64 Dr Prichard's Anniversary Address 



already faded from public memory among the Persians. 

 " Otherwise,'' he says, the *' priesthood could never have had 

 the audacity or the desire to darken authentic history by allu- 

 sions to the story of Jemshid and other fabulous personages, 

 v^^hich occur in the Vendidad Sade and the ancient hymns of 

 the Zendavesta, whence originated the romantic fables of the 

 Shahnameh.'' But if the different compositions which form 

 the Zendavesta were first committed to writing as late as the 

 age of Ardeshir Babegan, in what form can we suppose them 

 to have been preserved during the sixteen or seventeen 

 centuries which preceded, and which must be interposed be- 

 fore we can go back to the age of the Vedas, and the time 

 when the Zend language is supposed, on the hypothesis 

 above stated, to have been a national speech ? The supposi- 

 tion that the priests preserved the whole of these long prose 

 compositions in a language extinct, in their memory, exceeds 

 the measure of belief. 



We have had a very interesting contribution to the ethno- 

 logy of Australia in a memoir by Mr Miles, who, during his 

 residence at Sydney, where he is a magistrate, has availed 

 himself of extensive opportunities of acquiring information 

 respecting the habits and characteristics of the aboriginal 

 people of the country. His paper, which has been printed, 

 was read to the Ethnological Society during the last winter, 

 and we have seen a specimen, sent us by the author, of Austra- 

 lian painting, viz., the impression in some real pigment of an 

 open hand, which is seen in various places upon rocks, and 

 which probably bears some symbolical meaning. We have 

 also received a paper on the Natives of Eastern Australia 

 from Mr George Burney. It was reported some months 

 since that Mr Burnett, Deputy- Surveyor, who was sent on a 

 journey of discovery for the exploration of the Bogue River 

 in New South Wales, had lately returned, and we may ex- 

 pect some results from his expedition tending to the increase 

 of our knowledge of the native tribes. 



A new periodical work has been lately established under 

 very favourable auspices, designed to elucidate the ethnology 

 of the Indian Archipelago and the adjoining countries, in- 

 cluding the maritime states in the Indo-Chinese Peninsula. 



