and would then only have the effect already pointed out, of retarding the progrefs of aftronomical improvement.

Infome parts of the argument, we acknowledge, however, that Mr Bentley's reafoning is lefs exceptionable. The mean motions of the moon, and of the planets that are liable to secular equations of very long periods, and of which the law is known, are very proper for affording the means of judging when the Hindoo determinations of thofe motions were made. The difquifition, however, to which this leads, is a very delicate one, and appears to us to require the folution of fome analytical problems of confiderable difficulty. Were we, from the statement which Mr Bentley has given of the moon's mean motion from the Surya Siddhanta, (where it is confiderably flower than in the prefent age), to form a grofs estimate of the age of that book, we fhould be difpofed to refer it to a more remote antiquity than any that has been yet afcribed to the aftronomy of India. But on this eftimate we can place no reliance, as it is made without the previous inveftigations which have just been hinted at.

Many collateral arguments might be brought from other quarters to support the antiquity of the Indian astronomy. Beside the mean motions, several other elements in the tables have the appearance of belonging to a very remote period. The obliquity of the ecliptic, the length of the solar year, the aphelion of Jupiter, the equation of Saturn's centre, and the mean motion of both these planets, correspond well with the commencement of the Caly-Yug. Another element, the equation of the sun's centre, to which the Hindoo tables assign a magnitude considerably larger than it has at present (2° 10' 32", instead of 1° 55') is regarded by M. Bailly as leading to the same conclusion. It is indeed certain, that the irregularity just referred to was greater in former ages than it is in the present; and that the earth's orbit is tending more and more to circularity, when, for a time at least, the equation just mentioned will entirely vanish. LA PLACE, however, has taken notice of a circumstance which escaped the observation of his brother academician, and which tends to inva− lidate the conclusion which he drew from the above mentioned irregularity. The equation to the sun's centre, as given in the Hindoo tables, includes in it that equation or irregularity of the moon's motion, known by the name of the Annual Equation. This happens, because it is the object of those tables to exhibit the relative motion of the sun and moon, at the time of the eclipses of these luminaries. They, therefore, have very naturally united together the irregularities that belong to each of the bodies, and have considered the amount as belonging only to one of them, by

which their relative motion is equally well represented, and, apparently, with more simplicity. The blending together of these two irregularities, has therefore produced a greater equation of the sun's centre than is admitted in our astronomy, where they are separately considered. This observation, therefore, takes away the force of one of M. Bailly's arguments, though we must say that, nevertheless, it does not materially affect his general conclusion. We have stated this the more particularly, both be cause impartiality required that we should conceal nothing that affected the argument either way, but because we think that, after twenty years, during which the Astronomie Indienne has been before the public, this is the only argument contained in it, that, on fair and solid grounds, can be said to have lost any of its force.

Beside the arguments that tend immediately to prove the antiquity of the astronomy of the Hindoos, there are others that do so indirectly, by marking it as a system distinct from those that are known to have existed in Greece and Arabia, the only countries, it would appear, from which India can have borrowed. We had occasion already to remark the great difference between the tables of Trivalore and those of Ptolemy, and of Ulugh-Beigh, when we calculated from them the places of the sun and moon at the beginning of the Cali-yug. We might remark the same sort of dissimilitude on comparing them either with the Arabic or the Persian tables, so that they seem essentially distinguished from all the systems of ancient astronomy, of which any distinct records have been preserved.

In several of the other astronomical methods, not contained imdiately in the tables, the same appearance of originality is discovered. Such is the rule by which the Brahmen of Trivalore, who instructed Le Gentil, computed the length of the day, at the different seasons of the year. That ruie consisted in an approximation to a trigonometric result, made by a method quite peculiar, and applicable only to very low latitudes. The trigonometry contained in the Surya Siddhanta, of which Mr Davis has given so curious an account, is very different from any thing of the same sort that we meet with in other quarters. The theorem from which the investigation of the sines is deduced in that trigonometry, has been pointed out (Edin. Trans. vol. IV.), and is a preposition that was known to the Greek geometers, but not applied by them in a way at all similar to that explained in the Surya Siddhánta. The remark on which the computation in that work proceeds, that each number in the tables is related in the same way to the two that go before it, is abundantly subtle, and escaped the mathematicians of Europe, till within two centuries of the present time.

Το

To this we may add the rectification of the circle, or the computation of the length of its circumference made by a rule known in India before it was known in Europe, and remarkable for its accuracy. This we are informed of in the Institutes of Akbar, where the proportion of the circumference to the diameter is said to be stated by the Hindoos, at 3927 to 1250, which is the same with that of 3.1416 to 1; an approximation very near the truth, and the same which we now employ in our computations, though we believe, that it was hardly known in Europe at the time when the Emperor Akbar reigned in India. (Ayeen Akbery, Vol. III. p. 32.)

The consideration of these facts, and of many more which it would be easy to produce, ought to keep our curiosity alive to the remains of science in the East. Their extent and accuracy are so considerable, their origin and genealogy so completely unknown, they are united with so much extravagance and superstition, and so totally separated from any general stock of knowledge, that we cannot but consider them as forming altogether the most enigmatical monument of antiquity that is to be found on the face of the earth. We wish to consider this subject as still requiring much investigation, and we would wish to prevent opinion from taking, on this head, any fixed and determinate position. The probability seems to us to be much in favour of the great antiquity of these curious remains; and we hope that the preceding statement may do something to keep awake the wonder which their first appearance and the commentaries of M. Bailly had tended to excite. We are the more adverse to Mr Bentley's opinion, that it tends to lessen the interest in this subject, to remove that admiration which is the most powerful stimulus to inquiry,—and to make us sit down contented with the supposition, that all the remarkable coincidences in the Indian Astronomy are the mere effects of chance or artifice. We have no doubt that the zeal of this learned and ingenious author, to diminish the surprise which the Indian Astronomy has produced, arises from the love of truth, and the natural desire of bringing what seems extraordinary down to a conformity, or a level, with the ordinary course of things. But, in doing this, let him beware of extinguishing curiosity, while any thing of value remains to be known; and let him take care that while he would do away the delusions of others, he is not trying to recommend a phantom of his own.

A great degree of scepticism on this subject ought most carefully to be preserved, till the industry and learning of the Asiatic Society, to which we have already so great obligations, shall fur

aish

nish us with a more complete catalogue and description of the remains of Oriental science. We may then decide, whether the East has only borrowed from the West; or whether it be true, as Lucian says, that it was in India that philosophy first alighted on the earth. '

ART. XIII. Some Account of New Zealand, particularly the Bay of Islands, and furrounding Country, with a Defcription of the Religion and Government, Language, Arts, Manufactures, Manners and Customs of the Natives, &c. &c. By John Savage, Efq. Surgeon and Correfponding Member of the Royal Jennerian Society. 8vo. pp. 118. London, Murray. 1807.

THIS

HIS is a publication of confiderable merit, and of very modeft pretenfions. The author having had occafion, we prefume, in the way of his profeffion, to vifit a part of the world very little known to Europeans, noted down fuch particulars, respecting the country and its inhabitants, as he had an opportunity of obferying. The knowledge of these remarks was likely to intereft men of fpeculative habits, and affift fucceeding navigators. He therefore has made them public. As his materials, from the nature of the fubject, and his fhort refidence, were neceffarily fcanty, he has given them just as he collected them, without the trick of expanding them into a large and coftly volume, by means of excerpts from former works, the introduction of things foreign to the fubject, and the various other refources of the book-making art. For fetting fo good an example, he deserves our thanks. Those who, from accidental circumstances, become poffeffed of curious information, fhould, without fcruple, give it to the world, although its trifling bulk may fubject them to the imputation of publishing a little book, and bar them from the gains of a coftly quarto. That we may contribute our share towards the encouragement of fo good a practice, we fhall endeavour to make our readers acquainted with this small volume.

New Zealand, from its discovery by the celebrated Tasman in 1642, did not attract the particular attention of navigators until 1770, when Captain Cook accurately surveyed a confiderable portion of it, and found that it was divided into two large islands by a ftraight. He collected likewise a number of interefting particulars respecting the country and the natives; but his obfervations were confined to the fouthern island. Since the time of Captain Cook, we have no information respecting New Zealand, except

a few unconnected details given by Mr Collins in his account of New South Wales, upon the authority of two New-Zealanders, who refided for fome months in that colony. Mr Savage paffed a part of the months of September and October 1805 in the Bay of Islands, a fine bay on the north-east coast of the northern ifland. During that time, he had conftant intercourfe with the natives; and he brought one of them away with him, from whom, in the course of the long voyage home, he obtained confiderable additions to his information. The Bay of iflands, to the neighbourhood of which his remarks are confined, is not far diftant from the most northerly point of New Zealand. The obfervation of Captain Cook was directed to the oppofite quarter. Mr Savage has given his information in a plain and unambitious manner. He begins at once with the subject, and neither ekes out his book by accounts of the outward voyage, nor amuses us with narratives of perfonal adventures. The voyage home is only alluded to as illuftrative of the habits of the native who accompanied him.

The Bay of Islands lies in latitude 35° 6' fouth, and longitude 174° 43′ east, between two points called in the maps Cape Brit and Cape Colville. The anchorage is excellent, and of eafy approach. The neighbourhood furnishes an abundant fupply of the beft potatoes. For this reafon, it is a point of great importance to navigators to be acquainted with the appearances of the land from the fea, and with fuch other circumstances as may affist them in reaching the harbour. Our author gives feveral neat sketches, and a number of directions, which cannot fail to prove highly. ufeful in this refpect. We regret that he did not attempt to lay down the Bay, of which we believe no chart whatever exifts. A few obfervations, in addition to thofe which he or his companions feem to have made, would have enabled him to do fo; and at any rate, he should have given us a map of the islands of New Zealand, according to the received notions of their extent and pofition, although he had merely taken it from the works of former navigators, or the common charts.

The vegetable produce of the spot in question, though limited in point of variety, is apparently very valuable. The flax, notwithstanding every disadvantage of an extremely rude culture, is of excellent quality. the fibres five or six feet long, and the appearance beautiful and silky. The root of the fern, which grows in abundance wild, furnishes a nourishing juice to the natives, who chiefly live upon it. Potatoes, which they cultivate with considerable skill, and chiefly reserve for traffic with the ships that arrive, are produced in sufficient plenty, and perfect,

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