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least a plebeian, girl of Knudsthorp, named Christiana: some say she was the daughter of a clergyman. By the interposition of the king the fury of his family at this step was cooled. Never were man's prejudices subjected to a more salutary course of discipline than those of Tycho Brahé. In two short years the proud noble became an author, a lecturer, and the husband of a woman of inferior rank. The students of the university desired to profit by his knowledge, and on his positive refusal, the king, to whom he felt his obligations, made it his own earnest request. No choice was therefore left to the unfortunate recusant; and he accordingly delivered the public lecture marked (H) in our preceding list, which, putting aside the astrology, is a sensible discourse; and, excepting a hint at the beginning that nothing but the request of the king and of the audience (for politeness' sake) had made him undertake an office for which he was so unfit by station and mediocrity of talent (for modesty's sake), does not contain any allusion to the supposed derogation. He informs his audience at the end that he intends to lecture on the Prutenic tables, and he did so accordingly. This lecture was first published in 1610 by Conrad Aslacus (we cannot unlatinize Gassendi's name), who got it from Tycho himself.

Tycho Brahé had all this time intended to travel again. Ho set out in 1575, leaving his wife and infant daughter

The

at home, and proceeded to the court of the Landgrave William of Hesse-Cassel, who was himself a persevering observer; so much so, that when, during an observation of the new star of 1572, servants ran to tell him the house was on fire, he would not stir till he had finished. On leaving his court, Tycho wandered through Switzerland and Germany, apparently seeking where he might best set up his observatory, and he had fixed his thoughts upon Basle. But in the meanwhile ambassadors had been sent from Denmark to the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, and that prince took occasion warmly to recommend Tycho Brahé and his studies to the notice of his own sovereign. latter (Frederic II.) accordingly sent for Tycho after his return to Knudsthorp in 1576, and offered him possession for life of the island of Hven or Hoëne, taking upon himself all the expenses of his settlement. The offer was gladly accepted, and the first stone of the astronomical castle called Uraniberg or Oranienberg (the city of the heavens) was laid August 13, 1576. There is a full description of it in Gassendi, as also in (D) and (E). The following drawing is extracted from the former. It is necessary to warn our readers that the clumsiness of the old wood cut is purposely imitated, owing to some critical remarks we have heard on the figures in ASTROLABE (which see for the character of the instruments employed)..

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It is not our intention to follow Tycho Brahé at length through his splendid career at Uraniberg. No space here allowable would suffice to detail his results sufficiently for astronomical reference. We must therefore content ourselves with a few words on the state in which he found and left astronomy. The reader may fill up various points from the article ASTRONOMY.*

Besides this, there was an observatory sunk in the ground, | atmospheric, or even sublunary, bodies. He observed altoand named Stellberg (city of the stars). These two build-gether seven comets, the last in 1596. ings contained 28 instruments, all extra-meridional, but distinguished, as appears in (E), by many new contrivances for avoiding error, and by a size and solidity which rendered graduation to a single minute attainable; though it may be doubted whether the instruments themselves were calculated to give so small a quantity (for that time) with certainty. Tycho's instruments are vaguely said to have cost 200,000 crowns; the king allowed 2000 dollars a-year, besides a fief in Norway and a canonry in the church of

Roeskilde.

In 1577 he began his observations, ana on November 13, 1577, saw the comet which is the subject of (B). This luminary, and others of the same kind, gave occasion to his discovery that the spheres of the planets [PRIMUM MOBILE, PTOLEMAIC SYSTEM] could not be solid, since they were cut in all directions by the orbits of comets, which must be called the first decisive blow against the received notions. And Tycho was the first who proved comets to have such a parallax as was incompatible with their being

From the time of Ptolemy it may be said that astronomy had made some advances, but these did not certainly compensate the defects which time must introduce into tables of pure observation, unaided by any such knowledge of the system as will make accurate prediction possible. If the

In reference to that article, the reader of course must be aware that so

very large a number of facts and dates could not be taken from original authorities, but only from histories of reputation, and it cannot be more correct than the latter. Of the loose way of speaking with regard to dates, we have there complained; and there is an instance in Tycho Brahé where it is said that he began to observe in Hoëne in 1582. This is true in a sense, for he did in that year begin the regular observation of stars and planets (Mars particularly) which led to the Rudolphine tables: but he had been observing (though not with finished means or methods) from 1577.

Arabs did some good by their observations, they did nearly as much mischief by their theories; and the Alphonsine tables are a proof that the astronomers of that day did not know their heavens so well as Ptolemy did his. It was impossible for any one to make a considerable advance with such instruments as Tycho Brahé actually found in use, or without rejecting all theories of the heavenly bodies then in vogue, and relying entirely upon observation. The test of a theory is its accordance with nature; those of the time in question were so defective that their falsehood might be perceived by merely a little globe large enough to be held in one hand. Those who were engaged in observation ought to have seen this: it is the merit of Tycho Brahé that he was the first who did see it. But he did more than this: he saw also the means of remedying the evil, by his mechanical knowledge in the construction of instruments, his perception of the way in which those instruments were to be used, and the results of observation to be compared. He showed himself a sound mathematician in his methods for determining refraction, in his deduction of the variation and annual equation of the moon, and in many other ways. He proved himself to be at the same time an inventor of the means of observation and of the way of using them, such as had not appeared since Hipparchus; and it is to his observations that we owe, firstly, the deduction of the real laws of a planet's motion by Kepler, and of their proximate cause by Newton. There are many instances in which good fortune seems to have made a result of more importance than the discoverer had any right to presume, either from the skill or labour employed in obtaining it: but in the case of Tycho Brahé we believe we are joined by a very large majority in thinking that fortune deputed her office, pro hac vice, to justice, and that the eminence of the success to which he has led the way is no more than is due to the excellence of the means which he employed, and the sagacity he displayed in combining his materials. Where Hipparchus and Ptolemy have left half a degree of uncertainty, Tycho Brahé left two minutes, if not one only. This Bradley afterwards reduced to as many seconds, in the case of the stars; and the ages of these three are the great epochs of astronomy, as a science of pure observation.

The stars, to the naked eye, présent diameters varying from a quarter of a minute of space, or less, to as much as two minutes. The telescope was not then invented which shows that this is an optical delusion, and that they are points of immeasurably small diameter. It was certain to Tycho Brahe, that if the earth did move, the whole motion of the earth in its orbit did not alter the place of the stars by two minutes, and that consequently they must be so distant, that to have two minutes of apparent diameter, they must be spheres of as great a radius at least as the distance from the sun to the earth. This latter distance Tycho Brahé supposed to be 1150 times the semi-diameter of the earth, and the sun about 180 times as great as the earth. Both suppositions are grossly incorrect; but they were common ground, being nearly those of Ptolemy and Copernicus. It followed then, for any thing a real Copernican could show to the contrary, that some of the fixed stars must be 1520 millions of times as great as the earth, or nine millions of times as great as they supposed the sun to be. Now, one of the strong arguments against Ptolemy (and the one which has generally found its way into modern works) was the enormous motion which he supposed the stars to have. The Copernican of that day might have been compelled to choose between an incomprehensibly great magnitude, and a similar motion. Delambre, who comments with brief contempt upon the several arguments of Tycho Brahé, has here only to say, 'We should now answer that no star has an apparent diameter of a second.' Undoubtedly, but what would you have answered then, is the reply. The stars were spheres of visible magnitude, and are so still; nobody can deny it who looks at the heavens without a telescope; did Tycho reason wrong because he did not know a fact which could only be known by an instrument invented after his death?

Again, the mechanical difficulties attending the earth's motion were without any answer which deserved attention even in that day. That a stone dropped from a height fell directly under the point it was dropped from, Copernicus accounts for by supposing that the air carries it: he, as well as his opponents, believing that but for the air the spot at first directly beneath the stone would move from under it. We are of opinion that the system of Tycho R was the only one of that day not open to serious physical objections, taking as a basis the notions of mechanics admitted by all parties. To us the system of Copernicus appears a premature birth: the infant long remained sickly, and would certainly have died if it had not fallen under better management than that of its own parents.

We must now devote some space to the system which he promulgated against that of Copernicus, and which is considered as the great defect in his astronomy. And first, we must observe that it has been customary to keep the name of Copernicus under every improvement which his system has undergone in later times. His notions were received at his hands loaded with real difficulties, supported by arguments as trivial as those of his opponents; Galileo Frederick II. died in 1588, and Tycho remained unmohas answered the mechanical objections, Bradley has pro- lested under his son Christian IV. till 1596. Gassendi duced positive proofs, Newton has so altered the system relates that the nobles were envious when they saw fothat Copernicus would neither know it nor admit it, by over-reigners of importance come to Denmark solely to converse throwing the idea that the sun was fixed in the centre of with Tycho; that the medical men were displeased at his the universe (which is the real Copernican system); and dispensing medicines gratis to the poor; and that the mi thus mended in one part, augmented in another, overthrown nister had a quarrel with Tycho about a dog. Malte-Brun in a third, and positively proved in a fourth, all that is relates this more distinctly, apparently from the Danske known of the relative motions of the system in modern Magazin, or from Holberg's 'History of Denmark,' so that times is removed back two hundred years, called Coperni- it seems most probable that the destruction of the obsercan, and confronted with Tycho Brahé. Now the real vatory at Hoëne arose from a personal squabble between state of the case is this: that the latter did compound, out this minister, called Walckendorf, and a dog of Tycho, of the systems of Ptolemy and Copernicus, a system of his whose name has not reached us. The astronomer was graown, which, while it seized by far the greater portion of the dually deprived of his different appointments, and in 1596 advantages of the latter, was not open to the most material removed, with all his smaller apparatus, to Copenhagen. objection. (See a paper entitled, Old Arguments against A commission, appointed by the minister, had declared the Motion of the Earth, Companion to the Almanac,' his methods not worth prosecuting, and his instruments 1836.) And we assert, moreover, that of all the incon- worse than useless. clusive arguments of that day, which concern the subject in question, the reply of the Copernicans to Tycho Brahé is the most inconclusive. The system of Tycho Brahé consists in supposing, 1. That the stars all move round the earth as in the Ptolemaic system. 2. That all the planets, except the earth, move round the sun as in the Copernican system. 3. That the sun, and the imaginary orbits in which the planets are moving, are carried round the earth. Imagine a planetarium on the system of Copernicus placed over a table, above which is a light. As the earth moves, let the whole machine be always so moved, that the shadow of the earth shall fall upon one and the same part of the table. Then the motions of the shadows of the other planets and of the sun will be according to the system of Tycho Brahe. Mathematically speaking, it does not differ from that of Copernicus; we shall now consider it physically,

In the summer of 1597 he finally left his country, and removed with his wife, two sons, and four daughters, to Rostock, from whence he shortly removed to Wandsbeck, near Hamburg, at the invitation of Count Rantzau. At the end of 1598, he received a pressing invitation from the Emperor Rudolph II., promising him every assistance if he would remove with all his apparatus to the imperial dominions. Thither Tycho arrived in the spring of 1599, having been detained during the winter at Wittenberg, by the cir cumstance of a contagious disorder raging in Prague. The emperor settled upon him a pension of 3000 ducats, and offered him the choice of three different residences. He chose that of Benateck, (Benachia or Benatica, Gass.) five miles from Prague, and called the Venice of Bohemia. He sent for the remainder of his instruments from Denmark, and remained at Benateck till February, 1601, when he settled in Prague.

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The celebrated Kepler joined him in February, 1600. Tycho had repeatedly written to invite him, having first entered into communication with him in 1598, when he sent Tycho a copy of his Mysterium Cosmographicum. The latter advised him to lay aside speculations, and apply himself to the deduction of causes from phenomena. It is to following this advice that Kepler owes all his fame; so that Tycho not only furnished him with the observations necessary, but was his adviser (and never was adviser more wanted) in the way of using them. In the year 1601, they were employed together in the composition of tables from the Uraniberg observations, which tables they agreed should be called Rudolphine. But on the 13th of October, 1601, the effects of a convivial party, combined with inattention to himself, produced a mortification of the bladder. He continued for many days in pain, and died on the 24th of the month. During his delirium, he several times repeated 'ne frustra vixisse videar,' which must be interpreted as something between a hope and a declaration, that he had not lived in vain. Nor will he be thought to have done so by any one who ever found his longitude at sea, or slept in quiet while a comet was in the heavens, without fear of the once sup-shapes; and the lotus proceeds from pond_to pond without posed minister of God's anger. For if the list of illustrious men be formed, to whom we owe such benefit, it will be found that his observations form the first great step of the moderns in astronomy. There was a report set abroad in Denmark, that he had been poisoned by the emperor, probably the imagination of those who had driven him from his country. He was buried at Prague, and his monument still exists there. (Malte-Brun.) He was of moderate stature, and latterly rather corpulent, of florid complexion and light hair. Gassendi refers to the portrait in his own work, in testimony of the skill with which the wound already mentioned was repaired; and certainly, with the exception of a very great fullness and cylindricality of figure about the lower part of the nostrils, there is nothing there to excite remark. In his younger days he cultivated astrology, but latterly renounced it altogether. He has left no record of his chemical and medical studies. He was a copious writer of Latin verses. The following, which are a fair specimen, are part of those written by him upon one of his instruments which had belonged to Copernicus. They will show how highly he admired that astronomer.

Quid non ingenium superat? sunt montibus olim
Incassum montes congesti, Pelion, Ossa,
Etnaque testantur, simul his glomeratus Olympus
Innumerique alii, nec dum potuisse Gigantes,
Corpore prævalidos, sed mentis acumine inerteis
In superas penetrare domus. Ille inclytus, ille
Viribus ingenii confisus, robore nullo,
Fustibus his parvis celsum superavit Olympum.
O tanti monumenta viri! Sint lignea quamvis ;
His tamen invideat salvum, si nosceret, aurum.

Some of his earlier observations are preserved at Copenhagen. For the present state of Uraniberg, see HOËNE.

It is our belief that the merits of Tycho have been underrated, both as an inventor of instruments, and as a philosopher. As an observer, his works have spoken for themselves, in language which cannot be mistaken.

When inflected as a substantive of the neuter gender, its
termination in the nominative case is a short a, Brahmă
(sometimes written Brahme or Brahm in English works on
Hindu mythology), and thus declined it designates the
essence of the Supreme Being in the abstract, devoid of per-
sonal individuality. When treated as a masculine word, it
takes a long a in the nominative case, Brahma, and thus
modified, becomes the name of the first of the three gods
who constitute the triad of principal Hindu deities.
Brahma, the impersonal divine substance, is with the
Hindus not an object of worship, but merely of devout con-
templation. According to the Vêdânta system of philo-
sophy, which recognizes the ancient sacred writings of the
Hindus as the authority of the doctrines which it advances,
Brahmă is the great source from which the visible universe
and all the individual deities of mythology have sprung,
and into which all will ultimately be re-absorbed. 'As
milk changes to curd, and water to ice, so is Brahmă va-
riously transformed and diversified, without aid of tools or
exterior means of any sort. In like manner the spider spins
his web out of his own substance; spirits assume various
organs of motion.' 'Ether and air are by Brahmă created;
but he himself has no origin, no procreator nor maker, for
he is eternal, without beginning as without end. So fire,
and water, and earth, proceed mediately from him, being
evolved successively the one from the other, as fire from air
and this from ether.' The human soul, according to the
same authority, 'is a portion of the supreme ruler, as a
spark in the fire. The relation is not as that of master and
servant, ruler and ruled, but as that of whole and part.' It
is subject to transmigration, and the route on which, after
the death of the human individual, it proceeds to its ulti-
mate re-absorption in the divine essence, is variously de-
scribed in divers texts of the Vêdas. But he who has
attained the true knowledge of God does not pass through
the same stages of retreat, proceeding directly to re-union
with the Supreme Being, with which he is identified, as a
river, at its confluence with the sea, merges therein alto-
gether. His vital faculties and the elements of which his
body consists are absorbed absolutely and completely; both
name and form cease; and he becomes immortal, without
parts or members.' (Passages from the Brahma-sûtras, or
aphorisms on the Vêdânta doctrine, by Bâdarâyana; trans-
lated by Mr. Colebrooke; Transact. of the Roy. Asiat. Soc.,
vol. ii. passim.)

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Brahma, as an individual deity in mythology, is the operative creator of the universe; forming, with Vishnu (the preserver or sustainer) and Siva (the destroyer), the triad of principal Hindu gods. His epithets, which have been collected by ancient Sanscrit lexilogists, are numerous: some of the most usual are, Swayambhu, the self-existent ;' Parameshthi, who abides in the most exalted place;' Pitamaha, the great father; Prajapati, 'the lord of creatures; Lôkésa, the ruler of the world; Dhatri, 'the creator. In the mythological poems and in sculpture he is represented with four heads or rather faces, and holding in BRAHILOW, BRAILA or IBRAHIL, a fortified his four hands a manuscript book containing a portion of town, in Wallachia, at the mouth of the Sereth, which the Vedas, a pot for holding water, a rosary, and a sacrifalls into the Danube on its left or northern bank. It is ficial spoon. (Moor's Hindu Pantheon, plates 3, 4, 5.) In not included in the independent territory of Wallachia, but the sculptures of the cave temple of Elephanta, he is reprehas been retained under exclusively Turkish dominion, sented sitting on a lotus supported by five swans or geese. and, with its adjacent dependencies, constitutes part of the (Transact. of the Lit. Soc. of Bombay, vol. i. pp. 222-225, sandshak of Silistria in Bulgaria. At this spot the Danube &c.) Exclusive worshippers of Brahmâ and temples dediis divided into six arms, one of which forms the port of Bra-cated to him do not now seem to occur in any part of India : hilow, while the islands they create are considered neutral homage is however paid to him along with other deities. The ground between the Turk and the Russian. The t. is de- Brahmans, in their morning and evening worship, repeat a fended by a strong citadel which commands the rivers below prayer addressed to Brahma, and at noon likewise they go it, is the seat of a pasha of three tails as its commandant, through certain ceremonies in his honour: on the occasion possesses a pop. of about 30,000, has a valuable sturgeon of burnt offerings, an oblation of clarified butter is made to fishery, and exports great quantities of Wallachian corn to him, but it does not appear that bloody sacrifices are ever Constantinople. S. Hall places it in 45° 15′ N. lat., 27° 54' offered to Brahmâ. At the full moon of the month Magha E. long. (January-February), an earthen image of Brahmâ, with that of Siva on his right and that of Vishnu on his left hand, is worshipped; and dances, accompanied with songs and music, are performed as at the other Hindu festivals. When the festivities are over, the images of the three gods are cast into the Ganges. A particular worship is paid to Brahmâ at Pushkara or Pokher in Ajmere, and at Bithore in the Dooab, where he is said to have performed a great and solemn sacrifice on completing the act of creation; and the pin of his slipper, which he left behind him on the occasion, and which is now fixed in one of the steps of the Brah

BRAHMA, a Sanscrit word, the name of the Supreme Being in the religious system of the Hindus. The primitive meaning of the word is not quite clear; it is evidently connected with the verbal root brih, to grow, to expand,' whence brihat, 'great; and has been explained by some as properly implying the widely expanded Being. The crude form of the word, or the name in its uninflected state, is Brahman, and it is of great importance well to distinguish a two-fold use of that term, accordingly as it is declined as a substantive of the neuter or of the masculine gender.

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maverta Ghat near Bithore, is still an object of adoration | the Dupha Pani, which originates on the W. declivity of
there. On the full moon of Agrahâyana (November-De- the mountains, over which the Phungan Bum pass (27°
cember), a numerously attended fair is annually held there 30 N. lat.) leads to the countries on the banks of the Ira-
in honour of Brahmâ. (Wilson, in the Asiat. Res., vol. xvi. waddi, and attains a height of 11,000 ft. Hence the
p. 14, 15; Ward, View of the Hindus, &c., 2d edit., vol. ii. Dupha Puni flows between mountains in wild rapids to the
p. 29, 30.)
E. and unites with the other branch, called the Noa Dihing
above Logo. The upper course of the Noa Dihing is less
known, but it would appear that its source is farther from
the place of junction than that of the Dupha Pani, and
probably on the S. declivities of the Langtan Mountains.
From Logo downwards the Noa Dihing is navigable for
boats.

BRAHMANS. [HINDUS, CASTES OF.] BRAHMAPOOTRA, one of the largest riv. of Asia and in many respects one of the most remarkable on the globe. Sixty or seventy years ago this riv. was almost unknown to Europeans; though they had information about its neighbour the Ganges more than three centuries before the beginning of our æra.

The farthest branches of this riv., which has a common embouchure with the principal branch of the Ganges, rise between 97° and 98° E. long., and between 28° and 29° N. lat. Here, about 28° 30' N. lat., and 97° 30' E. long., stands a snow-capped mountain range, which in the present state of our geographical knowledge must be considered the most easterly portion of the Himalaya range: the Taluka, the most N. of the sources of the Brahmapootra, has its origin in these mountains. No European has yet seen its source, but Wilcox was informed that it runs to the S.S.W. in a narrow valley between high, steep, and mostly barren rocks, till it joins the Taluding, a riv. not inferior in size, which descends from the mountains of Namhio (28° N. lat.), a ridge belonging to the Langtan chain, which latter divides the upper branches of the Brahmapootra from those of the Irawaddi. After the junction of the Taluka and Taluding the river continues its course to the S.S.W. between high mountains, and about 20 m. lower is the most E. point to which Wilcox advanced. Here the enclosing mountains are covered with jungle, with now and then an intermixture of grass in spots. The riv. is full of foam, and the rocks in its bed are of such enormous size, that it is hardly possible to conceive that they have been brought down by the riv. even in the rainy season, but their great variety shows that they are not in situ. Sienitie granite, in which garnets are found 7-10ths of an inch in diameter, serpentine of a flinty hardness, and primitive limestone are

most numerous.

Near this place the riv. changes its direction, flowing for some miles to the N.W. between high mountains and in a narrow valley; it then turns to the S., and a few miles lower down it issues from the mountains by a narrow pass, called Prabhu Kuthár, in which the riv. is about 200 ft. wide, and runs with great violence. Near this pass, on the S. banks of the riv. is the Brahma-koond (the source of the Brahma) or Deo Páni, a place of pilgrimage among the Hindus. It is nothing but a good sized pool, 70 ft. long by 30 wide, enclosed by high projecting rocks, from which two or three rills descend into the pool. From this place the riv. has obtained its sacred name of Brahmapootra, the offspring of Brahma, though it is commonly called by the natives Lohit, or Lohitiya (Lauhitiya in Sansc., the red river).

6

After passing the Prabhu Kuthár the Lohit enters the valley of Upper Asam or Sadiya, where the hills retire to a distance of 30 or 35 m. from each bank. But though carrying a great volume of water, the Lohit becomes navigable for large boats only at Sonpura, 12 m, above Sadiya. In this distance the riv. does not intersect any rocky strata, but the torrents descending from the hills bring down in the rainy season an immense and yearly accumulating collection of bolders and round pebbles of every size, which blocking up the river divide it into numerous channels, and produce frequent rapids of short extent; all these circumstances render its navigation extremely difficult and nearly impossible. In this tract the Lohit begins to display its character of dividing its stream and forming large longitudinal islands, a peculiarity which is frequently observed in its course through Asam. Near 96° 15' E. long., and 27° 51′ 21′′ N. lat.., the riv. divides into two branches, of which the N. and larger is called the Lohit or Buri Lohit, and the S. Sukato: these branches unite again about 10 or 12 m. farther downward. The island thus formed is about 2 m. wide.

From the Prabhu Kuthár to Sonpura the riv. runs nearly W., and in this tract its waters are only increased by small streams. But between Sonpura and Sadiya, where it makes a bend to the S., the Lohit is joined by the Noa Dibing, a considerable riv., whose upper branches rise above a hundred miles from its mouth. The best known is

Nearly opposite the mouth of the Noa Dihing the Kundil joins the Lohit. On the banks of this small river stands Sadiya, the capital of Upper Asam: the Lohit is here about 1200 ft. above the level of the sea.

West of Sadiya, but at no great distance, the waters of the Lohit are increased by those of the Dihong, which brings a volume at least three times as large as that of the Lohit at their junction. A few miles from its mouth the Dihong is joined by the Diiong, a considerable river descending from the N.N.E., but by far the largest volume of water is brought down by the Dihong itself, which flows as far as it is known from the N.N.W. This river has been examined only to a short distance from its mouth, where it was found rushing down in rapids, interrupted only by cataracts. The great volume of its waters, added to other circumstances, renders it probable that this river is the same which is known in Tibet by the name of Sampoo or Yaru Tzanghotsin, which opinion is noticed more particularly at the end of this article.

After its junction with the Dihong, the Lohit flows in a S.W. direction, and forms numerous islands, so that hardly in any place does the whole volume of its waters run in one bed. Here it receives on the S. the Buri Dihing, a considerable river, whose origin is near the banks of the Noa Dihing, and separated from it by such low grounds, that at certain seasons of the year a portion of the last mentioned river flows to the Buri Dihing and constitutes as it were its source, which has given rise to the opinion that the Noa Dihing at some remote period did not discharge its waters at the place where it now empties itself in the Lohit, but constituted the upper branches of the Buri Dihing. The Buri Dihing runs nearly in a due western direction, probably above 120 m., but its upper course is not known.

A few miles after this junction, the Lohit divides into two large branches, the northern of which is called Buri Lohit, and the southern Buri Dihing, as if it was the continuation of the large affluent which joined it a few miles farther up. These branches include the fertile island of Majuli, which extends from 94° 30' to 93° 40' E. long., about 50 m. in length, with an average breadth of 9 m. Opposite this island the Buri Lohit is joined by the Suban Shiri, a river not inferior in volume of water to any of the tributaries of the Brahmapootra, except the Dihong. It has not been examined to any great distance from its mouth, but the abundance of its waters suggested to Wilcox the idea that it may be the lower course of the Mon-tsiu, a large river of Tibet; an opinion which is very probable.

Into the southern branch of the Brahmapootra, or the Buri Dihing, falls the small river Dikho, on which the present capital of Asam, Jorhath, is situated, and lower down, near the place where both branches reunite, the Dhunsiri, which rises at a great distance to the S. in the territories of the Raja of Moonipore, in a country not yet explored by Europeans.

After the Buri Lohit and the Buri Dihing have reunited and flowed down for nearly 30 m. in one channel, divided only at a few places by small islands, the Brahmapootra divides again at the town of Bishenath (93° 15′ E. long.) into two large branches, of which the northern and larger retains the name of Lohit, and the southern is called Kullung or Kolong. The island enclosed by these two branches of the Brahmapootra extends in length upwards of 75 m., with a width of 20 or 25 m. in the middle. As European travellers do not mention the native name of this island, Ritter calls it the island of Kullung. The Kullung branch of the Brahmapootra here receives a considerable river, the Deyong, whose sources are situated far to the S. in the kingdom of Katchar, and which breaks through the chain of the Naga Mountains, like the Dhunsiri.

The Kullung branch of the Brahmapootra re-unites to the Lohit a few miles above Gowahatty, below which town

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the extensive valley of Asam may be considered as terminated for here the offsets of the Himalaya range on the N. and the Garo Hills on the S. approach the river within a short distance, and in many places leave but a narrow tract along its banks. The Brahmapootra runs here with an undivided stream, and is hardly 1200 yards wide, which is its smallest breadth after its junction with the Dihong. Its stream is so exceedingly rapid, that in the rainy season vessels are obliged to wait for a strong westerly wind, to enable them to stem the force of the current. Below Goyalpara, the Brahma pootra enters the plains of Bengal, where it is only about 120 ft. above the level of the sea.

The general direction of the Brahmapootra from the western extremity of the island of Kullung to its entry into the plains of Bengal lies due E. and W., and it preserves this direction still farther down to the town of Rangamatty. Below Goyalpara it receives on the N. the Bonash or Manas, a considerable river which traverses the eastern portion of Bootan, but whose course is nearly unknown, except so far as it runs through the plains of Bengal.

Near Rangamatty the Brahmapootra declines to the S.W., and shortly afterwards takes a due southern course to 25° N. lat., where it begins to run to the S.E. Between 260 and 25° the first communication with the Ganges commences. A small branch of the Brahmapootra running due S. falls into the Issamutty, a branch of the Teesta, which joins the Ganges near Jaffiergunge; and another watercourse, which branches off from the Brahmapootra a little farther down, and is called Lobnee, falls into the antient bed of the Ganges below Jaffiergunge.

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large rivers of the peninsula without the Ganges, and he hit on the largest, the Irawaddy. When Rennell surveyed the lower course of the Brahmapootra in 1769, he was struck by its magnitude, and he collected some information respecting its upper course, which led him to conjecture that the Sampoo of Tibet discharged its waters by this channel. The conjecture was confirmed by the information obtained by Turner at Teshoo Loomboo. Rennell inserted this river in the first edition of his map of Hindoostan, where with great ingenuity he hit nearly on the same place where at present the Dihong is found to break through the Himalaya mountains. This representation of the union of the Sampoo and Brahmapootra was not questioned till 1824, when the British troops entered Asam, and it was discovered that the sources of the Brahmapootra were situated much farther E. than the place where in Rennel's map the Sampoo enters the vale of Asam. Lachlan and Julius Klaproth accordingly conjectured that the Sampoo runs much farther to the E., and, encircling the mountains at the sources of the Brahmapootra, joins the Irawaddy. Klaproth, who had carefully examined the Chinese geographers, collected some passages which he thought sufficient to support his opinion. But the British officers, who remained in Asam, and especially Capt. Bedford and Lieut. Wilcox, ascertained that the Dihong was a very large river. Their attempts to ascend it were frustrated partly by the nature of the river within the mountains, where it comes down in a succession of rapids and cataracts, and partly by the mountaineers. But Wilcox succeeded in passing the mountain range between the upper branches of the Brahmapootra and those of the Irawaddy, and he found that in the country of the Bor Khamtis the Irawaddy is an inconsiderable river, only 80 yards wide, and the natives were not acquainted with any large river in the neighbourhood. This renders it all but certain that the Sampoo of Tibet does not join the Irawaddy, or any other river in the adjacent countries.

The Brahmapootra continues its south-eastern course nearly to 24° N. lat., where it is joined by the Barak or river of Silhet. This latter river has its still unknown origin in the mountains of Tiperah, and enters the kingdom of Katchar from the S. near 93° E. long.; it then turns suddenly to the W. and continues in this direction through the prov. of Silhet; but E. of 92° E. long. it branches off in different channels, of which the southern and most considerable runs W.S.W. and falls into the Brahmapootra near the point where the parallel 24° is cut by the meridian 91°. From its junction with the Barak the Brahmapootra runs S.S.W. with large bends until it reaches the neighbourhood of Fringybazar, where its channel widens to such a breadth, that it struck with amazement our great geographer Rennel, and led him to suppose that the Megna, which is the name for the river from Fringybazar to the sea, had at some re-culated by Gaubil to be 88° 4' E. long. of Paris, or 90° 24′ of mote period received the waters of the principal branch of the Ganges in addition to those of the Brahmapootra. He traced the old channel of the Ganges from Fringybazar to Dacca and Jaffiergunge, and hence through the lakes and morasses between Jaffiergunge and Nattore to Pootyah and Bauleah. At present both rivers have separate embouchures, though they approach so near one another that their beds at some places are hardly two miles apart. Even after they have left the continent their currents are still divided, that of the Ganges running to the W. of the island of Shabazpore, while the Megna sends its waters to the gulf of Bengal by the channel between the islands of Shabazpore and Hattia.

The whole course of the Brahmapootra, as here described, may be estimated at 860 m, of which 160 m. belong to its upper course E. of the mouth of the Dihong, 350 m. to its middle course to Goyalpara, and the remainder to its lower course to the island of Hattia. The Ganges runs 1350 m., and therefore exceeds the Brahmapootra by near 500 m. But the Brahmapootra carries down a much greater volume of water. It was found, in January, 1828, that it discharged near Goyalpara below the mouth of the Bonash, in one second, 146,188 cubic ft. of water, while Rennel calculated that the principal branch of the Ganges in the dry season discharges only 80,000 cubic ft. This fact is a strong reason in support of the Dihong being the river which in Tibet is known by the name of Sampoo; but others are of the opinion that the Sampoo joins the Irawaddy. We shall briefly advert to this controversy.

At the time of D'Anville the Brahmapootra was hardly known further than by name. He therefore inserted it in his map of southern Asia as a small river running N. and S., nearly in the place where at present the Gadadhar or Tehin-tsiu descends from the Himalaya of Bootan. He knew, however, that the Sampoo runs to the E., and that it does not join the Kinche-kiang or Yantse-kiang. He therefore conjectured that this river must join one of the

On the other hand, as far as the course of the Sampoo as well as of the Dihong has been fixed by astronomical observations, it is by no means improbable that both are the same river. The only point which has been determined on the banks of the Sampoo, by actual observation, is Teshoo Loomboo, which Turner found at 89° 7' E. long. Farther down, the position of H'Lassa, which lies at no great distance from the Sampoo on its northern bank, has been calGreenwich. Below H Lassa the Sampoo continues its course for a considerable distance to the E., until all information of its farther course is lost. The Dihong issues from the mountains, according to the survey, at about 95° 30' E. long. Between H Lassa and this point there are therefore still five degrees and six minutes for the known and unknown portion of the course of the river.

It is impossible to draw any conclusion from the difference of lat., because the Chinese place Tibet much too far S. In D'Anville's map to Du Halde's description of China the known course of the Sampoo terminates at 26° 40′ N. lat., and on the Chinese map of Kienlong in 27° 30′, and consequently to the S. of the valley of the Brahmapootra : Klaproth accordingly, to support his opinion, has been obliged to place it at 28° 30', and Berghaus even at 29° 15′ N. lat. But if we even admit the lat. of Klaproth, the distance of the termination of the known portion of the Sampoo would only differ 24 minutes of lat. from the most northern point on the banks of the Dihong, to which Wilcox ascended this river (28° 6' N. lat.).

Klaproth supports his opinion of the identity of the Sampoo and Irawaddy, by a few passages from Chinese geographers; but it is evident that all the countries between the termination of the known course of the Sampoo and China Proper were and still are as little known to them as to us; and as they had no knowledge at all of the Lohit and the vale of Asam, they thought it necessary to unite the Sampoo with the most considerable river of the peninsula without the Ganges, the Irawaddy. To the passages of the Chinese geographer may be opposed the decided opinion of the lamas of Tibet, who told Turner that the Sampoo running to the S. unites its waters with the river flowing down from the Brahmakoond.

All these circumstances make it very probable that the Dihong is the continuation of the Sampoo. By adding this riv. the course of the Brahmapootra is increased by upwards of 1000 miles: this circumstance would sufficiently explain

VOL, V.-2 U

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