344 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 206. 



Iiinis,' the flat island," &c. — American Nations, vol. ii. 

 p. 245. et infra. 



The coincidence then is this. The same ve- 

 neration for the West prevails among many of our 

 Indian tribes, who place their Paradise in an 

 island beyond the Great Lake (Pacific), and far 

 toward the setting sun. There, good Indians 

 enjoy a fine country abounding in game, are 

 always clad in new skins, and live in warm new 

 lodges. Thither they are wafted by prosperous 

 gales ; but the bad Indians are driven back by 

 -adverse storms, wrecked on the coast, where the 

 remains of their canoes are to be seen covering 

 "the strand in all directions. 



I cannot refrain from adding here another coin- 

 cidence connected with futurity. The above idea 

 of sailing to the Indian Paradise, though prevalent, 

 is not general ; for instance, the Minnetarees and 

 Mandans believed that to reach Paradise the souls 

 of the departed had to pass over an extremely 

 narrow bridge, which was done safely by the good 

 Indians, but the bad ones slipped off and were 

 buried in oblivion. (See Long's Expedition to the 

 Itochy Mountains, vol. i. p. 259.) 



The Chepewa crosses a river on a bridge formed 

 by the body of a large snake (see Long's Expe- 

 dition to St. Peters River, vol. i. p. 154.) ; and in 

 the same volume it is stated that the Dacota, or 

 Sioux, believe they must pass over a rock with a 

 sharp edge like a knife. Those who fall off go to 

 the region of evil spirits, where they are worked, 

 tormented, and frequently flogged unmercifully. 



Now, this bridge for gaining Paradise is just 

 the Alsirat of the Mahomedans ; I think it will be 

 found in the Bibliotheque Orieiitale of D'Herbelot; 

 at all events it is mentioned in the preliminary 

 ■discourse to Sale's Koran. Sale thinks Mahomet 

 borrowed the idea from the Magians, who teach, 

 that on the last day all mankind must pass over 

 the " Piil Chinavad " or " Chinavar," i. e. " The 

 Straight Bridge." Farther, the Jews speak of 

 the " Bridge of Hell," which is no broader than a 

 thread. According to M. Hommaire de Hell, the 

 Kalmuck Alsirat is a bridge of iron (or causeway) 

 traversing a sea of filth, urine, &c. When the 

 wicked attempt to pass along tins, it narrows be- 

 neath them to a hair's breadth, snaps asunder, and 

 thus convicted they are plunged into hell. (Travels 

 in the Steppes of the Caspian, Sfc, p. 252.) 



Having already trespassed most unconscionably, 

 I foi'bear farther remark on these coincidences, 

 except that such ideas of futurity being found 

 amongst nations so widely separated, cannot but 

 induce the belief of a common origin, or at least 

 of intimate communication at a former period, 

 and that so remote as to have allowed time for 

 diverging dialects to have become, as it were, 

 distinct languages. A. C. M. 



Exeter. 



JACOB BOBART, 



(Vol. viii., p. 37.) 



The completion of a laborious literai-y work has 

 taken my attention away from the " N. & Q." for 

 some weeks past, otherwise I should sooner have 

 given Mr. Bobaut the following information. 



The engraving of old Jacob Bobart by W. 

 Richardson is not of any value, being a copy from 

 an older print. Query if it is not a copy of the 

 very rare engraving by Loggan and Burghers ? 



The original print of the " founder of the phy- 

 sick garden," "D. Loggan del., M. Burghers 

 sculp., 1675," which Mr. Bobart wishes to procure, 

 may be purchased of A. E. Evans, 403. Strand, for 

 2^. 12a'. 6f/. I also learn from Mr. Evans' inva- 

 luable Catalogue of Engraved British Portraits 

 (an octavo of 431 pages, lately published), that 

 there exists a portrait of Bobart, " the classical 

 alma mater coachman of Oxford," whole length, 

 by Dighton, 1808. The same catalogue also con- 

 tains other portraits of the Bobarts. 



Since my last communication on the present 

 subject, I find the following memorandums in one 

 of my note-books, which possibly may be unknown 

 to your correspondent; they relate to MSS. in 

 the British Museum. 



Add. MS. 5290. contains 227 folio drawings of 

 various rare plants, the names of which are added 

 in the autograph of Jacob Bobart the elder. 



Sloane MS. 4038. contains some letters from 

 Jacob Bobart to Sir Hans Sloane, 1685-1716 ; 

 also one from Anne Bobart, dated 1701. 



Sloane MS. 3343. contains a catalogue of plants 

 and seeds saved at Oxford, by Mr. Bobart, 

 1695-6. 



Sloane MS. 3321., consisting of scientific letters 

 addressed to Mr. Petiver, contains one from Jacob 

 Bobart, and another from Tilleman Bobart. The 

 latter has a letter dated " Blenheim, Feb. 5, 

 1711-12," to some person unknown, in Sloane 

 MS. 4253. 



TiYZeman Bobart appears to have been employed 

 in laying out the park and gai'dens at the Duke of 

 Marlborough's magnificent seat at Blenheim. A 

 number of his original papers and receipts were 

 lately disposed of by auction at Messrs. Puttick 

 and Simpson's. (See the sale catalogue of July 22, 

 1853, lot 1529.) Edward F. Eimbault. 



EARLY USE OF TIN. DERIVATION OF THE NAME 



OF BRITAIN. 



(Vol. viii., p. 290.) 



Many questions are proposed by G. W., to which 

 it is extremely improbable that any but a conjec- 

 tural answer can ever be given. That tin was in 

 common use 2800 years ago, is certain. Probably 

 evidence may be obtained, if it have not been so 



