It will be observed that the numbers in the General Mean (the last column) are somewhat irregular, which I apprehend is owing to the series of years being too short for the subdivision I have adopted, viz. 20.30', if instead of that we take 5° as the subdivision, the numbers come out regularly, as follows:

44

The results are somewhat different from what I expected, for they shew an increase of rain, not only towards the maximum, but towards the minimum declination of the moon. Had it been towards the maximum only, we might have accounted for it by supposing the rain to vary with the principal tide, either superior, or inferior; and had it been towards the minimum only, we might have supposed that the rain was the effect of the mean tide, as in all latitudes, less than 45o, the mean tide increases as the declination of the moon diminishes. However, when our data are more perfect, we may be able to get an explanation of the phenomena. In the meanwhile, lest any one should object that the series of years for which the average has been taken, is too short to establish the fact of an increase towards the maximum declination, I beg now to offer some other reasons which led me to the conclusion before I obtained a sight of the Almanacks. I must first remind you that, owing to the revolution of the nodes of the moon, her maximum monthly declination decreases for a series of years, and then increases. Thus if we turn to the Table, we find that in the year 1829, and for two years both before and after it, the maximum declination was always less than 20°. This revolution of the nodes is completed in a period of about 18 years, or more correctly, 6803 days, 2 hours, 55 minutes. Now then, supposing it to be true that the rain-falls vary with the declination of the moon; in those years in which the declination is small the rains ought to be scanty, and vice versd to increase as the former increases. We have no register of rain for a long series of years, but we have a valuable record left us for the illustration of this part of our subject, similar to that register of the height of the annual inundations of the Nile, which the ancient Egyptians measured by means of a Neiλoσkotelov, or Nilometer, placed on the bank of the river; I allude of course to Mr. Kyd's Register of the height of the Hooghly in different years*. In the map No. 4,

* See his paper on the subject, (Part 1. Trans. Phys. Class, As. Soc.) and the map which accompanies it.

subject, (Part 1. Trans. Phys. Class, As. Soc.) and map to accompany it. In the map No. 4, we have the line of the highest high water, and of highest low water in the different years, and I have transferred those heights into numbers (as nearly as could be done by common measurement), and then taken the mean of both for the mean height of the river in each year during the rainy season. Recollecting then, that the monthly maximum declination of the moon was at its least about Michaelmas 1829, its greatest would be about the end of May, 1820, and its least again, very early in 1811-and regarding the Hooghly as the general rain gauge of the country*, we have the mean height of the river in each season, as follows:

1806. 1807. 1808. 1809. 1810. 1811. 1812. 1813. 1814. 1815. 1816. ft. in.

There is an irregularity in these numbers; and both the minimum and maximum height of the river appear to have occurred from two to three years after the maximum declination of the moon; but if we take the average of five or seven years nearest the maximum, and compare it with the average of a similar number of years nearest the minimum, the difference will be striking. A curious question here arises-Have we in history any record of inundations, or drought and famine corresponding in the times of their occurrence with these different positions of the moon? I think we have. But the question is one that demands a very wide research, much more so than, with my present limited means of reference, I am able to give it; but I hope at a future time to be able to lay a few items of information respecting it before the Society. In my last paper, I suggested that the great abundance of rain when the moon's declination was greater than 22°30′ might be accounted for by the locality of Calcutta, but on consulting my own register, I find that a similar effect was perceptible at Dehli (lat 28°40′) last year. As a sample of it, I subjoin the days in the month of July on which rain fell, with the amount, and declination of the moon at noon.

* It must be remembered that the level of the Hooghly at Calcutta is also affected materially by the tides of the Bay and by the prevailing winds of the season.-ED.

D D

I have not yet had leisure to compare the barometric and other indications with the moon's declination, but I shortly intend to do so. From present appearances I cannot help feeling sanguine that the 'moon's declination will be found to be the principal cause of the different atmospheric variations, exclusive, of course, of those which are occasioned by the regular annual progress of the sun. However, whether there be any thing of truth in these inferences, or whether I have been misled by a series of chance co-incidences, time only can determine. If those inferences are well founded, the years of drought are past, and the years of plenteous rain approaching. By this test let them be tried, for no one can desire a fairer.

P. S.-I have added the above table of the days in the ensuing rainy season (1835) in which the declination of the moon is greater than 17° 30' and less than 5°, in the hope that those who keep rain gauges in different latitudes and who have not the Almanacks to refer to, may take an interest in the subject, and favour us with some further information.

V.-Further Note on the Inscription from Sáraáth, printed in the last No. of this Journal.-By B. H. HODGSON, Esq.

[In a Letter to the Secy. As. Soc., read at the meeting of the 6th May.] I have just got the 39th Number of the Journal, and hasten to tell you, that your enigma requires no Edipus for its solution at Kathmandu, where almost every man, woman, and child, of the Bauddha faith, can repeat the confessio fidei (for such it may be called), inscribed on the Sárnáth stone. Dr. MILL was perfectly right in denying the alleged necessary connexion between the inscription, and the complement to it produced by M. CSOMA DE KÖRÖS. No such complement is needed, nor is found in the great doctrinal authorities, wherein the passage occurs in numberless places, sometimes containing but half of the complete dogma of the inscription; thus:—“ Yé Dharmá hetu-prabhavá; hetu teshán Táthágata." Even thus curtailed, the sense is complete, without the Teshán cha yó nirodha, evang (vádí) Maha SRAMANʼA," as you may perceive by the following translation :

Of all things proceeding from cause, the cause is Tathágata;” or, with the additional word, "Of all things proceeding from cause; the cause of their procession hath the Tathágata explained." To complete the dogma, according to the inscription, we must add, "The great SRAMAN'A hath likewise declared the cause of the extinction of all things." With the help of the commentators, I render this passage thus, "The cause, or causes of all sentient existence in the versatile world, the Tathágata hath explained. The Great SRAMAN'A hath likewise explained the cause, or causes of the cessation of all such existence."

Nothing can be more complete, or more fundamental, than this doctrine. It asserts that BUDDHA hath revealed the causes of (animate) mundane existence, as well as the causes of its complete cessation, implying, by the latter, translation to the eternal quiescence of Nirvritti, which is the grand object of all Bauddha vows. The addition to the inscription supplied by M. CSOMA, is the ritual application merely of the general doctrine of the inscription. It explains especially the manner in which, according to the scriptures, a devout Buddhist may hope to attain cessation from mundane existence, viz.

by the practice of all virtues, avoidance of all vices, and by complete mental abstraction. More precise, and as usually interpreted here, more theistic too, than the first clause of the inscription is the terser sentence already given; which likewise is more familiar to the Nipalese, viz. Of all things proceeding from cause; the cause is the Tathágata :"-understanding by Tathágata, Adi BUDDHA. And whenever, in playful mood, I used to reproach my old friend, AMIRTA NanDA, (now alas! no more) with the atheistic tendency of his creed, he would always silence me with, "Ye Dharma hetu-prabhava; hetun teshán Tathágata ;" insisting, that Tathágata referred to the supreme, self-existent (Swayambhu) BUDDHA*.

Nor did I often care to rejoin, that he had taught me so to interpret that important word (Tathágata), as to strip the dogma of its necessarily theistic spirit! I have already remarked in your Journal, that the Swobhávika texts, differently interpreted, form the groundwork of the Aiswárika tenets. It will not, however, therefore, follow, that the theistic school of Buddhism is not entitled to distinct recognition upon the ground of original authorities; for the oldest and highest authority of all—the aphorisms of the founder of the creed-are justly deemed, and proved, by the theistic school, to bear legitimately the construction put upon them by this schoolproved in many ancient books, both Puranika and Tantrika, the scriptural validity of which commands a necessary assent. As it seems to be supposed, that the theistic school has no other than Tantrika authorities for its support, I will just mention the Swayambhu Purána and the Bhadra Kalpavadán, as instances of the contrary. In a word, the theistic school of Buddhism, though not so ancient or prevalent as the atheistic and the sceptical schools, is as authentic and legitimate a scion of the original stock of oral dogmata whence this religion sprung, as any of the other schools. Nor is it to be confounded altogether with the vile obscenity and mystic iniquity of the Tantras, though acknowledged to have considerable connexion with them. Far less is it to be considered peculiar to Nepal and Tibet, proofs of the contrary being accessible to all; for instance, the Pancha Buddha Dhyáni are inshrined in the cave at Bágh, and in the

*The great temple of SWAYAMBHU NA'TH is dedicated to this Buddha : whence its name. It stands about a mile west from Kathmandu, on a low, richly wooded, and detached hill, and consists of a hemisphere surmounted by a graduated

cone.

The majestic size, and severe simplicity of outline, of this temple, with its burnished cone, set off by the dark garniture of woods, constitute the Chaitya of SWAYAMBHU NA'TH a very beauteous object.