man is allowed either to enter the room or pass by the house, but only females. This custom I believe prevails among the Jews.

The funeral of the Siah Posh people is triumphantly solemnized. The corpse is generally attended by young men, who sing, skip, dance, and play upon drums. The deceased, unwashed, is carried away

upon the shoulders of men, in a large box, as among the Muhammedans. It is taken upon the top of a high mountain, and put open in the sun. They sacrifice a cow, and give a feast to the attendants of the funeral. Then they return home, and do not weep at all.

After sixty days, when the body is putrefied, and eaten by birds, the women of the family go in an assembly upon the mountain. They pick up the bones, and after washing them in a stream, they bring them home, sit round them, and then mourn for a short time; after this, the men come and convey the bones to a large cave excavated in the ground. They throw them in it, and turning to the bones, they say, "This is the heaven for you."

The language of the Siah Posh is mixed with that of Hindústaní, Persian, and Afghaní. They use the word istri, which means either in Hindi or Sanscrit, a wife: they say, ravray, which signifies in Afghaní to bring. They also use the word khub, which imports in Persian, good.

From the instruments of war of the Siah Posh people, we imagine that a model of the Macedonian soldiery continues yet in this country. They make war with spears, and are good archers. They tie scimitars round their waists, and carry shields upon their backs. They fight with great ferocity, gnashing their teeth, and roaring like a lion. The victors are crowned with the chaplets made of the leaves of the mulberry-tree. The women, who possess an unbounded beauty, manage all the exterior business, while their stout and handsome husbands remain in the house, feeding the children in their arms. The females cultivate, bargain, and rove about to procure a livelihood. The men follow no employment except that of occasional warfare.

The labours of the women in tillage are productive of fine rice, wheat, and barley. Fruits are abundantly reared: from the fine grapes they make good wine, and the syrup of the water-melon they use instead of sugar. They eat the flesh of every animal except that of dogs and jackals.

If any stranger is found guilty of adultery, either with any body's wife or daughter, the Siah Posh never sentence him to death like Muhammedans, but extort from him a little sum of money amounting to 12 or 13 rupees.

At this unlawful act the Siah Posh Kafirs, (the Mufti says,) in lieu of getting enraged, are happy to say to their acquaintances that their

females are such liberals as to satisfy the heart of every man, who is the best creature of God in the world.

Kumbir, Save, and Kulman are the largest towns in the country of the Kafirs.

They are well erected, having long and broad streets without a single shop. The Siah Posh have very few she-goats in their country.

I could not extend my inquiries much farther about the Kafirs, as the Mufti left us soon on his route to Kábul.

The Siah Posh claim their descent from the Arabs, and some of them acknowledge to be descended from the Macedonian soldiers. For my own part, the names of the Siah Posh males seem to be quite different from all nations in the world, except the Europeans, namely Shaullah and Jankhen.

The artists in that part of the country are called Bari. They are not civilly treated by other Siah Posh who are known by the name of Sahu, and they are not even allowed to sit before them.

Many of the Siah Posh call themselves Maliks, or Princes, who use their force to sell the children of the Baris to the neighbouring Muhammedans. They call them the descendants of those slaves which their lion-figured fathers brought at the invasion of India; but the Mufti says, that they do not mention particularly the name of Sikandar.

In our late journey to Bokhara, we had one Badakhsháni pilgrim in the caravan, to whom we are highly indebted for his valuable information. He mentioned, that the rulers of his neighbouring regions, besides the chief of Durvaz, Kator Shah, Suleiman Shah, and Ghazub Shah, being Muhammedans, still derive their origin from the hero son of the Macedonian Philip. He adds also, that the soldiers under them, whose nativity runs to that of the Siah Posh, extract their genealogy from the warriors of the great conqueror.

In my opinion, the Siah Posh soldiers, who claim also the same descent, were the countrymen of those of Badakhshan; but when the violent invasion of Muhammed subverted the rich valley of the Oxus, many of the Macedonian descendants were converted to Islám, and many, avoiding that religion, left the valley and chose their ground upon the mountains near Hindu Kush. They live there now independently, keeping their former principles of worshipping the idols, (as the Macedonians did their heathen deities,) and calling themselves the hero descendants of ALEXANDER'S soldiers. They put on the black skin of the goat, and do not believe in Muhammed; therefore they are called Kafir Siah Posh (or black-dressed infidels).

I shall remain in great anxiety till the time I either examine with my own eyes the customs and manners, and the renowned features of this

curious and little known nation of Siah Posh, or we receive more authentic information from an European traveller in that country.

If my humble and zealous endeavours are worthy of your approbation, I beg you to send a copy of the journal to my kind friend Dr. MACNIELL, Assistant Envoy at the court of Persia, in Tehran, who was very anxious to learn about the Siah Posh, and, at the same time, much interested in the prosperity of your journal, which he was not well aware of till Dr. GerARD shewed him some numbers of it. I have another request to make,— that you will be kindly pleased to transmit a copy to the Committee of the Dehli College, to which I owe all my advantages.

Jelalabad, 3rd Dec. 1833,

[We shall have much pleasure in complying with our correspondent's request.-ED.]

V.-Abstract of a Meteorological Register, kept at Mozafferpúr, in Tirhut, (Lat. 26° 7' 20" N. Long. 85° 24" 30' E.), by T. Dashwood, Esq. C. S.

Following up the plan already adopted with former tables, we have now to lay before our readers an abstract of the daily registers obligingly kept at our request by the gentleman whose name appears at the head of this notice, for the period of one year, in order to supply data for estimating the climate of Tirhút. Although unable to find space for the whole of these registers*, we have extended the detail in some degree by taking the averages every half month, instead of only once a month. The only point on which there appears to be some little doubt is, as respects the diurnal oscillation of the barometer; which, being less than at places under the same parallel, leads us to suspect, that the instrument, being of the mountain construction, was not sufficiently sensible to minute impressions.

Its agreement also with the instrument registered in Calcutta was not noted before dispatching the barometer to Patna.

The prevailing wind at Mozufferpúr is from the east. It blows strong from the west in February and March :-north and south winds are of very rare occurrence.

Table I. is derived directly from the registers, with the exception of the barometer entries for November, which are filled in by interpolation; the thermometer for that month was registered in a tent at or on the road to Hajipúr.

The registers for December, 1832, and the two following months, were printed at length in the April number of the Journal for 1833.

TABLE I.-Half-monthly Averages of Observations of the Barometer and Thermometer in Tirhút.

Means, '29.432

2 north-westers.

Hazy sky; 1 north

wester, 3 rain.

12 Fair; 3 days rainy. 16 Showery and fair.

91 N., 1 S., heavy

rain and storms. Heavy rain; 8 days fair.

14 Fair; 3 days rainy.

141 S.; fair; 1 storm;

3 showers.

15 Cloudy without

rain; fair.

10 Calms; fair; 2 strs. 13 Fog. morn. ;

day; strong winds.

7 Ditto; earthquake

on the 26th.

.348 76.0 79.0 87.0 169.1 132 2324 Moist mild climate.

Table II. is deduced from the foregoing, according to the form adopted for other localities. The range both of temperature and of pressure

L

14

306

6

2

14

1

1

0

62

fair

is a little less than that observed at Benares, but the mean temperature agrees almost precisely with the quotation for that place.

TABLE II.-Summary of Pressure and Temperature.

VI.—On the Land Shells of India. By Lieut. Thomas Hutton, 37th Regt.

Native Infantry.

To the Editor of the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.

I have the pleasure to send you a few observations on the land and fresh-water shells of India, which I have had the good fortune to collect since January, 1832, accompanied by specimens, which will serve better than drawings to shew you the species described.

I am sorry I cannot at present offer you a greater number of each, as my collection is not very numerous, but should any of those sent be desirable, I shall have pleasure in collecting for you whenever opportunity may occur.

The same offer I would also extend to the Society, did I think I could be of any use in swelling the treasures of their museum.

Being as yet but a tyro in natural history, and having no works of any great authority by me, I have hesitated in affixing even a generic name to my descriptions, and should these be wrong, I must crave your indulgence and correction*.

* We have received Lieut. HUTTON's Specimens in safety, but have not been yet able to make drawings of them to illustrate his valuable notice: neither have we ventured to alter the generic or specific names given to them by the author, which would require greater knowledge of the subject than we possess. They remain, however, open to any future correction.-ED.

L