lycia, asia minor. this interesting region has been further explored by two english gentlemen, lieut. spratt, r.n., and professor forbes, who, accompanied by the reverend e.t. daniel, embarked from england in the year 1842, in h.m. ship beacon, for the coast of lycia, for the purpose of bringing home the remarkable monuments of antiquity discovered by sir charles fellows.

this gentleman, it will be remembered, was the first who in modern times successfully explored the interior. he visited the sites of many ancient cities and towns; copied numerous inscriptions, by means of which he was enabled to identify the names of fifteen out of eighteen cities; and made sketches of the most interesting sculptures and monuments.

it is remarkable that a country so often spoken of by the greek and roman historians should not have sooner attracted attention, when districts contiguous to, as well as far beyond, have been so thoroughly explored. the ruins on the southern coast of asia minor, were first made[70] known by captain beaufort, who discovered them when employed in making a survey of this coast. several travellers subsequently made short excursions into the country; but it was not until mr. now sir charles fellows, in 1838 and 1840, made his visits and explorations, that the riches of the interior in historical monuments were disclosed.

the relics of antiquity brought to light in these researches, consist first of the ruins of large cities, many of which, by reason of their isolated situation among the high lands and mountains, seem to have been preserved from the destruction which usually attends depopulated cities situated in more accessible places.

these ruined cities contain amphitheatres more or less spacious, and generally in a good state of preservation, temples, aqueducts, and sepulchral monuments, together with numbers of lesser buildings, the dwelling houses of the inhabitants. the ruins of christian churches are also found in many places, and in one instance a large and elegant cathedral; the purposes of these are satisfactorily made out by their inscriptions; and the date of their erection, when not otherwise known, may be fixed by their style of architecture. the most numerous as well as the most interesting monuments of these ancient cities, are their sepulchres. in some instances where a mountain or high rock is contiguous, it is pierced with thousands of tombs, presenting an appearance similar to petr?a in idumea, sometimes called the city of the dead. the roads in all directions are lined with tombs and sarcophagi, many of them covered with elaborate sculptures and inscriptions. it is by means of the latter, which abound and which exist in a fine state of preservation, that the names of the cities are identified and other historical facts brought to light. the following is a translation of the most common form of sepulchral inscription.

"this tomb apollonides, son of molissas, made

for his wife and children: and if any one

violates it, let him pay a fine."

[71]

coins too are found, which possess considerable historic interest.

in architecture, we find excellent specimens of the several grecian orders, exhibiting both the perfection and declension of the art. the works of sir charles fellows abound in architectural representations. a pointed arch was discovered by lieut. spratt and professor forbes in the interior of a tomb (a sketch of which is given) among the ruins of antiphellas. this conclusively shows, that this peculiar form of the arch was not first introduced with gothic architecture, as has been generally believed, but belongs to a period anterior to the christian era. an inscription in the lycian and latin was found on the monument.

the language of the ancient lycians is an important discovery which has resulted from these researches. a bilingual inscription in lycian and greek first led to the key, and similar inscriptions, subsequently discovered, have furnished sufficient materials for ascertaining the values of the several letters of the alphabet, which consists of twenty-seven letters, two of which are still doubtful. able disquisitions on the language have been written by mr. sharpe and professor grotefend.

in regard to the antiquity of the monuments, and the people who spoke the language called lycian, now first made known through these inscriptions, we are enabled to arrive at conclusions which fix their era with some degree of certainty. the earliest inscription yet decyphered is a bilingual one, which consists of an edict, in which the name of harpagus, or his son, a well known personage, is mentioned; which would give a date of 530 to 500 b.c. this is about the period of the earliest arrow-head inscriptions yet known—namely, those at behistun, of the age of darius, decyphered by major rawlinson. the language belongs to the same family as the zend and old persian, and is supposed to have been in use in the same age as the former, and along with that of the persepolitan[72] inscriptions. the sculptures too, bear some resemblance to the figures on the persian monuments, particularly the well known figure with an umbrella, so common on the latter.

other reasons are adduced by scholars for fixing the date of the lycian language not before the fifth century b.c., or to the age of herodotus. this historian was from the adjoining province of caria; and as might be expected, gives accounts of the lycians before his time, but does not say that they spoke a language different from his own, or from that of the entire region,—a fact that he would not have overlooked had such been the case.

it is believed that cyrus, when he subjected this country, brought in some people from his persian dominions, who afterwards became the dominant party, and introduced their language.[62]

it is surprising to find the names of these lycian cities so well preserved when the descendants of its ancient inhabitants have been so entirely swept out of the country, and replaced by a people differing in manners, in religion,[73] and having no interest connected with the locality to induce them to respect the relics or names, and keep alive the memory, of the former possessors of the soil.

travels in lycia, milytas and the cibyrates, in company with the late rev. e.t. daniel, by lieut. spratt, r.n., and prof. e. forbes. 2 vols. 8vo. lond. 1847.

a journal written during an excursion in asia minor, by charles fellows. royal 8vo. london, 1839.

an account of discoveries in lycia, in 1840. by charles fellows, royal 8vo.

an essay on the lycian language. by daniel sharpe. (in the appendix to fellows' journal.)

arabia.

if we now turn to the discoveries that have recently been made in the southern part of arabia, we find much in them worthy of attention. this country, called in the scriptures hazarmaveth, by the natives hadramaut, and by the classical writers of antiquity, arabia felix, is celebrated as being the kingdom of the queen of sheba, who visited solomon, as well as for the gold, gems, frankincense and other precious productions, which it furnished in ancient times. it is represented by the greek and roman writers as a populous country, with many extensive cities, abounding in temples and palaces; though the palpable fables with which these accounts are intermingled, show that at least they had no personal knowledge of the facts, but retailed them at second hand.

after europe had awoke from the intellectual slumber of the dark ages, the arabs were long regarded only as objects of religious and political abhorrence. the discovery of the route to india by the cape of good hope, at the close of the fifteenth century, by diverting the channel of indo-european traffic from the red sea, left the countries bordering upon it in such a state of solitude, that when better feelings began to prevail, there was no means of obtaining any direct information respecting them.

in 1650, the illustrious pococke, by the publication of his specimens of ancient arabian history, extracted from native authors, created a curiosity respecting southern arabia and its ancient inhabitants, which successive collections of a similar nature, down to our own times, have served rather to increase than to gratify. the researches[74] of niebuhr, seetzen, and burckhardt, in the latter part of the last, and the beginning of the present century, made us somewhat acquainted with the western extremity of this country, along the shores of the red sea; but before the investigations of which we are about to speak, its southern coast had never been accurately explored, and the great body of the interior, with its once famous capital, mareb, remained, as it ever had been, completely unknown to and unvisited by the natives of europe.

the hordes of pirates, which until twenty years ago infested the persian gulf, caused the government of british india to order a complete survey of its islands and both its shores, with the view of laying bare their haunts, and putting an end to their depredations. in 1829, after this service had been performed, the project then recently set on foot of establishing a steam communication between england and bombay, caused orders to be issued for a similar examination of the red sea.

the attention of the officers composing the expedition, was not restricted to the technical duties in which they were chiefly engaged. it was well known that information of every kind would be prized by the government which they served; and this, together with the monotony of life on board ship on the one hand, and the novelty of the scenes by which they were surrounded on the other, seems to have created among them a spirit of emulation that led to the most interesting discoveries respecting both the geography and the antiquities of the adjacent countries.

among the most intelligent and enterprising of these officers was the late lieut. wellsted, who thus describes his reflections on joining the expedition in the red sea, on the 12th october, 1830. "from the earliest dawn of history, the northern shores of the red sea have figured as the scene of events which both religious and civil records have united to render memorable. here moses and the patriarchs tended their flocks, and put in motion those springs of civilization, which, from that period, have[75] never ceased to urge forward the whole human race in the career of improvement. on the one hand the valley of the wanderings, commencing near the site of memphis, and opening upon the red sea, conducts the fancy along the track pursued by the hebrews during their flight out of egypt; on the other hand are mount sinai, bearing still upon its face the impress of miraculous events, and beyond it that strange, stormy, and gloomy-looking sea, once frequented by ph?nician merchants' ships, by the fleets of solomon and pharaoh, and those barks of later times which bore the incenses, the gems, the gold and spices of the east, to be consumed or lavishly squandered upon favorites at the courts of macedonia or rome. but the countries lying along this offshoot of the indian ocean, have another kind of interest, peculiar perhaps to themselves. on the arabian side we find society much what it was four thousand years ago; for amidst the children of ishmael it has undergone but trifling modifications. their tents are neither better nor worse than they were when they purchased joseph of his brethren, on their way to egypt; the sheikhs possess no other power or influence than they enjoyed then; the relations of the sexes have suffered little or no changes; they eat, drink, clothe themselves, educate their children, make war and peace, just as they did in the day of the exodus. but on the opposite shores, all has been change, fluctuation, and decay. while the bedouins have wandered with their camels and their flocks, unaspiring, unimproving, they have looked across the gulf and beheld the egyptian overthrown by the persian, the persian by the greek, the greek by the roman, and the roman in his turn by a daring band from their own burning deserts. they have seen empires grow up like jonah's gourd. war has swept away some; the varieties and luxuries of peace have brought others to the ground; and every spot along these shores is celebrated."

when the northeastern and the western shores of the[76] arabian peninsula had thus been investigated, there still remained to be explored the south eastern shore, the coast of the anciently renowned province of hadramaut, extending from tehama, on the red sea, to the province of oman, at the entrance to the persian gulf; and it is to the discoveries made in this almost unknown part of the world that i now wish more particularly to allude.

in the year 1839 capt. haines, the commander of the expedition and the present governor of aden, published his survey of about two fifths of this coast, extending from the straits of bab-el-mandeb as far east as missenaat, in long. 51° east of greenwich.[63] in the year 1845, he published his further survey of about an equal portion extending to cape isolette, in long. 57° 51', leaving about one fifth of the whole extent on the eastern end still to be explored.[64]

in june, 1843, adolphe baron wrede, a hanoverian gentleman, made an excursion from makallah on the coast, into the interior of the country. he visited among other places an extensive valley called wadi doan, which he thus describes. "the sudden appearance of the wadi doan, took me by surprise and impressed me much with the grandeur of the scene. the ravine, five hundred feet wide and six hundred feet in depth, is enclosed between perpendicular rocks, the debris of which form in one part a slope reaching to half their height. on this slope, towns and villages rise contiguously in the form of an amphitheatre; while below the date grounds, which are covered with a forest of trees, the river about twenty feet broad and enclosed by high and walled embankments is seen winding through fields laid out in terraces, then pursuing its course in the open plain, irrigated by small canals branching from it. my first view of the valley disclosed to me four towns and four villages, within the space of an hour's[77] distance." he also gives an account of some curious spots of quicksand, in the midst of the great desert of el-akkaf, which are regarded with superstitious horror by the wandering bedouins. a cord of sixty fathoms in length with a plummet at the end, which he cast into one of them, disappeared in the course of five minutes. his narrative is published in the fourteenth volume of the journal of the royal geographical society of london.

in spite of the glowing descriptions of ancient authors, the idea hitherto entertained of this region in modern times, has been that of a succession of desert plains and sand-hills, with nothing to give animation to the arid scene but solitary groups of bedouins and occasionally a passing caravan. the recent explorations, however, of which the one just quoted is a specimen, show that this is far from being a correct view of the entire country. the coast is thickly studded with fishing-villages and small seaports, which still carry on, though on a diminished scale, the trade with india and the persian gulf, which has existed ever since the dawn of history. it is true, the general appearance of the country along the coast, consisting as it does of successive ranges of sand-hills, is such as to naturally give rise to the views entertained and promulgated by navigators, who have had no opportunity of visiting the interior. but the deeper researches that have been made during the last ten or twelve years, show that these opinions are very erroneous; for besides that there are a number of green valleys running down to the coast, produced by streams provided with water for at least a good part of the year, no sooner has the traveller surmounted the first range of sand-hills, than his sight begins to be regaled with numerous well watered valleys and mountains covered with verdure. besides this, even in those parts of the country where the surface is naturally a desert plain, the inhabitants have possessed from the remotest times the art of forming flourishing oases, in which to establish their hamlets and towns; an operation which, as wellsted re[78]marks, is effected with a labor and skill that seem more chinese than arabian. this traveller says: "the greater part of the face of the country being destitute of running streams on the surface, the arabs have sought in elevated places for springs or fountains beneath it. a channel from this fountain-head is then, with a very slight descent, bored in the direction in which it is to be conveyed, leaving apertures at regular distances, to afford light and air to those who are occasionally sent to keep it clean. in this manner water is frequently conducted from a distance of six or eight miles, and an unlimited supply is thus obtained. these channels are usually about four feet broad and two feet deep, and contain a clear and rapid stream. few of the large towns or oases but had four or five of these rivulets or feleji running into them. the isolated spots to which water is thus conveyed possess a soil so fertile, that nearly every grain, fruit, or vegetable, common to india, arabia, or persia, is produced almost spontaneously; and the tales of the oases will be no longer regarded as an exaggeration, since a single step conveys the traveller from the glare and sand of the desert into a fertile tract, watered by a hundred rills, teeming with the most luxuriant vegetation, and embowered by lofty and stately trees, whose umbrageous foliage the fiercest rays of a noontide sun cannot penetrate."[65]

these oases and the towns situated in them, date from various periods; some of those already discovered being evidently of considerable antiquity. in describing some of these towns, wellsted says: "the instant you step from the desert within the grove, a most sensible change of the atmosphere is experienced. the air feels cold and damp; the ground in every direction is saturated with moisture; and from the density of the shade, the whole appears dark and gloomy. to avoid the damp and catch an occasional beam of the sun above the trees, the houses[79] are usually very lofty. a parapet encircling the upper part is turreted; and on some of the largest houses guns are mounted. the windows and doors have the saracenic arch; and every part of the building is profusely decorated with ornaments of stucco in bas relief, some in very good taste. the doors are also cased with brass, and have rings and other massive ornaments of the same metal." these descriptions relate to the province of oman, the eastern extremity of southern arabia. the glimpses already obtained of this ancient and famous land, sufficiently prove that the fortunate traveller who shall succeed in obtaining access into the interior of the country, which has always been a terra incognita to europeans and their descendants, will find an abundance of objects of interest to reward his zeal and self-devotion.

there is however another class of interesting objects, relating to the ancient history of the country, which i have not alluded to until now, because i wish to speak of them more particularly. these are the ancient inscriptions, of which a number have already been discovered and in part decyphered.

several arabian writers have stated that there existed in the southern part of their country, before the time of mohammed, a kind of writing which they call himyaritic, after the name of the ancient inhabitants of the country, the beni himyar. but the confused nature of these accounts, together with the arab practice of giving the name of himyaritic to every ancient mode of writing which they were unable to read, caused the story to be regarded as little better than fabulous. in the year 1808 the late baron de sacy published a learned treatise on the subject, in which he collected all the arabian accounts; but no further progress was made in the enquiry, until the discovery of a number of inscriptions on various massy ruins situated along the coast and in the interior, by officers attached to the surveying expedition already spoken of, in the years 1834 and '5.[80]

copies of these inscriptions were transmitted to the late dr. gesenius of halle, one of the first orientalists of europe. after making some progress in the investigation, he gave up the subject to his colleague dr. r?diger, who had devoted himself to it with great ardor and success. the latter published a copious dissertation containing the results he had arrived at, which he reprinted in 1842 by way of an appendix to his german edition of wellsted's travels in arabia. by comparing the characters of the inscriptions with the himyaritic alphabets contained in some arabic manuscripts and with the present ethiopic alphabet, he was enabled to ascertain the powers of the letters, and even to interpret, with various degrees of certainty, many portions of the inscriptions themselves. thus, these venerable records, which in all probability have for many ages been dumb to every human being, are in a fair way of being made to yield up to modern scientific research whatever information they may contain. that this information must be interesting and valuable to the historian is inferred from the imposing nature of the structures on which they are found, and whose existence but a few years ago was as little looked for in this part of the world as in the forest wilds of oregon. a full account of these discoveries and of the attempts at decyphering the inscriptions was published in 1845 in the first volume of the transactions of the ethnological society of this city. i will therefore merely proceed to state what has been accomplished in the matter since the time when that account closes.

in the beginning of 1843, the same year in which m. wrede made his exploration, a french physician of the name of arnaud being then at jiddah, received from m. fresnel, the french consular agent at that port, accounts of the himyaritic inscriptions discovered by the officers of the indian navy, and of the interest they had created in europe. m. arnaud's enthusiasm being excited on the[81] subject, he resolved to take a share in these arduous researches. the grand object of his ambition was to reach mareb, the ancient capital of hadramaut and the residence of the famous queen of sheba, whose name according to the arabians was balkis. two english officers had undertaken the journey several years ago, and had reached sana, a town within three or four days' journey of it; but the suspicions of the native authorities becoming excited, their further progress was prevented.

the mode of proceeding adopted by m. arnaud, who spoke the arabic fluently, was to travel as a mussulman, in company with a caravan going to the place. his plan was happily crowned with success. in the middle of july he reached the city, where he saw the imposing remains of the ancient dam, said to have been built across the valley of mareb by balkis herself, and which, by collecting an immense body of water near the metropolis, whence the surrounding country was irrigated, had given rise to the fertility and beauty for which the region was celebrated in ancient times. on these remains m. arnaud discovered a number of inscriptions, as also among the ruins of the former city; among the most remarkable of these is one called harem balkis, which is thought to be the remains of the palace of the ancient sabean kings. the inscriptions of which mr. arnaud brought away copies with him amount to fifty-six in number. the tour of m. wrede was also not unproductive in this respect. he copied, among others, a long inscription in wadi doan; which, according to the interpretations that have since been made of it, contains a list of kings more copious than those which have been left us by albulfeda and other historians of the middle ages.

when m. arnaud returned to jiddah from his hazardous and toilsome expedition, m. fresnel, who had originally moved him to the undertaking, set about studying the new inscriptions, aided by the previous labors of the german scholars and his own knowledge of arabic and the[82] modern himyaritic. possessing a far more abundant supply of materials than had been collected before, he was able to assign to a few doubtful characters their proper values. he transmitted to paris a fair copy of the original inscriptions, and also a transcription of them in the arabic character, showing how they should be read. a fount of himyaritic types having been constructed for the express purpose at the imprimerie royale, they were all published in the course of last year in the journal asiatique, together with several letters on the subject from m. fresnel. the form of the characters in these inscriptions is essentially the same as in those discovered before; but, whereas the former ones all read from right to left like the arabic of the present day, some of the new ones are found to read alternately from right to left and from left to right, like some of the inscriptions of ancient greece. m. fresnel's attention has been mainly directed to the collection and identification of the proper names of persons, deities, and places, in which the inscriptions abound, and in which he recognises many names mentioned in scripture, and in greek, roman, and arabian authors. thus he identifies the deity 'athtor with the ashtoreth or venus of the hebrews. he finds in an inscription at hisn ghorab the word kaná, showing the correctness of the conclusion already arrived at that this is the cane emporium of ptolemy. he identifies the ruins of kharibeh, a day's journey to the west of mareb, with the caripeta of pliny, the furthest point reached by the roman commander, ?lius gallus, in his expedition into arabia felix, in the reign of augustus c?sar. he has also recognised many names of himyaritic sovereigns mentioned by arabian writers, among others those of the grandfather and uncle of queen balkis. m. fresnel has also begun to translate the inscriptions connectedly, a work of great labor and difficulty. he has already furnished an improved reading and translation of one at sana, which had been copied before by english officers, and interpreted by gesenius and r?diger, and[83] has offered a translation of another found by m. arnaud, on the hiram balkis at mareb.

the discoveries already brought to light, merely serve to show the richness of the mine that yet remains to be explored. other expeditions are now planning, or in progress of execution, for penetrating into other parts of the country; and eminent scholars are busied in elucidating the treasures which the enterprize of travellers is bringing to light. their united exertions cannot fail, at least, to accumulate many curious particulars relative to the history of one of the most remarkable and least known nations of past ages.

the rev. t. brockman, who was sent by the royal geographical society of england for the purpose of geographical and antiquarian research in the arabian peninsula, had proceeded up the coast from aden to shehar, midway between aden and muscat, and had coasted along to cape ras al-gat. subsequently in attempting to reach muscat, he was arrested by sickness at wadi beni jabor, where after a few days he died. his papers, which will be sent to the geographical society, are thought to contain matters of interest respecting this region.[66]

the following list embraces all of consequence that has been written on southern arabia and the himyaritic inscriptions.

pococke, specimina histori? veterum arabum. oxford, 1649, reprinted 1806.

de sacy, sur divers évènemens de l'histoire des arabes avant mahomet, in mém. de lit. de l'acad. fran?aise, vol. l. paris, 1805.

historia jeman?, e cod. ms. arabico, ed. g.t. johannsen. bonn, 1828.

travels in arabia, by lieut. wellsted, 2 vols. 8vo. london, 1838.

memoir on the south coast of arabia, by capt. harris. journal royal geographical society, vol. vi. ix.

narrative of a journey from mokha to sana: by c.j. cruttenden.—ibid. vol. viii.

gesenius, über die himjaritischen sprache und schrift, halle, 1841.

r?diger, versuch über die himjaritischen schriftmonumente. halle, 1841. this was republished, with many improvements, in an appendix to the author's german translation of wellsted's travels. 2 vols. halle, 1842.

ewald, on an inscription recently dug up in aden, zeitschrift für die kunde des morgenlandes, 1843.

the historical geography of arabia, or the patriarchal evidences of revealed religion. by the rev. charles forster, 2 vols. 8vo. london, 1844.

f. fresnel. letters to m. jules mohl, on the himyaritic inscriptions. paris, 1845.

account of an excursion to hadramaut, by adolph baron wrede. journal royal geographical society, vol. xiv.

memoir of the south and east coast of arabia, by capt. s.b. harris.—ibid. vol. xv.

[84]

sclavonic mss.—it is stated in the russian papers that m. grigorowitsch, professor of the sclavonic tongues in the imperial university of kasan, has returned to that capital from a two year's journey in the interior of turkey, by order of the russian government, in search of the graphic monuments of the ancient sclavonic nations. he has brought home fac-similes of many hundred inscriptions, and 2,138 sclavonian manuscripts—450 of which are said to be very ancient, and of great importance.

the caucasus.—the results of a scientific expedition for the exploration of the steppes of the caspian sea, the caucasus, and of southern russia, under the direction of m. hommaire de hell, has lately been published. this portion of the east has been little noticed by travellers, and the present work has therefore added much to our previous knowledge of the country. it is accompanied by a large map, on which the geographical and geological peculiarities are defined with great minuteness and elegance.[67]

assyria and persia.

the discoveries recently made, and the researches now in progress in those regions of the world known in ancient times as assyria, babylonia and persia, are among the most interesting and important of the age. of the ancient assyrians and babylonians we know nothing, but what we find in the bible, or what has been preserved[85] and handed down to us by the greek historians. unlike egypt, who has left so many records of her greatness, of her knowledge of the arts, and of her advancement in civilization, in the numerous and wonderful monumental remains in the valley of the nile, the assyrians were supposed to have left nothing, no existing monuments as evidences that they ever had an existence, save in the vast and misshapen heaps along the banks of the euphrates and tigris, believed to wash the spots where the great cities of nineveh and babylon once stood. the site of nineveh still remains doubtful; and so literally have the prophecies in regard to babylon been fulfilled, that nothing but vast heaps of rubbish, of tumuli, and traces of numerous canals, remains. the language of the assyrians is unknown, and the impressions of characters in the form of a wedge or arrow-head stamped upon the bricks and other relics dug from these heaps, have been looked upon as mysterious and cabalistic signs, rather than the representatives of sounds, or belonging to a regular form of speech. for more than twenty centuries, these countries have been as a blank on the page of history; and all we have gathered from them consists in the observations of curious travellers, who, at the risk of their lives, have ventured to extend their wanderings this way.

pietro della valle, le brun, niebuhr, ker porter, rich, and ouseley, have given us descriptions of the ancient remains in persia and assyria, particularly those at persepolis, pasargad?, and babylon. these consist of views of the monuments and sculptures, together with copies of the inscriptions in the cuneiform, or arrow-head character. the object of the edifices, the subject of the sculptures, and the meaning of the inscriptions, were wholly matters of conjecture; and it seemed a hopeless task to arrive at any conclusions in relation to them, until some key should be discovered, by the means of which the language should be made known, and the numerous inscriptions decyphered. no bilingual tablet, such as the[86] rosetta stone of egypt, had been discovered; and, although it appeared that many of the inscriptions were recorded in three different languages, no means seemed to exist by which philologists could obtain a clue to their meaning. with this dark prospect in view, the task of decyphering the arrow-headed characters was attempted by m. grotefend, one of the most sagacious and distinguished philologists of europe. the particulars of the attempt and its results, we shall briefly state.

at persepolis it is known are extensive ruins, chiefly belonging to a large edifice, with every indication that this edifice was originally a royal palace. history and tradition supported this belief; and the general character of the sculptures and architecture, together with the inscriptions, would carry its origin back to a period some centuries before the christian era. it was doubtless the work of one of the great monarchs of persia; of cyrus, cambyses, xerxes, darius, or some other with whom history is familiar.[68] on some of the monuments at persepolis, are inscriptions in the pehlvi character, parts of which have been decyphered by m. de sacy. in one of these, the titles and name of a king are often repeated; these titles m. grotefend thought might be repeated in the same manner in the arrow-head characters.[69]

over the doorways and in other parts of this edifice, are portraits, evidently of kings, as there is always enough in the dress and insignia of a monarch to enable one to detect him on any ancient monument. over these por[87]traits are inscriptions; these it was natural to suppose related to the person represented, and if so, contained the name of the king and his titles. such would be the conclusion of any one who reflected on the subject, and such was the belief of m. grotefend and other philologists. in these inscriptions one group of characters was repeated more frequently than any other, and all agreed that the decyphering of this group would furnish a key to the whole. on this group of characters then our savans set to work.

according to the analogy of the pehlvi inscriptions, decyphered by de sacy, it was believed that the inscriptions then under consideration, mentioned the name of a king son of another king, that is the names of father and son. m. grotefend first examined the bas-reliefs at persepolis, to ascertain the particular age of the persian kings to which they belonged, in order that he might discover the names applicable to the inscription. a reference to the greek historians convinced him that he must look for the kings of the dynasty of the ach?menides, and he accordingly applied their names to the characters of the inscriptions. "these names could obviously not be cyrus and cambyses, because the names occurring in the inscriptions do not begin with the same letter; cyrus and artaxerxes were equally inapplicable, the first being too short and the latter too long; there only remained therefore the names of darius and xerxes;" and these latter agreed so exactly with the characters, that mr. grotefend did not hesitate to select them. the next step was to ascertain what these names were in the old persian language, as they come to us through the greek, and would of course differ somewhat from the original. the ancient zend, as preserved in the zendavesta, furnished the only medium through which the desired information could be obtained.[88][70] he next ascertained that xerxes was called kshershe or ksharsha; and darius, dareush. a farther examination gave him the name of kshe or ksheio for 'king.'[71] the places or groups of characters corresponding with these names, were then[89] analyzed and the value of each character ascertained. these were then applied to other portions of the inscriptions, and led to the translation of two short ones, as well as to the formation of a considerable portion of the alphabet.

such was the result of professor grotefend's labors up to the year 1833. his first discovery was made and announced as early as 1802, but an account of his system of interpretation did not appear until 1815, in the appendix to the third german edition of heeren's researches. this was afterwards enlarged in the translation of heeren published at oxford in 1833, when it was first made known to english readers. in 1837 he published a treatise containing an account of all the persepolitan inscriptions in his possession, and another in 1840 on those of babylon.

the brilliant success which attended grotefend's earlier efforts, soon attracted the attention of other philologists to the subject. m. saint martin read a memoir before the asiatic society of paris in 1822, but did not make any additions to our previous knowledge. professor rask next took it up, and discovered the value of two addi[90]tional characters. m. burnouf followed in 1836, with an elaborate memoir, in which he disclosed some important discoveries.[72] professor lassen, in his memoir published in 1836, and in a series of papers continued up to the present day,[73] has identified at least twelve characters, which had been mistaken by all his predecessors, and which, says maj. rawlinson, "may entitle him almost to contest with professor grotefend the palm of alphabetical discovery."

in 1835, major rawlinson, then residing in persia, turned his attention to the subject, and decyphered some of the proper names on the tablets at hamadan. in the following year he applied himself to the great inscription at behistun, the largest and most remarkable that is known in persia, and succeeded in making out several lines of its contents.

the result of major rawlinson's first attempt at decyphering the behistun inscription, was the identification of several proper names, and consequently the values of additional characters towards the completion of the alphabet.[74] but more was wanted than the alphabet, which only enabled the student to make out proper names, but not to advance beyond; and it was the lack of this knowledge which prevented the sagacious and indefatigable grotefend from carrying out to any great extent, the discoveries which he had so well begun.[91]

the language of the inscriptions must next be studied; and as the zend had been the medium through which the first links in the chain of interpretation had been obtained, it was naturally resorted to for aid to farther progress. the zendavesta, with the researches of anquetil du perron, and the commentary at the ya?na by m. burnouf, wherein the language of the zendavesta is critically analyzed, and its grammatical structure developed, furnished the necessary materials. to the latter work, and the luminous critique of m. burnouf, major rawlinson owes the success of his translations; as he acknowledges that by it he "obtained a general knowledge of the grammatical structure of the language of the inscriptions."

but the zend was not of itself sufficient to make out all the words and expressions in the behistun and other inscriptions. other languages contemporary with that of the inscription and of the zend must be sought for, to elucidate many points which it left obscure.[75] the sanscrit was the only one laying claim to a great antiquity, whose grammatical structure was sufficiently developed to render it useful in this enquiry. a knowledge of this language had previously been acquired by major rawlinson, and he was therefore fully prepared for the arduous task he had undertaken. neither of these, it must be observed, was the language of the inscriptions, which it is believed had ceased to be a living form of speech, at the period when the sanscrit and zend were in current use.[92]

it is unnecessary to note in detail the difficulties and great labor attending the decyphering of the behistun tablets, on which major rawlinson was occupied from time to time during a space of ten years. his discoveries were announced in london, in a memoir read before the royal asiatic society in 1839, but were not published in extenso until 1846.

briefly to sum up the results of his labors, it will suffice to state that they present "a correct grammatical translation of nearly four hundred lines of cuneiform writing, a memorial of the time of darius hystaspes, the greater part of which is in so perfect a state as to afford ample and certain grounds for a minute orthographical and etymological analysis, and the purport of which to the historian, must be of fully equal interest with the peculiarities of the language to the philologist." in a few cases it may be found necessary to alter or modify some of the significations assigned; but there is no doubt but that the general meaning of every paragraph is accurately determined, and that the learned orientalist has thus been enabled "to exhibit a correct historical outline, possessing the weight of royal and contemporaneous recital, of many[93] great events which preceded the rise and marked the career of one of the most celebrated of the early sovereigns of persia."

such is the history of this great discovery, which has placed the name of major rawlinson among the most distinguished oriental scholars of the age. he will rank among the laborers in cuneiform writing, where champollion does among the decypherers of egyptian hieroglyphics; for though, like champollion, he did not make the first discoveries in his branch of pal?ography, he is certainly entitled to the honor of reducing it to a system, by ascertaining the true powers of a large portion of the alphabet, and by elucidating its grammatical peculiarities, so that future investigators will find little difficulty in translating any inscription in the particular class of characters in question.

the cuneiform (wedge-shaped) or arrow-headed character is a system of writing peculiar to the countries between the euphrates and the persian frontier on the east. various combinations of a figure shaped like a wedge, together with one produced by the union of two wedges, constitute the system of writing employed by the ancient assyrians, babylonians, medes, and the ach?menian kings of persia. the character seems to have been as extensively employed in this portion of the world, as the roman letters now are in europe. particular arrangements or combinations of these characters apparently belonged to different nations, speaking different languages. when and where this system of writing originated is not known. professor westergaard[76] thinks that "babylon was its cradle, whence it spread in two branches, eastward to susiana, and northward to the assyrian empire, from whence it passed into media, and[94] lastly into ancient persia, where it was much improved and brought to its greatest perfection."

major rawlinson makes of the arrow-headed writing three great classes or divisions, the babylonian, median and persian. the first of these he thinks is unquestionably the oldest. "it is found upon the bricks excavated from the foundations of all the buildings in mesopotamia, babylonia, and chaldea, that possess the highest and most authentic claims to antiquity;" and he thinks it "not extravagant therefore to assign its invention to the primitive race which settled in the plain of shinar."[77] in the recent excavations made by m. botta and mr. layard, on or near the site of ancient nineveh, numerous inscriptions in this form of the arrow-head character were found. it also occurs in detached inscriptions from the mediterranean to the persian mountains.

a comparison of the various inscriptions in the babylonian class of writing has led major rawlinson to believe that it embraces five distinct varieties, which he calls the primitive babylonian, the ach?menian babylonian, the medo-assyrian, the assyrian, and the elym?an.[78] the peculiarities of these several varieties, with the countries in which they are found, are pointed out in the second chapter of our author's learned memoir on cuneiform writing. the median and persian classes are peculiar to the trilingual tablets of persia, and are better known than the first class or babylonian.

mr. westergaard[79] divides the cuneiform writing into five classes: the assyrian; the old babylonian; and the three kinds on the trilingual tablets of persia, which embrace the median and persian varieties, and the one called by rawlinson the ach?menian babylonian.

the history we have already given of the progress made[95] in decyphering these characters applies exclusively to one of the varieties on the tablets of persia. the inscriptions on these monuments are almost invariably repeated in three sets of characters, and doubtless in three different languages. the characters of what appears in each case to be the primary or original inscription, of which the others are translations, are of the simplest construction, and consequently were the first to attract the attention of decypherers, and to yield to their efforts. the language in which they are written has been found to exhibit close affinities both to the sanscrit and to the zend, and is now termed by philologists the old persian. the system of writing is alphabetic, that is to say, each character represents a single articulate sound; whereas that of the other two species is at least in a great measure syllabic, which renders the task of decyphering them much more difficult.

for our knowledge of the second variety of characters on the persian trilingual tablets, we are indebted to the labors and sagacity of professor westergaard.[80] these characters had remained entirely undecyphered until the first kind had been completely made out. it was evident that the inscriptions in the second kind of character were but a translation of those in the first; and with this supposition, this learned orientalist began the task of decyphering, by identifying the proper names darius, hystaspes, cyrus, xerxes, persians, ionians, &c., which frequently occur in the inscriptions decyphered by major rawlinson. having obtained these, he next analyzed each and ascertained the phonetic values of the several characters of which they are composed. by[96] this means, he was enabled to construct an alphabet. he next examined the introductory words and the titles of the sovereigns, and finally the entire inscriptions, all of which he has most satisfactorily made out, and with them has reconstructed the language in which they are written. in his learned and elaborate article detailing the process of this discovery, professor westergaard gives a systematic classification of the characters, one hundred in number, of which seventy-four are syllabic, twenty-four alphabetic, and two signs of division between words. the character of the language, which for convenience sake he terms median, he does not pretend to decide, though he considers that it belongs to the scythian rather than to the japhetic class of languages; in which opinion major rawlinson coincides. the oriental journal alluded to in the second note to p. 90, contains several learned papers by professors westergaard and lassen, on the arrow-headed inscriptions.

in the third sort of persepolitan characters, termed the ach?menian babylonian, some advances have been made by major rawlinson. the contents of the other portions of these tablets being known, he pursued the course adopted by professor westergaard, namely that of identifying the groups of characters corresponding with the proper names in the other inscriptions. he has thus been enabled to ascertain the phonetic values of a large number of characters which must in time lead to a knowledge of the rest of the alphabet. a beginning in this direction was also made by professor grotefend, who in his memoirs of 1837 and 1840, singles out and places in juxtaposition the names of cyrus, hystaspes, darius and xerxes, in the first and third species of persepolitan writing. there is every reason to hope that the labors of the three accomplished oriental scholars, rawlinson, lassen, and westergaard, which have been so far crowned with success, will add to their fame by making out the characters and language of this species of[97] writing also. a high degree of interest is attached to it, not only on account of the information it embodies, but in regard to the nation to which it is assignable.

it will be recollected, that besides these three sorts of persepolitan writing, there are two other distinct classes of arrow-head characters, called babylonian and assyrian. little or nothing has yet been accomplished towards decyphering them; which is owing to the fact that they are of a very complicated nature, and that they have hitherto been found alone, that is to say not accompanied by a version in any other language or character. a parisian savant, m.j. l?wenstern, who has applied himself to the study of the assyrian tablets, published in 1845 an essay on the monument recently discovered by m. botta at khorsabad near mosul, in which he thinks he has made out the groups which stand for the words great king, and also several alphabetical characters. further investigations can alone determine whether or not his conclusions are correct.

it will be necessary to state some of the historical facts brought to light by the labors of major rawlinson, to which we have alluded. the great tablet at behistun relates exclusively to darius. "to this monarch," says major rawlinson, "insatiable in his thirst of conquest, magnificent in his tastes, and possessed of an unlimited power, we are indebted for all that is most valuable in the pal?ography of persia. imbued, as it appears, with an ardent passion for monumental fame, he was not content to inscribe the palaces of his foundation at persepolis with a legend commemorative of their erection, or with prayers invoking the guardianship of ormuzd and his angels, but he lavished an elaborate workmanship on historic and geographic records in various quarters of his empire, which evince considerable political forethought, an earnest regard for truth, and an ambition to transmit the glories of his reign to future generations, to guide their conduct and invite their emulation. at persepolis, the high place[98] of persian power, he aspired to elevate the moral feelings of his countrymen, and to secure their future dominancy in asia, by displaying to them their superiority over the feudatory provinces of the empire,[81] while upon the sacred rock of baghistan, he addressed himself in the style of an historian, to collect the genealogical traditions of his race, to describe the extent and power of his kingdom, and to relate, with a perspicuous brevity worthy of imitation, the leading incidents of his reign. his grave relation of the means by which, under the care and favor of a beneficent providence, the crown of persia first fell into his hands, and of the manner in which he subsequently established his authority, by the successive overthrow of the rebels who opposed him, contrasts strongly but most favorably with the usual emptiness of oriental hyperbole."

the following are some of the translations from the great inscription at behistun, which embraces upwards of four hundred lines in the arrow-headed characters. in major rawlinson's memoir, are given fac-similes of the original inscriptions, a transcription of the same in roman letters with an interlineal translation in latin, and a translation in english. accompanying these, is a critical commentary on each line, together with notes, rendering the whole as clear as possible.

"i am darius, the great king, the king of kings, the king of persia, the king of (the dependent) provinces, the son of hystaspes, the grandson of arsames, the ach?menian.

"says darius the king:—my father was hystaspes; of hystaspes, the father was arsames; of arsames, the father was ariyaramnes; of ariyaramnes, the father was teispes; of teispes, the father was ach?menes.

"says darius the king:—on that account, we have been called ach?menians: from antiquity we have been unsubdued; from antiquity those of our race have been kings.

"says darius the king:—there are eight of my race who have been kings before me, i am the ninth; for a very long time we have been kings.

"says darius the king:—by the grace of ormuzd, i am king; ormuzd has granted me the empire.

[99]

"says darius the king:—these are the countries which have fallen into my hands—by the grace of ormuzd, i have become king of them—persia, susiana, babylonia, assyria, arabia, egypt; those which are of the sea, sparta and ionia; armenia, cappadocia, parthia, zarangea, aria, chorasmia, bactria, sogdiana, the sac?, the sattagydes, arachosia, and the mecians; the total amount being twenty-one countries.

"says darius the king:—these are the countries which have come to me; by the grace of ormuzd, they have become subject to me—they have brought tribute to me. that which has been said unto them by me, both by night and by day, it has been performed by them.

"says darius the king:—ormuzd has granted me the empire. ormuzd has brought help to me until i have gained this empire. by the grace of ormuzd, i hold this empire.

"says darius the king:— ... he who was named cambyses, the son of cyrus of our race, he was here king before me. there was of that cambyses a brother named bartius; he was of the same father and mother as cambyses. cambyses slew this bartius. when cambyses slew that bartius, the troubles of the state ceased which bartius had excited. then cambyses proceeded to egypt. when cambyses had gone to egypt, the state became heretical; then the lie became abounding in the land, both in persia and in media, and in the other provinces."

he then goes on to speak of the rebellions in his dominions after the death of cambyses, of the magian who declared himself king, and that no one dared to resist him. he continues:

"every one was standing obediently around the magian, until i arrived. then i abode in the worship of ormuzd; ormuzd brought help to me. on the 10th day of the month bagayadish, i slew the magian and the chief men who were his followers. by the grace of ormuzd, i became king; ormuzd granted me the sceptre."

he then says, he "established his race on the throne, as in the days of old," prohibited the sacrificial worship introduced by the magian, and restored the old families to office,—all of which was accomplished by the aid of ormuzd. the people of susiana and babylon then became rebellious. he slew the leader of the former.

"says darius the king:—then i proceeded to babylon against that natitabirus, who was called nabokhadrosser (nebuchadnezzar). the forces of natitabirus held the tigris; there they had come and they had boats. then i placed [100]a detachment on rafts. i brought the enemy into difficulty; i assaulted the enemy's position. ormuzd brought help to me; by the grace of ormuzd, i succeeded in passing the tigris. then i entirely defeated the army of that natitabirus. on the 27th day of the month of atriyata, then it was that we thus fought."

darius then continued his march to babylon, where he was met by the army of natitabirus; he gave him battle and defeated him, driving his army into the water. he then took babylon. it would appear from what this monarch relates, that he had a pretty rebellious set of subjects, who took advantage of his absence at babylon. the inscription continues.

"says darius the king:—whilst i was at babylon, these are the countries that revolted against me; persis, susiana, media, assyria, armenia, parthia, margiana, sattagydia and sacia.

he then gives the names of the rebellious leaders and of the officers sent to subjugate them; the forts, villages, or cities, where battles were fought; the day of the month when they took place, and the result, in every case, by the help of ormuzd. one example will suffice. after speaking of the revolt of armenia, the inscription continues.

"says darius the king:—then dadarses by name, an armenian, one of my servants, him i sent to armenia. i thus said to him: 'greeting to thee, the rebel state that does not obey me, smite it.' then dadarses marched. when he reached armenia, then the rebels having collected came before dadarses arraying their battle ... by name, a village of armenia, there they engaged. ormuzd brought help to me; by the grace of ormuzd, my forces entirely defeated that rebel army. on the 8th of the month thurawahara, then it was a battle was fought by them."

in this manner we have the whole history of the reign of darius king of persia, who filled the throne 550 b.c. and it may truly be said that no monument of remote antiquity which has been preserved to modern times, at all equals it in importance. the inscriptions of egypt are[101] far more ancient, but consist of fragments, which, excepting the tables of kings, do not throw much light on history. nothing is more interesting in the details given by the persian king of his successes, than his acknowledgment of an overruling power, a supreme being, who protected him and aided him in all his battles. from the closing part of this remarkable tablet, which consists of twenty paragraphs, we select the following.

"says darius the king:—this is what i have done. by the grace of ormuzd have i achieved the performance of the whole. thou whoever hereafter may peruse this tablet, let it be known to thee, that which has been done by me, that it has not been falsely related.

"says darius the king:—ormuzd is my witness, that this record i have faithfully made of the performance of the whole.

"says darius the king:—by the grace of ormuzd, there is much else that has been done by me that upon this tablet has not been inscribed.... if thou publish this tablet to the world, ormuzd shall be a friend to thee, and may thy offspring be numerous.

"says darius the king:—if thou shalt conceal this record, thou shalt not thyself be recorded; may ormuzd be thy enemy, and mayest thou be childless.

"says darius the king:—as long as thou mayest behold this tablet and these figures, thou mayest not dishonor them; and if from injury thou shalt preserve them, may ormuzd be a friend to thee, and may thy offspring be numerous, and mayest thou be long lived, and that which thou mayest do may ormuzd bless for thee in after times."

the great inscription from which we have made these extracts, is sculptured in three languages, and in three different forms of the arrow-headed character, the particulars of which have been stated. there are a few imperfections and cracks in the stone which made certain words and sentences unintelligible; these will be corrected when the other two inscriptions are decyphered. in the midst of these records is a piece of sculpture in relief, representing darius followed by two of his officers, with his foot upon a man, who raises his hands before him, and nine other figures representing the rebellious leaders whom he had severally conquered. they are connected by a rope around their necks and have their hands tied behind, and are probably portraits of the persons they[102] represent. beneath each is engraved his name, as in the extract given.

"this natitabirus was an impostor: he thus declared, i am nabokhadrosser, the son of nabonidas; i am king of babylon."

the discoveries of professor westergaard, to whom we are indebted for the key to the second or median form of the arrow-headed character, require notice. this accomplished orientalist, on his return from an arch?ological tour in india and persia, under the patronage of the king of denmark, brought with him, among other literary treasures, copies of a great number of inscriptions in the arrow-headed character. while in persepolis he carefully examined all the inscriptions which those wonderful ruins still retain. those which had already been published, he accurately compared with the original monuments, and the remainder he copied entire. this gentleman went thoroughly furnished with all the preparatory knowledge that could be gained in europe to ensure success. he had shown himself by his publications to be an excellent sanscrit scholar; besides which he had acquired as complete a knowledge of the zend language as it is possible to do at present, and was well acquainted with all that had been effected in the way of decyphering the inscriptions. having thus so greatly the advantage of his predecessors, niebuhr, ker porter, and rich, it is not to be wondered at that his transcripts are proportionably more accurate and complete.

it has long been known that all the inscriptions at persepolis are triple, like those on the behistun tablets, before described. those of the first or simplest variety, have all been translated by professor lassen,[82] to whom professor westergaard transmitted them. accompanying his translations are critical and explanatory remarks, proving[103] conclusively the correctness of his version. the inscriptions at and near persepolis, relate to xerxes. they do not possess the historical value that the tablets of his father do on the rocks of behistun, but consist of praises of ormuzd for blessings he had received, and of himself for the additions he made to the royal palace at persepolis. the following is a translation of an inscription on the wall of an immense portal at nakshi regib, two miles from persepolis.[83]

"ormuzd (is) the great god. he created this earth; he created the heavens; he created mortals; he created the fortune of mortals. he made king xerxes the only king of many, the only emperor of many.

"i xerxes (am) the great king, the king of kings, the king of realms inhabited by many nations; the sustainer, the author of this great land; the son of king darius, the ach?menide.

"i (am) the noble xerxes, the great king. by the will of ormuzd, i have built this portal to be entered by the people. let the persians abide, let them congregate under this portal, and in this palace—the palace which my father built for abiding in. by the will of ormuzd we built them.

"i (am) the noble king xerxes. protect me o ormuzd; and also this kingdom, and this my palace, and my father's palace protect, o admirable ormuzd."

no inscriptions have yet been found in persia of artaxerxes, the first son of xerxes. a vase, however, was discovered at venice by sir j.g. wilkinson, bearing an inscription in hieroglyphics, and in the three species of arrow-headed characters so common in persia. this vase and its inscriptions have been examined by m. letronne and m. longpérier, who do not hesitate to ascribe it to artaxerxes the first, or longimanus, whose names and titles have been made out both in the hieroglyphics and cuneiform characters.[84]

an inscription of great historical interest of artaxerxes the third, has been found at persepolis.[85] it is in only one[104] species of the ach?menian writing, and is noticed by prof. westergaard as exhibiting "a most remarkable change and decay which the language must have undergone in the interval between the reigns of xerxes and this monarch." in a philological point of view, this fact is interesting as showing so early a decline of the persian language.

but the most important part of this inscription consists of the genealogy of artaxerxes the third, from arsama, the greek arsames, the father of hystaspes, completely agreeing with that given by grecian historians. in this as well as in all the other inscriptions thus far decyphered, ormuzd is invariably invoked; he is called upon to aid them, and the several sovereigns acknowledge their gratitude to him as to an all-protecting providence for the blessings received.

nineveh. we have received from m. mohl, of paris, an account of the researches of mm. botta and flandin,[86] on or near the site of ancient nineveh.

this volume contains letters from m. botta, giving the details of his discoveries, accompanied by fifty-five plates of sculptures, statues, and inscriptions. he penetrated into the interior of a large mound, where he found a series of halls and chambers, the walls of which were covered with paintings and relievos representing historical events, and scenes illustrating the manners and customs of the assyrians. the drawings and sculptures exhibit a higher state of art than the monuments of egypt. the figures are remarkably well drawn, both as it regards the anatomy and the costumes. the men appear to be more athletic than the egyptians—they wear long hair combed smooth over the top of the head, and curled behind. the beard is also long and always curled. their dresses are exceed[105]ingly rich and profuse in ornaments and trimmings. ear-rings, bracelets, and armlets, of various forms and elaborately wrought, are seen on most of the figures both of the men and women. the discoveries made by m. botta have induced others to explore the ground in that vicinity. an english traveller, mr. layard, has recently opened a mound many times larger than that excavated by the french. "it contains the remains of a palace, a part of which, like that at khorsabad, appears to have been burnt. there is a vast series of chambers, all built with marble, and covered with sculptures and inscriptions. the inscriptions are in the cuneiform character, of the class usually termed babylonian. it is possible that this edifice was built at an epoch prior to the overthrow of the assyrian empire by the medes and babylonians under cyaxares. many of the sculptures discovered by mr. layard are, even in the smallest details, as sharp and fresh as though they had been chiselled yesterday. among them is a pair of winged lions with human heads, about twelve feet high. they form the entrance to a temple. the execution of these figures is admirable, and gives the highest idea of the knowledge and civilization of the assyrians. there are many monsters of this kind, lions and bulls. the other reliefs consist of various divinities, some with eagles' heads—others entirely human but winged—with battle-pieces and sieges."[87]

other letters from mr. layard of a later date than that just mentioned, announce new discoveries. "another mine has been opened at nimroud; and every stroke of the pick-axe brings new wonders to light." old nineveh, whose very existence had become little better than a vague historic dream, is astonishing the world by her[106] buildings her sculptures, and her many thousands of inscriptions, which have been brought to light by the explorations of mr. layard.[88] "he has opened fourteen chambers and uncovered two hundred and fifty sculptured slabs. the grand entrance previously described led him into a hall above two hundred and fifty feet long and thirty broad—entirely built of slabs of marble covered with sculptures. the side walls are ornamented with bas-reliefs of the highest interest—battles, sieges, lion-hunts, &c.; many of them in the finest state of preservation, and all executed with extraordinary spirit. they afford a complete history of the military art of the assyrians; and prove their intimate knowledge of many of those machines of war, whose invention is attributed to the greeks and romans—such as the battering ram, the tower moving on wheels, the catapult, &c. nothing can exceed the beauty and elegance of the forms of various arms, swords, daggers, bows, spears, &c. in this great hall are several entrances, each formed by winged lions, or winged bulls.[89] these lead to other chambers; which again branch off into a hundred ramifications. every chamber is built of marble slabs covered with sculptures or inscriptions." the excavations thus far only extend to one corner of a great mound, the largest on the plain, measuring about one thousand eight hundred feet by nine hundred. the wonders that may be brought to light from a more complete survey of this vast heap of ruins, will be looked forward to with intense interest.

all are familiar with the accounts of the building of this city by asshur, (whence the name assyria), and of the first[107] empire under nimrod. in this short record we have the first traces of political institutions and of great cities. they burst upon us, and as suddenly disappear from the world's history for more than a thousand years. a learned author of the last century[90] has endeavored to throw distrust on all that the greek writers have written about these countries, because in the persian historians he could not recognise the great cyrus and other prominent characters which fill important places in the grecian annals. but the revelations already made through the arrow-headed inscriptions must remove these doubts, as they substantiate in a remarkable degree the assertions of the greek writers. the observations of a learned orientalist are so well adapted to this subject that i cannot forbear quoting them. "the formation of mighty and civilized states being admitted even by our strictest chronologers to have taken place at least twenty-five centuries before our era, it can but appear extraordinary, even after taking into account violent revolutions, that of so multitudinous and great existences, only such scanty documents have come down to us. but, strange to say, whenever a testimony has escaped the destruction of time, instead of being greeted with a benevolent though discerning curiosity, the unexpected stranger is approached with mistrustful scrutiny, his voice is stifled with severe rebuke, his credentials discarded with scorn, and by a predetermined and stubborn condemnation, resuscitating antiquity is repelled into the tomb of oblivion."[91]

a journey of much interest was undertaken by dr. robert in 18_3, who was directed by the french government to continue, in the west of the himalaya range and the high region adjacent, the geographical, physical, and ethnographical observations which had been begun by m. jaquemont. the latest accounts from this intrepid tra[108]veller left him in the inaccessible valleys of chinese tartary, from whence it was his intention to pass through turkestan, for the purpose of entering china on the north.[92]

in the same distant region we hear of the journeys of h.r.h. prince waldemar, of prussia (cousin to the king). "consulting only his ardor for science, and burthened with the usual load carried by a traveller on foot, he scaled the lofty himmalayah, crossed the frontier of the celestial empire, and reached the table-land of thibet."[93] the prince has already transmitted a large collection of objects of natural history, many of which are new, to berlin. it is his intention to return to europe by way of affghanistan, persia, and asia minor.

the following list embraces the late works on assyria and persia, as well as those relating to the arrow-head inscriptions.

the persian cuneiform inscriptions at behistun, decyphered and translated; with a memoir on persian cuneiform inscriptions in general, and on that of behistun in particular, by major h.c. rawlinson, 8vo., in the journal of the royal asiatic society. vol. 10. london, 1846.

on the decyphering of the second ach?menian or median species of arrow-headed writing; by n.l. westergaard, 8vo., in the mémoires de la société royale des antiquaires du nord. copenhagen, 1844.

lettres de m. botta sur les découvertes à khorsabad, près de ninive, publiées par m.j. mohl, 8vo., with 56 plates. paris, 1845.

essai sur la numismatique des satrapies et de la phénicie, sous les rois ach?menides, par h. de luynes, 4to. paris, 1846.

the manual, formation and early origin of the hebrew letters and points, demonstrated and explained; also an elucidation of the so-called arrow-headed or cuneiform characters. 8vo. london, 1847.

essai de déchiffrement de l'écriture assyrienne pour servir à l'explication du monument de khorsabad. par j. l?wenstern. 8vo. paris, 1846.

die grabscrift des darius zu nakschi rustum erl?utert. von f. hitzig. zurich, 8vo. 1846.

remarks on the wedge inscription recently discovered on the upper euphrates by the prussian engineer, capt. von mülbach. being a commentary on certain fundamental principles in the art of decyphering the "cuneatic" characters of the ancient assyrians, by g.f. grotefend. 8vo. in the papers of the syro-egyptian society. vol. i. london, 1845.

voyage en perse. de mm. eugene flandin et p. coste. recueil d'architecture ancienne, bas reliefs, inscriptions cuneiformes et pehlvis, plans topographiques et vues pittoresques. folio. 250 plates and text.

this magnificent work, the result of an expedition sent out by order of the french government, under the directions of the institute, and now published by a commission of savans, consisting of messrs burnouf, le bas, and leclerc, is in the course of publication. it will unquestionably be the most complete work ever published on this interesting country and will include the antiquities of babylon and nineveh.

g.f. grotefend, neue beitr?ge zur erl?uterung der persopolitanischen keilschrift, nebst einem anhange über die vollkommenheit der ersten art-derselben. hanover, 1837.

g.f. grotefend, neue beitr?ge zur erl?uterung der babylonischen keilschrift, nebst einem anhange über die beschaffensheit des ?ltesten schriftdruck. hanover, 1840.

the valuable oriental journal edited by prof. lassen, entitled "zeitschrift für die kunde des morgenlandes," contains many papers of great interest on these subjects.

[109]

siberia. to the love of science which the enlightened emperor of russia, has always manifested, we are indebted for an expedition, the most successful which has yet been undertaken for the exploration of the northern and eastern parts of siberia. the results of this extensive exploration of a region not before examined by scientific men, are of the greatest interest to science, and have earned for its distinguished and undaunted leader, prof. von middendorff, the applause of the savans of europe. not having seen any detailed account of this journey, i am indebted to sir r. murchison for some particulars of its results.[94]

the expedition traversed the whole extent of siberia, from east to west, and from south to north, even to the extreme northern headland of taimyr. "undaunted by the severe privations he had undergone in obtaining his knowledge of the far northern lands of siberia, he next undertook the not less arduous task of traversing the whole of that vast continent to the shantar isles, at its southeastern extremity, and thence to return to nertchinsk, along the chinese frontier. his journey through thickly-wooded rocks, deep morasses and over swollen rivers,[110] was so successfully accomplished, that the stores he has brought back to st. petersburgh, will fully lay open the fauna and flora of a region never previously explored by a man of science."

"floating down the sea of okotsk from udskoi in frail canoes, m. middendorff and his friends, braving shoals of floating ice and perpetual rains, reached nitka on the great shantar island. the wild regions which were traversed, in many parts could only be threaded by following the tracks formed by bears beneath the dense matting of underwood and birch trees" in his return journey, he examined the frontier line of china, a tract never explored even by a cossack, and ascertained that between the udskoi of the russians and the mouth of the amur, there is a considerable tract quite independent both of russia and china, and occupied by a people called guilaiques, who pay no tribute to either emperor.

in addition to the several arduous journeys performed by this intrepid traveller and his companions, many questions hitherto unsolved were investigated and much new light added to our previous knowledge on these respective points. one was the real state of the question of the frozen subsoil of siberia. "by placing thermometers at various depths in the shaft at yakutsk, he has found that at its bottom, or at 382 feet below the surface, the cold is 2° 4" réaumur, and that it is probable the frozen subsoil reaches to the great depth of about 600 feet! notwithstanding this extraordinary phenomenon, the lateral extent of which has still to be determined, it appears that the culture of rye succeeds perfectly under favorable local conditions in those regions, and that the crops of grain are more abundant than in livonia!" m. middendorff has also thrown new light on the boreal range of vegetation. he has ascertained "that whilst rye, turnips, beets, and potatoes grow on the yenisei to latitude 61° 40', indigenous plants, requiring less warmth, flourish much farther north, and that even trees with vertical[111] stems reach to about 72° north latitude, in that parallel of longitude!" this fact will show that geographers can no longer mark the limit of vegetation by a rectilinear zone, but must accommodate such line to climatological and local conditions.

in regard to the mammoths, the fossil bones of which have been found in siberia, m. middendorff has shown that, in accordance with the views of professor owen, (who states that these quadrupeds were specially organized to live on the branches and leaves of such shrubs and trees as grow in boreal latitudes) there are still trees in latitude 72° which would suffice for their sustenance.

the ethnology of this region has been elucidated by our traveller, who by investigating the languages and physical characteristics of these remote tribes, has been enabled to affiliate them with their parent stocks.

our knowledge of the geology and geography of the northern and southeastern extremities of siberia have been greatly extended by this journey; in fact no enquiry for the advancement of science and a knowledge of this far distant and hitherto unknown region, seems to have been neglected.[95]

another scientific expedition of an ethnological character is employed in siberia under the direction of m. castren, who has devoted much of his first report to the geography of the country. after speaking of the river irtisch and its fisheries, he gives some account of the ostiaks, the most ancient people of its banks. surrounded by russians and tartars, they have lost all their nationality except their language. the tartar influence is feeble, but that of russia is felt in their religion, their manners, their customs and even in their general mode of thinking.

a paper containing "ethnological notes on siberia," by[112] prof. von middendorff, was read at the late meeting of the british association for the advancement of science. "in this paper, the geographical boundaries of the different tribes were set forth, the tribes were enumerated and some of the characteristic peculiarities described. the 1st, was the ostiaks; these were stated to be of finnish origin, on both physiological and philological evidence. 2d, the samoiedes, who were of mongol descent. 3rd, the tunguses. 4th, the yakuts; the extent to which mongol features were found in a nation speaking a language akin to turkish, was insisted on. 5th, the yukagins; the physical peculiarities of which placed them along with the samoiedes. 6th, the ainos; these were the inhabitants of the kinule islands at the mouth of the arnus; of these there were two types, the finnish and the japanese. 7th, the kachkell; these were only known through the ainos."

a geographical society has lately been founded at st. petersburg, to which the emperor proposed to give ten thousand silver rubles annually. the first great exploratory expedition under the directions and patronage of this society will be directed along the eastern flank of the ural mountains, from the parallel of 60° north (bogoslafsk) to the glacial sea. this survey is to be conducted by count a. von keyserling, already known to the public through his valuable geological co-operation in the work on russia, by sir r.i. murchison; and who by his sound acquirements in geology, zoology and geography, will it is presumed, during the ensuing three years, throw great additional light on the wild arctic ural which separates europe from asia, and which, inhabited by ostiaks and samoiedes, extends beyond the limits of arboreal vegetation. among numerous other objects, it is hoped that this expedition will elicit new results concerning the entombment and preservation of the mammoths.[113][96]

india. the obstacles which have existed in india, and which have retarded the extension of european civilization, will now be effectually removed by the noble step taken by lord hardinge, the governor general, for promoting education in that country.[97] this benevolent and excellent man, whose well earned laurels on the field of battle are not more honorable than his philanthropic efforts in extending education among the natives of india, and in improving their social condition, "has directed the council of education and other authorities charged with the duty of superintending public instruction throughout the provinces subject to the government of bengal, to submit returns of the students who may be fitted according to their degrees of merit and capacity, for such of the various public offices, as with reference to their age, abilities and other circumstances, they may be deemed qualified to fill." as this order recognizes no distinction of schools, or castes, or religion, it will have a great influence on the people, towards inducing them to give their children the benefit of a good education, which to a great extent must be obtained through the christian missionaries. "it is," says the friend of india, "the most powerful impulse which the cause of education has received during the last twenty-five years. it makes the seminaries the nursery of the service, and the service the stimulant of the seminaries. it introduces the enlightened principles adopted by european governments, of recruiting the public service in every department from those who have earned distinctions in the public schools. at the same time it will be found instrumental in the highest degree in the general elevation of the country. it will transplant into the interior that european knowledge and science which has hitherto been confined to calcutta, and diffuse their influence through every district."

the renunciation of idolatry must necessarily follow the[114] first steps in this great work of reform, and we already see it noticed that in southern india, within the short period of three months, eight hundred and thirty-two persons renounced idolatry and embraced christianity. this large number was a part of the population of seven villages.[98]

such changes are not without their effects on the great mass of the natives, indeed it is only by removing from their minds the gross superstition in which they have been for ages immersed, that there can be a hope of improving their social condition. the wealthy hindoos cling to their ancient religion with greater tenacity as it totters towards its downfall, than when in its most flourishing state. alarmed at the innovations which european civilization and christianity have made, they are printing by subscription, a series of popular religious books in monthly numbers, on their doctrines, rites, superstitions and idolatry. fearing that the europeans and such as have been taught to observe these things with ridicule, might controvert them, they have confined the subscription to hindoos, and have directed that their books shall be rigidly kept from the hands of christians.

the mahommedans too, in bengal, are greatly alarmed at the danger to which their religion is exposed. they have prepared tracts and books in opposition to christianity, and have sent, or are sending emissaries in every direction, with a view to strengthen the tottering cause of their false prophet.[99] a mahommedan merchant in bombay has printed at his own expense, two thousand copies of the koran for gratuitous distribution, at a cost of several thousand dollars.

in former times the efforts of the missionaries were directed to proselyting among the hindoos and other idolaters of the east, without first making themselves acquainted[115] with the fabric which they were laboring so earnestly to demolish. nursed and educated as the natives were in the doctrines and superstitions which for ages their forefathers had venerated and professed, the efforts of the missionaries and of others who labored to improve their condition were unattended with success—and a conflict between oriental and european civilization—between hindooism and christianity—between the false science of the shastres and the enlightenment of europe, for a long time existed; and it seemed doubtful whether truth or falsehood would triumph. now, the system is changed, and a course is pursued which bids fair to produce the most wonderful effects on the people of india and china.

it has been asserted that the missionary enterprise in india was a failure, and did not warrant the large sums expended there. those who are unfriendly to the cause do not see that more than half the amount there expended was for educating the people, for improving their social condition, for translating valuable books into their various languages and for establishing among them that mighty engine of civilization and reform, the printing press.[116][100]

but it is not merely in the translation and distribution of these books, that the missionaries have rendered so much service. in this labor it is true they have contributed greatly towards disseminating christian truth and useful knowledge among a large class of people, and have improved their religious, their moral and their social condition. but to europe and to the learned world they have also furnished a vast deal of philological knowledge, elucidating and developing languages scarcely known beyond the precincts of the several countries in which they were spoken. many of these languages, too, were previously unwritten; and from this rude state the missionaries have trained and moulded them into forms adapted to written speech.

while speaking of the labors of the missionaries in the east, i should do great injustice to catholics not to speak of their efforts to improve the moral and religious condition of the people in these distant countries. in the most[117] barbarous and secluded portions of the earth do we find these devoted men diligently laboring to elevate the condition of the natives. in many do we see a zeal and devotedness, an endurance of hardships, of the most severe privations, and often martyrdom itself, which has never been surpassed in the annals of missionary enterprise. neither fran?ois xavier, nor ignatius loyola, so famous among the pioneers of the eastern missions, ever exhibited a greater zeal or devotedness than we now witness among the catholic missionaries in thibet, china, corea, the islands of the eastern archipelago and oceanica. they too have added much to our stock of knowledge of the inhabitants, their manners and customs, and their languages. their narratives give us particular accounts of the productions of the countries in which they reside, their trade, commerce, and all that interests us.

siam. an interesting fact connected with the progress of european civilization, and the extension of christianity in the kingdom of siam, seems deserving of notice in this place. it was communicated by the american mission in that country.

"the king of siam despatched one of his ships to ceylon about the close of last year, to carry back some ceylonese boodhists whom he had invited to siam, two or three years before, and also to send a fresh ecclesiastical embassy to that island—regarded by all boodhists as very sacred—to make further religious researches in the primitive nursery of their faith. that embassy fulfilled its mission, and returned to siam in june, bringing a letter to his majesty from a high priest of boodh in ceylon, written in english, and stating in substance, that the religion of boodh had become almost extinct in ceylon, chiefly through the influence of the christian religion, and the schools and seminaries of the missionaries and english residents in that part of the world; and that, if some aid from abroad could not be obtained to prop up crumbling boodhism in that island, it must soon become utterly ex[118]tinct. the writer expressed much pain at the thought, that the very birth place of his religion should not have some permanent witness of it; and requested that his majesty, in his pious zeal for boodhism, would send him funds, with which he might build a wat (religious house) and support priests in honor of his god. he suggested that this would be a noble work for a great king, and one that would confer upon him the highest honors of boodhism."[101]

the following list embraces the recent works on india.

travels in the kashmir and the punjab; containing a particular account of the sikhs. from the german of baron hugel, with notes by major jervis, royal 8vo. london, 1846.

the punjaub; being a brief account of the country of the sikhs, its extent, history, commerce, productions, religion, &c., to the recent campaign of the sutelege. by lt. col. steinbach, post, 8vo. london, 1846.

a peep into turkistan; by capt. r. burslem, 8vo. london, 1846.

travels in the punjab, affghanistan and turkistan, to balk, bokhara and herat, by mohan lal, 8vo. london, 1846.

history of the punjab, and of the rise, progress and present condition of the sikhs, 2 vols. post, 8vo. london, 1846.

the history of the sikhs, with a personal narrative of the war between the british and the sikhs. by w.l. mcgregor, 2 vols. 8vo. london, 1847.

the sikhs and affghans, immediately before and after the death of runjeet singh. by shahamat ali, post, 8vo. london, 1847.

the hindoo castes; or history, manners and customs of the 42 castes or sects of the brahmins of british india, with highly colored plates: by e.a. rodriguez, 24 numbers.

cochin-china, china, manchuria, corea, and japan.

cochin-china. m. hedde has published a few notices of a visit to turon in annam in 1844, on his passage from singapore to macao.[102] he represents the country as altogether in a wretched, declining condition, misgoverned and beggared by despotic officers, presenting a painful[119] contrast in its general prosperity with the chinese empire. the present monarch is named thieufri (or yuen-fuh-siuen in chinese) and succeeded his father ming-ming or minh-menh in 1841, but no improvement in the domestic or foreign administration of the government has taken place. several cochin-chinese youth have been educated at singapore, and the king purchased two steamers several years ago from the dutch, but the natives probably were too little acquainted with the machinery and motive power to make the least use of them, as nothing has since been heard of them. the country is highly favored by its natural advantages and navigable rivers for maintaining a large population, but oppression on the part of the rulers and ignorance among the people, vitiate the sources of national prosperity. the port of turon alone, is open in annam for foreign trade, but no american vessels have been there for a cargo since lieut. white's unsuccessful voyage in the franklin in 1804. capt. percival of the u.s. ship constitution anchored there in may, 1845, but no official account of his visit has been published, which if the rumors of his firing upon the town are true, is not strange. the peacock and enterprize also anchored there in 1836, but mr. roberts, the american diplomatic agent, was too ill to have any communications with the authorities.

china. the late war between england and china has directed the attention of other nations towards that empire in an unusual degree. except the immediate details of the contest and the personal incidents connected with it, however, the works of those officers who have written upon that war, have not contained so much information as was expected by some, but quite as much as could be collected under the circumstances. the war was almost wholly a maritime one, confined to attacks upon cities and forts upon the coast and rivers, by both the army and navy, and few or none of the officers were acquainted with the language of the people, so that little[120] information could be obtained from those natives whom suspicion or terror did not drive away. the region around ningpo, chusan and the mouth of the yangtsz kiang, has been described with more minuteness than any other part of the maritime provinces; and the careful survey of the coast from amoy to shanghai, with the chusan and pescadore archipelagoes by captains collinson, and kellet and others, has left little to be done for the navigator's benefit, in making known the hydrography of this part of china. the general topography of china is, however, but little better known now than it was at the close of the general survey of the jesuits in 1714, and their maps form the basis of the best extant.

the embassy sent by the french government in 1844, under m. th. de lagrené, to form a commercial treaty with china, was furnished on a most liberal scale with everything necessary to make the greatest improvement of the opportunities offered to examine into the mechanical arts and productions of the land. four gentlemen were attached to the ambassador's suite, to make inquiries into the various agricultural and mechanical arts of the chinese, one of whom, m. isidore hedde, was especially designated to investigate everything relating to the growth and preparation of silk. in pursuance of this object, he visited the city of tuchan fu, which lies a few miles northwest of shanghai, and is the capital of the province of kiangsu. this place is probably the second or third city in the empire, canton or hangchau fu being the only ones which can compete with it for wealth and beautiful manufactures. it lies in a highly cultivated region, and is connected with peking and other large places, through the grand canal and the yangtsz kiang. m. hedde went in a chinese dress, and succeeded in visiting the principal buildings in the city, such as the provincial mint, the hall of examination, an establishment for the education of unhappy females destined for sale for the amusement of the opulent, and some manufactories.[121] the suburbs of suchau, as is the case with most chinese cities, exceed that part within the walls, and here he found most of the craftsmen in iron, ivory, gold, silver, wood, bone, horn, glass, earth, paper, cotton and silk. his errand being chiefly to examine the silken fabrics, he noticed whatever was peculiar in spinning, dyeing and weaving, in the shops he entered. the chinese have no such immense establishments as are found in this country, where large buildings accommodate an immense quantity of machinery and numerous workmen, but all their products are made by manual labor in small establishments. m. hedde was struck with the immense population of the city and its environs, including a floating suburb of great extent, the whole comprising a population of not far from two millions. the chinese census gives an average of over nine hundred souls to a square mile in the province of kiangsu, and every opportunity which has been offered for examining it, has added new evidence to the truth of this statement, though closer investigation and further travel is necessary before we can give implicit reliance to the assertions made on this subject.

two english missionaries have lately gone long journeys into the interior, but as protestants have no coadjutors among the people away from the ports, who would be willing to receive and conceal them; and as their system of operations aims rather to impart a true knowledge of christianity than to make many converts to a form of worship, these excursions have not been frequently made. one of the two here referred to, was across the country from ningpo to canton, by the same route lord macartney came, and the other was up the yangtsz kiang. two american missionaries visited the large city of changchau fu near amoy in 1844, where they were received with civility though not with kindness.

mr. robert fortune, sent out to china by the horticultural society, has lately returned to england, with new plants of great beauty, and a large collection of botanical[122] and ornithological specimens, among which are doubtless many not heretofore described. mr. fortune visited all the ports, and made excursions in their neighborhoods, and his reception among the people was generally kind. the people in the cities of ningpo and shanghai, and their vicinities, compare favorably for their kindness and general courtesy, with the coarse mannered natives of canton.

the opening of this great empire to the commercial enterprise of western nations, has given rise to anticipations of an extensive trade, and the importation of cotton and woolen fabrics during the last few years has been increasing; and if it was not for the abominable traffic in opium, which is both impoverishing and destroying the chinese, there would be every reason for believing the commerce with china would soon be one of the largest branches of trade. the principal articles in which it is most likely to increase are tea and silk, but there is a great assortment of other productions, which can be taken in exchange for the cloths, metals and wares of the west. mr. montgomery martin for a short time colonial treasurer of hongkong, has collected all the statistics bearing on this subject in his work, which will aid in forming an opinion on this point. commercially, politically and religiously, the chinese empire now presents a most interesting spectacle, and the experiment of regenerating it and introducing it into the family of nations, without completely disorganizing its present form of government and society, will constantly go on and attract still more and more the notice of christendom. the probabilities at present are in favor of a successful issue, but it is impossible to contemplate the desolating effects of the use of opium, brought to the people in such quantities, without great apprehension as to the result. the lava like progress of the power of great britain in asia, has just commenced on the borders of china, and when the country is drained of specie in payment for this drug, there is reason to fear[123] that the native government will be unable to carry on its operations and maintain its authority.

corea. since the extermination of the catholic priests from corea in 1839, the most rigid measures have been adopted to exclude all foreigners; in fact, the determination on the part of the government of corea to prevent all intercourse between its people and those of other countries seems to have been adopted from its neighbor of japan. these measures are even extended to the chinese, against whom a strong natural antipathy exists, growing out of the persecutions formerly inflicted on the coreans by them. accurate descriptions of europeans are kept at the various posts on the frontier, and from their well known characteristics they are easily distinguished. the coreans themselves on leaving their country for china for purposes of trade, receive a passport, which on returning must be given back or they are not permitted to enter. many christians still remain in corea, and though they are subject to persecution, the minds of the people are well disposed towards the christian religion. the literary class hold it in the highest estimation, and seem only to be waiting for the moment when they will be free to declare in its favor.[103]

farther accounts from this country have lately appeared in the annals of the propaganda society,[104] in a letter from keemay kim a native of corea, and a christian, who had just completed his studies at macao in china. he was sent on a mission to the christians in corea, but owing to the vigilance observed on the frontiers of that country, was unable to enter it. determined to persevere in the attempt, he posted on to hoong-tchoong, a small frontier town near the mouth of a river which separates corea from manchuria, where he waited until the period arrived when the great fair was to take place at kee-eu-wen, the nearest town in corea, four leagues distant.[124] "they supply the coreans with dogs, cats, pipes, leather, stag's horns, copper, horses, mules and asses; and receive in exchange, baskets, kitchen utensils, rice, corn, swine, paper, mats, oxen, furs and small horses." a few officers are permitted to trade every year, but they are closely guarded. all others who pass the frontier are made slaves or massacred at once. our traveller here met a few corean christians in the immense crowd which had come to traffic, and whom he recognised by a badge previously agreed upon; but so great was the confusion and hurry on the occasion, added to the fear of being recognized, that the interview does not seem to have been productive of good, or increased our information of the people or country. since the great persecution a few years since, the church had been at rest; and though a few converts had been made, the faithful had retired to the southern provinces for better security. they still entertained the idea of introducing a european missionary through the north, though with the knowledge that if discovered by the authorities, instant death would follow. such is the zeal and perseverance with which these men pursue their philanthropic and christian labors.

the fair to which allusion has been made, is thus described by our corean. the traders cannot begin their operations until a signal is given, by hoisting a flag and beating the gong, "when the immense and densely packed crowd rush to the market place; coreans, chinese, and manchus, are all mingled together. each speaks in his own tongue, and so great is the uproar produced by this mass of people, that the echoes of the neighboring mountains repeat their discordant shouts."

"four or five hours is the whole time allowed for buying and selling; consequently, the tumult which takes place, the quarrels which arise, the blows which are exchanged, and the plundering which goes on, give the place more the look of a city taken by storm and given up to pillage, than that of a fair." at evening, when the[125] signal is given, the strangers are driven out by the soldiers with the points of their lances.

manchuria. the vast regions of manchuria, lying north of corea to the hing-an or yablonoi mountains, and east of the sialkoi to the ocean, are inhabited by various tribes speaking different dialects and subsisting principally by hunting and fishing. the manchus are now the dominant race, but some of the tribes near the sea and in taraka island, bear no tributary relations to them, if indeed they are much acquainted. since the conquest of china, the manchus have gone on steadily improving this part of their possessions by stationing agricultural troops at the principal ports of observation, and collecting the hunters around these points as much as possible. criminals are also constantly banished there, who carry with them their arts, and by their industry both maintain themselves and set an example to the nomads. the southern part called shingking, has become well cultivated in many parts, and considerable trade is carried on at kinchau with other parts of china.

manchuria produces pulse, maize, (indian corn), millet, barley and buckwheat; pulse, drugs and cattle, form the leading articles of trade. the climate of this country is so inhospitable, as to prove a serious obstacle in the way of its settlement and cultivation.

the manchus have no national literature; all the books written in their language are translations of chinese works, made under the superintendence of the academies at moukden and peking. their written characters are derived from the mongols, but have undergone many changes. the emperors have taken great pains to elevate their countrymen by providing them with the best books in chinese literature, and compelling them to go through the same examinations before they can attain any office; but the numerical superiority of the chinese and their active habits, give them so much the advantage, that except in their own country, the manchus find it[126] difficult to preserve their native tongue to the second generation.

mongolia. the last volume of the annals of the propaganda society contains an interesting narrative of a journey into mongolia, by the rev. mr. huc.[105] this vast country, covering a million of square miles, consists of barren deserts and boundless steppes. in the limits allotted each corps, there is seldom more than one town, where the chief resides. the people live in tents, without any permanent residence. they move from place to place, with the changes of the seasons, or when their immense herds of oxen, camels and horses have exhausted the grass around their encampment. to-day presents an animated scene of hundreds of tents, filled with an active population; the children playing as happy and contented as though surrounded with every luxury a civilized life affords; the women cooking their food and drawing water from a well just dug; and the men, mounted on horseback, are galloping over the plain, keeping their countless herds from straying away. to-morrow, this picturesque and animated scene will be changed to a dreary and forbidding desert. men, flocks, and tents have vanished, and nought remains to mark the visit of this wandering race, but the curling smoke of their unquenched fires, or the birds of prey hovering over the carcase of some dying camel, or feeding on the remains of their late repast. the mongols are irreclaimable nomads, though some tribes of them, as the tsakhars, ortous, and solous, cultivate the soil. the four khanates of the kalkas are called outer mongolia, and comprise within their borders, several well built towns, though none of any size, compared with the cities in china. few chinese have settled among the mongols, except near the great wall, nor will they allow them to do so, as there is a deep antipathy between the two races. the mongols of the present day have proba[127]bly made no advances in civilization over their ancestors in the days of genghis and kublai.

the approaches of the british power up the valley of the sutlej, into the regions lying along the base of the western himalayas, are such that they will ere long come in contact with tibet through ladak, and with yarkand through badakshan. but there is probably more geographical than ethnological information to be gained by traversing these elevated regions, where stupendous mountains and arid deserts offer nothing to tempt man from the fertile plains of india and china. two romish missionaries have lately arrived in canton from h'lassa in tibet, by the overland route through patang in sz'chuen to the capital of kwangsi, and thence to canton. this route has never been described by any traveller.

lewchew islands. this group of islands, including the madjico sima, lying between it and formosa, form a dependency of the principality of satzuma, in the southwest of japan, though the rulers are allowed a limited intercourse with china through fuhchau fu. during the late war between england and china, the transport indian oak was lost on lewchew,[106] august 14, 1840, and the crew were treated with great kindness, and provided with a vessel, in which they returned to chusan. every effort was made by the authorities to prevent the officers and men from examining the island, but their kindness to the unfortunate people thus cast on their shores, made such an impression, that a mission to the islanders was determined upon in london, by some naval gentlemen connected with the expedition, and a society formed. the rev. b.j. bettelheim was appointed to the post, and had reached canton in march, 1846. he afterwards proceeded on his voyage, and his journal received at hongkong, from napa, contains a few details of interest, but shows plainly that the authorities are decided in refusing to allow foreigners to settle in their territories.[128]

an attempt has been made by the romish missionaries to establish a mission in this group.[107] the rev. w. forcade and an associate were left on lewchew in may, 1844, and after a residence of fifteen months were able to transmit some notices of their treatment to the directors, through sir edward belcher, r.n. who stopped at napa in august, 1845. on their arrival, m. forcade and his companion were conducted to their dwelling, where they were surrounded by a numerous guard under the control of officers, and attended by domestics, as they were told, "to charm their leisure moments." their table was bountifully supplied, and everything they could ask to make them comfortable was granted them, except their liberty. whenever they went abroad, they were accompanied by a guard, but allowed to hold no intercourse with the natives; they had not been able to proceed beyond twelve miles into the interior, but as far as they had opportunities of conversing with the natives, found them simple and courteous in their manners, and disposed to talk when not under surveillance. it is probable, however, that under such restraint as these gentlemen were placed, it is not likely that they had attained to such fluency in the language as to be able to hold very ready communication with natives met in this hasty manner. the intentions of the government were plain, however, not to allow them to disseminate their doctrines, (if it had learned their real object), nor, by intercourse with the people, become acquainted with their character, or the state of the country. no assistance was granted them in learning the language, and they were forbidden to adopt the native costume. notwithstanding this opposition, they had been able to acquire a partial knowledge of the language, and to compile a vocabulary of six thousand words. permission to preach the christian religion was not granted them, lest, as the authorities said, the chinese, to whom they are[129] tributary, would break off all intercourse; but the real reason was doubtless their fear of the japanese. yet these obstacles did not dishearten them, and they seem determined to persevere in their attempts, though it is not unlikely that when mr. bettelheim arrives, the authorities will take measures for deporting them all.

the lewchewans are intimately connected with the japanese. the language is the same, with unimportant dialectical variations, and chinese letters and literature are in like manner cultivated by both. in personal appearance, however, the two people are very unlike. the lewchewans are not on an average over five feet four inches high, slightly built, and approach the malayan cast of features more than the chinese. they are darker than the chinese, and their mild traits of character, unwarlike habits, and general personal appearance, suggests the idea that they are akin to the aborigines of formosa and lu?onia by descent, while their proximity and subjugation to their powerful neighbors on the north and west, have taught them a higher civilization, and introduced arts and sciences unknown to their early conquerors. when lewchew was subjugated by the japanese, it was agreed that embassies with tribute might be sent to peking, and according to the chinese account, they come to that court twice in three years.[108] the secretary or deputy embassador in 1841, was drowned in his passage from peking to fuhchau. this embassy is a source of considerable profit to the lewchewans, for their junks, which are built on the chinese model, have free entrance to fuhchau, and all the goods they import and export, are passed without duty. the travelling expenses of the embassy to and from the capital are also defrayed, and permission is given them to study chinese when in the country. this intercourse is therefore both honorable and profitable to the lewchewans, but the chinese are not allowed to[130] trade there, and the only act of sovereignty the emperor exercises, according to m. forcade, is to send a delegate to sanction the accession of a new incumbent of the throne—whom, however, it would be ridiculous for him to refuse. he adds, "in conversation, if one is a stranger, the lewchewans will be continually dwelling on china, they will boast about it, they will relate its history, they will describe its provinces and its cities; but japan is never mentioned! such are the words, but the facts are quite another thing."

the real character of the connection between lewchew and japan is not well ascertained. no japanese officers are seen on landing, and the officers appointed to attend the people of the indian oak, exhibited the greatest alarm when a few were seen at a distance, while the party were taking a walk. the trade between the two countries is confined to the ports of napa and kagosima, between which the vessels of both nations pass; the junks from other parts of japan are not permitted to resort to napa, but it is not probable that the prince of satzuma has the right of appointing the residents, or whatever authorities are sent thither. m. forcade says there were from ten to fifteen japanese vessels in the port, but when the american ship morrison was there, in 1837, there were only five. lackered-ware, grass cloth, sugar, and earthen-ware, are exported to kagosima, and a great assortment of metallic articles, cloths, provisions, and stationery taken in exchange. the country in the vicinity of napa, and towards shudi, the capital, is highly cultivated, and the people appear to be as well clothed, and possess as many of the comforts and elegancies of life as their neighbors. they still retain enough of their own customs, however, to distinguish them from the japanese, even if their physical appearance did not point them out as distinct. m. forcade says that there is reason for supposing christianity to have been implanted in lewchew at the same time it was introduced into japan, but lew[131]chew at that time seems to have been much less dependant upon japan than subsequently; and it is not probable that much was done to proselyte its inhabitants. he mentions that a cross is cut on the end of the rampart where foreigners land, who are thus obliged to trample on this symbol; but no other visitors mention any such sculpture or custom. the landing place at napa is a long stone jetty, stretching across the beach, which at low tide, prevents boats approaching the shore.

japan.

this country has recently attracted increased attention on the part of commercial nations, and several foreign ships have lately appeared on the coasts, whose reception has only shown the vigilance of the authorities in taking every precaution neither to offend nor receive their unwelcome visitors. the dutch and chinese are still the only nations allowed to trade with the japanese, and the news brought by the latter people of the troubles they have lately gone through with their foreign customers, has probably only more strongly convinced the siogoun and his ministers of the propriety of their seclusive policy. nor is there much reason to doubt that the chinese and japanese have avoided the fate of the natives of lu?onia, java, and india, by shutting out foreigners from free access and intercourse with their people, and owing to their seclusion, have remained independent to this day. the works of siebold upon the natural history and political condition of the country and its inhabitants, are now slowly publishing in paris, but with such luxury of execution as to place them beyond the reach of most persons who might be desirous to examine them. the visits of two american ships to the bay of yedo, has directed the public eye again to the empire. the first was that of the whaler manhattan, captain cooper, who was led to think[132] of going into the port by having taken eleven shipwrecked men off a small island near the bonin islands, in april, 1845, lying southeast of nippon. as he was going north, he fell in with a water-logged junk from nambu, laden with rice and fish, from which he received eleven more, and soon after made the eastern coast in the principality of simosa. here he landed two men, and proceeding towards cape king, landed two more, who made their way to yedo. owing to north winds, he was blown off the coast twice, and when he approached the estuary leading to the capital, he was taken in tow and carried up to the anchorage. interpreters came off to the vessel, who could speak english sufficiently well to carry on an imperfect communication, who informed captain cooper that his wants would be supplied, but none of his company allowed to land. a triple cordon of boats was placed around the ship, consisting of upwards of a thousand small boats, displaying numerous flags, and containing as many armed men as if the country was in danger of attack. the ship was visited by crowds of natives of all ranks, who behaved with great decorum while gratifying their curiosity, but no trade was allowed. many officers of high rank came on board and examined the ship, and took an inventory of every article belonging to the rescued seamen, before they were allowed to land. the ship was gratuitously supplied with provisions and a few spars, to the value of about $500, but the captain was again and again enjoined not to return there on any account. when he inquired what he should do if he again came across the siogoun's subjects in like distress, and exposed to a cruel death, he was told, "leave them to their fate, or take them where the dutch can get them." the men rescued from starvation and death, were, however, deeply sensible of the kindness which had been shown them. after a stay of eight or ten days, captain cooper was towed out of the port, and down the bay to the coast, and the last injunction was only a repetition of the first order,[133] not to come again. this reception, though it presents no encouragement to hope for a relaxation of the policy, deemed by the siogoun at once his safety and his profit, is less likely to call for summary chastisement than the rude repulse the american ship morrison received in 1837, when she entered the bay of yedo on the same errand, and was driven away by cannon balls and armed gunboats.

captain cooper represents the country in this portion of it as clothed with verdure, and under a high state of cultivation. the proximity of the mountains in idzu, produces constant showers, which covers the highest peaks with forests and shrubbery. terrace cultivation is extensively practiced, and constant labor is demanded to supply subsistence to the dense population, who still at times suffer severely for want of food. the capital could not well be seen from the ship, and its enceinte was so filled with trees, that its dimensions could not accurately be defined. no towers or pagodas were seen elevating themselves above the dull monotony of the buildings. the harbor was covered with vessels, at anchor and moving about; some of them unwieldy, open-stern junks, designed for the coast trade, others light skiffs and boats, used for communicating with vessels in the harbor and the shore. the greatest part of the coasting trade centres at yedo, owing to the large amount of taxes paid the siogoun in kind, and the supplies the princes receive from their possessions while they reside in the capital, both of which causes operate to develope the maritime skill of the people, and increase the amount of tonnage. the shortsighted policy which confines the energies and capital of a seagoing people like the japanese, within their own shores is, however, less a matter of wonder than the despotic power which could compel them to stay at home two centuries ago, at a time when their merchants and agents were found from acapulco to bangkok.

the japanese empire presents the greatest feudal gov[134]ernment now existing, and on that account is peculiarly interesting to the student of political science. in some respects, the people are superior to the chinese, but are inferior in the elements of national wealth and progress. they belong to the mongolian race, but are darker than the chinese, and not as tall, though superior in stature to the lewchewans. they approximate to the kamtschatdales in their square build, short necks, large heads, and short lower limbs. they are of a light olive complexion, but seldom exhibit a florid, ruddy countenance.

among the articles obtained from the junk by captain cooper, was a map of japan, including part of yesso. it is four feet square, drawn on the proportion of less than one degree to two inches, and contains the names of all the places there is room for. it is cut on wood, and painted to show the outlines of the chief principalities; the relative importance of the places is shown by writing their names in different shaped cartouches, but from the space occupied by the chinese characters, there is probably not one-tenth of all the towns inserted. the distances between the principal points along the coast are stated, and on some of the leading thoroughfares inland. the map is evidently the original of krusenstern's "carte de nippon," published by the russian board of longitude, and is drawn up from trigonometrical surveys. the degrees of latitude bear the same numbers as upon european maps; the meridians are reckoned from yedo. the existence of such maps among the people indicates that a good knowledge of their own country is far more extensively diffused than among the chinese, whose common maps are a standing reproach to them, while they have others so much more accurate. the coast from cape king northward to simosa, for the space of two degrees, was found by captain cooper to be better delineated upon this map than upon his own charts. these seas present a fine field for hydrographic surveys, and it would greatly advance the security of navigation on the eastern shores of[135] asia, and redound to the honor of our own land, if the american government would despatch two small vessels to survey the seas and shores between lu?onia and kamtschatka.

the visit of commodore biddle to the bay of yedo, has added nothing to our knowledge of its shores. his polite dismissal, and the refusal of the government to entertain any commercial relations with the americans, only add force to the injunction to captain cooper the year before, not to return, and shows more strongly that while the japanese rulers are determined to maintain their secluded policy, they wish to give no cause for retaliatory measures on the part of their unwelcome visitors, and mean to keep themselves as well informed as they can upon foreign politics. the subject of foreign intercourse between the two great nations of eastern asia and europeans since it commenced three centuries since, is an instructive one; and the general impression left upon the mind of the candid reader, is that foreign nations have themselves chiefly to thank for their present seclusion from those shores, and the restrictions in their commerce. rear-admiral cecille has also paid a visit to some part of japan, quite recently, but met with no success in his endeavors to enter into negotiation.

the great object in view in making these attempts to improve the intercourse with japan, is to find new markets for western manufactures. it is quite doubtful, however, whether the japanese have many articles suitable for foreign markets. their lackered-ware is exceedingly beautiful, but it would not be so prized when it became more common. copper and tea would form the basis of exports, and perhaps some silk fabrics, but china furnishes now all that is wanted of them both, and can do so to any extent. until a taste for such foreign manufactures, as woolens, cutlery, glass-ware, calicoes, &c., is created among them, and they are willing to adapt their own products to the tastes of their customers, it does not seem[136] likely that a trade at all proportioned to the estimated population and riches of the country, would soon be established. the japanese are afraid of the probable results of a more extended intercourse, and deem it to be the safest course to run no risks; and if they read the pages of their early intercourse with the portuguese, spanish and dutch, they must feel they would run many serious risks by granting a trade. if the siogoun and his advisers could be rightly informed, however, there are grounds for believing the present policy would be considerably relaxed.

learning is highly honored in japan, and books are as cheap and common as in china. the written language is a singular and most difficult mixture of chinese characters, with the syllabic symbols adopted by the japanese, rendering its perusal a great labor, more so than that of chinese, because chinese must first be mastered. the spoken language is polysyllabic and harmonious, and possesses conjugations, tenses, cases, &c., to facilitate its perspicuity, and increase its variety of expressions. the arts in which they chiefly excel are in the manufacture of silken and linen goods, copper-ware, lackered-ware, porcelain and basket work. their cutlery is despicable, and the specimens of their carving, which are seen abroad, do not equal those produced by the chinese. agriculture is pursued on much the same system as in china—minute subdivision of the soil and constant manuring, together with frequent watering. rice and fish are the staples of food; vegetables are used in great abundance, but meats only sparingly. the habits and sports of the people are influenced so much by the peculiar notions attending a feudal society, such as adherence to the local prince, and maintenance of his honor, wearing coats of arms, privileged orders, and hereditary titles, that there is little similarity in the state of society in japan and china, notwithstanding a similar religion and literature. the japanese were called the spaniards of the east by xavier,[137] and the comparison is good at this day. they have, perhaps, more genius and imagination than the chinese, but are not as peaceable or industrious.

general view of the languages of the japanese, coreans, chinese and cochinchinese. the four nations here briefly noticed; viz., the japanese, coreans, chinese and cochinchinese, have been collectively called the chinese language nations, from the peculiar relations and connections they have had through the medium of that language. the relation has throughout been one of a literary character, fostered to some extent by religious prejudices, but depending chiefly for its permanence and extension upon the superiority of the writings of the chinese. it is, in some respects, without a parallel in the history of man. while european languages have all been indebted for many of their words to the two leading ancient tongues of that continent, their bases have been diverse, and the words they have imported from greek and latin have undergone various changes, so much so as sometimes hardly to be recognized. this is not the case with these four nations of eastern asia. they have all adopted the characters used by the leading nation without alteration, and with them, of course, have to a very great degree, taken her authors, her books, her knowledge and her opinions, as their own.

one of the most observable features of the national character of the chinese, is its conservative inclinations. not only is it seen in the actions of government and in the writings of scholars, but still more in the habits of the people and their modes of thinking. it has been cherished by that government, as it is by all governments, as a sure and safe principle of preservation, but it is also advocated by the people. the geographical position of china has isolated it from all western nations, while the political, literary and social superiority of its people over the contiguous nations, has combined to foster their conceit and affectation of supremacy, and make them disinclined to[138] have any intimate or equal relations with others. but one of the strongest and most comprehensive of these conservative influences has arisen from the nature of the language, strengthened by the extent to which education has been diffused among the people. the language is of such a character, combining mystery and difficulty with elegance and ingenuity, as greatly to captivate a people who have time and inclination to trace out the marks and veins on the pavement in the temple of science, but not the invention or investigation to seek out and explore its hidden chambers. the character of this language and the nature of the connection between the nations who use it, may here be briefly exhibited.

the chinese ascribe the invention of their characters to tsang kieh, one of the principal ministers or scholars in the reign of hwangti, about 2650 years before christ; and although there is no very certain information recorded respecting their origin, there is nothing which seems to be fabulous or supernatural. the characters first depicted were the common objects in nature and art, as the sun, rain, man, parts of the body, animals, a house, &c., and were probably drawn sufficiently accurate to be detected without much if any explanation. they were all described in outline, and generally with far less completeness than the egyptian symbols. it is not known how many of the primitive characters were made, but one feature attached to them all,—none of them contained any clue to the sound. the inventors must necessarily, one would suppose, have soon perceived this radical defect in their symbols, but they either saw the incompatibility of uniting the phonetic and pictorial modes, or else were so pleased with their varied pictures and symbols, that they cared very little how the reader acquired the sounds. at first, too perhaps, the number of persons who spoke this language was so small, that there was little difficulty in making them all acquainted with the meaning of the symbols, and when once their meaning was learned, they[139] were of course called by the name of the thing represented, which everybody knew. the necessity of incorporating some clue to the sound of the thing, or idea denoted, became more and more evident, however, as the variety of the symbols multiplied, and the number of people increased. one of the strongest evidences, that the designing of these symbols was contemporary with the earliest days of the chinese as a people, is deduced from the fact that they are all monosyllabic; the radical words in all languages are mostly of this character, but in nearly all others, the single sounds soon coalesce and combine, while in chinese this has been prevented by the nature of the written language. there is not, so far as the nature of the case goes, any reason why the sounds of chinese characters should all be monosyllabic, any more than the arabic numerals. but not only was the increase of inhabitants, as we suppose, a reason for making the symbols phonetic, the need of reducing the labor of learning the ever growing list, and the difficulty of distinguishing between species of the same genus and things of the same sort, was a still stronger motive. this was done by the combination of a leading type with some other well understood character, chosen quite arbitrarily, but possessing the same sound as the new object to be represented. thus, supposing a new fish called pih was to be represented by a character; by taking the symbol for fish and joining it to any well known character pronounced pih, no matter what was its meaning, the compound symbol clearly expressed, to those who understood its elementary parts, the fish pih. but neither does this compound contain any more clue to its sound to those unacquainted with the component elements, than its marks and hooks do of its meaning to those who have never learned them. when once the form and meaning of the primitive symbols have been learned, however, the meaning and sounds of the compound ones can, in many cases, be inferred to a greater or less degree; but so varied has been the prin[140]ciple of combination, that no dependence can be placed upon such etymologies for the meaning. in the various mutations the written language has undergone, the sound is not now so certain as it was probably at first; but in the majority of characters, it can be inferred with a considerable degree of certainty, though the idea is exhibited so indefinitely as to afford almost no assistance in guessing at it. a dictionary is indispensable in ascertaining the meaning, and almost as necessary to learn the sound of all chinese characters. the meaning can be explained without any greater trouble than in other languages, but the sounds of characters can only be given by quoting other characters of the same sound, which the scholar is supposed to know, if he knows enough to use the dictionary.

these remarks will, perhaps, explain the general composition of chinese characters. by far the greater part of them are now formed, either of the original pictorial symbols, greatly modified, indeed, and changed from their likeness to the things they stand for, or of those joined to each other in a compound character, partly symbolical and partly phonetic. the former part is called the radical, the latter the primitive. the chinese divide the characters into six classes, viz., imitative symbols, or those original figures which bore a resemblance to the forms of material objects; indicative symbols, where the position of the two parts point out the idea; symbols combining ideas, a class not very unlike the preceding, but more complex; inverted symbols; metaphoric symbols, as that of the natural heart, denoting the affections; and lastly, phonetic symbols. out of twenty-four thousand two hundred and thirty-five characters, (nearly all the different ones there are in the language), twenty-one thousand eight hundred and ten of them are phonetic, or as much so as the nature of their composition would allow, though there is no other clue to the sound than to learn the sound of the parts or of the whole, either from the people them[141]selves or from a dictionary. the chinese tyro learns the sounds of most of the characters, as boys do the names of minerals, by tradition. as he stands before his master, he and the whole class hear from his mouth their names, and repeat them until they are remembered. consequently, almost an infinite variety in the sounds of the characters arise from this mode of learning them, while the meanings remain fixed; though there still remains enough resemblance in the sounds to show their common origin, as, bien, meen, mien, and meeng, all meaning the face, and written with the same character. the local differences in pronunciation are so great within a few hundred miles, in some parts of china, that the people barely understand each other when they speak; and even in two towns fifty miles apart, the local patois can be detected, though the dissimilarity is not so great as to prevent their inhabitants conversing together. for purposes of intercourse among civilians, who being from distant parts of the empire, might otherwise find considerable difficulty in making themselves understood if each spoke his own local patois, there is a court dialect which not only civilians, but all educated men are obliged or expected to understand. this is the common pronunciation over the northeastern provinces of chihli, shantung, nganhwui, and kiangsu, and somewhat in the contiguous provinces also, though everywhere in these regions with some slight local variations. this dialect is called kwan hwa, and has been usually termed the mandarin[109] dialect, but it is properly the chinese spoken language, and the variations from it are the dialects and patois. it is evident, how[142]ever, that one sound of a character is no more correct than another; for there being no sound in any character, each one calls it as he has been taught, while all give it the same meaning, exactly as europeans do with the numerals. of course, no one can read or write chinese before he has studied it, and the apparent singularity of people from china, japan, and annam all being able to communicate by writing but not converse by speech, is easily explained by the different sounds they give the characters. it is, however, really no more singular than that scholars in all christian nations understand each others' music and arithmetic, after they have learned those sciences and the mode of notation.

the diversity of pronunciations tends naturally to break up the nation into small communities, and the chinese owe their present homogeneity and grandeur in no small degree to their written language; for, however, a man may differ in his speech, he is sure that he will be everywhere understood when he writes, and will understand every one who writes to him. it has also been a bond of union from its extensive literature, at once the pride of its own scholars, and the admiration of surrounding nations. it is perhaps owing to the fact that the literature of china contains the canons of the budhist religion and the ethics of confucius, that it was adopted by the japanese, coreans and annamese. these nations have taken the characters of the chinese language, and given them such names as pleased them. in japan and corea, there has been no uniform rule of adoption, but the annamese, who formerly had more intimate connexions with china than at present, approach much nearer to the sounds spoken by the chinese.

the nature of the relations between these three nations and china, therefore, somewhat resembles that which european nations, we may suppose, now would have towards ancient greece and rome, if they still existed as independent powers, and should be visited by scholars[143] from the shores of the baltic, whose native countries, however, had risen no higher in civilization and morals than their source. the comparison is not complete in all respects, but near enough for analogy. the japanese have never paid tribute to china, but have been invaded by her armies, and in their turn have ravaged the eastern coasts of the continent. the isolated policy their rulers have adopted, has prevented our tracing those philological comparisons between their original language and those of siberia or central asia, which would elucidate its origin. the japanese up to the time of the sixteenth da?ri, named ouzin tenwo, had no written character, all the orders of government being proclaimed viva voce. in the year b.c. 284, this monarch sent an embassy to the southern part of corea, to obtain learned persons who could introduce the civilization and literature of china into his dominions, and obtained wonin, who fulfilled the royal wishes so satisfactorily, that the japanese have since accorded him divine honors. since his day, the chinese characters have been employed among the japanese. however, as the construction of the japanese language differs materially from that of the chinese, and as the same chinese character has many meanings, which would be expressed by different words in the native japanese, confusion and difficulty arose in the use of the symbolic characters. but it was not until the eighth century, that a remedy was provided by the invention of a syllabary, a middle contrivance, partaking chiefly of the nature of an alphabet but containing some traces of hieroglyphics. the characters of this syllabary were formed by taking chinese characters, either in whole or in part, and using them phonetically, but as indivisible syllables. consequently, every one of them contained a vowel sound, rendering the language very euphonous. the characters in this syllabary were called katakana, i. e. "parts of letters." there were at first forty-seven, but another was added[144] some years after in order to express the final n, as ma-mo-ra-n, instead of ma-mo-ra-nu, making forty-eight, the present number. this syllabary and that invented for the cherokees by guess, are the only two in the world. the number of sounds has been increased from forty-eight to seventy-three, by the addition of diacritical marks to some of the syllables. this syllabary enabled the japanese to express the sounds of their vernacular without difficulty. but the long use of the chinese had already introduced a great number of sounds from that language into it, besides giving the people a liking for the elegant and ingenious combinations of that unwieldy medium of thought, so that the scholars in the country still cultivated the more difficult language, and wrote their books in it. the incorporation of chinese sounds into the native japanese, seems to have arisen from the necessity of distinguishing between the various meanings of the chinese character, so that while the native word would express one, the original sound would express another, but the unchangeable symbol stand for both to the eye.

the admiration of the chinese characters, led in time to the invention of a second syllabary, having the same sounds but far more difficult to learn from the number of characters in it and their complicated forms. it is called hirakana, or "equal writing," because it is intelligible without the addition of chinese characters; it is now the common medium of communication, in epistolary composition of all kinds, story books, and other everyday uses. there are one hundred and one characters in the hirakana, or nearly three modes of writing each of the forty-eight syllables, and they are run together as rapidly and far more fancifully than in our own running-hand, when that is compared with the roman character. the characters are mostly contractions of chinese characters used simply as phonetic symbols, without any more reference to their meaning than in the katakana. the more ancient[145] of the two is now usually employed in dictionaries, by the side of chinese characters in books to explain them to the reader, or at their bottom to indicate the case of the word. in reading a chinese book, a good japanese scholar makes a kind of running translation into his own vernacular, sometimes giving the sound, and sometimes giving the sense, and the katakana is used in the latter case, to indicate the tense, or case of the native word. having the chinese language as well as its native stores to draw from, the japanese is both copious and flexible, and by its syllabic construction, also euphonious and mellifluous, in these respects being far superior to the chinese. the following stanza is from one of the dutch writers; it is written with thirty-one syllables.

kokorodani makotono,

michi ni kanai naba,

inorazu totemo kamiya

mamoran.

there are still two other syllabaries, one called manyo-kana, and the other yamato-kana, both of which are formed of still more complicated chinese characters, also used phonetically. neither of these syllabaries is generally used entirely alone, but the three are joined together or interchanged somewhat according to the fancy of the writer, in a manner similar to archdeacon wrangham's famous echo poem. such a complicated mode of writing has this unfortunate result, however, of so seriously obstructing the avenues to the temple of science, that the greatest part of the common people are unable to enter, and must be content with admiring the structure afar off. most of them content themselves with learning to write and read in the hirakana, and get as much knowledge of chinese as will enable them to read the names of places, signs, people, &c., for which those characters are universally used. besides the phonetic use of chinese characters[146] in these syllabaries, they are employed very extensively as words, with their own meanings, partly because they are more nervous and expressive in the estimation of the writer than the vernacular, and partly to show his learning and shorten his labor. commonly, characters so used are called by their japanese meanings, but sometimes too by their chinese names.[110]

the connection between the chinese and japanese, therefore, is very intimate, and presents a curious instance of assimilation between a symbolic and syllabic language, though at the cost of much hard study and labor to acquire the mongrel compound. it is another example of asiatic toil upon the media of thought, rather than investigations in the world of thought and science itself; for no people who possessed invention, research, or science, would ever have encumbered themselves with so burdensome a vehicle of communication. the chinese do not attend to the japanese language, and have no knowledge of its structure, or the principles on which it has combined with their own. their intercourse with japan is entirely commercial; that of the japanese with them, chiefly literary.

the coreans have also adopted the chinese character, but without many of the elaborate modifications in use among the japanese. they have had more intercourse with the chinese, but have not been able to make their polysyllabic words assimilate with the monosyllables of the chinese. they have invented an alphabet, the letters of which combine to form syllables, and these syllabic compounds are then used like the japanese characters to express their own words. the original letters consist of fifteen consonants, called ka, na, ta, la or ra, ma or ba, pa, sa or sha, nga, tsa or cha, ts′a or ch′a, k′a, t′a, p′a, ha, and wa; and eleven vowels, a, ya, o, yo, oh, yoh, ú, yú, u, í, and ah. the combinations of these form altogether one hundred[147] and sixty-eight syllables, the last fourteen of which are triply combined by introducing the sound of w between the consonants and some of the vowels, as kwa, ts′hwo, &c. the sounds and meanings of chinese characters are expressed in this syllabary in the duoglott works prepared by the coreans for learning chinese; while it is used by itself in works intended for the natives. the coreans have not, like the japanese, unnecessarily increased the difficulty of their own language by employing a great number of signs for the same sound, but are content with one series. it is to be hoped that this facility results in a greater diffusion of knowledge among the people. the japanese have the inflections of cases, moods, tenses and voices, in their language; but these features are denoted in corean by the collocation of the words, and the words themselves remain unchanged as in chinese. the sounds of the corean are pleasant, and both it and the japanese allow many alterations and elisions for the sake of euphony. further investigation will probably show some connection originally between the corean and manchu languages, though the former of these has been more modified by the chinese than the latter.[111]

the people of annam have adopted the chinese characters without making a syllabary or alphabet to express their own vernacular. the inhabitants of this country are evidently of the same race as the chinese, and now acknowledge a nominal subjection to the emperor of china by sending a triennial embassy to peking, partly commercial and partly tributary. the sounds given to the chinese characters are, however, so unlike those given them in china, that the two nations cannot converse with each other. the annamese have many sounds in their spoken language which no chinese can enunciate. the court dialect is learned by educated men, and books are written and printed in chinese. the sounds given to the[148] characters are all monosyllabic, and slight analogies can be traced running through the variations; but they offer very little assistance to any one, who, knowing only one mode of pronunciation, wishes to learn the other.

much of the interest connected with the investigation of the chinese and its cognate tongues, arises from the immense multitudes which speak and write them; and from the influence which china has, through the writings of her sages, exerted over the minds and progress of her neighbors. there is nothing like it in european history; but the spell cast over the intellects of the millions in eastern asia, by the writings of confucius, mencius, and their disciples, is likely erelong to be broken by the infusion of christian knowledge, the extension of commerce, and a better understanding of their political and social rights by the multitudes who now adopt them.

for much of the information embraced in this memoir on china, japan, and the adjacent countries, i am indebted to the chinese repository, (a monthly journal printed at canton), and more especially to one of its accomplished editors, mr. s. wells williams. this gentleman during a residence of twelve years in china, has made himself familiar with the written and spoken language of the chinese, and is ranked, by some of the eminent sinologists of europe, among the profoundest adepts in that branch of literature and philology. mr. williams has also studied the japanese language, which he reads and speaks; and is probably the only man in america familiar with the languages of china and japan. several natives of japan, driven by adverse winds from their native shores, found their way to china, and were subsequently taken by an american ship to yedo, but were not permitted to land. from these men, mr. williams has learned the spoken japanese, and as much of the written language as they could impart. this gentleman is at present in new york making arrangements for getting founts of chinese, japanese, and manchu type, for printing in these languages.[149]

the chinese repository is a monthly journal, printed at canton, and is edited by the rev. dr. bridgman and mr. williams. it contains much valuable information relating to china, japan, and the eastern archipelago, and frequently memoirs, translated from the japanese and chinese. on the whole, it may with truth be said to embody more information than any other work extant, on these countries.

mr. williams has now in press a new work on the chinese empire, which will contain an account of its general political divisions, including manchuria, mongolia, ili and tibet, their geographical and topographical features. the natural history of china; its government, laws, literature, language, science, industry and arts. social and domestic life—history and chronology—religion; christian missions; intercourse with other nations; and a full account of the late war with england.

the history of the introduction of christianity into china, in the seventh century of the christian era, the traces of which still exist; and of the jews in china, are subjects which are now attracting attention. it would occupy too much space to give any particulars in this brief memoir. in the list of late works on china, will be found references to such books as treat of the subject, to which the attention of the reader is directed.

the syrian monument which has been often referred to, is one of great interest, and is believed by all who have examined the subject, to be genuine. this monument was discovered by some chinese workmen, in the year 1625, in or near the city of singan, the capital of the province of shensi, and once the metropolis of the empire. the monument was found covered with rubbish, and was immediately reported to the magistrate, who caused it to be removed to a pagoda, where it was examined by both natives and foreigners, christians and pagans. it was a slab of marble, about ten feet long and five broad. it contained on one side a chinese inscription, which was[150] translated by father kircher into latin, and by dalquié into french. mr. bridgman has given an english translation, and has published the three versions, accompanied by the original chinese, with explanatory notes. this inscription commemorates the progress of christianity in china, and was erected in the year of the christian era 718. mr. bridgman who is one of the most learned in the chinese language, says in conclusion, that "there are strong internal evidences of its being the work of a professor of christianity, and such we believe it to be."[112]

other portions of this memoir might be very much enlarged, but would extend it beyond the bounds of the resumé, which it is intended to give. there are besides other countries and people, accounts of which it would be desirable to give place to, particularly those of central asia, but they are unavoidably passed over from the space that would be required to do them justice. the object of this paper is to awaken the attention of readers to the geographical and ethnographical discoveries made within the last few years, all of which have a bearing on the history and progress of the human race. if the author has succeeded in so doing, he will feel abundantly repaid for his labor.

the recent works on china are embraced in the following list.

china; political, commercial and social; with descriptions of the consular ports of canton, amoy, ningpo and shanghai, etc., etc. by r. montgomery martin. london, 1847.

chinese commercial guide. macao, 1844.

voyage of the nemesis; by w.d. barnard. 2 vols. 8vo. london, 1843. 2d ed. 12mo. 1846.

events in china. by granville loch, r.n. 1844.

war in china. by lieut. ochterlony. 1844.

the land of sinim, with a brief account of the jews and christians in china, by a missionary. 12mo. n.y., 1846.

sketches of china. by j.f. davis. 2 vols. 12mo. 1845.

the jews in china. by j. finn. 12mo. london, 1844.

les juifs de la chine, par h. hirsch, (extrait des israélites de france). 1844.

relation des voyages faits par les arabes et les persans dans l'inde et à la chine, dans le ixth siècle de l'ère chrétienne,[151] par m. reinaud. paris, 1845. 2 vols. 18mo.

three years wanderings in china. by robert fortune. 8vo. london, 1847.

the philological and other works on china, by m. pauthier, a distinguished french scholar, are among the most valuable works in this department of learning. they embrace the following.

sinico-?gyptiaca, essai sur l'origine et la formation similaire des écritures figuratives chinoise et égyptienne, etc. 8vo.

de l'origine des différents systèmes d'écriture. 4to.

examen méthodique des faits qui concernent le thian-tchu ou l'inde; traduit du chinois. 8vo.

documents statistiques officiels sur l'empire de la chine; traduits du chinois. 8vo.

la chine, avec 73 planches. 8vo.

la chine ouverte, aventures d'un fan-kouei dans le pays de tsin; illustré par auguste borget. 8vo. paris, 1845.

la chine et les chinois, par le même. 8vo. paris, 1844.

systema phoneticum scriptur? sinic?, auctore. j.m. callery. 2 vols. royal 8vo. macao, 1842.

narrative of the second campaign in china, by r.s. mackenzie. 12mo. london.

a work by g. tradescant lay; and another by professor kid, have also been published on china.