54. 6,4". In these distances, I did not compute on the chords of the arcs, because the instrument I had in use was not sufficient for that purpose. Experiments for determining the Expansion of the Chain. In making allowance for the expansion of the chain, in the annexed table, it will appear that I have differed both from GENERAL ROY and COLONEL WILLIAMS. It may therefore be necessary to give the following account of the experiments which were made for ascertaining that allowance,-which experiments were made by the chain itself, observing its length at sun-rise and at one o'clock, between which hours the base was generally measured. . AFTER the chain was extended in the coffers, in the manner formerly mentioned, it was carefully adjusted, at each end, to some particular marks on the register heads, about the hours of sun-rise. The finger screw of one of these brass sliders had been previously graduated into eight equal parts, on its circumference, which were counted, on its being turned, by another mark on the end of the slider, touching that part of the circumference. This finger screw was observed to make 26 revolutions in one inch, so that one of the divisions, on the circumference, was equal part of an inch. Things being thus adjusted, the experiments were made in the following order, and the mean temperature taken from three of the best thermometers I had, which remained the whole time in the coffers, with the chain; and these coffers were covered, in the same manner as they had been during the operations of the measurement. DECEMBER 11th, at one P. M. the temperature was 95o. DECEMBER 12th, at seven A. M. the mean tem perature perature was 58°, therefore 37° is the difference, or fall of the thermometer, since the preceding day, THE chain had contracted 58 divisions on the micrometer screw, each of which being equal inches, therefore the whole expansion of the chain was 58 ,27884 inches-and this divided by 37° gives ,00721 inches, the expansion of the chain due to one degree of the thermometer. DECEMBER 13th, at half past six A. M. the meant of three thermometers was 56° which was 39° decrease of temperature since the preceding day at one o'clock P. M.-The chain had contracted 60 divisions therefore divided by 39°,007396 inches. 60 AT one P. M. the same day, the temperature was 97°, and consequently the increase since morning was 41°. The chain had expanded 63 divisions, hence divided by 41, gives ,0073853 inches. DECEMBER 15th.-At seven A. M. the temperature was 6%, and at one P. M. 93°-and therefore the increase since morning was 31°. The chain had expanded 46 divisions, therefore divided by 31°,00713 inches. 208 DECEMBER 16th, at half past six A. M. the temperature was 51°, 2 which was 410,8 below the preceding day at one o'clock P. M. The chain had contracted 59 divisions, which proceeding as before, gives ,006786 inches. DECEMBER 17th, at half past six A. M. the temperature was 56°, and at one P. M. it was 92°whose difference is 36°. The chain had 58 divisions, which will give ,00761 inches. THE mean of all these being ,007253 inches, I have therefore made the expansion of the chain due to 1° of temperature above 62° to be, 0073 inches. XI. On the ORIGIN and PECULIAR TENETS of T By H. T. COLEBROOKE, Esq. HE Bóhrahs, numerous in the provinces of the Indian peninsula, but found also in most of. the great cities of Hindustán, are conspicuous by their peculiar customs; such, for example, as that of wearing at their orisons an appropriate dress, which they daily wash with their own hands. Their disposition for trade to the exclusion of every other mode of livelihood, and the government of their tribe by a hierarchy, are further peculiarities, which have rendered them an object of inquiry, as a singu lar sect. RESEARCHES made by myself, among others, were long unsuccessful. My informers confounded this tribe with the Ismailiyahs, with the Alilahiyahs, and even with the unchaste sect of Cherágh-cush. Concerning their origin, the information received was equally erroneous with that regarding their tenets. But at length a learned Sayyad referred me to the Mejálisu'lmúminín composed by NURULLAH of Shuster, a zealous Shiáh, who suffered for his religious opinions in the reign of JEHANGIR. In the passage, which will be forthwith cited from that work, the Bóhrahs are described by the author, as natives of Gujrát converted to the Muhammedan religion about three hundred years before his time, or five centuries ago. To that passage I shall subjoin extracts from the same work, containing an account of similar tribes, with some of which the Bóhrahs may perhaps have been sometimes confounded. Concerning the Ismâiliyahs, for whom they have been actually mistaken, it must be remembered, that these form a sect of Shiahs, who take their distinctive appellation from ISMAIL, eldest son and nominated successor of Imám JAFER, surnamed Sadik. They consider ISMAIL as the true heir of the Imámet, and do not acknowledge the legal succession of his brother Mu'sá and of the five last Imáms. This sect flourished under the Egyptian dynasty of Khalifs founded by MuHAMMED MAHADÍ, who claimed descent from the Imám ISMAIL himself. It was also conspicuous under a dynasty of princes of this sect, the first of whom, HASAN SABAH, founded a principality in Irák. The sect may still exist in Syria, but it does not seem to be at present known in the Indian portion of Asia. THE Alilahiyahs, on the contrary, are become numerous in India. This sect is mentioned by the author of the Dalistán, as prevalent in his time, only at Uzbil, or Azbál, in the mountainous tract near Khatá. It now prevails, according to information which I have received, in a part of the dominions of NAWA'B NIZAMU'L MULC. The singular tenets of this heretical sect are thus stated by MOнSEN FA'NI'. The Ali-ilahiyahs hold, that celestial spirits, which cannot otherwise be known to mankind, have frequently appeared in palpable shapes. GOD himself has been manifested in the human form, but especially in the person of ALI MURTEZA', whose image, being that of ALí ULLAH, or ALI' GOD, these sectaries deem it lawful to worship. They believe in the metempsychosis; and, like others who maintain that doctrine, abstain from fleshmeat. They imagine, that ÂLí MULTEZA', when he quitted this earth, returned to the sun, which Ꮓ See the Dabistan of Mulla MOHSEN FA'NI'; and D'HERBELOT's Bibliotheque Orientale. If the industrious Bóbrahs and the remorseless" assassins" had really arisen out of the same sect, it would be a new fact in the history of the human mind. A A which is the same with himself; and hence they call the sun ALI' ULLAH. This sect does not admit the authenticity of the Korán, as it is now extant: some pretending, that it is a forgery of ABUBECR'S, OMAR's and OTHMA'N's; others condemning it, simply because it was edited by the last mentioned Khalif. The members of this sect appear to vary in regard to some points of doctrine; but the leading and universal tenet of this sect is, that, in every age of the world, GOD is manifested in the persons of prophets and of saints; for instance, was ADAM, and afterwards AHMED and ÂLI': and in like manner these sectaries believe in the transmigration of GOD into the persons of the Imams. Some of them affirm, that the manifestation of the divine being, in this age of the world, was ALI' ULLAH; and after him, his glorious posterity: and they consider MUHAMMED as a prophet sent by ÂLI ULLAH. When GOD, say they, perceived MUHAMMED's insufficiency, he himself assumed the human form for the purpose of assisting the prophet*." Ir does not appear from any satisfactory information, that the Bóhrahs agree with either of these sects, in deifying ALI', or in contesting the legal succession of the six last Imáms. On the contrary, the tribe is acknowledged to consist of orthodox Sunnis, and of true Shiâhs; but mostly of the last mentioned sect. These and other known circumstances corroborate the following account of that tribe as given by NÚRULLAH of Shúster, in the work before mentioned. "THE Bóhrahs are a tribe of the faithful, which is settled chiefly at Ahmedábád and its environs. Their salvation in the bosom of religion took place about * See the Dabistán, from which this account is abstracted. |