APPENDIX. W APPENDIX A. QUERIES; to which the Answers will be Contributions towards a HAT are the longitude and latitude of Bombay by the best observations? How far have observations varied? What are the superficial contents of the island? What is the nature of the soil in all the parts of its surface? What are the fossils which are found in it? What are the strata, and how are they disposed, which form the basis of this island? What are the most numerous races of animals? Are there any, and what, animals peculiar to it? Do its vegetable productions in any respects differ from those of the neighbouring parts of India? Do they differ from those regions of the East which have been explored by scientific botanists? A catalogue of Bombay plants, with Linnæan names, and various purposes in agriculture, horticulture, manufactures, or medicine, to which they are made subservient by natives or Europeans. An exact register of the thermometer, barometer, &c. for the longest time possible. An exact register of the bearing of the winds, with reference to the temperature. On what days have the monsoons commenced and ceased for a number of years? 1 What has been the interval between the cessation of the monsoon and the latter rain? What quantity of rain has annually fallen? Till accurate observations shall be made on this subject, information might probably be obtained of the height of the tanks, which would be a comparative standard. What are the prevalent diseases of natives and Europeans? How are they affected by the change of seasons, and by the different degrees of heat and moisture which prevail in different years? What were the former, and what are the present, modes of cure? What positive evidence can be produced of a diminution of mortality under the present treatment? POLITICAL ARITHMETIC. Salsette. What is the number of the inhabitants from actual survey ? What is their division into sects and nations, and their subdivision into casts ? Tables of births, deaths, and marriages. In the table of deaths, the age and the qualification of married or single to be added. In this there will be no difficulty in the Mussulman inhabitants. The Cauzee says it will be very easy. Nor among the Parsees, where the heads of the cast have an exact enumeration; but most difficult, where most important, among the Hindu population. In the enumeration, to ascertain the trade of every individual. The number of persons in each family; the number of persons in each house; the number of houses in the island. What are the wages of workmen in all the various kinds of labour; of servants? &c. What are the average profits of the various trades? What are the kinds and tenures of property in the island? Who are the owners of the land? What is the rent of land? What are the implements employed in agriculture? What is the produce of the ground? What is the average profit of a farmer? What changes appear to have taken place in the modes of cultivation, or the quantity of produce? What contrivances remarkable either for rudeness or ingenuity, are employed in arts or manufactures? What substances not generally known in Europe, are advantageously used in arts or manufactures? In the diffeRENT RELIGIONS. What is the number, names, rank, and functions of the ministers of religion of every sect in the island? What is their income and its sources? What are their necessary qualifications? Where and how are they educated? As to the Bramins:-How many of them are chiefly employed in functions merely secular? How many are mendicants? How many officiating priests in families or pagodas? How many have any tincture of learning, any acquaintance with the learned and sacred language, with the Law, &c. so as to qualify them for acting as Pundits? By what names are all these classes of Bramins known ? What are the places of worship, of interment, of pilgrimage, &c. in this island? What traditional or written accounts are to be found of the Concanese Jews, of whom so many are to be found here? In what language do the Jews of Cochin read the Old Testament ? Is there any evidence that they, or any other of the Jews scattered over India, have ever adopted the notion of the Jewish origin of the Afghans ? Have the Afghans any traces of the national physiognomy which distinguishes the Jews from Philadelphia to Bombay? Has this island or its neighbourhood been the scene of any actions renowned in Hindu mythology? To what local divinities was the island or any part of it sacred ? EARLIER HISTORY. Is there any thing in the ancient languages or traditions of this country, which could have any relation to the Grecized word Seiseicreinian, by which the Periplus seems to denote this cluster of islands? Have the environs of Callian been ever diligently explored? Have any Grecian coins or medals been found at or near Callian, or any where else in this neighbourhood? What are the most ancient traditions or accounts of a Hindu government here? Was the island ever subject or tributary to any of the Mussulman princes who reigned on the opposite continent? From what power, in what manner, and at what times, was Bombay conquered by the Portuguese? What remarkable events occurred during the Portuguese government, which seems to have lasted about 130 years (i. e. from about 1530 to 1661)? DURING THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT. Summaries of exports and imports in the custom-house books from the earliest times. What have been the coins current? What has been the value of the money annually coined in the mint of Bombay? When and at what expense were the most useful and remarkable public works erected? What has been the number, tonnage, and nation of the ships which have entered this port as far back as there are regular records? What have at different times been the number and occupations of the European inhabitants? What alterations appear to have taken place in their mode of life, houses, equipage, &c.? Is there any means of exactly ascertaining the comparative number of carriages, country-houses, &c. at the distance of thirty years? * * As no answers were received to these Queries, they are reprinted merely to suggest topics of inquiry to the Residents at Bombay. APPENDIX B. Letter of the President of the LITERARY SOCIETY of BOMBAY to the SIR, President of the ASIATICK SOCIETY. Bombay, 24th February, 1806. By the desire of the Literary Society of Bombay, I have the honour of laying before you, for the information of the Asiatick Society, some suggestions which appear to us likely to contribute to the progress of knowledge, and to the honour of our national character. The proposition which we are about to make, arose in a great measure from an act of your learned Society: on that account, as well as on every other, you are entitled to be consulted regarding it, to decide on its reasonableness, and, if you approve it, to take the lead in its execution. We observe that you patronize the projected translation of the Ramayan by Mr. Carey and his friends;-the choice does honour to your discernment. As an example of the taste, a monument of the genius, and a picture of the manners, as well as a record of the mythology and poetical history of the heroic ages of India, it will undoubtedly lay open more of this country to the learned of Europe, than they could discover from many volumes of ingenious dissertations. The Iliad and Odyssey are as valuable to the philosopher as to the man of taste; their display of manners is as interesting to the one, as their transcendent beauties are delightful to the other: but the most ingenious essay on the origin of the Pelasgi is not quite so interesting, though we are far from denying to such inquiries their proper rank amongst the most elegant amusements of curiosity and leisure. Works so voluminous, and likely at first to find so few purchasers as the translation of the Ramayan, require patronage, which is an encumbrance and a restraint on compositions addressed to the general taste of an enlightened nation. We have no doubt that your patronage will procure to these meritorious translators such pecuniary assistance as may protect them from suffering by their useful labours. Permit us to observe, that something more seems to be required. It is well known that Mr. Wilkins, a distinguished member of your Society, has long had |