1834.] Miscellaneous. 655 



exmainingits literary stores, will not have been time unprofitably spent, and that 

 this Grammar and Dictionary may attest the sincerity of my endeavours to attain 

 the object I had determined to prosecute. 



" Having in the Preface to my Dictionary expressed my respectful thanks to 

 the British Government of India, for its patronage during my Tibetan studies ; 

 and having there gratefully enumerated the kindnesses and good services which I 

 have received from several Gentlemen, it would be superfluous hereto repeat my 

 acknowledgments. My selection of the English language, as the medium of 

 introduction of my labours, will sufficiently evince to the learned of Europe at 

 large, the obligations 1 consider myself under to that nation." 



Among the selections from the moral maxims of the Tibetan works, in page 

 165, the reader will be struck with the close, even verbal, agreement of one of 

 them with the Latin version of the great Christian maxim, "quod tu tibi non 

 vis, alteri non feceris." There is in the next page (art. 9) also a sentence against 

 idolatry which M. Csoma finds to breathe the very sentiments of the great 

 Canute, as reported in Bkucker's Historia CriticaPh'dosophia,\o\. i. p. 330, 

 and quoted there from Jo. Georgius Kkyslerus, Antiq. Sept. et Celtic, p. 18, 



thus : " ex legibus Canuti regis Danise et Angliae potentissimi. lta enira 



inter alia : Adorationem barbaramplenis:nmevetamus. Barbara est autem, adoratio, 

 give quis idola (puto gentium divos) solem, lunam, ignem, profluentem, fontes, 

 saxa, cvjusque generis arbor es lignaque coluerit." 



M. Csoma has modestly declined all the honors which the Societies of Europe 

 and India have sought to confer upon him : he cannot however deny himself the 

 title, his present work has ensured to him, of an indefatigable student, a profound 

 linguist, and of a man who has devoted his life to the cause of learning, regardless of 

 any of its popular and attractive rewards, and anxious only for the approbation 

 of posterity. 



3. — Reply to D. S. in the July No. of the Journal, page 367. 



A correspondent in your July No. (who I regret has not given us his name, 

 has made a statement of interest respecting the temperature of wells at Nahun, 

 and the locality of the hyaena. As the temperature of all the wells I have hitherto 

 tried in this country (and they are not a few) is considerably above that of the 

 mean temperature of the place, I am inclined to believe this must also be the 

 case at Nahun. 



In answer to the query, as to what explanation can be given of the 

 existence of fossil tropical plants in regions where such plants no longer 

 thrive, I beg to refer to Mr. Lyell himself, vol. i. page 3 ; and his words afford 

 such a good solution of the difficulty, that I cannot forbear quoting tbem at 

 length. " The great extent of sea gives a particular character to climates south 

 of the Equator, &c. &c. The effect on vegetation is very remarkable : — tree- 

 ferns, for instance, which require abundance of moisture, and an equalization of 

 the seasons, are found in Van Dieman's Land, in lat. 42°, and in New Zealand, 

 in lat. 45°." I have endeavoured to infer that the elephant was capable of bearing 

 a climate similar to this, whether successfully or not, must be left to those who 

 reside in the hills to determine ; for they alone have the means of making proper 

 observations, which will determine correctly this and other questions of interest, 

 viz., what climate the hyeena, tiger, and rhinoceros are capable of bearing. 



R. Everest. 



