"will begin the stirs and commotions about "the Jews and Israel in the East. If then to "1736 we add thirty more, they reach to "1766; but the times of perplexity are deter"mined (by Daniel) to last 45 years longer. "If then we conjoin those 45 years more to "1766, it produces one thousand eight hun"dred and ELEVEN, for those times of happi"ness to Israel." *

VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES FOR THE JEWS.

SINCE writing the above, the Author has received the following communication from the Rev. David Brown, dated Calcutta, March 15, 1810;

“Dr. Leyden, of the College of Fort William, ina letter communicated to me yesterday, has offered to conduct Translations of the Scriptures in the following Languages; viz."

* See " Israel Redux," page 122, printed in Cornhill, London, 1677.·

"The Jaghatai is the original Turcoman Language, as spoken in the central districts of Asia. The Bugis is the language of the Celebes. The Macassar is spoken at Macassar, in the Celebes, and in the great

island of BORNEO.

"Dr. Leyden is assisted, as you know, by learned natives in the compilation of Grammars and Vocabularies in the above languages, and entertains no doubt that he shall be able to effect correct versions of the Scriptures in them all."

Thus, sooner than could have been expected, are we likely to have the Bible translated into the language of the CELEBES. But who can estimate the importance of a translation of the Scriptures into the languages of Affghana and Cashmire, those Jewish regions?

The Jaghatai or Zagathai, is the language of Great Bucharia, which was called Zagathai, from a son of Zenghis Khan. It is an auspicious circumstance for Dr. Leyden's translation of the Jaghatai, that Prince Zagathai himself embraced Christianity, and made a public profession of the Gospel in his capital of Samarchand. There were at that period above a hundred Christian Churches in the province; and some of them remain to this day. We are also informed, both by the Nestorian and Ro

*See p. 97. for an account of the importance of this language.

+ See Mosheim's Eccl. Tartar History, p. 40.

mish writers, that there was a version of the New Testament and Psalms, in a Tartar Language. Dr. Leyden will soon discover whether this was the Jaghatai. That language is spo ken in Bochara, Balk, and Samarchand, and in other cities of Usbeck, and Independent Tartary. This is the country which Dr. Giles Fletcher, who was Envoy of Queen Elizabeth, at the Court of the Czar of Muscovy, has assigned as the principal residence of the descendants of the Ten tribes. He argues from their place, from the name of their cities, from their language, which contains Hebrew and Chaldaic words, and from their peculiar rites which are Jewish. Their principal city Samarchand is pronounced Samarchian, which Dr. Fletcher thinks, might be a name given by the Israelites after their own Samaria in Palestine. (See Israel Redux, p. 12.) Benjamin of Tudela, who travelled into this country, in the twelfth century, and afterwards published his Itinerary, says, "in Samarchand, the city of Tamerlane, "there are 50,000 Jews under the presidency "of Rabbi Obadiah and in the mountains "and cities of Nisbor, there are four tribes of "Israel resident, viz. Dan, Zabulon, Asher, "and Naphtali." It is remarkable that the

*See Benjamini Itinerarium, p. 97.

people of Zagathai should be constantly called Ephthalites and Nephthalites by the Byzantine writers, who alone had any information concerning them. The fact seems to be, that, if from Babylon as a centre, you describe a segment of a circle, from the northern shore of the Caspian Sea to the heads of the Indus, you will enclose the territories containing the chief body of the dispersed tribes of Israel.

This design of Dr. Leyden to superintend the translation of the Scriptures in SEVEN new languages, marks the liberal views, and the enterprising and ardent mind of that scholar, and will be hailed by the friends of Christianity in Europe as a noble undertaking, deserving their utmost culogy and patronage.

It will give pleasure to all those who have hitherto taken any interest in "the restoration of learning in the East," to see that the College of Fort-William is producing such excellent fruit. May its fame be perpetual!

† Theophanes, p. 79.

THE BIBLIOTHECA BIBLICA
IN BENGAL.

THE Bibliotheca Biblica is a Repository for Bibles in the Oriental Languages, and for Bibles only. They are here deposited for sale, at moderate prices; and lists of the various versions are sent to remote parts of Asia, that individuals may know where to purchase them; the commerce from the port of Calcutta rendering the transmission of books extremely easy. Those who desire to have copies for gratuitous distribution, are supplied at the cost prices. This institution is under the immediate superintendance of the Rev. David Brown, late Provost of the College of Fort-William : and it is supported by all the translators of the Bible in India, who send in their versions, and by the College of Fort-William, which sends in its versions.

There have been already deposited in the Bibliotheca Biblica four thousand volumes, in the following languages: