treat the whole of what has been delivered to us, with so much solemnity, by the Pundits, or learned Brahmans, as a deception, intended to ridicule our curiosity, and to repress, or at least to divert, it from the true course. Circumstances may be adduced in support of this hypothesis ; and we cannot but regard the manner in which the Pundits arrogate to themselves the whole knowledge of their history, which is carefully concealed from a large portion even of the Brahmans, as a circumstantial proof of our having been designedly led astray, both by a fictitious record, and by a well concerted fable, invented for the occasion: this may be aptly compared to the whale and the tub. Fortunately, no material point appears to rest on the antiquity, or otherwise, of the Hindu mythology, or the records, of the Seeks, regarding the origin of that people; though it would perhaps be found, that their true exposition might tend to afford many proofs in favor of the mission of our Saviour.

When the immense extent of territory we hold in India is considered, and, that perhaps no country in the world offers greater facilities, not only for literary correspondence, but for the researches of naturalists, the conveyance of gross articles, and the manufacture of raw materials, which every where abound, we cannot but lament the want of such institutions as might