10 On certain Mediaeval Apologues. [No. 1, 



Water for the labourers could always be obtained from the warm 

 spring at the entrance of the Island. 



The distilling or melting of sulphur to separate it from adherent 

 earth is a matter of comparatively little expense or trouble. If the 

 sulphur be abundant, it might be effected as in Sicily by using a part 

 of it as fuel. It is not necessary to do it on the spot ; it might be 

 done at any place where bricks and fuel are cheap. 



It is impossible to predict certain and lasting success to an under- 

 taking of this kind, all depending on the quantity of sulphur present 

 and the rapidity with which it will be replaced. 



The situation of Barren Island offers every facility for a prelimina- 

 ry trial. The near proximity of the Andamans insures a supply of 

 convict labour, timber, bricks, and lime. All the wood and iron work 

 required for facilitating the transport of loads up and down the hill 

 could be made on the Andamans. 



On certain Mediaeval Apologues. — JBy E. B. Cowell, M. A. 



Among the many by-paths of inquiry which open in every direction 

 from the broad beaten track of literature, few are more inviting than 

 those which trace the mutual likenesses between the household le- 

 gends of different nations, now widely separated by lands and seas, 

 but once linked in close association. Mr. Dasent, in his recent work 

 on the Popular Norse Legends, has followed out most successfully 

 one of these paths, and has traced the same stories under varying 

 names and localities, from nation to nation of the great Indo-Ger- 

 manic family, — showing that everywhere the natural literature which 

 bursts spontaneously from the heart of the people, bears evidence of 

 a common origin for its favourite legends, though now lost in a far 

 distant past. 



The present paper is not, however, concerned with those popular 

 tales which float from mouth to mouth among the unlettered pea- 

 sants, — its business is with certain apologues of a more philosophic 

 character, which are yet common to the East and West, and which 

 must have flowed from one identical source, though the particular 

 channels by which the commerce of ancient thought was conducted, 



