of the evidences, that the deductions, often of a decided and strong nature, are generally made to depend upon some previous opinions, or certain reports made by doubtful authorities, not much reliance is to be placed on the theory of our author relative to the vexed questions which have engaged him. In short, it is our opinion that, while the author has displayed much ingenuity, as well as antiquarian lore, he has rested his arguments for the most part either upon uncertain and imperfect grounds, or that he has overlooked difficulties and objections, that appear to be fatal to his hypotheses. It may convey our idea of the unphilosophical character of this well-written volume (in respect of style, it is appropriately dignified yet easy in manner) when we state that the author has relied chiefly upon remains and monuments, to the neglect of the affinities of language, which we regard as being far more lasting, distinct, and curious tests. We shall now quote a sample of his composition and also of what we consider forced argument, and this even upon insufficient evidence of the alleged facts. The Mexicans are made kinsmen with the Etruscans. Here language is not overlooked :—

From their traditions and monuments, the Oscans and Etruscans, or rather the Etrurians, appear to be assimilated to the cultivated races of America. Everything relative to these people, however, is enveloped in mysterious darkness. Even the Etruscan language, which was once understood by the Romans, is now entirely lost. Like the Mexican, it appears to have been harsh, and consonants were its predominant sounds. Antiquarians have traced some analogies to the Mexican language, and the words deciphered in a Perugian inscription in Tuscany-Spancxl, Eplt, and Thunchultl-certainly bear some resemblance to the Mexican. The divination, the rituals, and the sacred ceremonies of the Romans, which were mostly of Etrurian origin, indicate that worship of nature and of the elements which was the first and purest form of Sabaism. On the day of the third and great festival of the Mexican god Tlaloc, the god of water, which was held in the month of May, the temple was strewed with rushes brought from the lake Citlaltepec. After performing other sacrifices, the priests, followed by the people in procession, proceeded to a certain part of the lake where in former times there was a whirlpool, and plunged two children of different sex into the water, together with the hearts of the other human victims who had been sacrificed. In Italy, on the Ides of May, the Vestal Virgins took thirty images of men made of rushes, and, accompanied by a sacred procession, threw the mock sacrifices into the Tiber from the Sublician bridge, in the place of an equal number of human beings formerly devoted to the same rites. In Mexico, the termination of a cycle was attended with the extinguishment of the old fires which were kept in the Teocalli, and the kindling of the new with joyous ceremonies. The Etruscans also celebrated their secular periods by festivals; and at Rome, on the first of March in each year, a new fire was lighted in the Temple of Vesta.

The Romans derived their most ancient calendar from the Etrurians.

The year of Romulus consisted of three hundred and four days, subdivided into ten months, and weeks of eight days. This, like the Aztec ritual calendar, is manifestly arbitrary, and derived from no astronomical period. The Aztec ritual month, it has already been observed, represented the light and dark halves of the moon; and the same division into half lunations is perceived in the Roman Ides. Both of these curious systems of chronology bore a relation to a certain great secular period which they measured; and which was formed from an accurate idea of the true duration of the solar year. The Etrurians had a great cycle of one hundred and ten years, during which two intercalations were made in the fifty-sixth and one hundred and tenth years, whereby the religious year of three hundred and four days, and its eight-day divisions, corresponded with the true time and the course of the sun. The close of the great Mexican cycle of one hundred and four years was the time also when the ritual year of two hundred and sixty days accorded with the solar year. The peculiar construction of these calendars is to be elucidated only by reference to the religious institutions of Italy and Mexico. They had probably been adopted at an early age, as the only practicable means of celebrating the rites of religion upon certain stated days. In all important public ceremonies, in all festivals, in the fulfilment of vows and the performance of sacrifices, "where even an involuntary transgression threatens to draw down vengeance" from heaven, this invariable and unerring system became highly valuable as a sacred calendar, whilst at the same time some degree of real order was preserved by making it correspond at the end of a particular number of years with the course of the sun. The Mexicans appear to have calculated the length of the year at three hundred and sixty-five days, five hours, and fifty minutes, and the Etrurians at three hundred and sixty-five days, five hours, and forty minutes; a degree of accuracy which excites our astonishment; and, like other ancient people, they both believed that at the end of certain astronomical cycles periodical changes in nature would occur; and these were watched with great anxiety and fear.

:

More comparison between Mexico and Etruria :

The massive style of architecture, and some of the peculiar features which characterize the arts of the Etrurians, are supposed to have been borrowed from the first and conquered inhabitants of the country; and the same remark is applicable to many of the Etrurian institutions. For the origin of all such traits of resemblance as may appear, we are to go back to the earliest ages of Italian history. The most ancient style of architecture in Italy belongs to that which, from its colossal character, the use of prodigious masses of stone, and from tradition, is called the work of the giants or the Cyclops. In America, and particularly in Peru, the great size of the stones, the appearance of polygonal walls, and of the Cyclopean arch, indicate a similar method of construction. Pliny, on the authority of Varro, has transmitted to us a description of the Mausoleum of Porsenna; above which was raised a series of pyramids, which indicate analogies to the structures of Egypt and Mexico. The custom of burning the dead; of depositing articles used by the deceased in his lifetime in the

sepulchres; the practice of divination; the conical caps worn by the Roman flamen, from which he took his name, and which were common in the East, and are perceived on the Mexican monuments; the dramatic entertainments, which were original with the Oscans, borrowed from them by the Etruscans, and thence introduced subsequently into Rome; the religious use of circular mirrors; the incinerary urns and vases; the Etruscan patterns observed in the Mexican monumental paintings; the red men painted on the walls of the tombs at Tarquinii, all establish other links of connexion between the Etrurians and the civilized nations of America; not as indicating, however, that the latter were of Etrurian origin, but as proving the great antiquity of these features in their monuments and institutions; not as establishing a regular and lineal descent, but rather suggesting an ancient connexion in the remotest ages of the world, when the arts, customs, and religion of primitive nations received that stamp which still continued to characterize them after the separation of nations.

ART. II.-Cabool; being a Personal Narrative of a Journey to, and Residence in that City, in the years 1836-7 and 8. By the late Lieut. COL. SIR ALEXANDER BURNES, C.B., &c. Murray.

THIS Volume requires little or nothing to be said of it in any literary notice to insure its hearty reception among a large class of readers. The deep anxiety at present felt relative to our position in the East, but especially in Afghanistan; the peculiar means which Sir Alexander possessed of describing the city and country more immediately indicated by the title of the work; the established celebrity of the writer as a traveller, a diplomatist, and an author of travels; and, last but not least, in lending attraction to the book, the fact of its being a posthumous publication, dedicated, with filial piety, to his father, dedicated by one, too, whose untimely death took place in a violent form, and amid the most appalling circumstances, -by one who fell a sacrifice in furtherance of a policy which perhaps he did not approve of; unexpectedly fell at the moment that he believed himself to be in perfect security,—are truths which all combine to create the deepest interest. Nay, we have not yet indicated the compass, the depth, the touching character of the sentiments which will accompany and sustain the perusal of this book; for, while the dedication, the preface, and the pervading tone of the work, will engagingly impress the reader with the author's sense of security when writing; writing, too, with a delightful flow of youthful spirits, with a triumphant buoyancy; at the very moment the barbarian's sword may be said to have been suspended over his head. All was cheerful and lively when he wrote; he fancied himself to be among kind acquaintances and powerful friends, little dreaming of the terrible catastrophe that would overtake him at the same

place in a few years. But the reader cannot help contrasting all these circumstances and indications with the sad issue; and hence an interest attaches to the publication of an accidental and extraneous character, which will perhaps, after all, at least for the present, prove to be the most powerful passport to every order of minds.

But there is no need for limiting the interest which will attach to this work to the present time; for it has merits, both in respect of matter and manner, which will make it a literary legacy to future readers. Long after the political anxieties have vanished which at this moment are connected with the route and the duties of Sir Alexander Burnes, as detailed in, or connected with, this publication, the graphic pictures of oriental manners which it contains, and the lively spirit of the description will continue to charm. There is remarkable ease, lightness of touch, vivacity, and truthfulness in these sketches. But there is more in the work; there is solid information. Sir Alexander possessed a great amount of experience; his judgment was sound; and he was decidedly a practical man. Altogether, he exhibited lineaments of strong character, yet finely tempered and harmonized. He and his books seem to have been favourites with all, before the murderous slayer wrung from an empire's heart its full tribute of admiration and sympathy.

The volume contains an account of Sir Alexander's journey to Cabool, when he went thither at the head of a political mission, to make observations upon the nature of the countries, with their productions and inhabitants, through which they might pass, or had to visit. The author had for companions and coadjutors persons suitable for the enterprise; each one taking his department, under the direction of the chief, and just as seemed most proper and advantageous. Science, as well as political information, was most sedulously attended to; manners as well as men; while native agents as well as the members of the mission were dexterously employed. Burnes himself specially devoted himself to political labours, which are more fully detailed in his larger works. But he also lost no opportunity to notice and narrate the incidents of his journey, to describe the scenery and singular customs which met his eye, or to sketch the different and marked characters whom he encountered.

The volume contains, as its title states, the Personal Narrative of Sir Alexander. There are also a variety of appendices, the matter of which could not be conveniently or suitably inserted in the text. The papers furnished by the lamented Dr. Lord are particularly valuable. Numerous Illustrations enhance the beauty and worth of the book.

We need not sketch the route of the mission, nor mention the direction or character of the many divergences and trips from the main line or principal residences that occurred. Neither is it necessary VOL. II. (1842.) No. II.

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to point out to any reader of the volume the moral or political truths which the incidents and the anecdotes detailed forcibly teach. There are terrible things in oriental society as well as in oriental despotism. The fearful uncertainty of human life constitutes one of the truths to which we allude. But we hasten to extract copiously.

We shall not tarry long with the Ameers in Sinde. A specimen of Noor Mahomed's conversation may, however, impede us for a

moment:

He asked if I had ever seen any river which could be compared with the Indus? I replied that I had seen the Ganges, the Oxus, and the Nile; but never any river so favourable for the ruler, the subject, and the merchant, as the Indus. "Most other countries," added I, "require rain, but Sinde can do without it." He said Sinde was a fine country, particularly the lower part of it; that rain always brought with it disease, and that they were better without it. The Ameer also told me that he had five histories of Sinde which he would give me a promise, by the by, which he never fulfilled. He seemed tolerably conversant with the annals of his country, of the Soomras and Sumas, and quoted the tradition of the Sund Rajas having captured Cutch by concealing themselves under grass, and entering one of the principal forts. These subjects drew him on to speak of his own ancestors, and their connexion with the British government. He asked after Mr. Ellis, whom he said he remembered, adding that his abilities were great, and that a saying of his was often repeated by his father and uncles. When a native agent was to be stationed in Sinde, the Ameers wished to fix him at Tattá.. Mr. Ellis replied, "No; let him be under the shade of the Ameers;" and Hydrabad became his residence. I give the foregoing as a specimen of the general tone of his conversation. We bade farewell to his highness on the 16th at Nasree, and proceeded to join our boats near Sehwun, the Ameer departing the same day for his capital; both parties, if protestations could be relied upon, delighted with the expedition, and with all its incidents and adven

tures.

Certain scenes, persons, and conversations at Khypoor, furnish means for judging of native character. A particular festival, the second "eed," which happened while the author was in the country, gave an opportunity of seeing the national dance of the aboriginal Sindees of the Mai or Myance tribe, who subsist by fishing. The women of the tribe all came dressed in holiday clothes, and danced round the musicians in slow time; men and women joining in the dance together at marriages and festivals. We have these additional particulars :

All these women were on a very large scale, thickset, and dark; few were handsome, and their ear and neck-ornaments were so large as to be unseemly. After this the prima donna of Khyrpoor, Jewun Bukhsh, entertained us with a 66 natch." This girl is a religious courtezan, who