glasses. "In Barbary," says Shaw, "they are so fond of their looking-glasses, which they hang upon their breasts, that they will not lay them aside, even when, after the drudgery of the day, they are obliged to go two or three miles with a pitcher or a goat's skin to fetch water." Travels.

In other parts of Asia they wear little looking-glasses on their thumbs. "Hence (and from the lotus being considered the emblem of beauty) is the meaning of the following mute intercourse of two lovers before their parents. "He with salute of deference due

A lotus to his forehead prest;

She rais'd her mirror to his view,

Then turn'd it inward to her breast."

Asiatic Miscellany, vol. ii.

Page 182.

th' untrodden solitude

Of Ararat's tremendous peak.

Struy says, "I can well assure the reader that their opinion is not true, who suppose this mount to be inaccessible." He adds that "the lower part of the mountain is cloudy, misty, and dark, the middlemost part very cold and like clouds of snow, but the upper regions perfectly calm." It was on this mountain that the Ark was supposed to have rested after the Deluge, and part of it they say exists there still, which Struy thus gravely accounts for: "Whereas none can remember that the air on the top of the hill did ever change or was subject either to wind or rain, which is presumed to be the reason that the Ark has endured so long without being rotten."—v. Car

reri's Travels, where the Doctor laughs at this whole account of Mount Ararat.

Page 191.

The Gheber belt that round him clung.

"Pour se distinguer des Idolatres de l'Inde, les Guebres se ceignent tous d'un cordon de laine, ou de poil de chameau.' Encyclopédie Françoise.

D'Herbelot says this belt was generally of leather.

Page 192.

Who morn and even

Hail their Creator's dwelling-place

Among the living lights of Heaven.

"As to fire, the Ghebers place the spring-head of it in that globe of fire, the Sun, by them called Mythras, or Mihir, to which they pay the highest reverence, in gratitude for the manifold benefits flowing from its ministerial omniscience. But they are so far from confounding the subordination of the Servant with the majesty of its Creator, that they not only attribute no sort of sense or reasoning to the sun or fire, in any of its operations, but consider it as a purely passive blind instrument, directed and governed by the immediate impression on it of the will of God; but they do not even give that luminary, all glorious as it is, more than the second rank amongst his works, reserving the first for that stupendous production of divine power, the mind of man." Grose. The false charges brought against the religion of these people by their Mussulman tyrants is but one proof among many of the truth of this writer's remark, "that calumny is often added to oppression, if but for the sake of justifying it."

Page 197.

That tree which grows over the tomb of the musician

Tan-Sein.

"Within the enclosure which surrounds this monument (at Gualior) is a small tomb to the memory of Tan-Sein, a musician of incomparable skill, who flourished at the court of Akbar. The tomb is over-shadowed by a tree, concerning which a superstitious notion prevails, that the chewing of its leaves will give an extraordinary melody to the voice." - Narrative of a Journey from Agra to Ouzein, by W. Hunter, Esq.

Page 197.

The awful signal of the bamboo-staff.

"It is usual to place a small white triangular flag, fixed to a bamboo staff of ten or twelve feet long, at the place where a tiger has destroyed a man. It is common for the passengers also to throw each a stone or brick near the spot, so that in the course of a little time a pile equal to a good waggon-load is collected. The sight of these flags and piles of stones imparts a certain melancholy, not perhaps altogether void of apprehension." — Oriental Field Sports, vol. ii.

Page 198.

Beneath the shade some pious hands had erected, &c. "The Ficus Indica is called the Pagod Tree and Tree of Councils; the first from the idols placed under its shade; the second, because meetings were held under its cool branches. In some places it is believed to be the haunt of spectres, as the ancient spreading oaks of Wales have been

of fairies: in others are erected beneath the shade pillars of stone, or posts, elegantly carved and ornamented with the most beautiful porcelain to supply the use of mirrors." Pennant.

Page 200.

The nightingale now bends her flight.

"The nightingale sings from the pomegranate-groves in the day-time, and from the loftiest trees at night."-Russel's Aleppo.

Page 204.

Before whose sabre's dazzling light, &c.

"When the bright cimiters make the eyes of our heroes wink."

The Moallakat, Poem of Amru.

Page 204.

As Lebanon's small mountain-flood

Is rendered holy by the ranks

Of sainted cedars on its banks.

In the Lettres Edifiantes, there is a different cause assigned for its name of Holy. "In these are deep caverns, which formerly served as so many cells for a great number of recluses, who had chosen these retreats as the only witnesses upon earth of the severity of their penance. The tears of these pious penitents gave the river of which we have just treated the name of the Holy River.". Chateaubriand's Beauties of Christianity.

Page 208.

A rocky mountain o'er the sea

Of Oman beetling awfully.

દર્દ

V.

This mountain is my own creation, as the "stupendous

chain" of which I suppose it a link does not extend quite so far as the shores of the Persian Gulf. "This long and lofty range of mountains formerly divided Media from Assyria, and now forms the boundary of the Persian and Turkish empires. It runs parallel with the river Tigris and Persian Gulf, and almost disappearing in the vicinity of Gomberoon (Harmozia) seems once more to rise in the southern districts of Kerman, and following an easterly course through the centre of Meckraun and Balouchistan, is entirely lost in the deserts of Sinde."- Kinneir's Persian Empire.

Page 209.

That bold were Moslem, who would dare

At twilight hour to steer his skiff.

Beneath the Gheber's lonely cliff.

"There is an extraordinary hill in this neighbourhood, called Kohé Gubr or the Guebre's mountain. It rises in the form of a lofty cupola, and on the summit of it, they say, are the remains of an Atush Kudu or Fire Temple. It is superstitiously held to be the residence of Deeves or Sprites, and many marvellous stories are recounted of the injury and witchcraft suffered by those who essayed in former days to ascend or explore it." Pottinger's Beloochistan.

Page 210.

Still did the mighty flame burn on.

"At the city of Yezd in Persia, which is distinguished by the appellation of the Darûb Abadut, or Seat of Religion, the Guebres are permitted to have an Atush Kudu or Fire Temple (which, they assert, has had the sacred fire in it