destroyer of created beings, resolved one day to drown all mankind, pretending he had just cause to be displeased with them. His design could not be so secret, but that Vichnou, the preserver of creatures, was sensible of it. You will perceive, my lord, that they were con siderably obliged to him upon this occasion. He discovered the very day precisely on which the deluge was to happen. His power did not extend so far as to put a stop to the execution of the God Routren's projects; but at the same time his qualification of god, the preserver of created things, empowered him to prevent, if it were possible, the most pernicious effect, and thus he went about it.

NOAH'S ARK.-He appeared one day to Sattiavarti, his great confident, and warned him, that there would certainly be a universal deluge, that the earth would be drowned, and that Routren designed no less than to destroy all men and beasts. However, he assured him, he had nothing to fear for himself, and, that in despite of Routren, he would find some means to save him, and to manage it so as the world should be peopled again. His design was to produce a wonderful bark, at the time when Routren least thought of it, and to shut up into it a good stock of at least eight hundred and forty millions of souls, and seeds of beings. It was also requisite, that Sattia varti, at the time of the deluge, should be on a very high mountain, which he was to take special care to make known to him. Some time after, Sattiavarti, as had been foretold to him, spied an infinite number of clouds gathering. He observed, without any emotion, the storm that threatened the heads of guilty mortals; the most dreadful rain that had ever been seen, fell from Heaven; the rivers swelled, and spread themselves with much rapidity over the face of the earth; the sea broke out beyond its bounds, and, mixing with the overflowing rivers, in a short time covered the highest mountains; trees, beasts, men, cities, and kingdoms, were all drowned; all animated beings perished, and were destroyed.

In the mean time Sattiavarti, with some of his penitents, had withdrawn himself to the mountain. There he expected the relief promised by the god; nor was he without some moments of dread. The water, which continually grew more powerful, and insensibly drew near his retreat, every now and then put him into an awful alarm; but at the very moment when he gave himself over for lost, he saw the bark appear which was to save him: He entered it with his devout followers, the eight hundred and forty millions of souls, and the seeds of all beings were shut up in it.

The difficulty consisted in steering the bark, and keeping it up against the impetuosity of the waves, which were then in a furious agitation.

The god Vichnou took care to provide for it; he imme diately converted himself into a fish, and made use of his tail instead of a rudder to steer the vessel. The god, who was at the same time fish and pilot, managed so dexterously, that Sattiazarti waited at his case for the water to drain off the earth.

You see, my lord, the matter is plain, and it requires no great penetration to discover in this relation, intermixed with fables and the most extravagant fancies, what Holy Writ tells us of the flood, the ark, and of the preservation of Noah and his family.

ABRAHAM AND BRAMA THE SAME.-Our Indians go farther yet; and after representing Noah, under the name of Sattiavarti, they might have well appropri ated to Brama the most singular events of Abraham's life. Here follow some sketches, which appear to me to have a very great resemblance to them. The similitude of the names might, at first sight, confirm my conjecture. It is plain, that the difference between Brama and Abraham is not great, and it might be wished, that our men, learned in etymologies, had not made use of others less agreeable to reason, and more strained.

You

SARASVADI THE SAME AS SARA.-This Brama, whose name is so like that of Abraham, was married to a woman whom all the Indians call Sarasvadi. may judge, my lord, what weight this name adds to the conjecture. The two last syllables of the word Sarasvadi, in the Indian language, are an honourable termination; so that vadi answers to our word madam. This termination is found in the names of all women of distinction; as for instance, in that of Parvadi, wife of Routren. Thus it is evident, that the two first syllables of the word Sarasvadi, which are properly the whole name of Brama's wife, are reduced to Sara, which is the name of Abraham's wife.

TRIBES FROM BRAMA. However, there is some thing more peculiar: Brama amongst the Indians, like Abraham amongst the Jews, has been the father of several tribes. At Ticherapali, where at this time is the most famous temple of India, a festival is kept yearly, in which a venerable old man carries twelve chitdren before him, which, as the Indians say,represent the twelve heads of the principal tribes.

PARALLEL OF THE SACRIFICE OF ISAAC.The Indians reverence the memory of one of their penitents, who, like the Patriarch Abraham, was about to sacrifice his son to one of the gods of their country. That god had demanded that victim of him, but was satisfied with the father's good-will, and would not permit him to put it into execution. There are some, nevertheless, who say the child was put to death, but the god restored him to life.

CIRCUMCISION.-I have taken notice, that some tribes observe the ceremony of circumcision; but it is not performed in their infancy, and not till about the age of twenty years; nor are they all subject to it. That custom is very ancient, and it is hard to discover whence they had it.

PARALLEL OF MOSES.-Nothing seems more resembling to Moses than the Indian Vichnou metamorphosed into Crichnen; for, in the first place, Crichnen in the Indian language signifies black, which serves to denote that Crichnen came from a country where the inhabitants are black. The Indians add, that one of Crichnen's nearest relations was exposed in his infancy in a cradle, on a great river, where he was in imminent danger of drowning. He was taken up, and being a very beautiful child, was carried to a great princess, who caused him to be carefully brought up, and afterwards provided for his education.

When he was grown up he married the daughter of a shepherd, and for a long time kept the flocks of his father-in-law. He soon signalized himself among all his companions, who chose him for their chief. Then did he perform wonders in behalf of his flocks and of those that kept them; he slew the king who had made cruel war upon them. He was pursued by his enemies, and not being in a condition to withstand them, he retired to the sea, which opened a way for him to pass through the midst of it, and then swallowed those that pursued him.

JEWISH CUSTOMS.-Among those customs which the Indians can have had from none but the Jews, and which still continue in the country, I reckon their fre quent bathings, their cleansings, an extraordinary horror for dead bodies, by touching of which they believed themselves defiled, the distinct order and the difference of tribes, with the inviolable laws which prohibit marrying out of their peculiar tribes.

SACRIFICE OF A SHEEP.-I knew a converted

Brahman, reckoned of great capacity among the Indians, who told me the following story, the meaning of which he did not understand himself as long as he continued in the darkness of idolatry." The Indians perform a sacrifice called Ekiam, which is the most noted of all those which are performed in India; in it they offer a sheep, at which offering they recite a prayer, in which the following words are pronounced with a loud voice: When will it be that the Saviour will be born? When will it be that the Redeemer shall appear?

SIR,

(To be continued.)

TO THE EDITOR.

OPENING the pages of the Report of the British Missionary Society the other day, I was astonished to find a sentence, which directly asserted, that hitherto "the mis sions to the South Sea Islands had not succeeded in gaining one real convert. Upon a farther investigation of the labours of other Missionaries, 1 gathered, indirectly, that no positive good had as yet been effected. Though I doubt not that the purest motives actuate the Missionary Society, and the conduct of their religious agents is most unexceptionable, I think there must be some radical defect of a nature not hitherto explored. If any of your correspondents could penetrate the cause of a result so different to what has attended the Catholic Missions, I should be obliged by their remarks upon the subject.

The investigation of objects of this nature may serve to delineate the impropriety of persisting in plans which exhaust that individual revenue which might be extended to the moral and physical benefit of thousands. In the Catholic Church, education, and some knowledge of letters, is indispensable; those who teach, are not the men who need to be taught,-men, whom a respectable British auditory could scarcely listen to without impatience and disgust,-men, on whose tongues provincialisms, barbarisms, and vulgarisms, (if I may be allowed the expression,) are in constant succession. Such persons may, by a random shot, hit the mark, but they fail in all those influences which find their way to the heart, and leave an impression there. Hoping that some of your correspondents will fayour you with some remarks on this subject,

NO. III.

I remain yours, &c.

P

T. R.

POETRY.

Where soon will be our marv'lous light Not all the gay pageants that breathe