felf can give us with fidelity. By the help of Abyssinian records, great light may be thrown on the Hiftory of Yemen before the time of Muhammed; fince it is generally known that four Ethiop kings fucceffively reigned in that country, having been invited over by the natives to oppose the tyrant Dhú Nawás; and that they were, in their turn, expelled by the arms of the Himyarick Princes, with the aid of Anushirvan, king of Persia, who did not fail, as it ufually happens, to keep in subjection the people whom he had confented to relieve. If the annals of this period can be reftored, it must be through the hiftories of Abyssinia, which will also correet the many errors of the beft Asiatick writers on the Nile, and the countries which it fertilizes.

ON

ON THE COURSE OF THE NILE.

THE Nile, which the Abyssinians know by the names of Abey, and Alawy, or the Giant, gushes from feveral fprings at a place called Sucút, lying on the highest part of Dengalá, near Gojjám, to the weft of Bajemdir, and the lake of Dara or Wed, into which it runs with fo ftrong and rapid a current, that it mixes not with the other waters, but rides or fwims, as it were, above them.

All the rains that fall in Abyssinia, and defcend in torrents from the hills, all ftreams and rivers, small and great, except the Hanázó, which wafhes the plains of Hengót, and the Hawásh, which flows by Dewár and Fetgár, are collected by this king of waters, and, like vaffals, attend his march. Thus enforced, he rushes, like a hero exulting in his ftrength, and haftens to fertilize the land of Egypt, on which no rain falls. We muft except alfo thofe Ethiopian rivers, which rife in countries bordering on the ocean, as the kingdoms of Cambát, Gurájy, Wásy, Náriyah, Gásy, Wej, and Zinjiro, whofe waters are difembogued into the fea.

When the Alawy has paffed the Lake, it proceeds between Gojjám and Bajemdir, and, leaving them to the weft and eaft, purfues a direct course towards Amhárá, the fkirts of which it bathes, and then turns again to the weft, touching the borders of Walaka; whence it rolls along Múgár and Shawai, and paffing Bazáwá and Gongá, defcends into the low lands of Shankila, the country of the Blacks: thus it forms a fort of spiral round the province of Gojjám, which it keeps for the moft part on its right.

Here

Here it bends a little to the east, from which quarter, before it reaches the districts of Sennár, it receives two large rivers; one called Tacazzy, which runs from Tegri; and the other, Gwangue, which comes from Dembeíá.

After it has vifited Sennár, it wafhes the land of Dongolá, and proceeds thence to Nubia, where it again turns eastward, and reaches a country named Abrim, where no veffels can be navigated, by reafon of the rocks and crags which obftruct the channel. The inhabitants of Sennár and Nubia may constantly drink of its water, which lies to the eaft of them like a strong bulwark; but the merchants of Abyssinia, who travel to Egypt, leave the Nile on their right, as foon as they have paffed Nubia, and are obliged to traverse a defert of fand and gravel, in which for fifteen days they find neither wood nor water. They meet it again in the country of Reif, of Reif, or Upper Egypt, where they find boats on the river, or ride on its banks, refreshing themselves with its falutary streams.

It is afferted by fome travellers, that, when the Alawy has paffed Sennár and Dongolá, but before it enters Nubia, it divides itfelf; that the great body of water flows entire into Egypt, where the fmaller branch (the Niger) runs weftward, not so as to reach Barbary, but towards the country of Alwáh, whence it rushes into the Great Sea. The truth of this fact I have verified, partly by my own obfervations, and partly by my inquiries among intelligent men: whofe anfwers feemed the more credible, because, if fo prodigious a mass of water were to roll over Egypt with all its wintry increase, not the land only, but the houfes and towns, of the Egyptians must be overflowed.

ON

XXIII.

ON THE

TRIAL BY ORDEAL

AMONG THE

HINDU S.

BY A'LI IBRA'HI'M KHA'N,

CHIEF MAGISTRATE AT BANARES.

Communicated by WARREN HASTINGS, Esq.

THE

"HE modes of trying offenders by an appeal to the Deity, which are described at large in the Mitácsherá, or Comment on the Dherma Sástra, in the Chapter of Oaths, and other ancient books of Hindu Law, are here fufficiently explained, according to the interpretation of learned Pandits, by the well-wisher to mankind, Al Ibrahim Khán.

The word Divya, in Sanscrit, fignifies the fame with Paricsha, or Parikhyà, in Bháshà, Kasam in Arabick, and Saucand in Persian; that is, an oath; or the form of invoking the Supreme Being to atteft the truth of an allegation; but it is generally understood to mean the trial by ordeal, or the form of appealing to the immediate interpofition of the Divine Power.

Now this trial may be conducted in nine ways. First, by the balance; fecondly, by fire; thirdly, by water; fourthly, by poison; fifthly, by the Cósha, or water in which an idol has been wafhed; fixthly, by rice; feventhly, by boiling oil; eighthly, by red-hot iron; ninthly, by images.

I. Ordeal

I. Ordeal by the balance is thus performed. The beam having been previously adjusted, the cord fixed, and both scales made perfectly even, the perfon accufed and a Pandit faft a whole day; then, after the accused has been bathed in facred water, the hóma, or oblation, prefented to fire, and the deities worshipped, he is carefully weighed; and, when he is taken out of the scale, the Pandits proftrate themselves before it, pronounce a certain mentra, or incantation, agreeably to the Sástras, and, having written the fubftance of the accufation on a piece of paper, bind it on his head. Six minutes after they place him again in the fcale; and if he weigh more than before, he is held guilty; if lefs, innocent: if exactly the fame, he must be weighed a third time; when, as it is written in the Mitácsherá, there will certainly be a difference in his weight. Should the balance, though well fixed, break down, this would be confidered as a proof of his guilt.

II. For the fire-ordeal an excavation, nine hands long, two spans broad, and one fpan deep, is made in the ground, and filled with a fire of pippal wood: into this the perfon accused muft walk barefooted; and if his foot be unhurt, they hold him blameless; if burned, guilty.

III. Water-ordeal is performed by causing the perfon accused to ftand in a fufficient depth of water, either flowing or ftagnant, to reach his navel; but care should be taken that no ravenous animal be in it, and that it be not moved by much air. A Bráhman is then directed to go into the water, holding a staff in his hand; and a foldier fhoots three arrows on dry ground from a bow of cane. A man is next difpatched to bring the arrow which has been fhot fartheft; and, after he has taken it up, another is ordered to run from the edge of the water; at which inftant the perfon accused is told to grasp the foot or the staff of the Brahman, who stands near him in the water, and immediately to dive into it.

He