Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland

East in ancient times, their investigations into the yet remaining monuments of early and extensive civilization, may here be placed in contrast with the labours of those who prefer the progress of improvement in the present day, or suggest the means by which that improvement may be accelerated and enlarged; the deductions of philosophy may be compared with the results of experience, and the theories of the speculative produce schemes of practical utility.

The COUNCIL, while thus endeavouring to give greater extension to the operations of the Society, and to increase its claims to public approbation and support, feels that its ability to do so may be materially increased by the earnest and effective co-operation of the Members of the Society, and of all others who feel an interest in the manners, literature, and science of Asia, as well as in the welfare of our empire in the East.

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.

ART. I.—Description of the various Classes of Vessels constructed and

employed by the Natives of the Coasts of Coromandel, Malabar,

and the Island of Ceylon, for their Coasting Navigation. By

JOHN EDYE, Esq., late Master Shipwright of His Majesty's

Naval Yard at Trincomalí, now in the Department of the Sur-

veyor of the Navy*. .

ART. II.-Remarks on the School System of the Hindús. By Captain

HENRY HARKNESS, Secretary to the Royal Asiatic Society,

late Secretary to the College of Fort St. George, &c. &c.

ART. III.-Dissertation on the River Indus. By the late Captain

JAMES M'MURDO, of the Hon. East-India Company's Military

Service on the Bombay Establishment

ART. IV. On the Law and Legal Practice of Nepál, as regards

Familiar Intercourse between a Hindú and an Outcast. By

BRIAN HOUGHTON HODGSON, Esq., M.R.A.S., Resident at

Cat'hmandu

ART. V.-Description of Ancient Chinese Vases, with Inscriptions

illustrative of the History of the Shang Dynasty of Chinese

Sovereigns, who reigned from about 1756 to 1112, B.C. Trans-

lated from the Original Work, entitled Po-koo-too. By P. P.

THOMS, Esq.

ART. VI.-Notice of the Tabernacle or Car employed by the Hindús

on the Island of Ceylon, to carry the Image of the God, in their

Religious Processions: with some Remarks on the Analogies

which may be traced in the Worship of the Assyrians and other

ancient Nations of the East, as compared with that of the

Hindús. By the Rev. JOSEPH ROBERTS, C.M.R.A.S., &c.

ART. VII.—A Transcript in Roman Characters, with a Translation,

of a Manifesto in the Chinese Language, issued by the Triad

Society. By the Rev. ROBERT MORRISON, D.D., F.R.S.,

M.R.A.S., &c. &c.

ART. VIII.-Notice of a remarkable Hospital for Animals at Surat.

By Lieut. ALEX. BURNES, F.R.S. of the Bombay Military Esta-

blishment, being an extract from a MS. Journal

Page

The attention of the Royal Asiatic Society was particularly called to this and other papers of
Mr. Edye, upon subjects connected with the Malabar Coast, by Sir Alexander Johnston, in that
part of the Annual Report made by him, as Chairman of the Committee of Correspondence, to the
Society at their last Anniversary Meeting (see p. 157), in which, alluding to the communication
about to be opened by steam-boats between England and the western coast of India, either through
the Gulf of Arabia or that of Persia, he dwelt at considerable length upon the importance of the
inquiries instituted by the Committee of Correspondence, relative to the port of Cochin and the
back-water of 150 miles long, upon which it stands; the break in the southern part of the great
western Ghauts called Paul Ghautcherry, and the practicability of opening a water-communication
through this break between the Malabar and Coromandel coasts, by forming a junction between
the Paniany River, which flows into the sea on the Malabar Coast, and the Cauvery River, which
flows into the sea on the Coromandel Coast.