Journal of the Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland [16, 1 ed.]

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THE

JOURNAL OF THE

ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY OF

GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.

VOLUME THE SIXTEENTH.

JOHN

W.

LONDON: PARKER AND SON, WEST STRAND. M.DCCC.LVI

HARRISON AND SONS, PRINTERS,

ST.

MARTIN’S LANE.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME XVI.

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. PAGE Art. I.— On the Restoration of an Ancient Persian Inscription, analogous

By The Reverend

to those at Behistun.

Art.

— On

II.

the Lake Phiala

Captain Newbold, F.R Art.

III.

— On

or

.

its

By

Sources. .

.

.

Scripture.

of

By

the late

1

the late

.

Ar-Ruad

.

.8

.

(

!

)j

.........

Arpad

bold, F.R.S., &c.

— On

Jordan and

&c.

S.,

W. Donaldson. D.D.

the Site of Caranus, and the Island of

Arvad

the

— the

J.

Captain New32

Miniature Chaityas and Inscriptions of the Buddhist religious dogma, found in the ruins of the Temple of Sarnath, near

Art. IY.

the

By

Benares.

Art. V.

....

Liedt.-Col. Sykes, P.R.S.

— Description of

.37

an Execution at Canton, by T. T. Meadows, Esq.

Translator and Interpreter to

Her Majesty’s Consulate

.

.

54

— Remarks

on the connection between the Indo-Chinese and the Indo-Germanic Languages, suggested by an Examination of the Sgha

Art. YI.

and Pgho Dialects of the Karens.

By

J.

W. Laidlay,

Esq.

.

.

Art. VII.— Remarks on the present state of Buddhism in China.

........

73

Winged Bulls, Lions, and other Symbolical Figures from Nineveh. By E. C. Ravenshaw, Esq., M.A.S., F.G.S.

93

Rev.

Dr.

C.

Gutzlaff.

Sykes, P.R.S., &c. &c.

Art. VIII.

— On

Communicated

by Liedt.-Col.

the

.

Art. IX.

— On

the

Art. X.

— On

Muhammedan

By N. Bland,

Dreams.

Science of Tabir,

M.R.A.S.

Esq.,

.

.

or Interpretation of .

.

.

.118

the original extension of the Sanskrit language over certain

portions of Asia and Europe or

Art.

59

By the W. H.

Hindus

XI.— On Widows,

of India-Proper.

;

and on the ancient Aryans, Indians,

By A. Curzon, Esq.

.

the supposed Vaidik authority for the burning

and

.

of

.

......... .......... on the

Funeral Ceremonies of the Hindus.

By

Professor Wilson Art. XII.

— On the

Assyrian and Babylonian Weights.

Art. XIII.— On Buddha and Buddhism. of the R.A.S.

By Mr.

172

Hindu 201

E. Norris 215

By Professor Wilson,

Director

229

CONTENTS.

IV

PAGE

— A brief Notice

Art. XIV.

John Capper, Art.

XV. By

— On the F.

Art. XVI.

Hague,

of the

Vegetable Productions of Ceylon.

M.R.A.S

Esq.,

236

Esq., H.B.M., Consul at

Rosier, Esq.

By

Ningpo

the late Capt.

Newbold,

F.R.S.,

&.c.

.......... ......... ......... ........

— Additional

Art. XVIII.

....

Natural and Artificial Production of Pearls in China.

— The Gypsies of Egypt.

Art. XVII.

By

— Notes of a

Notes upon

the

Zend

Language.

280 285

By John 313

Correspondence with Sir John Bowring on Budd-

hist Literature in China.

By Professor Wilson, President. With Works translated from the Sanskrit

Notices of Chinese Buddhist

By Rev. Art. XIX.

lated

Art.

E.

Edkins

— Extract du

Livre IV. des Memoires de Hiouen-thsang.

by M. Jclien

XX.— On

the Authorities of the History of the

in Spain.

By William Wright,

Dominion

of the

— Buddhist

Inscription

of

Esq., Professor of Arabic in the

King Priyadarsi

Observations by Professor Wilson, President

Art. XXII.

— Translation

....

346

and 357

— The Chinese on the Plain of Shinar, or a connection established

between the Chinese and

By

340

Arabs

University of Dublin

Art. XXI.

316

Trans-

all

other Nations through their Theology.

.......

the Rev. T. M'Clatchie, M.A., Missionary to the Chinese from

the Church Missionary Society

368

JOURNAL OF

THE ROYAL ASIATIC Art.

I.

— On

analogous J.

the restoration

those

to

at

SOCIETY.

of an ancient Persian Inscription,

Bg The Reverend

Beliistun.

W. Donaldson. D.D. \_Read

January

18, 1851.]

TriE beginnings of ancient history too often contain a large admixture of legendary or fabulous ingredients;

between truth and

ting

fiction is

and the

difficulty of discrimina-

greatly increased in those cases where

the annalist derives his information from statements or documents

conveyed

in

The critical more or less

a language with which he historian

is

arbitrary, unless he can fall

mental records which he

is

imperfectly acquainted.

obliged to content himself with conjectures,

is

back upon authentic monu-

enabled to interpret.

This solid basis has

at last been supplied, in the case of early Persian history,

by the

which Colonel Rawlinson has deciphered and explained, propose in the following paper to make these memorials avail-

inscriptions

and

I

able for the correction of a curious tale respecting the great Darius.

That the inquisitive

spirit of

Herodotus was influenced by a pure

love of truth, and that he faithfully related all that he saw with his eyes, and honestly recorded the statements in foreign lands,

is

which were made

to

own him

a fact which receives increasing confirmation from

the labours of modern travellers and scholars.

He

did not however

relinquish the privilege, which he considered to belong to the semi-epic

character of his work, of enlarging at pleasure upon a slender thread of narrative

;

and

I

have had another opportunity of proving 1 that ho

did not scruple to borrow from the contemporary Greek poets even the phraseology of speeches and conversations, which he represents as in the heart of Persia. It can be shown that, although he had some acquaintance with the ancient Persian language, he was far from perfect in his knowledge of it ; thus the Behistun inscription

taking place

’

VOL. XIV.

Transactions of the Philological Society for 1843-f.

B

ON THE RESTORATION OP AN

2

proves that he was not correct in his statement that

all

Persian names

and he has obviously confused between Jehshayarsha and hhshatra (VI., 98). He might therefore be expected to commit some blunder in translating an inscription read to him from the cuneiform characters, and he would n.ot be unlikely to enlarge upon hi3 misconceptions until he had made a pretty story out of these unsafe materials. I hope not only to show that he has done so, hut to get at the truth through the veil which he has cast over it; and as I could end

in s (I., 139),

not have accomplished this without the help of Colonel Rawlinson’s I cannot do better than submit the results of my combinations

papers,

to the Society to

which the learned world is indebted for the publicamost able and satisfactory researches.

tion of that distinguished officer’s

Everybody has read the account given by Herodotus of the manner in which Darius, the son of Hystaspes, was raised to the throne of

We

Persia.

are told that after the seven conspirators had slain the

first deliberated about the form of government which they should establish, and Darius having carried the day in favour of monarchy, it was agreed that the sovereignty should devolve on one of the six for Otanes retired from the competition whose

Magian impostor, they

—

—

neigh at sunrise on the following morning,

horse should be the

first to

when they were

mounted.

all

omen was secured to Darius by who is called CEbares, was confirmed by the celestial auguries of lightThis

the ingenious instrumentality of his groom,

(O

and

as

it

ning and thunder from the cloudless sky, he was at once saluted king. In

memory of this proceeding, the historian tells us, Darius had a basmade representing a man on horseback, under which was the

relief

following inscription

:

“ Darius, the sou of Hystaspes, by the virtue ©f

which the name was mentioned groom CEbares, obtained the kingdom III., 84—88).

and of

his horse (of

in the inscription),

his

of the Persians” (Herod.

It

is

impossible to read this narrative without feeling convinced

that the incidents are fictitious piece of pure invention, is

quoted

in

if it

and we should dismiss

;

were not

confirmation of the alleged circumstances.

dotus saw this inscription, and heard doubted.

it

for the fact, that

That he has not rendered

it

it

at once as a

an inscription

That Hero-

read to him, can scarcely be

correctly,

and that he has conby himself, is

structed the tale from the document as misunderstood

an obvious conclusion.

For

is

it

likely that

if

Darius had obtained

the kingdom by a successful trick of his groom, he would have com-

memorated the degrading circumstance, and have qualified his own by an acknowledgment of obligation to a servant 1 This is not

glories

1

We

have the name Ipriyfiapric ’

in JEschjlus.

ANCIENT PERSIAN INSCRIPTION.

3

the true “ Cambyses’ vein” of the kings of Persia, nor does

it accord with the boastful tone of the Behistun and other inscriptions in which Darius invariably ascribes his power and his victories to the favour of Ormazd, and not to the aid of man. To such an extent however has

the strange fiction about the horse and

groom taken

of scholars that they have even used

to explain the

it

root in the

name

minds

Hystaspes,

which, in contradiction to Herodotus and the Behistun inscription, they consider as the surname of Darius, not as the

Hyde

name

.

this erroneous interpretation of the

eisdem

literis et diversis

name

cum ex

who

attributes

to Herodotus, says

vocalibus sonaretur

apte significant factus equo,

Thus

of his father.

Histor Reliyionis veterum Persarum, pp. 304, 5), (

:

“ Si

Gheshtasp satis

i

equi hinnitu factus fuerit rex.

Hocque, magis obviurn quam verum, credidisse videtur Herodotus, veriUeber die Religion des Zoroaster, p. 1 04) (

oris rationis ignarus.” Vullers

adopts expressly this reference of the name, though he gives a different etymology. He considers ghusktasp to be derived from gliush, “ to

make a

noise,” passive participle, ghushta, and renders the dessen Pferd gewiehert hat, “ he whose horse has neighed l” 1

who

sees the

same first

mistake of voice implied in this etymology,

error himself. For, taking the

part (Ya

lake, nearer its eastern than its

Burckliardt heard that the ancient

western angle.

difficult

certainly equal

stream formed by the springs of Tel

to the

mound, the point of

is

My

not superior, to that of the Banias sources.

name el

boggy, choked with hushes, and

this singular source is

of access.

13

ITS SOURCES.

name

of the springs

was Jur; and that those at Tel el Kadhi were still called Dan: whence he infers the name of the river produced by these two Robinson and Smith reasonably object 1 to this sources, Jur-dan. etymology, which goes back at least to the time of Jerome, that the name Jordan is merely the Greek form (I ophavrjv), for the Hebrew yrv Jarden, which has no relation to the name Dan; and that the at Banias

name Jordan was applied

to the river in the

time of Abraham, at

name Dan was given

least five centuries before the

to the city at its

which was originally called Laish. Among the Arabs of the present day the name Jordan does not exist; though Abulfeda, and some other early writers, mention this sacred river as El Urdun. It is universally called Esh Sheri ah source,

Axj

El Kebir^jo^l (the Great)

the Watering-place).

when they wish Hieromax

to distinguish

of the ancients,

it

is

added

el Mandhur, the from the east, about two

from the Sheri ah

which join3

it

hours below the lake of Tiberias.

The third source of the Jordan — the Hasbeiya River, (Nahr Hasbeiya) jEi •

This, the most distant,

and most considerable source of the Jordan,

has entirely escaped the notice of ancient writers. point where

crossed

I

minutes walk,

W.

it,

at

the bridge of El

5° N. from Tel el Kadhi,

stream, thirty paces broad, and from

a great crevasse

in the basalt

two

it

At

the

lowest

Ghujar, forty-three

formed a rapid, clear

to four feet deep, flowing in

basing the valley, seventy paces wide,

from fifteen to sixty feet high, the bottom of which was shaded with a thicket of oleander, willow, raspwith nearly perpendicular

sides,

berry, and oriental sycamore.

The

bridge, of three arches,

was strongly

built of stone, sixty-five spaces long, and four paces broad. 1

Bib. Res., III. 352.

Two of

the

THE JORDAN AND

14

arches were slightly pointed the bridge, the stream

falls

ITS SOURCES.

the third was round.

;

A

above

little

over a ledge of basalt about two feet high.

Higher up the valley, W. of Hasbeiya, it is still a considerable stream, and a foot deep, clear and rapid. It is here crossed by a stone bridge of two arches (a third is perhaps concealed by the underwood), forty-five paces long and four paces broad. A little above sixteen paces broad,

the bridge, part of the stream

is

turned off by means of a large stone

some gardens. I which were reached after twenty-five minutes walk, N. by E. from the bridge. Above the bridge, the valley, Wadi et Teim, narrows, and the banks dam, to turn a mill on the left bank, and dismounted here, and proceeded on foot

to irrigate

to the sources,

become steep and precipitous, consisting of limestone cliffs, overlooked by the lofty mountains of Anti Libanus. Nearing the sources, the water becomes scant, and the bed encumbered by huge precipitated blocks of limestone. It was evident that the stream owed its supply of water not to one fountain-head alone, but to a number of springs The last springs to the rising in the bottom and sides of the ravine. the right bank ; they are cliff on limestone I found under a N.E., I followed up the bed a mile further to the ; proved to be nothing more than the dry, rocky channel

small and insignificant

N.E., but

it

of a winter torrent.

Between the Hasbeiya bridge, and that

of El Gliujar, this stream

receives a considerable tributary from the mountains on

eastern bank.

I

crossed

it

its

left

or

en route from Banias to Hasbeiya, one

hour and eighteen minutes S. by W., below Hasbeiya, and fifty-eight minutes below the village of ’Ain Jerfa. It is a clear, rapid stream, ten paces broad and two feet deep, turns a mill, and is crossed by

Near the bridge it receives a small rivulet The valley here is well cultivated, and sprinkled

a bridge of two arches.

from the right.

with poplars and oleanders:

it

covered with a

is

fine,

rich, reddish

alluvium, resting on the ordinary limestone of the Anti Libanus. Still

further down, between the bridge El Ghujar and the lake

Huleh, the Hasbeiya river is said by the Arabs to be joined by the Zuk stream, the sources of which I visited at the western side of the valley, I

where the Wadi

crossed the

Zuk

stream

et

Teim opens

fifty

minutes

El Ghujar over the Hasbeiya river. deep, clear and rapid, and spanned arch.

It flows in

a pretty

dell,

into the basin of the Huleh.

W. 22° N., It is six

by a stone

from the bridge of

paces wide, two feet

bridge, of one pointed

covered with oleander, willow, and

wild raspberry, over a coulee of basalt: the foundations of an old site

were traceable on the right, and remains of a Ghawarnih village. Another rivulet, which I crossed twenty-eight minutes to E. 30°

S.

— THE JORDAN AND

15

ITS SOURCES.

of the bridge of El Ghujar, as well as

many

other springs on the west

of the valley below Zuk, bursting up fron the contact line of the

and limestone, are said by the Arabs to join the Hasbeiya it pours its accumulated water into the Huleh lake. Whether the united streams of Banias and Tel el Kadlu, and the Hasbeiya river, unite, or not, before reaching the Huleh lake, is a geographical problem, which, I regret not having had the opportunity of personally solving: but I was assured by the Ghawarnih Arabs of Seetzen indeed, on his the Huleh, that they only united in the lake. map, makes the two run together near the lake; but he only travelled along the western side, and his map is here a mere copy, by another hand, from his rough sketch. Irby and Mangles attempted to go down from Banias to the lake on the east of the Jordan; but found the region so full of marshes and numerous streams, that they were basalt

river before

1

Among all compelled to pass over to the western side of the basin. these “ numerous streams,” they speak only of crossing the Jordan and say nothing of the

itself,

p.

size

or nature of the rest (Travels,

Berton, on his map, like Seetzen,

290).

makes the two main

streams unite near the lake; but he too only travelled along the west

map, notwithstanding the pretension of minute detail, it even distinguish the two streams of Banias and Tel el Kadlu. The stream and fountain of Hasbeiya appear to have been first recognised, or at least, distinctly noticed, as a source of the Jordan, by Fiirer von Haimendorf, in a.d. side,

and

his

has not the stream from Merj ’Ayun, nor does

15G6, in travelling from the Huleh northwards through a part of the

Wadi

et

Teim, and thence to the Bakaa and Ba’albek

(p.

and note the stream as a part of the Jordan ( l c., pp. 340 Then followed Burckhardt (pp. 32 43), Buckingham ( l c.),

region,

344.)

.

—

Richardson (Vol.

II. p. 449. seq.),

.

&c. &c.

Fourth and Easternmost Source of the Jordan Esh Shor.

A

280, Nurnb.

Seetzen was the next Frank traveller to visit and describe that

1646).

fourth, but

ancients,

is

minor tributary

found

in

the

to the Jordan, not

springs

of

Esh

about 21 miles E. by N. from the Phiala lake.

—Springs

of

mentioned by the

Shor

,

They form

wjiicli

lie

a rivulet,

a yard broad and a foot deep, which runs by the N. side of the Phiala lake between

it

1

and Majdel, increased by several springs Bib. Res., III. 354 (Robinson and Smith).

in

its

THE JORDAN AND

16 down

course

the deep defile of

by Wadi

the S. of Banias

el

ITS SOURCES.

Wadi

esh Slior; and passing close to

Kid, joins the Banias river in the basin of

the Huleh.

This

is

evidently the rivulet seen by Irby and Mangles, 1 east of

the Phiala lake, and which they mention as having crossed

causeway

Wadi

of

Burckhardt2 also mentions

into Banias.

it

by a

under the name

Kid, immediately to the S. of Banias.

was assured by the Arabs, never dries up. I saw May, when no rain had fallen for many days; it was then six yards broad, and two feet deep, clear and rapid. The “causeway” of Irby and Mangles, and the “bridge” of Burckhardt, by which it is crossed at Banias, is in reality a massive stone This stream,

it

I

month

in the

of

bridge, the lowness of the parapet of which, no doubt, induced the

former travellers to give

the

it

name

In the parapet

of a causeway.

fragments of ancient sarcophagi of white marble, with

are seen

wreaths and other sepulchral devices, a single very slightly pointed arch.

Lake of

tiie

in bas-relief.

The bridge

Merj el Man,

Having been informed by the Arabs

is

of

•

of a small lake on

Mount Hermon

(Jebel Sheikh), the waters of which, they said, flowed to the Hasbeiya river, I

went

from Banias; and succeeded in reaching it two hours fifty-seven minutes, E. 10° N. from

in search of it

after a steep ascent of

Banias; season,

I

found, however, that the overflow, only during the winter

went

to increase the waters of the Jordan.

The following

are

the particulars of the route.

The ascent commences over the basalt rocks, from the S. or left bank of Wadi el Kid. At half an hour the basalt was succeeded by the ordinary marine limestone of the Anti Libanus, which continues farther

up

At

to the lake;

and thence, probably,

to the highest

peak of Hermon.

minutes from Banias, passed a spring, and seventeen minutes afterwards another spring, both running westerly. Two fifty-five

last spring, passed a wall (tomb of a Mahomedan clump of the Surdiyan oak ( Quercus ilex)', and four

minutes beyond the saint),

and a

fine

minutes afterwards crossed the small rivulet of Jabeita, running In twenty-four minutes from the rivulet, arrived at the

westerly.

village of Jabeita ULaas-

valley of

Wadi Saab

,

and thence ascended the steep and stony with craggy and well-wooded

; .

1

Travels, pp.

28C— 289.

2

Burckhardt,

p. 40.

sides.

THE JOED AN AND Reached the summit

17

ITS SOUECES.

Thence, over undulating,

in thirty-five minutes.

well wooded ground, to the lake, forty minutes. It is situated in the

the

flat

in the

midst of a small

bottom of a basin,

girt in

which forms

elliptic plain,

by a wall

of limestone rocks,

wooded

most picturesque manner, with the Mellul oak and other

trees.

was covered with a carpet of green turf. At the N.E. extremity rose the highest peak of Hermon, in solitary grandeur serene in the Eds el Jebel ZerTca of the Arabs the clear blue vault of heaven, and radiant with a hundred glaciers. The lake is a shallow circular pond, 252 paces in circumference, and owes its supply of water to winter rains, and the thawing of the snows and glaciers of this elevated region. It is fringed by a circle of stones, like some moraine lakes: and is said to overflow during the winter. The surplus water finds an outlet at the S.W. extremity of the basin, and flows down Wadi el Assal to Wadi et Teim and the

The

surface of this beautiful isolated spot

—

—

basin of the Huleh.

The plain lake Huleh (the

is

visible

N. W. angle)

I

is about 900 paces long by 140 broad. The from the rocks which form its sides; and bears 40° W.

of the lake

S.

observed a vast number of bees gathering honey from the petals

of a bright yellow flower, which literally perfumed the

leaves were glittering with the dew-drops of

Hermon.

air,

A

and whose few Druse

shepherd boys were watering their flocks at the lake. returned to Banias by a different route, desending Mount I Hermon, by the ruins of Ansubi, to Majdel, and thence by the sources the Phiala lake, and Wadi the ruius of Khirbet Manus of Esh Shor

—

—

Haushebi, to Banias.

of

Merom

—

The lake Huleh, identical with the waters and the lake Semechonitis of Josephus, serves collect the waters of the heads of the Jordan just

Course of the Jordan

.

of Scripture

as a reservoir to

This lake lies in the valley of the Jordan, about seven from the springs of Tel el Kadhi, and about twenty S. by W. from the farthest source of Hasbeiya. It is somewhat pear shaped, It is about miles long tapering off to the outlet on the south. described.

miles

S.

from N. toS., and about two miles in average width, increasing in the Its shape is caused by the mountains on both sides rainy season. It lies closer to the eastern than to closing in towards its extremity. the western mountains, between the foot of which and the lake

an arable

district

(Ardh

el

Khait

VOL. XIV.

,

is

by ^ ie Gha-

Ardh

el

which extends from the N. margin of the lake

to

warnih Arabs, who also possess the marshy

Huleh

occu P' ec* district

called

C

THE JORDAN AND

18

the vicinity of Tel

el

Near the lake

Kadhi.

covered with reeds, and according

Higher up

it

to the

this

marshy

district is

Arabs, quite impassable.

The

passes into fine pasture and culturable land.

grounds of the western

angle of the lake, are irrigated by a canal

N.W.

Mellahah, at the

rice

independently of the springs of ’Ain

tract,

from the llasbeiya river below the bridge of El Ghujar.

branching

off

The

above the spring

tract

ITS SOURCES.

is

called El

a name, as

Mellahah

Robinson and Smith observe, wrongly extended by Burckhardt, to the 1

which the same usually correct traveller It is quite by a saline crust. possible that the spring, judging by its name, may be impregnated by salt; and may leave, in evaporation, a coating of salt in its immediate vicinity. The Huleh is sometimes called by the Ghawarnih whole S.W. coast of the

lake,

incorrectly states as being covered

Arabs, “the lake of El Mellahah,” or El Khait: hence the mistake of William of Tyre: “circa lacum Meleha” (xviii. 13). 2

The road from

Tiberias to Bauias and Hasbeiya, passes through El

Khait, on the western shore; but practicable

road,

except

in

the

I

am

driest

not aware that there

is

any

seasons, along the morassy

eastern side, between the lake and the mountains.

The waters Arabs:

in

of the

and just

lake are not considered wholesome by the

after the rains, they spread to the distance of

than a mile over the marshy

districts

more

on the N. and are said to extend

The soundings

close to the base of the eastern mountains.

of this

and of the Dead Sea, are desiderata. The course of the Jordan from the Huleh lake to that of Tiberias, is about S. 5° E., and shut in on each side by mountains. It issues from the southern extremity of the Huleh lake, according to the lake, of Tiberias,

Arabs,

in

a rapid stream, about twenty paces wide, unfordable; and

after a course of about nine miles direct,

expands into the lake of

12 miles long by 5^ broad, formed the opening-out of the mountains on either side.

Tiberias, a fine sheet of water,

by

near its N.W. angle; and is described, a little by Robinson and Smith, 3 who saw it in June, as a

It enters this lake

above

this point,

sluggish fordable stream, from sixty to seventy-five feet wide, turbid, but not clayey; winding between low' alluvial banks, from which it

washes

off portions in

one place to deposit them in another; so that

the channel would seem to be continually changing.

About three

miles N.E. from

bank, stands

Et

Tel, a

1

its

entrance into the lake, on the

mount taken by Pococke Bib, Res., III. 341, note. 3

left

for the remains of Bethsaida or 2

Ibid., III., pp. .303, 310, 311.

Ibid., III. 34).

;

.

THE JORDAN AND Julias.

To

this traveller alone

we

19

ITS SOURCES.

are indebted for details of the

He

Jordan, between the lakes Huleh and Tiberias.

describes the

between the bridge of Jisr Benat Y’akub and the Huleh, as passing between the hills over the rocks, with a great noise; the stream being almost concealed by shady trees, chiefly Platanus. At

river,

its

entrance into the lake Tiberias,

it

ning out from the eastern shore before

has formed a sand-bank, runits

mouth, towards the S.W.,

The story

guiding in that direction the waters of the river.

by Dr. Clarke of the waters

The

with those of the lake, has long been exploded.

S.W. end

the

of the lake,

related

of the Jordan passing on without mingling outlet

where the mountains on each

near

is

side,

again

approaching, wall in the valley, here about 4| miles wide. Hence to the Dead Sea the valley has the name of El Glior. Between the lakes Huleh and Tiberias the west side

is

called Ardli

Es

Seifereh,

it, and falling from the roof 2 and the dreamer and completed the number,

•when a thief came into the house to rob

was

into the court , 1

killed,

escaped death.

Another dreamed he saw

in his

garden a monarch of an old and

extinct race, seated, and with his foot pointing to a particular spot in

The

the ground. place.

On

interpreters told

him

must be that king’s burial-

it

digging there, he found a large treasure of ancient coins,

with the name and effigy of that king on them

A man

.

was of ebony, and the interpreters It happened afterwards that were unable to explain its meaning. he bought an excellent slave, a Hindu; the leg signified a servant (from its usefulness); the right leg (as the ablest?) a good servant; and ebony, that he would be from India, either probably from the colour, or as coming from the native country of that wood.

The

dreamed

his right leg

of ordinary dreams are usually arranged for refer-

classes

ence under separate heads, as has been already described, and either systematically,

commencing with the higher

Where

alphabetical order. first

there

is

or in simple

objects,

a systematic arrangement, the

always in relation to the Deity, His glory, and and the explanations are numerous and very full. It

sections are

attributes

;

proceeds afterwards through the various classes of ethereal and supernatural beings; celestial objects;

family of

Muhammed,

all

phenomena

the

the prophets and the other holy personages; fasting, pilgrimage,

through

objects

of nature; the

including even Belal, his favourite Muezzin

and the duties of religion

connected

with

the

;

the Curan;

and

physical

prayer,

finally descends,

structure

the

of

earth, to the

more ordinary occupations and necessaries of every-

day life. Dreaming

of the prophets usually announces success

and advance-

ment, though, in some cases, accompanied by a certain anxiety and distress at the

commencement.

These variations have obvious* refer-

ence to the particular history of that prophet himself

;

dreaming of the prophet Hud, disturbance from enemies expected, but ultimately success over them

connection with the story of the

in

1

The

;

of

Kabah;

as, is

from to

be

Abraham, pilgrimage, Jacob,

anxiety for

eastern houses having

flat roofs and an open court in the middle, the would be in this way. In a story of the Anwdri Suhaili, thieves enter a house by the roof, and are overheard consulting as to their descent into the court, in attempting which, one of them breaks his neck. 5 The circumstance of the coins bearing an effigy, which is unusual in

easiest access,

by

Muhammedan

coinage except in that of the Ortokides and a few others, seems to

ndicate a

Greek

stealth,

origin to this story.

143

INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS. children

;

Joseph, treachery from kinsmen, and subsequent advancepower and royalty; Moses, attacks from enemies and from

ment

to

one’s

own

affairs

people; Khizr, long journeying; Isa (Jesus), restoration of

which have long perished

healing and of restoring to

life

(in

evident allusion to the power of

him by the Muslim faith Of dreams relating to Muhammed,

attributed to

in accordance with the miracles).

may

the last of the prophets, the explanations are, as

be expected,

very numerous, and relating to every circumstance and aspect under

which he

may

The

present himself in sleep.

analysis of these inter-

pretations would be far too long on the present occasion. relating to the four to his

first

Khalifs, successors of

Muhammed,

family and companions, and their successors, have

An

reference to their several characters and histories.

Abu Bekr

is

Those

as well as

equally

appearance of

interpreted according to the generous and munificent

that of Omar denotes justness and fulfil; Osman, attention to religious duties and observance of the Curan; Ali, bravery and generosity. There is a distinct interpretation for dreaming of the Curan, according to each of the chapters separately, and founded on certain

character of that Khalif

ment

of the laws

passages

in

;

them, or on the history or object of that particular Surah.

Examples would be as numerous as the chapters themselves. One or two may suffice. A man dreamed he was reading the Surat ul Nasr, “ When the assistance of God shall come,” which would at first appear to be of favourable omen ; Ibn Sirin bade him repent and prepare for death, as this was one of the last which were revealed; 1 and the man soon afterwards died. Some others also present a connection from which may be inferred the system to be followed. Thus the second Surah, A1 Bacrah, promises, among other blessings, length ©f

life

(probably as being the longest in the Curan).

In some, the allusion

and abundance;

is

Sfirat ul Hajj (xxii.), pilgrimage;

knowledge

the

;

Elephants,

The Table

obvious; as

The True Believers

(xxiii.),

Lucman

success

wealth

(ch. v.),

increase

faith;

of

wisdom; the Pen,

(xxxi.),

over enemies,

&c.

Fatihah, in accordance with the high veneration in which

&c. it

is

The held,

confers unusual blessings.

In general, dreaming that one reads the Curan, signifies speaking truth,

and the

result

depends on the particular portion read.

Sadie says, reading the Curan signifies four things

;

Jafar

safety from mis-

fortune, wealth after poverty, success in desired objects, pilgrimage. 1

Ch.

ex.

This chapter was delivered to Muhammed a short time only before it was intended to prepare him.

his death, for wliieh

ON MUHAMMEDAN

144

Where the arrangement is alphabetic, these explanations are to be found either under the head of Curan, or Curan Kh' dndan (to read the Cur4n), or under Surah (Chapter). Sometimes they compose a separate section.

Kirmani

says, he

that half his

life

who dreams

is

and worldly concerns. (the seventh, fourth,

Curan

is

warned

Reading the Heft Yale, Chehar Yak, Seh Yak and third part of the whole book), denotes a

proportionate period of his

life.

not being already a H^fiz ul

If,

knowing the Curan by heart), he dreams that he is so, he become so. Hearing the Curan read by another is good, and

Curan will

of reading half the

past; let him theiefore so arrange his spiritual

(

i.e

.

promises increase of grace; to hear

and not

read,

it

to understand,

portends grief, &c. Finishing the Curan denotes success, but some say, foretells the reader’s life to have, similarly,

explain

come

only to be so in case he

it

to a close.

but

sick,

is

Others

if in

however

good health,

to

announce countless wealth and prosperity. Such interpretations vary according to the situation or place in which it is read.

Of

verses of a chapter,

single

(Busharat),

dreamer;

God

if it

will

fulfil

it

if it

be a verse of good tidingi

by bestowing good fortune on

be a verse of Azcib (punishment),

it is

anger and wrath, and a warning to him to repent, and change

mode

of

life.

Special interpretation also

is

th.'

a sign of divine

given to single

hit

verseit

and many of them have a particular blessing them as the Throne Verse; those beginning “God hath borne witness” (iii. 16); “Say, 0 God who possessest the kingdom” (iii. 25); “Now hath God heard” (lviii. 1); and othei passages of peculiar sanctity and importance. in the different chapters,

for

him who dreams

of

;

It might now be desirable to give specimens from the classes oi dreams relating to common life, and the more usual objects occurring

to the dreamer’s imagination, but

whelming a mass singly, afford us in

;

how

alphabetical order

by

the

Kamil

arrangement of those which, nearly in Ibn Shahin’s Arabic quarto?

The

shall

we

select

from so over-

examples as the Tabir Namehs, even any one from the array, one thousand in number, presented

of

;

fiye

or from the

more systematic

times as numerous, are found

which is founded the more difficulty than any

interpretation, or rather the system on

interpretation of such classes of dreams, offers

other part of the inquiry.

Those relating to personages or objects

named in the Curan or in tradition are, as has been already shown by some examples to be explained with reference to passages having

145

INTERPRETATION OP DREAMS. mention

allusion to, or

of,

such persons or objects; but the principle by

which the more anomalous class is to be regulated, does not present itself in any systematic or tangible form. A striking feature of difference between the oriental system and that which is followed in our modern practice, at least according to popular superstition,

that the vulgar adage, that

is,

contraries,” does not correspond with the subject.

It

notions on the

has been already seen that except in those kinds technically

and

called Maclub,

in a

few other instances, the interpretation follows

rather a direct than an inverted

system now

“Dreams go by

Muhammedan

common

in

mode

Whence

of proceeding.

the

use originates, must be investigated in some

intermediate authority, and not derived from that in eastern countries.

L have omitted a best found

its

division of the subject, which,

commencement

place nearer the

entering on the rules of the science tion, it

might have been proper

itself,

if

introduced,

of this essay.

had

Before

with regard to interpreta-

to consider the origin

and causes of

dreaming, and the nature of sleep, as functions of the body and mind, according to eastern theory; and this subject

preliminary to the practical observations, in

is

all

fully discussed, as a their dream-books, as

well as in their medical and philosophical treatises and encyclopedias,

but

it

could scarcely be admitted here to the extent the importance of

nature would demand, and

its

it

may

perhaps be more safely excluded

from the present inquiry than any other part of it, as being less peculiar to those nations whose opinions are under consideration, and as being also far

less

capable of abridgement.

In truth, the opinions of

oriental authorities on this difficult subject are in as great variety as

our

own

theories,

and

it

may

well be said, that, of

all

branches of

philosophy or metaphysics among European and classical writers, the nature and cause of dreams

is

one of the most unsatisfactory

in discus-

and we rise from the perusal of all that Aristotle and Lucretius, and Locke and Stewart have written on it, with ideas little less confused than those of the sleeper awakened. sion,

A curious passage may, however, be noticed in A1 Razi’s treatise, which the votaries of mesmerism would probably be glad to seize on as a confirmation of their belief; where he accounts for the supernatural prescience of events, supposed to be obtained in dreams,

by

the

power

the soul has, according to such a doctrine, of setting itself free during sleep,

and associating

itself

with angels, and by means of that union

obtaining a share of their gifts in the knowledge of things concealed

from man 1

in his

A similar

waking

hypothesis

is

state.

1

found in Bishop Newton’s Treatise on Dreams, and in

Baxter’s Essay on the Phenomena of Dreaming.

VOL. XVI.

L

’

ON MU1IAMMEDAN

146

We that a

find also

man

observations on a wonderful property of dreaming,

in his sleep

is

capable of speaking various languages, and

exercising a knowledge of sciences, of which otherwise he of reciting verses from the Curan, of its

most

passages

difficult

ignorant

when he awakes,

a talent which,

;

These are considered as

longer available to him.

is

and giving the Tefsir or explanation is

no

granted to

gifts

dreamers by that Divine power which inspires them, in the same

manner, with revelations of future events.

The glory

of

dreams has not passed away

in the East,

even in the

present day, nor are the honours formerly paid to professors of the art of Tahir withheld from

country the subject

their successors;

and while

banished from learned and polite

is

limited to the aged, the sickly, or the ignorant, and

be found only

in

the

its

in our circles,

own and

literature tb

penny pamphlets which form the stock

of the

itinerant pedlar or the provincial fortune-teller; in the east, Tabir

still

ranks as a science worthy the study of philosophers and the encourage-

ment

of princes,

and

its

precepts are preserved in costly

folios,

with

veneration equal to that in which are held the works of the most

learned jurisconsults, and the traditions handed

down by

the com-

panions of the Prophet.

One

of the most

modern and remarkable

respect for dreams and attention to their import

oriental instances of

may

be seen in the

person of the celebrated Tipu of Mysore. In the library of the East India House there

is exhibited a manuwhich that prince is said to have registered, each morning, the dreams which bad occurred to him during the preceding

script

volume

in

night, with their signification if it

be his

deciphering 1

The

own it

history of the manuscript

“ This

character, a wretched Shikestah

than would repay the trouble of any person not par-

the fly-leaf by Major Beatson, by able East India

The

1 .

hand-writing, offers occasionally more difficulty in

Company from

register of the

is

learned from the following note, written in

whom

the volume was presented to the Honour-

the Marquis Wellesley.

Sultaun’s dreams was discovered by Colonel William

Kirkpatrick, amongst other papers of a secret nature, in an escritoire found in the

Palace of Seringapatam.

Hubbeeb

Oollah, one of the most confidential of the

was discovered. He knew that there had never seen it, as the Sultaun conceal it from the view of any who happened

Sultaun’s servants, was present at the time

was such a book

it

of the Sultaun's composition, but

always manifested peculiar anxiety to approach while he was either reading or writing in it. productions six only have been as yet translated, which

to

Of I

these extraordinary

have inserted

in the

appendix of a View of the Origin and Conduct of the War. By some of them it appears that war and conquest, and the destruction of the Kaufers (Infidels) were no less the subjects of his sleeping than of his waking thoughts. " London 23 rd April, 1800. A. Beats ox.” ,

147

INTERPRETATION- OF DREAMS. ticularly interested in such researches, but

have thought

I

while transcribing and translating a few extracts from

it

worth

it

as specimens,

from the autograph of a distinguished personage, and as a proof of the influence such a belief exercised over the mind The MS. is in of so intrepid a warrior, and so crafty a politician. interesting, as being

on

small square 8vo.,

common unglazed

blank.

Twenty-nine of the

are occupied

by the dreams,

qual length, some

filling

thou gracious Creator

thirty-nine in number,

!

On

commencement

jJ

On

and of very une-

!

to one, the Bismillah.

Ya

.

is

a whole page, and others consisting of only

apparently in the same handwriting, is

usual

Ya Kerim Karsaz — Ya Rahim — Yd Sadie (0 0 Merciful One 0 Just One!), adjurations

racter, are the words,

and

the

volume

(one being left blank)

thirty pages

first

in

of the

Prefixed to some few of them, in Persian cha-

three or four lines.

to the Deity;

and

paper,

The greater part

limp binding of eastern books.

headed

the outside of the cover,

Hafiz

!

(0 Guardian SAjA

eight or nine pages, irregularly

filled,

!)

The

b

at the end,

by the

same hand, are some notes relating to military operations, and names of officers, &c., one part of which is stated in an English note, probably by Major Beatson, to be a “Memorandum of the Sirdars who were killed or taken prisoners

in the first assault of the

Travancore

lines.”

In addition to the six dreams translated and published in his

appendix to nine here

;

history of the

his

the

war

in

Mysore,

the whole collection, being chiefly iu reference to lish or

I

have

inserted

three of which represent the majority of those in

first

war with the Eng-

with the Mahrattas, and promises of assistance from the French

government or native

the others are of a more miscellaneous ; two possess considerable interest, as relating the appearance of the poets Sadi and Jami in the Sultan’s dreams, and exhibiting, by his high veneration for their persons, his love of literature and poetry, which were combined in so remarkable a manner with character,

and the

chiefs

last

the fierce cruelty of his disposition.

The few which

still

remain unpublished, after these specimens,

will be found of very little interest for those

who might be

inclined to

peruse the whole.

The composition of a note-book.

I

is in a very concise style, suitable to the object have made the translation as literal as possible,

almost inconveniently in the first person,

so,

only making the Sultan speak always simply

and changing occasionally the

styles himself in his narration, “ the

tense.

He

usually

servant of the Divine Court,”

L

2

ON MUHAMMEDAN

148

(Bendalii Dergabi Allahi), or uses some similar expression of humility; the territory

of Mysore, “

The heaven-bestowed government,”

kari Kliudadad,) &c., which, with some other such paraphrases,

(SerI

have

simplified in translation.

In a few instances the Tahir or interpretation

is

given, involving,

almost in every case, a reference either to objects of ambition, or to his

The time

fanatical expectation of Divine assistance.

dream occurs

is

at

which each

noted with scrupulous precision, and in most cases

both according to the usual Muhannnedan era and that which the Sultan had himself invented.

It will

be hardly necessary to observe

made a complete change in the whole system of chronology, altering the names of the months, and adapting a new nomenclature also to the years of the cycle, the computation being made from the birth of Muhammed, instead of from his Hijrah or emigration to that Tipu

Medinah, and the era therefore being called Mauludi Muhammed. 1

Examples

of all these innovations will be found in the specimens

selected, the numerical figures also,

when they

are expressed in cypher,

mode

being inverted, so as to follow the Arabic instead of the Hindi

have not thought it necessary to add the corresponding dates of the Christian era, which are readily to be ascertained from The period during which those of the Muhannnedan, where given. of writing.

I

these dreams were recorded ranges from 1202 to 1213 of the Hijrah,

nearly the extent of Tipu’s reign; the very last occurring in the manuscript,

and which,

in the present extracts,

happens

place in the year in which he was killed. 2

the Sultan was careful in noting that

it

to be the first,

It will

took

be seen also that

was morning when he awoke,

that hour being supposed, as already shown in this essay, to be pro-

There are a ductive of the most authentic and favourable dreams. few errors in the manuscript, as might be expiected in a rough common-place book, and the grammatical concords occasionally appear incorrect.

“On

the 10th of the

month Rahmani,

in the

year Shadab, 1226

from the birth of Muhammed, corresponding with the 9th of the

month Shaban, 1213 of the Hijrah, on the night of Thursday, of which the following day would be Thursday, I dreamed in my capital thus

that, first, a

:

The arrangement

>

Tipu

in

body

of Kafirs

who had marched on my

territory,

of the Sultan’s cycle, and the other alterations

made by

the calendar, are fully explained in Marsden’s Numisniata Orientalia, in

describing the coins of that prince; and the system

is

also noticed in the Life of

Tipu, translated by Colonel Miles for the Oriental Translation Fund. 2

Tipu reigned from the 20th December, 1782,

4th of

May

in that year.

to A.n. 1799, being killed

on the

149

INTERPRETATION OE DREAMS. had been killed and taken prisoners another body of Kafirs

was on my way was morning.”

On

month Behari,

the 14th of the

All

:

subdued the

News

district of

Kadapah, and

Saturday, I

‘

men

I

1224 from dreamed that

am come

myself, having

be your command,

if it

serve you with four thousand horse;’ and I said to well, hut let us assign

come that While awoke, and it is

rout them also.’

of the year Haraset,

Muhammed, on the night of Khan came and represented thus

the birth of

Dad

‘

to destroy them, at that juncture I

I

“

said,

I

we must

advancing;

is

and

;

my

court,

I ‘

will It is

some yearly pay to these four thousand horseAt that moment morning dawned, and I

for their assistance.’

awoke.” “ On the 25th day of the month Rahmani, on Friday, the night of which would be Saturday, the year 1225 from the birth of Muhammed, I dreamed that our lord Muhammed, the Prophet of God, presented

me

with a turban, saying,

Then

‘

Tie

it

on your head, as

his Excellency again presented

your head,’ and

Ahmed

I

bound that one on

me

I

have tied mine.’ Put it on

a turban, saying,

‘

After that, his Excellency

also.

did so again a third time, and I obeyed

and on the top of , was a strong castle, and I went and looked at it when at that moment I awoke, and made an interpretation of my dream, thus, that God aud the Prophet had bestowed on me the seven cli-

the hill there

;

mates (the whole world).

month Rajah, 1212

This date corresponds with the 24th of the

of the Hijrah.”

“A

dream which happened to me at Tatah-pur, on the banks of Sunday of the Muhammedan era, 26tli of the month of Zu ’1 Hijjah, on the night preceding Monday, at the time of I dreamed that I was standing with the Subhi Kazib (false dawn) the people of my court on a high place, when I saw the moon of the the Kaviri (Cavery), on

:

blessed

—

No

one else perceived it, and it appeared to my and of elegant form, and around it there were and I showed it myself to all the people, and said,

Ramazan.

sight very slender

numerous

stars;

‘Please God, to-morrow truly

“

On

is

the

feast.’

”

1

the night of the 24th, of which the following

Saturday, I dreamed that a certain

brought a large stone of Balawar (beryl) in his 1

The

’Id ul Fitr, or Breaking the fast after

appearance of the new moon, the anxiously,

first

day would be came and hand, and gave it me,

exalted personage

Ramazan, commences with

glimmering of which

and announced triumphantly by him who discovers

it.

is

the

watched for

ON MUHAMMEDAN

150 ‘

saying,

The mine from which

this

came

is

in a

mountain of your

situated near such a place.’

When we

had sent competent persons to make search, we received that the mine really was in that mountain.”

intelligence

Majesty’s dominions, which

is

“ In the month Beh&ri, the year Shad, 1223 from the birth of the Prophet, between the 9th and the 15th [day of the month

?], by the had two dreams ; first, this: that a certain person came and brought some fine emeralds, of the first quality of colour, and in size like mangoes, and gave them into my hand. I said, Such

Divine grace

—

I

‘

a large amount of emeralds accordance with

not within

my

dominions;

it is

only in

Divine grace that the bountiful Creator has

on me.’ It was then dawn of day, and (The second dream of that night is not of any interest.)

bestowed

this vast quantity

awoke.” “

the

is

On the

day of the month

I

1 224 from dreamed that I [this servant of the Most High] was mounted on an elephant, and rode into a garden of mangoes, and I perceived on the trees there was a large quantity of clusters of the mango, the fruit as long as

the birth of

one’s hand,

12tli

When

gathered several riage opposite to

that

moment

I

dawn,

at time of

I

and also round mangoes, in size like fresh saw the mangoes, I was much pleased, and I very large ones, and put them in the elephant carme, and I was going about among the trees, when at

and very thick

cocoa-nuts.

year Halet,

Jafari, of the

Muhammed, on Tuesday

;

I

awoke.”

“

On the 13th of the month Khusrawi, on Monday, in the year 1226 from the birth of Muhammed, corresponding with the 11th of Jumadi

ul

Awwal

of the year

1213 (Hijrah), that

is,

the night of the

14th (Khusrawi), the day following which would be Tuesday, at the

time of

dawn

me, and

this

I had the following dream, viz. Sadi Shirazi came to was his appearance, stout, with a large head and a long white beard. I accosted him with much respect and veneration, and bade him be seated. That exalted person was much pleased. I asked him, What has your Excellency seen?’ He said, ‘I have seen the empire of Hindustan, and the kingdom of Arkat, and the and the kingdom of Abdul Nebi Khan, and the kingdom of kingdom of Kokan.’ Then he began to recite verses and couplets, and walked round and round in the palace, and sat down. At that moment I awoke, and it was morning.”

—

:

‘

,

“

On

the 24th of the month Taki, in the year Shadab, 1226 from

INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS. the birth of

Zi

Muhammed, on

Friday, corresponding with the 22nd of

Hijjah, 1213 of the Hijrah, at the sixth

’1

151

me

Pahr

Hamid abad

of the night, the

— that

I went into a and in it were buildings, in which they told me that I prehis Excellency Maulana Jami had come and alighted there. sented myself to the Maulana, and asked him the reason of being honoured by his visit. That exalted master said, I came for the purpose of seeing you.’ I replied, This honour of your Excellency’s In former days his excellency visit is most excellent and opportune. Maulana Sadi came, and now, in my time, the Divine grace has manifested Maulana Jami, and sent him to me. I shall certainly obtain

following dream occurred to

in

:

certain garden,

‘

£

prosperity from

I

it.’

then brought the Maulana with

me

to the

palace.”

“

And

in that

same night

I also

dreamed that a young woman of

pleasing countenance, with fine jewels and clothes, presented herself to me, size,

bringing in her hand three ripe pomegranates of exceeding

like large cucumbers,

and put them into

my

hand.

I

said,

‘Such a fine quality of pomegranate never was seen.’ I ate one of them, and found it was very sweet, and of fine flavour; and at that moment I awoke.” In addition to the poetical interest of Sadi’s and Jami’s appearance in the Sultan’s dreams, as a contrast to the

number

of those in

former poet to the idea

is

curious,

and may be supposed

Tipu had formed of him from

interesting point visit to India,

is

monotony

of the greater

the collection, the personal description of the

the testimony borne here

a question

still

to

be correct, according

A still more by Sadi himself to his M. de Tassy’s “ Saadi

portraits, &c.

in dispute (see

auteur des premieres poesies hindoustani,” and other communications

on the subject in the Nouveau Journal Asiatique), but which I think may, according to all the evidence, be fairly decided in the affirmative. It would, indeed, appear a very shadowy support of the argument, to quote a dream as evidence of a fact in biography; but there least in

its

is

at

favour the presumption that Tipu relates an appearance

which would not have occurred

to his imagination, if it had not been by a traditionary fact. Of dreams in connection with literature, and of the allusions to them in poetry, much might be said, and a collection of such extracts would form a very copious anthology. From the use made of the subject by European poets, it will be readily conceived how much would be drawn by the highly imaginative mind of the Easterns from a source which has supplied some of their finest imagery to

directed

ON MUHAMMEDAN

152 Homer and

A

Virgil.

to

familiar instance will be found

by the

student in the Yusuf u Zulaikha of Jami, in which the form of Joseph presents itself three times successively to Zulaikha during sleep, and

European reader

the

faithful translation,

is

enabled by Mr. Rosenzweig’s

elegant and

the Vienna printed edition, to appreciate the

in

merit of these, the most beautiful passages in the poem.

moral work

the appearance of Sultan

explanation.

In Sadi’s

Gulistan, one of the earliest apologues relates

also, the

Mahmud

of

Ghaznah

in

a dream, and

should not be forgotten either, that the Arabic

It

Muhammed,

Burdah, composed in honour of

testifies

its

poem

the poet’s grati-

tude for his miraculous recovery from ague, of which he was cured

by the appearance

of the Prophet in a

dream

;

and

has been said

it

that Bukhari undertook the compilation of the Sahih, the most copious

and important

of the collections of Tradition, from a

recommendation

under similar circumstances.

To

this

more

serious anecdote in literary biography, the suggestion

of Tartini’s celebrated

Satanic

Rondo

majesty during

the

though ludicrous a parallel, as lection,

even

by the appearance of

del Diavolo

composer’s

in the discussion of

sleep,

offers

to occur involuntarily to the recol-

a subject of a philosophical nature.

Melancholy, in connection with the untimely fate of the very recent instance of the dream of the

James Richardson, the African his

approaching death,

The anecdote

— an

his

apposite

so

traveller,

omen

late

its

object, is

lamented Mr.

by which he was warned of

so speedily

and so fatally

verified.

related in the account of his last journey, posthu-

is

mously published, and though not strictly an oriental example, is probably to be accounted for by the influence of eastern superstition on a mind already depressed by sickness and fatigue, and may appropriately conclude these observations on the practice of dream-interpretation. I

cannot but think that such subjects as the present, however

frivolous they

may

appear, are not wholly unworthy to engage our

anatomy of the by examples of a

attention, as a part of the study of the comparative

human mind,

exemplified as

much

in trifles as

in a more practical view, as an illustration of the manners and character of the Muhammedan people, which are to be

graver class; and

studied in their superstitious observances, as well as under the more serious aspect of their sciences

well as in their wisdom

;

—

in

and history

;

— in

their weaknesses as

a belief which they have perpetuated

with their language from the days of Ishmael to the present hour, and

which they lof

still

justify

by

the tradition that although “

prophecy has passed away, yet revelation by dreams

The power

still

remains.’

— 153

INTERPRETATION OP DREAMS.

APPENDIX. The following

Muhammedan works and

of

list

science of Tabir cannot pretend to be its literature,

that

which

nor does

is

authors on the

more than a mere skeleton of

attempt chronological exactness, further than

it

suggested

by the authorities quoted.

Reference to

native biographies would have led to a more accurate arrangement,

but the object being simply bibliographical, the sketch

is

offered to

orientalists in its present rude state.

The numbers Kamil

Tabir

ul

to

Haji Khalfa refer to

named

the authorities :

Fliigel’s printed text; Sh. to

in Ibn Shahin’s preface;

K.

to those in the

other names, less frequently quoted, are indicated in

full.

It has been thought best to append to this list also the description and contents of some of the works mentioned in the essay, with such other details as would have encumbered the text, or been inconveniently

long in the foot-notes.

Muhammedan Works and Authors on Kitabu T Usui

JIjAa!

The Book

of Principles [of Tabir],

Daniel).

Haji Khalfa

Usulu T Tabir D’Herbelot

li

—

li

Daniali T Hakim.

by the Sage Danial (the Prophet

simply Usulu Danial, and (No. 848) Sh.; K.; H. Kh.

calls it

Danial.

—

article

Daniel

—mentions

Bibliotheque du Roi in Paris, called

Nabi.

Tabir.

MS. existed in the Mancoul an Danial al

that a

Odhmat

al

(No. 410.)

^_Ay.s^

med ben med ben

Sirin.

The Book

Sirin of Basrah;

reign of the Khalif




von Schlegel,

(khan da),

scripture;

(zhand), which,

W.

if

in

(kdnda),

of a book, or book

itself.

considered as the more ancient

(chhanda),

with

the

original

sibilant

OX THE ORIGINAL EXTENSION

174

German, Lithuanian, Slavonic, and numerous other

Gothic,

Celtic,

With

kindred forms of speech.

the exception of the four

they

first,

comprise, with their dialects and sub-dialects, nearly the whole of the

languages of the different nations of ancient and modern Europe. is

known

It

that from each of these a variety of vernacular dialects has

sprung up, some of which have become dead languages, and have Thus from the Sanskrit are usually rise to other newer idioms.

given

enumerated

fifty-six dialects as

known

in India;

the principal of which

are the Pali, long since the dead and sacred tongue of the Buddhists

;

and an ancient dialect of a great part of Behar, also a dead language; various forms of Prakrit; besides nine-tenths of Hindi, Bengali, Mahratti, Gujrati, and the rest the Magadhi, a

more recent form

of the fifty-six dialects. It appears to

dropped.

same manner as the

of Pali,

forms a considerable part of

Pali, in its turn,

have been formerly employed by the Parris, nearly

Pali

uj

(khdnda),

in

“book of

khduda),

which

is

religion,”

for

(dhamrna-

*hS v

___

the Sanskrit

in the

(dharmakhanda),

applied by the Buddhists of Burrrmli to their scriptures.

Erskine, Rask, and Lepsius were of •pinion long since that the

was only a

transcript of the Pehlavi (since verified by Olshausen

the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,

xii.

255-6), and

Zand

— see

writing

Thomas,

in

therefore not older

is

than the time of the Sassanides (compare Lepsius, Ueber die Anordnung und Verwandtschaft des Semitischen, Indischen, etc., p. 56). Viewing this language in the most unexceptionable form, according as it is presented in the restorations of Burnouf, in the Commentaire sur

le

Yayna, and

continued in a series of papers in the Journal Asiatique, and according also to a more recent emended edition of the Zand-Avastd, by Professor Lassen (Vendidadi capita quinque priora, Bonn, 1852), its character as a dialect of Sanskrit, though strangely transformed in a Pehlavi dress, cannot stand in comparison with the

Cuneiform Persic in point of antiquity. Spiegel, the latest investigator into the real structure and character of this language, finds the term “zand” so indefinite and vague as to call the language the “ Pdrsisprache” (see his Grammatik der Parsisprache nebst Sprachprobeu, Leipzig, 1851), although the language of the Parsis, properly so called, is the Gujrati in India, and modern Persian in Persia.

With

reference to the true etymological signification of

is lost in

Persian, Miiller (Essai sur

Grammar,

its

its

Pehlavi,

pp. 206, 207) consider, from the

the Parsis, that true in

le

it

p.

V

V

.

. .

(abasta),

4

which

297) and Spiegel (in the above

manner

in

which

it

is

employed by This is

corresponds to the European acceptation of “textus.”

modern and conventional sense ; but this view gives no explanation of The word, I conceive, is only a modified form of the

probable derivation.

Sanskrit

(abhyasta), “ learned by heart,” or

as a sacred precept,” and seems to explain

its

(chhanda), the scriptures of Zaratusht.

“ committed

to

memory

connexion with j JJ (zhaud), or

OP THE SANSKRIT LANGUAGE.

175

the languages of Burmali, Pegu, Siam, and other Buddhistic countries.

From

the Persic have sprung at least twelve dialects, including the

Pehlavi and the Dari,

The ancient grammatical Armenian,

to

which

the Phrygian was nearly related, appears to have been connected also

with the Median and the Lydian. dialects, the CEolic, Doric, Ionic,

Independently of the four classical

and Attic, there must have prevailed

contemporaneously with these the Thessalian, Boeotian, Elean, Macedonian, and other dialects,

among

the different Greek states, less

cultivated, of course, than the four former.

may have

The Thracian, however

it

been regarded by Athenian vanity, must be considered as

allied to the

Greek, though more remotely than the Macedonian, and

stood between the latter and the Gothic.

nected with the Macedonian, which original seat of the Dorians; the

is

The Doric was

closely con-

natural, considering the supposed

Macedonian with the Thracian, the

Thracian with the Phrygian, the Phrygian with the Armenian, the Armenian with the Persic, and the Persic with the Sanskrit.

Of the various

dialects of ancient Italy, which, after the

Roman

common language

of the

dominion, merged into and formed the

Romans, the Etruscan and the Oscan seem to have exerted the greatest influence. The Umbrian dialect was almost obsolete on the spread of We have no certain knowledge of the characteristic disthe Etruscan. crepancies or peculiarities of the other dialects, excepting the Doric ten-

dency of those of the south, which are more Hellenic than Italic. The whole of the pre-roman Italic dialects differed no more from each other and from their parent type than did the numerous Prakrit forms of the same in India at a synchronous period ; otherwise the classical Latin, which

is

only the cultivated, condensed, modified, and written form of

those dialects, would present a

physiognomy more

from the Sanskrit than the likeness which latter.

The

it is

principal derivatives of Latin are,

to observe, the four cultivated languages of

distinct

known it is

to

and varying bear to the

almost superfluous

modern Europe,

as exhibi-

ted in the Italian, French, Spanish, and Portuguese, throughout the

various phases which they have assumed for the last ten or twelve centuries. lete

In addition to which

may

be named the Romanic, or obso-

language of the troubadours, and the mixed Neo-Hellenic and

Slavonic,

and very considerably modified languages of the Bulgarians

and Wallachians. 1

The Gothic

is

the most ancient language of the division of which

For further particulars on the remains of the ancient

Italic languages, see

Aufrecht and Kirchhoff, in Die Umbrischen Spraclidenkmaler, and the Oskische

Grammatik

of the former author.

176

ON THE ORIGINAL EXTENSION

middle old

To this belong the Anglo-Saxon, the Friesic, and The old High German of the eighth century, the High German, and the modern form, with the Dutch and

English, or

more

it

at the head.

is

other allied dialects.

Anglo-Saxon portion of the

correctly, the

divisions from the Gothic branch.

few particulars, the old Slavonic

latter,

sub-

From the Lithuanian, except

in a

differs little,

with which the Russian,

Bohemian, Servian, Croatian, and other less known cognate idioms, are connected. Of the old Northern, or Scandinavian (the language of the Eddas), the Icelandic, the Norwegian, Swedish, and DaPolish,

nish, together with the subdialects of Greenland, the Feroe, Shetland,

and Orkney

isles,

judgingof the the Gothic,

I

name

can only

means

of

the remains of this language in the four

and Bas-breton. The Caucasian same family, which Klaproth had classed as belonging group of languages, are now included in the same, by 1

of the

to a different

are no

with the Latin, or even with

Erse, Welsh,

forms of the Gaelic,

members

As there

are more modern forms.

Celtic, considered as coeval

the more searching investigations of Bopp.

The analogy which

the

two

languages of European anti-

classical

quity bear to the Sanskrit, soon arrested the attention of the students of Sanskrit, Halhed, Jones, and Wilkins.

now been found

has

to prevail in other languages, less

first

The connexion known and cul-

tivated than the preceding.

The languages tion,

of the

Europe not comprised

of ancient

in this

enumera-

is

intended only as a rapid view of the principal members

Aryan

family, are those of the Phoenician colonies of Spain,

which

Portugal, South of France, and perhaps of Britain and Ireland; together with

what we must suppose

to

have constituted the languages of

the preceding aboriginal or unclassified inhabitants of Europe, amongst

whom

the Turduli and Turdetani mentioned by Strabo, though flou-

rishing so late as the

first

century of the Christian era, are the most

2

remarkable

.

Asia Polyglotta, p. 133. the passage is rather a digression, as

1

Though

2

people nearly lost to history,

it

may

it

relates to

not be irrelevant to quote.

Of

an interesting these nations,

and the country they occupied, the geographer observes: kciXovoi

viav’ rovg

S'

airb ptiv tuv irorupov

S'

Tovg avTovg vop’iZ,ovaiV

H'tv

Bninn/r

1

a7ro

ivotxovi'rag Tovpeiravovs Tt wa oi

S'

irfpng" Siv

c>£

twv ivoi\ouvTiuv Toupc'trn-

To vpSovXovg irpooayoptvovaiv

tan

oi

K«i TToXoCioe, avvoiicovg tpijaap

TovpSeravoiQ 7rpog apKTOv rovg TovpSovXovg. vvvi S’ iv avro if ovStic faivtSo^noraroi S’ tZerdZovTiu tu>v I ti/pwv ovro i, /cat ypappariKy Siopirrpug. XpHvTai, Kal t!,jc TTuXcuag /ij’jjpj/c f^oinri rd avyypafipara, Kai v ou)paTa, Knl

to'iq

rat

vopovg

ip/jttTpovg t£aKi

ON THE PRODUCTION OP PEARLS IN CHINA.

281

from Shildch’ayent’oh, by the king of Chinlien, by bis ambassador named Puyaht’oli, and others, with presents of a cap and spencer,

and of a quantity of true pearls ; and thirty or forty years later, came from the same court, and solicited that in their audience they might be permitted to follow the customs of their tribute-bearers again

own

On

country, which was graciously accorded.

the

day appointed

the messengers appeared at the door of the audience chamber, kneeling

and holding a golden tray containing pearls and golden figures of the lily, and on approaching the throne they tossed the contents on

water

the floor before the Emperor, which the courtiers instantly swept up

They are noted as the most deferential They must have been from some country which then existed in India, or Ceylon, or thereabouts. Marco Polo also mentions pearls in his work on China. At what period the Chinese fishing for pearls commenced, cannot be ascertained, except perhaps by reference to local topographical works which it is very difficult, and almost impossible, to obtain. One and divided amongst them. of people.

account represents pearls as being found on the coast generally south

No

of Canton.

particulars are given except of the fishery in the

department of Lien-chan in

in the

extreme southern part of the empire,

On

the Canton province (Kwantung).

which there

is

the sea

is

an island on

a pool or lake, which the district magistrate annually

visits to receive the tribute, personally inspecting the operation.

The

pearl fishers dive into the lake for pearls.

The bottom

for pearls.

the sea

— unfathomable

volcano

:

is

supposed

— the

to

communicate with

crater, probably, of

an extinct

pearls as large as beans, sometimes an inch in circumference,

have been found. dried in the sun,

production the shell

of this lake

in the centre

The

old shells are opened

is

:

The young mixed with

shells are strung cassia,

on a bamboo stick and

then roasted in some medicinal

they contain pearls as large as millet

:

thus the

womb

of

the flesh either of the large or small kinds.

Another account names the fisheries are conducted.

district in Lien-chaii

In the sea there

is

where the pearl

an island with a lake,

which the barbarous natives dive for shells ; some years they are There is a myth amongst the fisherin others scarce. men of a walled city at the bottom, guarded by monsters, containing into

abundant, and

pearls of large size

and splendour, but which cannot be obtained

for

the guards; small ones, growing outside the city walls like grass, being the only ones obtainable.

Another writer says

:

“ South-east of the Foo city, there

river with a sea (an island with a lake

large oysters, having pearls.

Visited

?),

Yuen-mei

is

a smooth

river, containing

by moonlight, fishermen descend

282

ON THE PRODUCTION OP PEARLS IN CHINA.

into the waters with a basket fastened to their waists

can hold their breath no longer, they give a signal Voracious

up.

fish

when they

;

be brought

to

sometimes attack the divers, when the rope

upwards.”

floats

Yung-tai-kei, when'at Canton, appointed a Pearl Inspector.

would

fishers

to the willow,

The

something similar

collect several baskets of sea plants,

which they detached from the rocks under water, and office. On the middle of these bushes were shells

brought them to the

which contained

pearls.

pearl shells and cut

they

and take

live,

“

The rude sea people at Canton dive for them out ; they leave their sea vessels in which

Another writer says

:

to boats on the lake

they sink a heavy stone to

;

anchor the boats, and then with a rope about the waist descend into

when they

make a signal, and are between 1403-25, in consequence of so of the divers being devoured by the sand-fish (shark), or

the water

;

aided up.

many

nothing

require breath they

It is stated that,

but their limbs, the fishers contrived an iron rake for

left

gathering shells without diving, but they got a few only.

now pursued

they contrived the method

of a dredge

Afterwards,

—a

scoop-like

implement, one on each side of the boat, which, as the boats sailed along, gathered the shells.

The above remarks

are gathered from old native authors, but

not likely that the pearl fishery exists at present at the places being exhausted, as

were they now

in existence

many

have been elsewhere

There

These ingenious people were the

is

lost,

made

or

originated

a note that, at the commencement of the seventh century,

it

at,

of a composition or medicine.

may

be the same as that

The

now employed

art at,

may have and which

Canton, and which appears to resemble that pursued by

the French, who, however, have carried the art to a very superior degree of perfection. the

:

devise methods to imitate the pearl.

pearls were

been

it is

China,

they could hardly have escaped the notice

of foreigners resident at Canton. first to

others

all in

The writer

feeling

much

method pursued by the Chinese with the “Muscle Pearl,”

winter of 1851-52

(in

conjunction with a friend, Dr.

much

interest as to in the

McGowan, an

American physician resident at Ningpo, by whose assistance he has been enabled to put together the preceding data), despatched an intelligent native to

Hoochow,

in the

adjacent province, about three days’

journey from Ning-po, where the manufacture of

by means of the muscle succeeded stages,

in

and

fish, is

artificial pearls, &c.,

carried on to a great extent, and he

obtaining shells shewing the process during the different

also

some

live fish, the first ever seen

by

foreigners.

The

RE Bowler del el lith

ON THE PEODUCTION OF PEAELS IN CHINA.

May, and are opened principally bamboo in the orifice ; the elders The foreign substance made use of,

are collected together in April or

fish

by

who put a small

children,

bit of

then insert whatever they wish. is

283

composed of either

When

the latter

or juice of a tree

is

indiscriminately into the

they are placed

;

well powdered, after which the pith

it is first

mixed with

is

round pebble, or mud.

brass, bone, pieces of

used

indeed,

it

to give

it

it

These are put keep them where

solidity.

and require nothing

fish,

to

would appear that the fish have no power which may be placed in them.

of themselves to reject anything

After the

fish

ones,

and

have been operated upon, three spoonfuls of the scales

powdered and mixed with water are put

of a fish well

five spoonfuls into the larger

ones

j

into the smaller

the pieces of

bamboo

are then withdrawn, and the fish are placed carefully in the ponds at a

Some

few inches apart. about 5,000

The water five feet,

fish,

in the

and

in

of the ponds, being small, will hold only

but the larger ponds contain a far greater number.

ponds does not require

dry seasons water

is

to be

from the canals which intersect the country

Four manured with night soil.

irrigation of the land.

well

ponds after ten months, but

come

deeper than from three to

occasionally in

worked

into

them

every direction for the

or five times each year the ponds are

if

The

fish

are generally taken out of the

allowed to remain a longer time they

to greater perfection, three years being considered the

maximum

Several millions- of these shells annually find a market at

time.

Soochow ; the price varies considerably, some being worth about a penny the pair, while others readily fetch eigbtpence the pair. The greater portion of the shells are sold to the dealers as they are taken

out of the ponds, but the selves,

Hoochow people prepare some few them-

and the price of each pearl or image ready

farthing to fourpence.

The

close to the pearl as possible to the pearl

may

it,

a piece of the shell

white is

arises

upon the market. Ning-po was

the discovery, pearls,

is

from one

saw

as

the bit of shell which remains attached

wax

being substituted, and at the extremity

again placed so as to render the pearl as perfect

I,

from the haste in which the Chinese force them

It is several first

drawn

years since the attention of foreigners

to the

“Muscle Pearl;” and previous

to

as well as others, imagined the articles resembling

which the wealthy natives wore so prominently on their caps,

were real and valuable gems. is

for use

cut through with a fine

There are only a very few pearls of the best description,

which no doubt at

;

is

then removed as well as the brass, bone, or whatever

is

be inside of

as possible.

shell

The production of these artificial pearls Hoochow, whole villages it is stated that some 5,000 people find a

quite a trade in the neighbourhood of

being engaged in

it

;

indeed,

284

ON THE PRODUCTION OF TEARLS IN CHINA. The

by these means.

livelihood

was

process

first

Ye-jin-yang, a native of Hoochow, a.d. 1200-1300.

discovered by

At

his death, a

memory, at a place called Seaou-Shang, about twenty-six miles distant from Hoochow. This temple is still kept up and plays are performed there every year to Ye’s honor. A book is large temple

was erected

to

liis

extant which contains every particular connected with this interesting subject, but

it

Mention of the art

could not be purchased.

is

made

in

the book of the district of its producing an important article of commerce.

The trade families,

pay

for

is a monopoly amongst a certain number of villages and and any other village or family commencing it is required to some plays at Ye’s temple, and likewise to subscribe something

towards the repair of the temple.

The Chinese artificial

pearls,

their secrets

in

the

many

the south of China (Canton) also manufacture

two provinces,

years ago

;

it

but the

stated,

is

having exchanged

Hoochow people do not succeed

very well with the Canton process, and there must be some very great peculiarity in either the climate or

fish,

as

does not appear that the

it

Canton people, who are so noted

for their perseverance with

by which they can earn even a

trifle,

Hoochow method. From the circumstance

of the

trading junks,

northern and southern provinces, buying up the shops at Niug-po,

it

would seem

place in China where this trade

is

anything

have ever succeeded with the

all

as though

pursued.

both from

the

they can meet with in

Hoochow was

the only

285

XVI — The

Art.

.

By

Gypsies of Egypt.

the late

Capt. Newbold, F.R.S., &c.

Those

wlio chance to sojourn in the land of the Pharaohs longer than

the ordinary run of travellers, and of

its

roam about the

whose features

certain females,

them from the

at once distinguish

ordinary Fellah Arabs and Copts of the country.

common

being

In dress they

from the common Fellah females, the dark blue cotton

differ little tob

and environs

streets

large towns, can hardly fail to notice the strange appearance of

both;

to

but they seldom wear the shintiyan

(drawers), and are remarkable for going abroad without the burka,

With

or veil.

the skin of a gazelle, or that of a sheep, thrown over

and principal thoroughfares by exposure, or stroll

their shoulders, they frequent the bazars

of the great towns, with unveiled faces bronzed

from village

to village, occasionally calling out, in Arabic, in piercing

but not unpleasing tones destiny

:

!

shorter phrases, such as “ i

••

“ Come, ye that desire

to

foresee your

the past and the future shall be revealed unto you;” or in

i

••

- v

A

( Taali,

Come and

see

your fortunes

!”

U