ASIATIC RESEARCHESs 
huts with such slight materials only, as they 
‘an, upon emergency, carry off with ease ; 
and a brick or mud wall is scarcely ever to 
be met with in such situations.” 
The islands which are formed with 
these ruins are taken possession of by the 
Natives, as soon as they appear to be suffici- 
enly firm. It generally happens, that ina 
few years they are united with the main 
land, the intervening channel being closed 
up ; they are then distinguished trom it 
by their having few or no trees, The 
largest at present existing contains about 
twenty square miles of land; but the 
same process by which they were form- 
ed, acts to their removal; and the sys- 
tem of creation and destruction, or rather 
of perpetual change and renovation, 1s 
for ever exhibited to the worshippers of 
the Trimourtee. 
Upon the shallows of these rivers, Ma- 
jor Colebrooke offers a suggestion which 
deserves to be attended to. 
«* As the shallows which are produced 
from the causes above-mentioned are only 
partial, affecting only in a small degree, com- 
paratively with their lengths, the channels of 
these rivers, it might be possible to coun- 
teract them in sucha manner, as to pruduce 
a more equal'distribution of water; and as 
the depth which would be fequisite for boats 
ofa modern burtien is inconsiderable, per- 
haps it might be eHfected with*much less la- 
bour and expence than might at first be ima- 
gined. 
<< J was led to this supposition, from fre- 
quently seeing that the mere operation of 
dragging by force a boat, or budgerow, 
through any of the shallows, tended, by stir- 
ring up the sands, to deepen the channel. 
‘If, therefore, round or flat-bottomed boats 
can produce such an effect, in how much 
greater a degree might itnot be done by means 
ofa machine constructed for the purpose; 
» which might be, dragged to and fro through 
the shallow place, until a sufficient depth of 
water should be obtained for the passage of 
boats. Ifsuch machines; which might be 
contrived somewhat in the form of a large 
iron rake, and occasionally to go on whteels, 
were to be stationed at the several villages 
or towns in the vicinity of the shallows, it is 
possible that the Zemeéendars might be in 
duced; for a moderate consideration, to fur- 
nish people-or cattle to put them in motion; 
whensvever it might be necessary.” 
This paper is elucidated by charts and 
sections. 
2. On Singhala or Ceylon, and the 
Doctrines of Bhoodha; from the Books 
of the Singhalais, by Captain Mahony. 
The fundamental article of the Ceylo- 
hese mythology is singularly whimsical ; 
f 899 
they hold the universé to be undér the 
government of a bhooddha, for bhood- 
dha is an official title. The present uni- 
verse has been successively administered 
by four. The place is now vacant; but 
Sahampatta Maha Brachma, thesupreme 
of all the gods, holds it in commendam, till 
Maitree Bhooddha, the fifth, who is to 
come, shall make his appearance. He 
is to be the last of this universe ; and 
when this shall have past away, Maha 
Brachma will pass in ascent through the 
seventeen heavens above his own, till he 
attains at length the necéssaty qualifica= 
tions to become a bhooddha himself. 
The religion of Gautemeh, the last 
bhoodda, is that which now prevails in 
Ceylon. 
Before his appearance on earth, he ‘* was 
a god, and the supreme of all the gods. At 
the solicitations of many of the gods he de- 
scendéd on earth, and was frequently born as 
@ man, in which character he exercised every 
possible virtue, by extraordinary instaices of 
self-denial and piety. He wasat length born 
of Mahamaya Devee, after a pregnancy of 
tea months, and had for father Soddonench 
Raja. He lived happily with his queen 
Yassodera, and forty thousand concubines, 
or thirty-one years ; the six next he passed 
in the midst of wildernesses, qualifying him- 
selfto be a bhooddha. At the closé of this 
period his calling becanie manifest to the 
world, and he exercised his functions as 
bhooddia fer forty-five years. He died in 
Cooseemarapooree, dt the court of Malicleh 
Raja, Tuesday, the 15th of May; from which 
period the bhooddha warooseh, or era of 
bhooddha, is dated, which now (A.C: 1787) 
amounts to 2339 years, . 
‘* Bhooddha is pot, propetly speaking, con- 
sidered as a god, but as having been born 
man, and in the end of time arrived at the 
dignity of bhooddha, on account of his great 
virtues and extraordinaty good qualities. The 
title of bhooddha was rot confetred ori hint 
by any superior power; he adopted it by his 
own sovereign will; in the same manner as he 
becanie man ; both of which events were pre? 
dicted ages b#ore. Bhoodha, after his death 
ascended to the hall of glory, called mookze, 
otherwise nirgoowane, which isa place above, 
and exceeding in magnificence the twenty 
sixth heaven; there he will live for ever, in 
happiness and iucorruptibility; never to be 
born again in the world; where his doctrine 
is at present extant, and will continue in all 
its splendour for five thousand years, accoid- 
ing to his own prophecy.” 
Maha Brackma, and the whole host of 
deities, have neither flesh, bones, nor ma- 
terial bodies, yet they seein to have hair 
on their heads and teeth, and their skins 
are luminous. ‘The breath of lifein man 
$M 2 
