are some, but I believe not many deer; and elephants and tigers are almost unknown, though they abound in the Coimbatoor country at: the foot of the mountains, and still more among the wilds of Paulghaut. There is good pasture for cattle and sheep, but of the latter the inhabitants have none. They have plenty of cows, and grow a great deal of barley, as well as a peculiar vegetable production, whence they extract oil. There is also a low thick shrub, growing wild almost over the whole country, which, in the interior conformation of its fruit, and also in flavour, very much resembles a small English gooseberry, though quite of an inferior sort, and with its top externally open, like a medlar. Nettles and fern, unknown in most parts of India, are to be found here in abundance. But, indeed, the great variety of trees, shrubs, and plants, some of them rare and beautiful, merit description from an abler pen than mine. The soil is so fertile, that they grow almost every where. Sometimes the trees are in clumps, as if designedly planted, sometimes forming small woods and coppices; in other parts, they are to be found over-shadowing deep ravines down which the mountain torrents plunge unseen in frequent successive cascades. The trees which grow in this last situation, are generally the finest timber, and rise to a majestic height. On the whole I would say, that were a man, fond of solitude, condemned by circumstances to finish his days in India, the abode of his choice would assuredly be reared among the wild and romantic, yet fertile mountains of Nilgherree.' pp. 121-7.

*

Nothing more occurred of particular interest, either in the scenery or of incident, during the remainder of the journey to Bangalore. At Mysore, however, he had the honour of being introduced to the Rajah, and what was a far more enviable distinction, of taking an airing in his magnificent elephant-carriage. The genius of Aladdin, our Author says, could scarcely have exceeded it.

Its interior is a double sofa for six persons, covered with dark green velvet and gold, surmounted by an awning of cloth of gold, in the shape of two small scolloped domes, meeting over the centre, and surrounded with a richly ornamented verandah, supported by light, elegant, fluted gilt pillars: the whole is capable of containing sixty persons, and is about twenty-two feet in height. It moves on four wheels; the hinder ones eight feet in diameter, with a breadth of twelve feet between them. It is drawn by six immense elephants, (with a driver on each,) harnessed to the carriage by traces, as in England, and their huge heads covered with a sort of cap, made of richly embroidered cloth. The pace at which they moved, was a slow trot of about seven miles an hour: they were very steady, and the springs of the carriage particularly easy. As it is crane-necked, the elephants turned round with it, on coming back, with the greatest facility. The shape of the body is extremely elegant, resembling a flat scollop-shell, and painted dark green and gold. The elephants are an exact match, but, as stated, of an enormous size. The whole VOL. XXI. N. S.

U

was constructed by native workmen, assisted by one half-caste Frenchman, under the immediate directions of the Rajah.'

Our Author arrived at Bangalore on the 29th of March, 1821, having occupied four months in this most interesting journey. In the following August, having procured two years leave of absence, he again set forward with the intention of returning to England by land. At Mysore, he spent great part of the day with the well known Jesuit,' the Abbè Dubois,a tall man, with a long silver beard, habited like a Brahmin. At that time, the Abbè does not appear to have contemplated relinquishing his station, for he expressed his hope, that, since he still continued to labour against hope, his services would be regarded by the Almighty as so much the more meritorious; and be, moreover, intimated his intention, if it were God's will, to leave his bones in that place. He said to his visitor: How can the Protestants hope to convert the heathen to their 'simple forms of worship, when the pomp and splendid ceremonies of the Roman Catholic persuasion, so like their own worship, have completely failed?" From Mysore, our Author proceeded to the mountain capital of the Rajah of Coorga, having despatches for his highness, whose mean and assassinlike countenance brought strongly to his mind the old man of the mountain' so celebrated in the days of the Crusades. His country is so difficult of access, that the Honourable Company have thought it best to let him remain a perfectly independent sovereign in the heart of the British possessions, with the exception of a merely nominal annual tribute of one elephant. Our Author embarked at Tellicherry for Bombay, where he remained a fortnight, and then availed himself of a cruizer bound for Mocha and Cosseir. From the latter port, he crossed the Desert to Carnac, visited the tombs and the temples in the vicinity of Thebes, and thence descended the Nile to Cairo and Damietta, where he embarked for Tyre, in order to fulfil a long-cherished wish to visit Jerusalem. The narrative of his pilgrimage to the Holy City is, however, the least interesting portion of the work. He only tells us, for the thousandth time, all that has been retailed to us on the authority of lying legends, respecting the holy places. Nothing can be more unaffectedly devout and truly pious than the sentiments which the Author expresses; and it would almost have been cruel to destroy, at the time, the happy illusion which excited his emotions at the sight of the sacred places. On some occasions, indeed, his native good-sense resented the palpable imposition; but, however justly and reasonably,' he says, 'we may doubt the truth of many of those traditions, it is not

while on the spot, that I would seek to arraign it, provided there be nothing in the tradition itself contrary to what is contained in the Scripture.' Yet, if the tradition should not happen to contradict Scripture, but only to outrage common sense, we should imagine the reason for doubt scarcely less cogent. Our Author was startled at being shewn the building where our Lord is said to have gone to school; but the table on which he used to dine with his disciples, Joseph's workshop, &c., not being contrary to the Scripture, must, on this rule, be admitted to be genuine: The fact is, and we speak it advisedly, that not one single legend relating to any one sacred place in the Holy Land, has the slightest claim to even probability; and a Christian traveller, who would wish to enjoy the genuine interest of the scene, ought resolutely to shut his ears to every thing that is told him by the monks. Nothing has tended so much to perplex the topography of Palestine, and to obliterate the few faint traces of ancient times, as these spurious traditions. Calvary, most certainly, and Joseph's sepulchre, could not have been near the spot now consecrated by superstition; and as little pretensions has the grotto of the nativity to the honour conferred upon it. Had our Author looked into the volumes of Dr. Richardson or Dr. Clarke, he would have seen that what is contained in the Scripture,' is at variance with the tradition by which he was beguiled in both instances. Mountains and rivers,' as he justly remarks, still 'continue to exist;' and with these the traveller must content himself. The site of ancient Jerusalem is clearly marked by its natural boundaries on the three sides where there are ra vines; Mount Zion and Mount Olivet retain their ancient names; the sea of Galilee still washes the plain of Gennesareth, and the Jordan yet rolls its impetuous torrent, when swoln by the early or the latter rains, into the bituminous lake. These grand natural features of the country remain unchanged, and as they alone can be identified, so they present objects of a far more rational interest, and much more worthy of a pilgrimage, than grottoes, and marble slabs, and troughs, and all the trumpery of the sacred places.

There is one point on which we should have been glad if the Author had been more explicit. He tells us that the ruins of Capernaum are on the right bank (we presume the west bank is meant) of the Lake of Gennesareth, near the entrance of the Jordan, and that the place is pronounced by the natives Kapper-naoum. He does not say that he visited those ruins, nor is it quite clear that the name in question was applied to them by the Arabs. We imagine that he refers to the ruined site called by Burckhardt Tel Hoom, and by Mr. Buckingham

Tal-hewn, which they suppose to be Capernaum, although it is not called so by the natives. It is somewhat vexatious that no traveller should have ascertained the real site of Capernaum on the authority of the Arab natives. Dr. Richardson was told, that Cavernahum and Chorosi were not far distant from the route he took to Damascus, but he had no time to visit them. We confess that, but for this statement, we should have some doubts whether the ruins of Capernaum exist, since the site in which we should be led to look for them, would be the rich plain between Khan Mennye and El Medjdel, the ancient Gennesareth, where no trace of an ancient town has been hitherto detected.

It is surprising,' our Author says, to hear the universal desire expressed by all classes of people in this country, that an European Christian power should be induced to come and take possession of it.' And, borne away by his military enthusiasm, he proceeds, with much naiveté, to give a loose sketch' of the operations for the conquest of Egypt and Syria, which he thinks, could we but establish a right to those countries, would easily make them ours. Ten thousand British troops would suffice to conquer Egypt, and four thousand more, with the indubitable assistance of the native inhabi tants,' would as easily take possession of all Syria, including Damascus and Aleppo. As to right, nothing is more easily established. Our right to Syria is at least as plain as our right to India; the Turks, moreover, are intruders, and, as Lord Erskine said in respect to Greece, should be served with a notice to quit. We might take possession of Palestine in the name of the Jews, and appoint a Lord High Commissioner of a new Judean republic, as in the Ionian Isles. We think it probable that the Turks would sell the whole province, if the Franks were to bid high enough for it,-provided the mosque of Omar were secured to them. Then, as to Mahommed Ali, he might be bribed, subsidized, or otherwise disposed of, according to circumstances, as the Company manages matters with the Rajahs. We like the project exceedingly; but one difficulty lies in the way-it will be necessary to obtain the previous consent of the Holy Alliance!

Lady Hester Stanhope is repeatedly referred to in this volume, not, indeed, by name, but so that no reader can mistake the person alluded to, in terms which, we presume, the Author would not have used unadvisedly; yet, the charge of derange ment is so serious, that we should have hesitated to give publicity to such an opinion on the strength of the most authentic anecdotes. The present volume appears anonymously, but the Author's name is no secret; and Major Mackworth has done

himself too much honour by at least the first part of these Travels, to have reason for shrinking from the avowal.

Art. VI. Hebrew Dictionary and Grammar without Points. By James Andrew, L.L.D. F.R.S. 8vo. pp. xvi. 200. Price 9s. London. 1823.

WE had always supposed that the circulation of his work was the first object of an Author's solicitude; and that the instruction it might contain was prepared for the use of all persons who might need it. Such we should imagine to be the design of the Author of this Hebrew Dictionary and Grammar, though he has limited his wishes for its acceptance and success to those who deserve, desire, or hope for any good from it. So many pages of an elementary work must necessarily include some particulars of information which may meet the wants of the uninitiated in Hebrew learning; we are therefore prepared to admit its utility. The utile, however, is but half the business of an Author who would be in favour with the public; and, happily, the work before us is as entertaining as it is instructive, so that we may describe it as having in its composition a fair proportion of the dulce. For example, in the first page of the preface, Dr. Andrew informs us, that the name of Noah's youngest son Canaan signifies Merchant, one who sells things by auction, as now-a-days the English East India Company do, and Canaan in Latin is properly rendered Mercurius. We were not aware that sales by auction were of so very early a date, or that the selling of things by auction is the proper description of a Merchant; nay, though the confession may not be creditable to our learning, we are obliged to acknowledge, that if we had been required to supply a proper rendering in Latin for one who sells things by auction,' our sagacity would not have directed us to Mercurius. Again, Dr. Andrew very truly remarks, in the conclusion of his preface, that no judicious or sensible man would for a moment give credence to the enigmatical or prophetical properties which some wretched Jewish sophists, called Cabalists, have attributed to certain combinations of Hebrew letters and sounds. Single letters are happily not included in this proscription of the cabalistical riddles, and are, therefore, it would seem, proper objects of philosophical investigation. Of the learned Doctor's penetration into the arcana of Hebrew letters, and of the brilliant discoveries which have rewarded his laborious researches, we may insert the following curious and erudite