désormais l'interprétation des livres de Zoroastre; et dèslors la valeur de cette interprétation ne dépend plux aux yeux de la critique, que du plus ou du moins d'habilité dans la langue Pehlvie qu'on devra supposer à son auteur. Le Pehlvi, qui florissait encore sous la dynastie des Sassanides, a survecu long-temps en Perse à l'anéantissement de la monarchie Persane, et le sens de la traduction faite dans cet idiome a put continuer d'y être compris par le petit nombre de Parses qui parvinrent à se soustraire aux persécutions des Musulmans."

But these remarks rest on no grounds whatever, because there exists no proof that there ever was such a language as Pahlvi, except that which is contained in the translation of the Zendavesta, and in two or three small works now in the possession of the Parsis. In 921 Pahlvi words, also, which I have examined, I can only find two Hebrew, sixty-four Arabic, and thirty-five Persian—and not a single Zend or Sanscrit word; thus there remain 820 words out of 921 which bear no resemblance or affinity to any known language, not even to the language which prevails in that country in which it is supposed that the Pahlvi was the daily speech of the people not more than eleven hundred years ago. But Richardson has justly observed: "Zend [and he should have added Pahlvi] appears not to bear the most distant radical resemblance to the modern dialect of Persia; a circumstance which all observation declares to be impossible, had it ever existed as an ancient Persian idiom. No convulsions of government, no efforts of the learned, can ever so alter a language as to deface every line of resemblance between the speech of the present day, and that of even the remotest ancestry; nothing but the absolute extirpation of the aboriginal natives can apparently accomplish so singular a revolution." It must, therefore, seem surprising that any person should seriously suppose that the miserable fragments of books, which the Parsis now possess, are written in a language which ceased to be a living speech more than two thousand years ago, and that those fragments have been translated into another tongue, not a trace of which can be discovered in any existing language. It is at least evident that, until the authenticity of those fragments is proved, and the manner in which they have been preserved for two thousand years is demonstrated, it is directly contrary to every principle of human belief to admit that the words of which they are composed belong to the language which was spoken in Persia when it was conquered by Alexander the Great; and that, until the date when, and the manner in which, their pretended translation was made, is clearly established, it is impossible to receive that translation. as any proof that the jargon in which it is written was ever a real and living language.

The plainest principles, also, of philology require that, before it is assumed that an older language existed in any country, it should be first satisfactorily shown how the supposed modern language was introduced into

Commentaire sur le Yarna, p. ix.

+ Dissertation prefixed to his Persian and English Dictionary.

The Hebrew, Arabic, and Persian words before-mentioned are much too few to deserve being taken into consideration.

Asiat.Journ. N.S.VOL.26.No.102.

Q

that country, or obtained a prevalence in it. But conquest can alone produce an alteration in language, and it is sufficiently established that Persia has been conquered by only two foreign people-the Greeks and the Arabs. If, consequently, Zend was the popular language of Persia when it was conquered by the Greeks, repeated instances in other countries place it beyond a doubt that, if a new language had in consequence been formed, it must have been a mixture of Zend and Greek; and supposing that this new language received the name of Pahlvi, and that it was changed by the Arabic conquest, this second language must have consisted of Pahlvi and Arabic. But the most superficial examination of pure Persian in the Shah Nameh or in the Firhang Jehangiri will prove that Persian, when the Arabic words introduced into it, but not incorporated with it, are omitted, is an original language, which owes its formation to neither Zend, Pahlvi, Greek, nor Arabic; because there are no Greek words in it, and it is most probable that the few Persian words which appear in Zend and Pahlvi have been borrowed by the inventors of those jargons; for the originality of Persian cannot be disputed, and it is obvious that Zend and Pahlvi are not original, but made up of other languages. When, therefore, the originality of Persian, consisting not only in the words but also in the grammatical structure, is considered, it becomes totally improbable that any other language could ever have existed in Persia; for in that case unquestionable traces of it would be found in Persian, either incorporated with it or existing as distinct elements, as the Arabic words which have been introduced into it since that country was conquered by the Arabs. It is, consequently, most consistent with probability, and with the changes which language has undergone in other countries, to consider Persian as the language which has been spoken in Persia from time immemorial; and to conclude that the supposed existence of Zend and Pahlvi, as the popular language of Persia at any time, is a mere conjecture, which rests on no grounds whatever.

Adelung, however, has observed that the invention of a language is contrary to all probability, and even possibility; and that, therefore, the Zend must be considered as a real language, which was once actually spoken. He would seem, therefore, not to have been aware of the language of Formosa, invented by Psalmanazar, which was sufficiently original, copious, and regular, as to impose on learned men. In what language, also, is the Desatir written, as it is neither Zend nor Pahlvi? That book appears evidently to have been manufactured in India, and its existence is alone sufficient to show that the Parsi priests might have with equal facility invented a similar jargon, which was not subject to criticism or detection, as the knowledge of it was confined to a very few among them. The question, however, respecting the existence of Zend and Pahlvi as real languages seems to be one of mere curiosity; for the ingenious researches of the Baron de Sacy and M. de Burnouf appear to prove that the inscriptions still existing in Persia cannot be decyphered by means of those pretended languages; and it is incontrovertible that the fragments written in the

Zend and Pahlvi contain no information which would in the least compensate for the labour bestowed on their study. Mr. Richardson has long ago remarked: "The last reason I shall offer on this ground (against the authenticity of the Zendavesta) is, the uncommon stupidity of the work. The Zeratusht of Persia, or the Zoroaster of the Greeks, was highly celebrated by the most discerning people of ancient times; and his tenets, we are told, were most eagerly and rapidly embraced by the highest in rank, and the wisest men in the Persian empire. But could his success have possibly been so remarkable, had his religion breathed only the most jejune puerilities-without one ray of genius to rescue it from contempt-without a sentiment that could elevate the soul, or give one dignified idea of omnipotence?"" Upon the whole, M. Anquetil has made no discovery which can stamp his publications with the least authority. He brings evidence of no antiquity; and we are only disgusted with the frivolous superstition and never-ending ceremonies of the modern worshippers of fire." I have, also, observed in a former work, "That the religion of Zardusht existed in nearly the same state as that in which the Parsis have preserved it to the present day some centuries previous to the Christian era, 1 believe; but I as firmly believe that the Zendavesta is not only a spurious production of comparatively modern times, but that it is also in every respect totally unworthy of attention. For I concur entirely in the justness of this dilemma, proposed by Sir William Jones to Anquetil du Perron: 'Ou Zoroastre n'avait par le sens commun, ou il n'écrivit pas le livre que vous lui attribuez: s'il n'avait pas le sens commun, il fallait le laisser dans la foule et dans l'obscurité; s'il n'écrivit pas ce livre, il etait impudent de le publier sous son nom.'"

Bombay, 1st Dec. 1837.

VANS KENNEDY.

Within the last four centuries, as it appears to be admitted that the Parsis had lost the copies of their sacred books which they had brought with them to India before the fourteenth century of the Christian era; and there is no proof whatever that the originals of the writings which they now possess were received by them from the Guebres of Persia.

JAMBULUS, THE ANCIENT TRAVELLER.

JAMBULUS, the ancient traveller, who was antecedent to Diodorus, is said to have made a voyage to Ceylon, and to have lived there seven years. He has been classed amongst impostors; but Dr. Vincent ascertained that nine of the facts he has recorded, as characteristic of the people of the country, though doubted in former days, have been confirmed by later experience; a tenth, which Dr. Vincent left for further inquiry, was this: Jambulus states, of the alphabet of Ceylon, that “the characters are originally only seven, but by four varying forms or combinations, they become twenty-eight." The discovery of the Lat alphabet, used in the inscriptions of India and Ceylon, recently made by Mr. Prinsep, has proved his accuracy on this point. "It would be difficult," says that gentleman, "to describe the conditions of the Indian alphabetical system more accurately than Jambulus has done in this short summary, which proves to be not only true in the general sense, of the classification of the letters, but exact as to the origin and formation of the symbols."

THE PLAGUE SHIP.

BY LIEUTENANT J. R. WELLSTED.

In one of the winter evenings of last year, a party of my brother officers, of the Indian Navy, who had passed many years of servitude in the East, assembled in a snug room of mine, and were relating various incidents and adventures which had befallen them during their long absence from their native land. It was singular that, though by profession voyagers by water, we had all been travellers by land. Each had reccunted his success in overcoming some peril, when a brief pause in the conversation was thus broken by the junior of the party: “Well, I do believe I am one of the most unlucky devils in existence. I belong to a service where I should rise by rotation; but it is one in which nobody dies, and it seems utterly impossible to kill them. You," added he, "for instance, are here, safe and sound, after your wanderings in Arabia, and after being desperately wounded. You," pointing to a second, “went down in a steamer in the Euphrates, and although no Humane Society existed in those parts, was resuscitated. You," to a third, “ got through, without care or precaution, two plagues at Bagdad, which swept off 80,000, out of a population of 120,000, and were rescued after having been led out to be stoned at Damascus; but worse than all, here is one,” pointing to the fourth, “who has actually had the plague, and yet lives to torment me."

The rain pattered against the window, and the wind rushed by in fitful gusts; in a word, it was an English November evening. As I foresaw that a tale was inevitable, I did my best in self-defence. The table was drawn nearer to the fire, and the fire stirred into a blaze as we closed around it. As our glasses were charged, "Come," said I, "N., as none of us keep either middle or morning watches to-night, let us have this wondrous tale." After some modest apologies for its length and toughness, my friend commenced as follows, addressing himself at first to me:*

:

"We last parted some three years ago, to travel in very opposite directions; you for unexplored portions of Arabia; I westward, after an absence of fifteen years, to re-visit my native land. We meet now, after strange events befalling both but to my tale. Although no person is better qualified to estimate the miseries, not to say dangers, of a three months' voyage in a native boat from Bombay to Suez, than yourself, yet the subsequent occurrences of my journey so completely absorb the interest of every thing which preceded my arrival there, that you must be content to take me up at Cairo.

"It was in the month of March 1833, and the plague was raging with great violence in Alexandria. To avoid entering the city, I determined to proceed to Rosetta, and thence by sea to the port of Alexandria, so as to obtain a vessel without landing. I was accompanied by a young military friend. A small brig, the Espirito Santo, in which we embarked, sailed the day we arrived for Leghorn, and as we left the harbour, we could not but congratulate ourselves on our escape from the abode of pestilence, little imagining that the germ of the terrific malady was latent amongst us. All was bustle, gaiety, and life; the breeze was fresh and fair, and our little bark sprung gaily forward. Alexandria was on the horizon, but its domes and lofty minarets were fast sinking beneath

* It is necessary I should state, that the whole of the details of this story are facts, and that they were first communicated to me in the manner related. A letter I have since received from this officer, Lieut. A. Nott, I.N., who is now in India, furnished me with some further particulars, in addition to the notes I made at the time I first heard it related. J. R. W.

it, and the sun shone upon them as gloriously as if its beams were not illuminating a whitened sepulchre.

"We had been seven days at sea, when one of the crew was taken ill, and died on the following evening. I was somewhat alarmed at the account given; a suspicion flashed across my mind that it might be the plague. I therefore requested our doctor, a young Italian, who had not, I was informed, rendered the man assistance during his illness, to examine the corpse, and he at once reported, though with reluctance, that he had died of that dreadful disease. The announcement struck every one with astonishment and horror. Although keenly alive to our fearful situation, my companions and I affected a Mohamedan calmness, and passed the time in either smoking or sleeping in a part of the poop we had appropriated to ourselves.

"Another day passed, and no one complained. Already had we begun to indulge in the hope that it might be confined to the individual who had died; but the morrow made us acquainted with the full horrors of our situationthree others were simultaneously attacked with symptoms, which left us no doubt as to the nature of their disorder. It became necessary to adopt the best precautionary measures left us; and I suggested that the long-boat, which is always stowed in the middle of the vessel, should be cleared for the reception of the infected, and such refreshment as they wished for was conveyed to them by long poles. Two speedily died, and were drawn forth by hooks attached to the end of the poles, and thrown overboard; but a third lingered for some hours, and in the delirium which, in plague cases, usually precedes dissolution, in spite of all the efforts of the crew, who stood with poles, oars, &c., to prevent him, he crawled from the boat, and endeavoured to make his way to the after-part of the vessel: I never witnessed so ghastly an object. Frantic at the opposition offered to his progress, he clutched at the decks with desperate violence; his eyes were fixed and glaring, and the saliva fell from his lips as he gnashed his teeth or bit at the staves which intercepted his further progress. Finding he was making his way aft in spite of all opposition, I suggested that a rope should be thrown over him, and the end fastened to the launch. My suggestions were in part adopted; but conceive my horror, after he had been entangled in the noose, to perceive a Maltese seaman spring up the rigging, run the end through a block on the fore yard-arm, and pass it below! In vain I remonstrated: 'It may be your turn next,' said the captain, with a fiendish sneer. I have seen a mad dog in a kind of area, so furious, that he was actually breaking his tusks against the wooden door; but when a gun was brought and pointed at him, before it was discharged, all his ferocity forsook him, he crawled into a corner, looked and howled imploringly upwards. Thus it was with this unfortunate man. The crew had eagerly siezed the rope: in broken accents, the dying wretch implored for mercy-mercy in a plague ship! He was swayed over the side, suspended for a moment in mid air, as the seaman on the yard drew forth the knife from his girdle, opened it with his teeth, and severed the cord: a splash, one faint struggle, and the wild waves rolled over him for ever.

"I affect no mawkish sentiment, nor describe any overwrought feelings; but never, to the latest hours of my existence, will that man's look be effaced from my memory-never will the chill of horror which crept over me at the enactment of the last part of the tragedy be forgotten. I rejoined my companions; but felt faint and sick.

"Almost indifferent to my own fate at the moment, I listened with apathy to an old Greek merchant, who was relating the manner in which the plague had