sentation of the crescent moon on the head of her husband, under the following circumstances. When once engaged in amorous sports, he by accident broke her arm-ring, which she immediately tied on his dishevelled lock of hair as the crescent moon. He, however, having laughed at her, she turned away her face, and changed the crescent into the full moon.* The crescent is common to both, and is assumed as circumstances may require.-See particularly the remarks on Isai. lxv. 11.

"Shach, or Saca, another god or goddess, partly the same with Mylitta, (Succoth-benoth,) the Syrian goddess.'†

"The wife of Siva is also known here under the name of Satti; but in Sanskrit, Sakti.

"The festival of Saca was held for five days every year; during which time, servants commanded their masters, and wore a kind of royal garment, called Zogani.' ‡

"The festival of the wife of Siva continues nine days, or rather nights, and is called Nava Ráttiri, that is, nine nights: three of these, however, are for Sarasvati, § and the other six for Sakti. On this occasion, those who have not been accustomed to eat flesh, or drink intoxicating liquors, do so freely. All restraints are now thrown off; and scenes of the most sickening kind wind up the ceremonies. No young female of respectable character will dare to show herself in public. Servants assume the airs and practices of their masters; school-boys, dressed in gay apparel, || go from house to house, to dance and sing songs in honour of Sakti. Gambling, fighting of cocks and of rams, with other rude and ludicrous performances, fill up this indecent festival.

"Salambo, a goddess; the same as Astarte; eternally roaming up and down a mountain.'¶

The following is a translation of the passage from the Kúrma Púrána: "Let us place on our heads the feet of Sacti, who when she put on Siva's dishevelled lock of hair the crescent moon, her arm-ring, which had been broken in amorous dalliance, the cimetar-armed Siva looked significantly; at which she averted her face with shame, and changed it into the full moon." +"Universal History."

Ibid. Lieutenant Burnes, in describing the manners and customs of the Mahometans of Toorkistan, says, some of them wear "a large white turban and a chogha or pelisse;" (vol. i. p. 275;) which corresponds with zogani, the article of dress here mentioned and with shokkai.

§ The wife of Brahma.

"Universal History."

One garment worn is called shokkai.

"Is it not rather striking, that the wife of Siva is also known by the name of Silambú; and that this name signifies 'a mountain?' Another of her names is Pārvati, meaning, 'her who was born in a mountain.' She is called 'daughter of the mountain;' and sometimes the mountain-nymph,' who captivated Síva from a course of ascetic austerities.

"The Babylonians and Assyrians worshipped what by the Greeks and Romans was termed Paλλos, or Priapus. The priaps were three hundred fathoms, or three hundred cubits, high; and by whom the priaps were erected, there is much fable.'*

"By their deities, the Egyptians, most probably, meant the sun and moon. Some suppose Osiris to signify the efficient cause of things; and Isis, matter. Osiris was

represented in human form, in a posture not very decent, signifying his generative and nutritive faculty. His living image was the bull. The image of Isis, usually in the form of a woman, with cows' horns on her head.'+ Calmet also says: 'Astarte was the same as the Isis of Egypt;' and again quotes Jerome, who in several places translated the name Astarte by Priapus.

"In reference to the indecent object alluded to as being worshipped by the Assyrians, it is well known that the Hindoos do the same thing. The Lingam (Priapus) in the Hindoo temple of Sedambarem, is supposed to have sprung from the earth of itself; and its foundation is believed to be in the lower world.‡

"As it respects Osiris, it is more than probable that he, in his 'posture, signifying the generative and nutritive faculties,' was the same as the Siva of the Hindoos. The bull was sacred to the former, and also to the latter. Isis being represented with cows' horns, finds a parallel in Siva or his wife, with the crescent moon fixed on the head.

+ Ibid.

"Universal History." Buckingham, in his "Travels in Mesopotamia,” (vol. ii. p. 406,) thus describes some antiques which he saw taken from the ruins of Babylon: "The larger antiques comprehended a figure in brass, embracing a large lingam between its knees, precisely in the style of the Hindú representation of that emblem." He mentions also, in another place, "the Indian figure of a man, with a painted bonnet, and beard, embracing the lingam."

May not the circumstances mentioned in Gen. ix. 23, have been the origin of this worship?

"In conclusion, whether we look at the corresponding traits of character in Moloch and Kali; in Báal-peor and the Chiun of Amos; at the mutual assumption of either sex by Síva and his partner; at the term 'mother' being applied to the latter, as well as to the Succoth-benoth (Astarte or Mylitta) of the Assyrian, Phoenician, Jewish, and other nations; at the cows' horns (so called) of Assyria, and the crescent of India; at the young virgins who made a sacrifice of chastity to the Succoth-benoth of antiquity, and to the consort of the Oriental Síva; at the use made of the regular female votaries of both systems; at their mutual assumption, on certain occasions, of the male attire; at the lion, as belonging to the goddess of Assyria, and also to her of India; to the festival of Shach or Sáca, and that of Satti or Sakti, in reference to the lascivious manner in which it was conducted, and the peculiar garments worn on that occasion; at Salambo being the name of the one goddess, and also of the other; at its true meaning, in reference to a mountain where they mutually dwelt; at the Baal-peor of Assyria, and the Israelites, and the Osiris of Egypt, the paλλos of the Greeks, the Priapus of the Romans, and the Lingam of the Hindoos, worshipped now in the temples of the East:-when we reflect on some of the most striking of these coincidences," we perceive that their existence in countries and ages so distant from each other, can only be accounted for by the obvious fact of their being the result of an exact identity of origin.

Looking, therefore, at the primitive locality of the present human family; at the five books of Moses; at the historical books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, &c.; at the Psalms; at the prophetical writings of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Jonah, and the other Minor Prophets; viewing the remarkable identity of the two leading deities (male or female) of the Assyrians, the Egyptians, the Jews, the Hindoos, the Greeks, and of the Romans; we may surely expect to meet with many vivid illustrations of the sacred volume in the existing languages, idolatrous customs, and superstitions of the East.

In the "Universal History," one of the temples in Egypt is thus described : "Near the temple was a lake, in the midst of which stood a stone-altar; and every day, many people swam to the altar in the midst of the lake, to perform their devotions." This is a correct description of vast numbers of Hindoo temples, and of the manner in which men go to the stone-altar in the middle of the tank, to perform their devotions.

On some subjects I have written with considerable plainness; but, for prudential reasons, have been obliged to conceal the worst features in the portrait. Would that the whole could be safely disclosed! then would the people of these realms arise from their lethargy, and cry for the spiritual and mental emancipation of the Oriental slave. The time has gone by for the flippant verbiage of the philosophers of France and England, about the "virtuous Hindoo and his venerable system of ethics," to produce any impression; we have looked into the vile arcana, and dragged (so far as was prudent) the monster to the light. Great Britain has acted nobly to the West Indies; she has there laid a train for the destruction of slavery and vice in her own dependencies, and finally in those of other nations; her illustrious and disinterested conduct will have a place in the literature of every nation; and her fame will find an echo in every age and clime. But let her now look at the East Indies; has she not there the most glorious field for her benevolent, moral, spiritual achievements?

As to the origin of the various resemblances depicted in this volume, I do not think that they have been derived from the written word of our Scriptures, but from oral communications; and they seem to have been moulded into their present shape by the political and theological notions of the people among whom they were received.

It has been my object, as much as possible, to avoid points of controversy: I have therefore left the reader at liberty to compare this with other elucidations of Holy Writ; and I doubt not, that he will generally be led to right conclusions.

Some of the articles will perhaps be deemed to be too brief; but no student will be long without ascertaining their meaning.

In very many instances I preserve the Tamul idiom, but have usually distinguished it by inverted commas; there are, however, some sentences without that distinction, which may lead the reader to suppose they are my own composition, when they are nothing more than the literal rendering of an Eastern phrase. I am conscious that my English is not always so pure and national as it ought to be; but numerous years of absence, and the influence of foreign associations, must be pleaded as my apology.

Should Providence again direct my footsteps to those distant regions, I shall, at all convenient opportunities, pursue the same course, and hope to make some additions to my previous stock of biblical knowledge.

If it be laudable in a great nation to expend thousands in exploring unknown regions, in tracing out the course or the source of a river, or the limits of a sea; how much more is it to illustrate that book which refers to "the regions beyond," -to that "bourn whence no traveller returns!" Man has ransacked and delved into the crumbling remains of antiquity; he has sailed through rivers and seas "unknown to song;" he has become "the inhabitant of every clime;" his ambitious soul has ventured all for the breath of fame: and is this fair, this glorious field of biblical research, so worthy of all his loftier powers, to remain comparatively unexplored? Happy shall I be, if, in accordance with the wishes of the Society to which I have the honour to belong, I may again be employed in this sublime pursuit; and happy shall I be to render up my breath in illustrating that volume which has been my solace and delight in sorrow's darkest hour.

Now "unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen."

FAVERSHAM, KENT,

January, 1835.

JOSEPH ROBERTS.