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Submitted, an essay on the land and fresh water shells of India, by Lieutenant T. HUTTON, accompanied with specimens of the same.

[This will be published in our next.]

Submitted, a note by Lieutenant Colonel HODGSON on the use of glass for the balance wheels of chronometers, accompanying a pamphlet on the subject, by ARNOLD and DENT, presented by the same member.

XIII.-Miscellaneous.

1.-Correction of an Error in Gregory's Mathematics.

As Gregory's Mathematics is generally used as a book of reference you would be the means of saving many from error by correcting in the Journal of Asiatic Society, the following misprint at page 297.

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2.-Tufa Formations in Persia.

Having procured a party of horsemen, we proceeded over some very rugged ground, five miles in an E. S. E. direction, when we came to the ruins of the palace erected by Suliman, one of the first khalifs of Bagdad. It is a fine quadrangular structure, built round a natural basin of 70 yards in diameter, and presenting one of the most singular phenomena in nature. A small channel, of four inches wide and three deep, carries off the superfluous water, which appears to be considerably agitated by a strong spring; on a nearer approach this is found to be occasioned like the smaller one of Yakout Buttak, by gas, which is only confined by the body of water through which it forces its way. The water flowing from this fine reservoir forms small pools outside the gates, and a deposit of tufa immediately takes place, of which the whole hill is composed, and has most probably been formed in a similar manner, though it has now reached a height of 300 feet. The water appears to occupy a greater space below than above, but all the line I could procure (400 feet) was insufficient to find a bottom, either at the side or centre, where I was able to go on a raft. The whole of the mountains about appear to be of a similar formation, and the brooks are almost filled up by large masses of light porous tufa. Madrepore is also abundant. The place is highly ornamented in the arabesque manner, and has been one of the best modern buildings in Persia. To the north, on the top of one of the highest peaks of Balkas, stands a strong castle, with four towers, and about 100 yards of a side. I could not ascertain to what era it belonged, but imagine it was far anterior to Muhammedanism, and probably was a fire temple of the later period. It had no Arabic inscriptions, which every where cover the walls of the lower building. After a minute survey of the palace, and getting some of the Arabic inscriptions copied, which were only verses from the Koran, or moral sentences, I proceeded to a remarkable peaked hill, about two miles to the south-west, called the zendan, or prison. With con

siderable difficulty we scrambled up to the top of the hill, which is higher and steeper than the former, but of a similar formation. On reaching the top, I found an immense hollow of the same irregular form, with signs of water having been considerably agitated against its sides; but in other respects exactly resembling the crater of a volcano. The eye could not reach the bottom, so that I could not ascertain if there was still water; the diameter of this was considerably less (per haps forty feet). We descended with even more difficulty than we had clambered up, and commenced a strict search round the base, to ascertain if water had ever forced its way through the mass of rock. On the western side the hill appeared to be less compact than in other places, and a considerable channel, in which thereis now no water, has been washed away apparently by a rapid current. I there fore think it not impossible that this hill, like the former, had once been the same kind of basin, gradually formed by a deposit of the water, which, at last, on reaching a height beyond which the sides were unable to resist its pressure, found a passage through the lower part. Whether this is the case or not, I leave to the decision of more able geologists than myself; but the fact is undoubted, that this mass of mountains in the neighbourhood, 7500 feet high, appears to its very summit to be composed of the same light deposit. In the south-west extremity are extensive mines of sulphur, and a white substance was shown me, which they used in their sherbet, of a pleasant acid taste: they praised it as being an excellent tonic.-Monteith's Tour: Jour. Geog. Soc. iii. 7.

3.-Gigantic Natural Arch.

At the seventeenth mile we reached the town of Makoo, and its gigantic cavern. The whole party were struck with amazement, and instinctively halted, not able to trust our eyes as to the reality of the scene before us. A vast arch, 600 feet high, 1200 feet in span, and 20 feet thick at the top, at once presented, itself to our view. This cavern is 800 feet deep, but, as the sun then shone directly in, the height and breadth alone attracted our attention. At the very bottom of this is a castle inhabited by a chief of the tribe of Biaut; and at the junction of the limestone and lava a number of small caves have been partially excavated, accessible only by a ladder. From one of these a small stream of water trickles down the rock, but the artificial works look, in the vast space of this natural excavation, like ants' nests on a wall. It appears to me that this could only have been formed at the time of some great convulsion of nature. From the breadth of the sheets of lava, I do not think they came from any volcano, but by the sudden rise of a great extent of country. Had a number of small volcanoes at any time existed, the meaning of Azerdbijan (country of fire) applied to the whole province, could not be doubtful. The chief was jealous of a close examination of his fortress, and though a ladder, for which I applied, to examine an inscription at the western side, was promised, it never came. From the ground I could see that the writing was neither Arabic nor Armenian, and had some appearance of Greek or Roman characters. The place is a modern structure, but the upper caves have always been in use as places of refuge. There are about 400 houses in the town: some few stand under the rock, but as masses of stone have frequently fallen, the generality are outside, and protected by a low wall; they could easily be destroyed from the top of the rock.-Monteith's Tour.

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JOURNAL

OF

THE ASIATIC SOCIETY.

No. 26.-February, 1834.

I.—Extracts from Tibetan Works, translated by M. Alexander Csoma de Körös.

Tibetan beau-ideal of a wife.

[Extracted from the Bkah-hgyur, mdo kha, leaf 106-7; corresponding with leaf 73-74 of the Lalita vistara, the original Sanscrit text, in the Lantsa character, presented to the Society by Mr. Hodgson].*

THE required qualities in a maiden who may aspire to be united in marriage with SHAKYA are thus defined by himself:

No ordinary woman is suitable to my taste and habits; none who is incorrect in her behaviour; who has bad qualities, or who does not speak the truth. But she alone will be pleasing and fit for me, who, exhilarating my mind, is chaste, young, of good complexion, and of a pure family and descent." He indited a catalogue of these qualifications in verse, and said to his father, If there shall be found any girl with the virtues I have described, since I like not an unrestrained woman, let her be given to me in marriage.”

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She, who is young, well proportioned, and elegant, yet not boastful of her beauty, (lit. with her body;) who is affectionate towards her brother, sister, and mother; who alway rejoicing in giving alms, knoweth the proper manner how to bestow them on the priests and brahmans :-if there be found any such damsel, father, let her be brought to me. One who being without arrogance, pride, and passion, hath left off artifice, envy, deceit, and is of an upright nature:-who even in her dreams hath not lusted after any other man ;-who resteth content with her husband, and is always submissive and chaste:—who is firm and not wavering :—who is not proud or haughty, but full of humility like a female slave :—who hath See Journal, vol. i. page 380, and page 1-8, where a brief analysis is given by Mr. Wilson, of the contents of the Lalita vistara.

H

no excessive fondness for the vanities of sound, smell, taste, (music, perfumes, and exquisite meats,) nor for wine :—who is void of cupidity: —who hath not a covetous heart, but is content with her own possessions: —who, being upright, goeth not astray; is not fluctuating; is modest in her dress, and doth not indulge in laughing and boasting:—who is diligent in her moral duties, without being too much addicted to the gods and festivals (or righteous overmuch). Who is very clean and pure in her body, her speech and her mind :—who is not drowsy nor dull, proud nor stupid;-but being of good judgment, doth everything with due reflection :—who hath for her father and mother-in-law equal reverence as for a spiritual teacher :—who treateth her servants both male and female with constant mildness :-who is as well versed as any courtesan in the rites and ceremonies described in the Shastras: -who goeth last to sleep and riseth earliest from her couch :—who maketh every endeavour with mildness, like a mother without affectation:-if there be any such maiden to be found, father, give her unto me as a wife.”

Afterwards, the king (Sans. Shuddhodana, Tib. Zas-Qtsang-ma,) directs his brahman minister (Sans. Purohita, Tib. Mdhun-na-hdon,) to go into the great city of Capila-vastu, (Tib. Ser-skya-qzhi,) and to inquire there in every house after a girl possessed with these good qualities, shewing at the same time SHAKYA's letter, and uttering two Slokas, or verses, of the following meaning: "Bring hither that maiden who has the required qualities, whether she be of the royal tribe, or of the brahman caste; of the gentry, or of the plebeian class. My son regardeth not tribe nor family extraction: his delight is in good qualities, truth, and virtue alone."

རྐྱལ་རིགས་བྲམ་ཟེའྲི་བཱུ་མེ་དང་ I
ཟེའུ་རིིགས་དམངས་རིགས་དེ་བཞིན་ཏེ་
སུ་ལ་ཡོན་ཏན་འདི་ཡོད་པའི་
བྲུ་མེ་དེ་ནི་༢དིར་འོན་ཅིག་།

ད་ཡི་བུ་འདི་རིགས་དག་དང་ །
རྔས་ལ་ང་མཆྀར་འཛིན་མ་ཡིན།
ཡོན་ཉན་བདེན་པའི་ཚེས་ཀྱི་རྣམསI
དེ་ལ་འདི་ནི་ཉིད་དQ།༎

The objections of the Buddhists to the seclusion of woman may be gathered from the following imaginary conversation of SHAKYA's wife, extracted from the Kah-gyur, Do, Kh. vol. leaf 120-121, (corresponding with the Sanscrit Lalita vistara, leaf 85.)

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