phonetic organs of the several peoples. The steps by which this fact has been ascertained are complex, but they are sure, and their very diversity adds weight to the uniform result which they yield. The sounds of the language naturally divide themselves into two periods-that subsequent to the Ts'in dynasty (B.C. 255-200), and that prior to it. The means at hand to enable us to read the characters as the subjects of the Ts'in dynasty read them are, speaking generally, these-a comparison of the various dialects of modern China with those of the aborigines, the Chinese dialects of Corea, Japan, and Annam, the Buddhist transcriptions, the later phonetic characters, and the results of Yang Hiung's researches in 25 dialectic regions as found in his "Fang yen."

must

Having thus far made good our researches, we compare the result they give us with the rhymes of the 'Shi-king," or "Book of Odes," and with the languages of the neighbouring peoples, who are offshoots from the ancient Chinese confederation, such as the Burmese, the Siamese, and the Annamites, as well as with those of tribes which, though owning the same parentage, have been separated more or less completely from Chinese culture, such as the Tibetans, and again with the speech of other peoples who have but a remote kinship with the Chinese, such as the Cambodgians, the TurkoTartars, the Ugro-Finns and the Dravidians, among some of whom the ancient adoption of syllabic or alphabetic writing has preserved many traces of archaisms which are lost in their modern pronunciations. One other fact has to enter into our calculations, and that is the tones of the language, which have given rise to so much speculation, and to so many misconceptions. To understand their origin we remember that on entering China the Chinese found the country occupied by races more or less civilized, with whom they freely mixed to a greater or less degree as circumstances determined. From this inequality of intercourse between races speaking languages with different morphological constructions, in which great importance was attached to the quality and quantity of vowels for the meaning of words, there resulted a condition of phonetic poverty, owing to contractions and elisions of the initial, medial, or final syllables of their words. By the movements of the organs of speech, and the ordinary principle of equilibrium, the place of these decayed articulations has been supplied by differences of tone in the pronunciation of the vowels, a system which, by the facility it gives for the economy of language, has received a full development. A comparison of the development of these Chinese tones with the mute letters in Tibetan, which are but the remains of decayed syllables, and the double initials in Burmese, Siamese, Sinico-Annamite, and other dialects, together with the different systems of tones, complete the evidence we require, and all concur in giving us one result. As an example of the changeful fate of ancient Chinese words, we may instance the equivalent for "eye," which from a conbination of two words, mut and kan, become mukan, as it is at the present day among the Panicoochi tribe of aborigines. In process of time as this word became the property of tribes some of whom laid greater stress on the final and others on the initial parts of their words, it was successively metamorphosed on the one hand to mang, ngan, and the modern yen, and on the other hand to muk and muh.

The importance of arriving at a just conclusion on the ancient sounds becomes at once apparent when we reach the stage of comparing Chinese with its cognate languages. But before crossing the frontier we would refer to its bearing on the interpretation of the ancient literature of the country. Among the most valued works of antiquity stands the "Yih-king," the original text of which consists of short sentences, arranged under certain diagrams, formed by the combination of straight lines, and is attributed to the legendary Emperor Fuh-hi (B.C. 2852). But whoever may have been the author of this text, its antiquity is undoubted, as is incidentally shown by the increasing inability of the successive early commentators Wan Wang (B.c. 1150), Chow Kung (B.C. 1120), and Confucius (B.c. 500), to understand its drift. "If I had fifty more years to live I would devote them to the study of the Yih-king,' said Confucius as he laid down his pencil at the completion of his commentary on that work, in which, however, he professed to find an unfathomable abyss of philosophical learning and divinatory lore. The superstitious fame which the Sage thus established for it saved it from the auto-da-fè in which perished (221 B.C.) the entire literature current in the northern portions of the empire, except such works as treated of medicine, divination, and husbandry. Since that time the foremost scholars of each generation have edited the text and heaped commentary after commentary upon it, and one and all have

arrived at the somewhat lame conclusion, that its full significance is past finding out. In the same way a host of European Chinese scholars have made translations of the work, and have, if possible, made confusion worse confounded. The text, as we have it at the present day, is very corrupt, owing to the fact that it was re-written at least three times, at the great official modifications of the characters referred to above, at each of which it suffered mutilation at the hands of the transcribers, who introduced changes in the ideographic value of the characters to suit the philosophical views prevailing at the time, and in the phonetic values of others in accordance with the peculiarities of the existing official dialects. But in spite of these difficulties the knowledge possessed by M. Terrien de Lacouperie of the ancient sounds of the language, and of ethnological science, has enabled him to raise the veil from the "Yih-king" which has resisted the searching gaze of 30 centuries of native scholarship, and to foreshadow the true nature of the work.

Far from treating exclusively of philosophy and divinatory lore, the original text consists to a great extent of vocabularies in which important words and their characters are explained in the (probably eight) different dialects spoken within the limits of the Chinese supremacy, and in which to other words are appended lists of their equivalents. Intermingled with these vocabularies are important records of unusual interest, such as ephemerides bearing on the ethnology and history of the ancient East. That it was used as a work of divination during the Chow dynasty and subsequently is beyond dispute; but its application in this sense would seem to depend on the commentaries which overlay the text, and on the astrological value of some of its parts. The importance of this discovery in the interest of ethnological and linguistic science is incalculable, and we earnestly trust that M. Terrien de Lacouperie may be able to secure the leisure necessary for the prosecution of his studies in this direction.

But a knowledge of the ancient Chinese sounds is capable of leading us to even wider results. It enables us to compare Chinese with the languages of the Old World. Its Aryan origin, upon which works of uncertain value have been published by Edkins, Schlegel, Kingsmill, and Chalmers, must be regarded as a dream based on some few affinities possibly due to the presence in China of an offshoot of the Aryan race. But the prospect brightens when, in attempting to trace it back, in accordance with its grammatical affinities, to the old Altaic family of language, we compare it with another branch of that family-namely, the Accadian dialects. Here at once we feel that we are on surer ground. Not only is there a marked affinity between the words and characters of the Accadian, as far as they have been deciphered, and the Chinese, but also between the historical legends and religious institutions of the two peoples. It is unnecessary here to quote more than a few instances of this linguistic relationship, of which the Accadian vocabulary furnishes abundant evidence. The identity of the Accadian umu, mother, with the Chinese mu; ka, mouth, with ko; ka, door, with ga; dub, leaf, with dep and tap; par, white, with pak; sik, cloth with sik; and gan, cloud, with gun, would appear to admit of very little doubt, supported, as it is, by other important considerations, among which the similarity existing between the hieroglyphic characters of the two languages is not the least remarkable. Chinese tradition fixes the number of the original characters of the language at 540, and of the Accadian hieroglyphics there have as yet been deciphered rather more than 500. It remains to be seen whether the Chinese tradition is but a survival of an Accadian fact.

Results no less remarkable than those yielded by these linguistic affinities are, however, brought to light by a comparison of the social and religious institutions of the two peoples. In the early legendary records of China we find the first place in the list of the five Sovereigns who bore rule at the dawn of history occupied by Hwang-ti, anciently Kon-ti, whose family name is said to have been Nai or Nak. This ruler is credited with having invented astronomy, music, medicine, and the other sciences, as well as the arts which contribute to the comfort and well-being of men. If we examine the old form of his name, as preserved in the "Chuen-tszewei" and the "Luh-shu-fun-luy," we find it to be composed of one group of characters to be read Nak-kon-ti, a name which strangly coincides with Nakhunta, or Nakhunte. mentioned in the Susian texts as the chief of the gods. This name was added to their own by the oldest Susian kings, as we find in the case of Ku-dur-Nakhunta, who ravaged the country from Ur to Babylon, and founded the dynasty called by Berosus Medic (B.c. 2285). Again tradition tells us that the inventor of Chinese writing was Ts'ang Hieh, or, as his name was pronounced in old Chinese, Dum-kit, who is said to have been an independent chief, though by some writers he

has been described as reigning in succession to Fuh-hi, and by others as a minister of Hwang-ti. The resemblance between his name, Dum-kit, and that of Dungi, King of Ur, who succeeded the famous Likbagas, or Likbabi, on the throne, is curious, and the interest in the comparison is heightened when we recognize that the meaning of the Accadian characters composing the name Dungi is the man of the reed tablet." Turning now to the political institutions of the early Chinese, we find in the fragments of Susian history as yet made known complete explanations on two points which have hitherto baffled the investigation of scholars both native and foreign. In the second chapter of the "Book of History we are told that the Emperor Shun (B. C. 2255-2205) "gave daily audiences to all the pastors, who are understood to have been the Princes of the various States; and, in another passage, that "he sacrificed specially, but with the ordinary forms, to God, and with reverent purity, to the Six Honoured Ones." The epithets "pastors," as applied to Princes, and "Six Honoured Ones," have been much commented upon, but no satisfactory explanation has been offered of them." Now, however, that which has been a riddle to the people themselves for tens of centuries is made plain to us by the Susian texts. There we are told that the Princes of the second

ANCIENT PALM-LEAF

rank were called " pastors," and that in the Divine hierarchy there were next in order to the principal god six deities of the first rank.

Enough has been said to illustrate the interest attaching to the researches in which M. Terrien de Lacouperie has led the way. The importance of these, as affecting the early history of the world, cannot be overestimated, since they promise to destroy conclusively the anomalous isolation to which history has hitherto consigned the people and language of China, and to restore them to their legitimate places among the recognized families of race and speech. R. K. D. Since the appearance of the above, Mons, Terrien de Lacouperie has published in a separate form a paper on the same subject, under the title of " Early History of the Chinese Civilisation" (London: Trübner & Co.) In this pamphlet he has elaborated the points touched upon in the above notice, and has given at length the results of his investigations into the origin of Chinese civilisation, and the facts which have led up to them. The same subject will be further pursued in a paper, by M. Terrien de Lacouperie, which will shortly appear in the Journal of the Asiatic Society; and in conjunction with Professor Douglas, the same gentleman is preparing an annotated translation of the Yih-king.

A most important acquisition of very ancient palm-leaf MSS., written between the 12th and 14th centuries, has lately been made for the Government of Bombay. According to a rough list made by the agent who effected the purchase, the collection contains thirty volumes and the following works:

:

1. Gauḍavaha, a Prâkrit kâvya by Vâkpati [Vappaï], the pupil of Bhavabhûti [ca 750 A.D.], fols. 110 [4th copy discovered].

2. Rudraṭalamkaratika, a commentary [probably that by S'vetâmhara] on the Alamkâras' astra of Rudrața, a Kasmirian poet of the 9th or 10th century A.D., fols. 189 [very rare].

3. Pindaniryuktitika, a Sanskrit commentary on the Pindaniryuktisûtra of the Jainas [very rare].

4. Âchârânganiryukti, a Prâkrit summary of the Âchârangasûtra of the Jainas by Bhadrabâhu.

5. Sabdânususanaṭika [a commentary on some grammar not specified], by Malayagiri, a Jaina writer of the 12th and 13th centuries [new].

6. Kshetrasamâsațika, a commentary on the Kshetrasamâsa by the same author.

7. S'bdânusâsanavṛitti, a commentary on Hemachandra's grammar by the author of the original work.

8. Saptatițîkâ, a commentary on [Haribhadra's] seventy verses on religious subjects.

9. A volume containing various small treatises, such as the Upadesamâlâ, a Sthavirâvali, S'râvakavidhi, etc. 10. Dryas'rayakavya, Hemachandra's historical poem on the Princes of the Chaulukya dynasty of Gujarât, from Mûlarâja to Kumârapâla, written in explanation of his Sanskrit grammar, fols. 305.

11. Chaityavaudanavṛitti, a commentary on the Chaityavaudanasûtra of the Jainas, fols. 205.

12. Damayantûkatha, Privikrama's Damayantî champû [a great favourite with the Jaina Yatis].

LITERARY

28. Amarakosha.

29. Yagasastra [probably Hemachandra's].

30. A volume containing a large number of small treatises.

It must be noted that all these MSS. come from a very ancient private library, discovered in the rains of 1880. The collection contains a good many Brahmanical works, and deserves for this reason the particular attention of Sanskritists. The Government of Bombay possesses, inclusive of this new purchase, 36 palm-leaf MSS., four of which were bought in 1873, while two others were acquired during the rains of 1880. It is to be hoped that all these treasures will eventually be deposited in the India Office, where they will be safer from destruction, and more generally useful than in the Deccan College.

JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY.-Vol. XIII. N.S., Part I., January, 1881, is nearly ready, and again is a most important number, its contributors including the wellknown Professor Monier Williams and Dr. Edkins. The article by the first-named gentleman is on " Indian Theistic Reformers," and consists of short sketches of the history of the four Theistic Churches which have been established in India during the present century, and accounts of their founders-the chief interest naturally surrounding the celebrated Raja Rammohun Roy, the pioneer in the endeavour to lead our Indian fellow-subjects out of the slough of superstition and idolatry in which for centuries they have been immersed. A tolerably full memoir is given of this great native Reformer, still not so full but that we should be glad to have more details of so remarkable a man. The Professor recommends that a life of Rammohun Roy should be issued;

such would, we are sure, be welcome to all who take an interest in India. The remaining portion of the article deals with the three offshoots from the Samaje established by Rammohun Roy; and many curious-not to say romanticdetails are here published concerning them.-Dr. Edkins's paper deals with the vexed question of the Buddhist Nirvana, more especially relating to the Northern Buddhists. Dr. Edkins's long stay at Peking has given him facilities for communion with many Buddhist priests, and he details his conversations with them, as well as extracts from their sacred books. Dr. Edkins proceeds from these sources to show that "the Nirvana means death."-There is also in this part a paper by Mr. Dowson (late Professor at the Staff College) on the subject of the invention of the Indian Alphabet, Mr. Dowson. maintaining the opinion that it was invented on Indian soil without the aid of any Semitic influence; he has much to say