Mesopotamia and Syria. It appears to have been exclusively from the Persians, that Herodotus derived the slender information which he possessed concerning India and its inhabitants; and the importance of the Indian trade carried on through the Persian dominions, affords the only adequate explanation of the fact which he mentions, that, under Darius Hystaspes, the Indian satrapy furnished a tribute of gold equal to 4680 Eubean talents of silver, being nearly a third of the whole annual revenue drawn from the twenty satrapies into which the kingdom was divided.

Major Rennell remarks, that "the communication by land between the Syrian empire and India, was dropped very early; for Bactria soon became independent, and by that means the link of the chain that connected India with Syria, was broken." But, although the political dependence of India on Persia was dissolved, and the further exploration of Asia by conquest was precluded by the rise of the Parthian monarchy, the stream of commerce continued, with occasional interruptions, to flow in its accustomed channel.' *

Of the remaining papers in the volume under review, the only one of much general interest, is Lieutenant Alexander's account of his visit to the Salt Lake of Loonar, situated in lat. 19° 10′ N., long. 75° 31′ E. As this paper is short, and few copies of these Transactions have reached this country, we shall transcribe the whole, in compensation to those of our readers who may have been wearied with the dryness of some of the preceding discussions.

'It was towards the close of a cool and delightful evening in August 1823, that I was riding leisurely along in a wooded district in Berar; and at about forty miles from the encampment of Jaulnah, in company with a small party of Mugulla horse, in the pay of His Highness, the Nizam, whom I had overtaken during my journeying. Whilst engaged in common-place conversation with their leader, a Duffadar, who was armed cap-a-pie, with quilted jacket, Damascus blade, spear, shield, and what not, our discourse was interrupted, upon emerging from the shaded and gently ascending path along which our road lay, by our approach to a low and lengthened mound, the summit of which having been attained, a most romantic and interesting spectacle was presented to us.

Beneath us, at the bottom of a mighty chasm, lay a deep, still lake, the water of which was slightly ruffled by the breeze, and beautifully tinted by the rays of the setting sun; it was of a circular form, and hemmed in by an amphitheatre of cliffs, which rose in precipitous ridges to an elevation of about 500 feet from its shore, environing it on every side, and preventing completely the egress of its waters. The rocks which surround this interesting lake, cannot come under the denomination of hills, for they do not tower in any part above the level of the surrounding country; they merely form

* Modern Traveller. India. Vol. i. pp. 145, 6.

the sides of an immense caldron, the circumference of which is about three miles; in short, the scenery, taken collectively, is a small counterpart of the celebrated Lake Avernus, differing from it in this respect, that no river

"Laco se condidit alto.”

In lieu of which, a solitary spring of some magnitude, dashes in a small cascade from the eastern face of the rocks, and pours its waters into an artificial tank, surrounded by temples and pagodas dedicated to the god Siva; issuing from which, it forms another cataract of about fifty feet in height, before it rushes on its turbid course to join the waters of the lake.

The whole landscape, though confined, is extremely pleasing. The dark green surface of these sunken waters strongly reflects the graceful forms of the princely palms (Borassus Umbelliformis) which fringe the margin, and advance their lofty stems into the waters of the lake. The sloping enclosure of rocks is covered half way up with mangoe and tamarind trees, interspersed with the Rhododendron Maximus, or laurel-leaved Rhod, which here attains a height of ten feet. A little picturesque temple, on the opposite side of the lake from the fountain, advances its white walls to the brink. It is seldom or never visited by the inhabitants of the adjoining village, from the dread of tigers which inhabit the jungle around it; which also forms a shelter for extensive herds of sambers or neelgaes. The audacity of our small party in tasting of the waters of the lake, was looked upon by the villagers as the grossest presumption and fool-hardiness. Superstition, always delighting in dark ideas, early and eagerly seized upon this spot, and hither she led her votaries to celebrate her dismal orgies. The weather-worn appearance of the buildings around the spring, sufficiently indicates that it has long been a seat of Hindu worship at this time, however, the stone tank exhibited a lively and interesting sight. Crowds of Mahratta women, in a state of seminudity, laved their limbs in its refreshing waters; others were employed in washing their clothes, lightening their labour with singing, while a solitary and aged Bramin poured his evening libation on the uncouth statue of the god.-It now remains to give some account of the waters of the lake, which, in a mineralogical point of view, are far from being uninteresting.

When I

"The name Loonar is derived from a Hindoostanee word signifying a salt-pit. The specific gravity of the water is very great. visited the lake, immediately subsequent to the monsoon, the taste was uncommonly brackish; consequently, in the hot season, the weight of water must, I should imagine, be nearly equal to that of the Lake Asphaltes, or the Dead Sea, in Judea, which is 1.240. By a rough analysis, the component parts in 100 are, I think, nearly as follows:

Muriate of Soda......... .20. 82
Muriate of Lime...

..10. 60

Muriate of Magnesia........... 6. 10

37. 52

Paper stained with turmeric, and immersed in the water, was changed into a deep brown, plainly indicating the predominance of the Muriate of Soda.

'About six years ago, before the late Mahratta war, the annual revenue which arose from the collection of the saline crust on the margin of the lake, amounted to three lacs of rupees; since which, the bunds, or mounds of earth, which are built across the heads of gulleys that descend into the lake, have been suffered to fall into a state of decay; in consequence of which, a very small portion of the bed of the lake is dry in the hot season. The town of Loonar is now almost dilapidated. When I passed through it, there was only a single doocan (shop) in the bazaar, which formerly was the resort of merchants from every part of India, as the extensive caravanseras on the outskirts of the town sufficiently indicate.

The chief use to which the sediment of the water was applied, was in cleansing the shawls of Cashmere; an alkaline soap being manufactured out of the muriatiferous clay, and sent to that distant region. It was also used as an article of food by Mussulmans, and formed an ingredient in the Pupreè Khar, or alkaline cake. It was employed as aqua regia in the solution of gold, and tasted medicinally. From the small portion of the bed which is now annually left dry, it is applicable to very few of these uses. The fracture of a portion of the salt which I obtained, was imperfectly foliated, crystallized in cubes, and the colour a greyish white. No noxious smell arises from the waters, which are asserted to be unfathomable, and uninhabited by fish; but, by a strange antithesis, it is affirmed, that the lake is the abode of numerous and large-sized alligators.'

The length to which this article has extended, compels us to defer our notice of the Bombay Transactions till the next Number.

Art. II. Salathiel. A Story of the Past, the Present, and the Future. 3 vols. small 8vo. pp. 1087. London. 1828.

WE

E have no very special partiality for that hyper-romantic class of compositions which moves between heaven and earth, savouring of both, and yet identifying itself with neither; resorting to sorcery and infernal agency for a yet deeper and more appalling interest, and employing all means, natural or supernatural, possible or impossible, for the production of exaggerated effect. In the hands of an inferior writer, it is obvious that all this must be inexpressibly disgusting; and we could cite, calling up our novel-reading recollections, instances in abundance of complete and disgraceful failure in the management of the horrific, from the loathsome depravities of 'the Monk', and the wild distortions of the Wanderer', to the frigid extravagancies of Gundulph's Tower.' Maturin, indeed, was a man of genius, and frequently wrote with great

brilliancy and power; but he had no retentive faculty'; his taste was undisciplined and undiscriminating. Nor is there one of his many publications that will live; though there is not one without the scattered, but strongly marked signatures of feeling and high talent.

But we are doing great injustice to the Author of Salathiel, by taking this course of depreciatory comment, since, to him, it is altogether inapplicable, excepting in its reference to a peculiar order of imaginative composition; and even from the difficulties and disadvantages connected with this, he has contrived to escape, by his choice of subject, and by the identification of his theme with events of unparalleled interest and grandeur. Mr. Croly-we may as well drop the incognito, when it ceases to serve the purpose of concealment—is a writer of great power, of various and versatile talent, of vivid, if not creative imagination, and of singular readiness and richness. To this praise he has well entitled himself by his various publications, but by none more decidedly than by the splendid composition now in our hands. His style, characteristically Asiatic, rather than Attic, is admirably suited to a Tale of the East, that takes within the range of its descriptive excursions, the conflagration of Rome and the fall of Jerusalem; that commences with the traditionary curse-Tarry thou, till I 'come', and closes with the desperate strife of its hero before the awful vail of the Holy of Holies, and amid the wreck of the burning Temple.

The wild legend of the Wandering Jew has been frequently adopted as the text of fictitious narrative; and there are few among the freaks of fancy better suited to the purpose. The mysterious anathema, singling out and excommunicating its fated object from among mankind, denying him his portion in the sympathies and charities of his fellow-men, gifting him with a charmed life, forbidding flood or fire, earthquake or storm, to visit him with mischief, and securing him against all the casualties of vicissitudes or violence, by the ordination that he should not taste of death, but await, in the dreary penance of separated and inviolable existence, the living amid the dying,the second coming of the Son of Man, whose first appearing he had greeted with insult and curses, in that last and terrible hour when the priests and populace of Judea called down upon themselves and upon their children the vengeance of Hist blood;-on this ground-work, Mr. Croly has framed his irregular and arabesque, but gorgeous and impressive structure. Of the peculiar character of his hero, he has not made quite so much as we think he might advantageously have done. Salathiel has nothing mysterious about him, excepting his

melo-dramatic escapes. He is an imposing and elastic personage, half Jew, half Arab; a priest, although of the tribe of Naphtali, a warrior, and, withal, somewhat of a harlequin in the celerity of his movements, and the dexterity of his evasions. The narrative opens abruptly.

"TARRY THOU, TILL I COME." The words shot through meI felt them like an arrow in my heart-my brain whirled-my eyes grew dim. The troops, the priests, the populace, the world, passed away from before my senses like phantoms.

But my mind had a horrible clearness. As if the veil that separates the visible and invisible worlds had been rent in sunder, I saw shapes and signs for which mortal language has no name. The whole expanse of the future spread under my mental gaze in dreadful vision. A preternatural light, a new power of mind seemed to have been poured into my being. I saw at once the full guilt of my crime-the fierce folly-the mad ingratitude-the desperate profanation. I lived over again in frightful distinctness every act and instant of the night of my unspeakable sacrilege. I saw, as if written with a sunbeam, the countless injuries that in the rage of bigotry I had accumulated upon the victim; the bitter mockeries that I had devised; the cruel tauntings that my lips had taught the rabble; the pitiless malignity that had forbidden them to discover a trace of virtue where all virtue was. The blows of the scourge still sounded in my ears. Every drop of the innocent blood rose up in judgement before me.

Accursed be the night in which I fell before the tempter! Blotted out from time and eternity be the hour in which I took part with the torturers! Every fibre of my frame quivers, every drop of my blood curdles, as I still hear the echo of the anathema that on the night of woe sprang first from my furious lips, the self-pronounced ruin, the words of desolation, "His BLOOD BE UPOn us, AND UPON OUR CHILDREN!"

'I had headed the multitude: where others shrank, I urged; where others pitied, I reviled, and inflamed; I scoffed at the feeble malice of the priesthood; I scoffed at the tardy cruelty of the Roman; I swept away by menace and by scorn the human reluctance of the few who dreaded to dip their hands in blood. Thinking to do God service, and substituting my passions for my God, I threw firebrands on the hearts of a rash, jealous, and bigoted people. I triumphed!

In a deed which ought to have covered earth with lamentation, which was to make angels weep, which might have shaken the universe into dust, I triumphed! The decree was passed: but my frenzy was not so to be satiated. I loathed the light while the victim lived. Under the penalty of treason to Cæsar, I demanded instant execution of the sentence." Not a day of life must be given", I exclaimed; " not an hour:-death, on the instant; death!" My clamour was echoed by the roar of millions.

But, in the moment of my exultation, I was stricken. acclamation of the multitude came forth the command.

In the He who