
Sept. 14, 1871] 

This verse is not free from difficulties, and in some parts 
my translation may be questioned. But it is clear in the 
main that the poet in praising the Sindhu (the river Indus), 
mentions its tributaries. The first tributaries which join 
the Indus before its meeting with the Kud/é or the Kabul 
river cannot be determined. All travellers in these 
northern countries complain of the continual changes in 
the names of the rivers, and we can hardly hope to find 
traces of the Vedic names in existence there after the 
lapse of three or four thousand years. The rivers intended 
may be the Shauyook, Ladak, Abba Seen, and Burrindoo, 
but one of the four rivers, the Rasa, has assumed an 
almost fabulous character in the Veda. After the Indus 
has joined the Kubha or the Kabul river, two names oc- 
cur, the Gomati and Krumzu, which I believe I was the first 
to identify with the modern rivers the Gosaland Kur- 
yum. (Roth, Nirukta, Erlauterungen, p. 43, Anm.) The 
Gomal falls into the Indus, between Dera Ismael Khan 
and Paharpore, and although Elphinstone calls it a river 
only during the rainy season, Klaproth (Foe. koue ki, 
Pp. 23) describes its upper course as far more considerable, 
and adds: Un peu a lest de Sirmdgha, le Gomal traverse 
la chaine de montagnes de Soliman, passe devant Raghzi, 
et fertilise le pays habité par les tribus de Dauletkhail et 
de Gandehpour. Ilse desséche au défilé de Pezou, et son 
lit ne se remplit plus d’eau que dans la saison des pluies ; 
alors seulement il rejoint la droite de l’Indus, au sud-est du 
bourg de Paharpour.” The Awvrvum falls into the Indus 
North of the Govza/, while, according to the poet, we should 
expect it South. It might be urged that poets are not 
bound by the same rules as geographers, as we see, for 
instance, in the verse immediately preceding. But if it 
should be taken as a serious o jection, it will be better to- 
give up the Goad? than the Arumu, the latter being the 
larger of the two, and we might then take Gomazi, “rich 
in cattle,” as an adjective belonging to Avumu. 
I have dwelt longer on this point in order to show how 
much has to be considered before we decide on the Aryan 
or non-Aryan character of local names in India. Genera 
Cunningham writes :— 
“The name of Kophes is as old as the time of the 
Vedas, in which the Kubha river is mentioned as an 
affluent of the Indus; and as it is not an Arian word, I 
infer that the name must have been appl ed to the Kabul 
river before the Arian occupation, or, at least, as early as 
B.C. 2500. Inthe classical writers we find the Khoes, 
Kophes, and Khoaspes rivers, to the west of the Indus, 
and at the present day we have the Kunar, the Kuram, 
and the Gomal rivers to the west, and the Kunihar river 
to the east of the Indus, all of which are derived from 
the Scythian Az ‘water. It is the guttural form of 
the Assyrian 4x in Euphrates and Eulzus, and of the 
Turki sv and the Tibetan chz, all of which mean water or 
river.” 
The Ku in Kubha admits, as we saw, of a far easier 
interpretation. The Go of Gomal is the Sanskrit go, “cow,” 
and the Aw of Kuram or Kurrum is the first syllable of 
Krumu, which is derived from “ £ram,” to stride. 
Although on minor points like these, and particularly 
on linguistic questions, some of General Cunningham’s 
statements are open to criticism, the book as a whole is a 
valuable contribution to our knowledge of the ancient 
geography of India, and we hope that this first volume 
will soon be followed by others, 
Max MULLER 
NATURE 



383 

OUR BOOK SHELF 
Epilogo della Briologia Italiana. Del Dottore G. de 
Notaris, Professore di Botanica e Direttore dell’ Orto 
Botanico della R. Universita’ di Geneva. (Geneva, 
1869 ; London: Williams and Norgate.) 
Dr. DE NorarIs is so well known in this country by his 
numerous works on mosses and microscopic fungi, as well 
as by his liberality to correspondents, that it was with great 
pleasure that we received the noble volume before us, pub- 
lished at the request and expense of the Commonalty of 
Geneva. It was not to be expected that a country like 
Italy, where the borders of the Mediterranean are not 
rich in mosses, should present much novelty, the more 
Alpine parts yielding very much the same species as the 
Alpine or more temperate parts of the European districts. 
It is, ho vever, always interesting to compare the floras of 
different countries, even where species are so widely spread 
as the lower Cryptogams, and it is no matter of surprise to 
find that there are hcre very few genera which are not amply 
represented in our own flora. The only genera which 
have not at present occurred in this country are Lescurzea, 
Habrodon. Anacamptodon, Fabronia, which is essentially 
agenus of warmer climates, Dubyella, Oreas, Pyramidium, 
Conomitrium, Oreoweisia, Septodontium, Angstrcemia, 
Trematodon, Braunia, Coscinodon, Bruchia. Most of 
these are genera either containing one or very few species. 
The following European genera, excluding those found in 
the British Isles, seem not to occur in Italy : Voitia, Spor- 
ledera, Pharomitrium, Eusrichium, Pyramidula, Psilo- 
pilum, Anisodon, Platygyrium, Thedenia, most of which 
contain only a single species. The only genera of the 
British Isles which do not occur in Italy, are Daltonia, 
the single species, D. sAlachno'des, being confined to one 
or two localities in Ireland, GEdipodium, Discelium, Bar- 
tramidula, Anomobryum, Tetrodontium, Glyphomitrium, 
Hedwig'dium, Anodus, which again are genera for the 
most part of one species only, so that Italian muscology 
cannot be considered as essentially dirferent from that of 
other European districts. There are undoubtedly many 
good species which do not occur in this country, but it is 
probable that the number of these will be much reduced, 
one of the most curious, Buxvbaumia indusiata, having 
been found by Dr Dickie at Aboyne in Aberdeenshire. 
It is much to be wished that some Italian botanist would 
give a similar work on Italian fungi. The truffles and 
puffballs of Italy have been admirably worked out by 
Vittadini, and something has been done for the more 
noble fungi by Viviani and others, but we ought to look 
to Italian mycologists for the identification of the fungi of 
Micheli. There is no doubt that any skilled mycologist 
would be well rewarded by the investigation of the Italian 
woods, which doubtless contain numerous interesting 
species. We must, however, look to the Italians them- 
selves for information, as many difficulties would stand in 
the way of a person not intimately acquainted with the 
language of the peasantry. We see no reason why as 
perfect an enumeration of the fungi should not be given, 
as that of the Italian mosses now before us. 
M. J. BERKELEY 


LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 
[Zhe Editor does not hold himself responsible for opiniwns expressed 
by his Correspondents, No notice is taken of anonymous 
communications, | 
Thickness of the Crust of the Earth 
ARCHDFACON PRATT? has given just the answer I expected to 
my remarks on his defence of Mr. Hopkins. AsI said at the 
time, I scarcely thought it possible that he could have fallen into 
the mistake of supposing that the disturbing forces to which pre- 
cision and nutation are due act by fits and starts. But note what 
follows from this, His whole defence of Mr, Hopkins’s method 
