelago. Journal of a Visitation in the Provinces of Travancore and Tinnevelly, 1840-41, by the Right Revd. G. Spencer, Bishop of Madras. THE Bishop of Madras states in this Journal that Dr. Buchanan formed too favourable a view of the Syrian Churches of Travancore; "he was deceived by appearances, by the outward visible sign of Christianity presented by numerous Churches, each provided with a canonically ordained clergy, into the fond belief that the inward spiritual grace of pure Christain doctrine, and a life adorning the Christian profession, were there also; the beams of the sun are sometimes so glowingly painted upon a glacier, that we can scarcely persuade ourselves they have not left there some portion of their softening heat." He is of opinion that this Church is in a low state, "we can make next to nothing of the adults; but I unhesitatingly believe that very much may be done among the children." We heartily respond to the sentiment of the Bishop that the Indian branch of the Anglican Church should not labor merely for the benefit" of a few thousand Englishmen,” but should be a MISSIONARY Church. This Journal shows the Bishop to be a lover of nature; a man of simple habits; and one who feels a warm sympathy with evangelistic labours in India and with all efforts formed to ameliorate the condition of the natives; he writes in a friendly tone of the labours of the London and American Missionaries; and is a decided advocate for education. "Such being the character of the adults, the Christian Missionary must turn to the children, and trust, under God's grace and guidance, to do that by education which he too evidently cannot do by argument." At Paulghat is a noble range of mountains, their base in deep shade, and their tops bathed in sun light." A temple to the goddess of the small pox is erected near. His travelling over mountains suggests to the Bishop several reflections on the subject of steam communication, a great step will be taken towards the moral cultivation of the Native character by the introduction among them of that great second harbinger, under Divine Providence, of civilization, steam; under its influence the natives cannot fail of becoming gradually more European and less Asiatic in their habits of thinking; and thinking leads to emulation and to acting." He came to Cottyam, “ this Christian oasis in the vast heathen desert of Travancore." The Church Missionary Society have a College there, and particular attention is paid. to the education of the Syrian Priests. In the district of Allepee there are 100,000 slaves. On his visit to Quilon the Bishop expresses the following excellent sentiments :-" I have not the slightest desire that the Church of England in India should interfere with the mission of others, who are come hither to assist us to teach his gospel to the heathen." Travancore coffee is superior to that of Ceylon. I paid a visit of ceremony to the Rajah of Travancore, who is about twenty-six years of age, he speaks English with perfect fluency, is an accomplished Persian and Arabic scholar, and could he escape from the swaddling bands of the Brahmans, it is supposed that he would shew himself a 66 66 66 |