brought them to Rome took pride in giving them their own names, as in memory of some great service or pleasure they had done their country; so that not only laws and battles, but several sorts of apples or mala, and of pears, were called Manlian and Claudian, Pompeian and Tiberian, and by several other such noble names. Thus, in process of time, the inhabitants of Italy, who formerly lived on acorns, made the whole world tributary to their subsistence, as well as to their glory. Humboldt, in his Account of New Spain, (vol. 2.) says that the Prunus avium, or wild cherry, is indigenous in Germany and France, and has existed from the most remote antiquity in their forests, like the robur and the linden tree; while other species of cherry-trees, which are considered as varieties, become permanent, and of which the fruits are more savoury than the Prunus avium, have come to those countries through the Romans from Asia Minor, and particularly from the kingdom of Pontus.

Turnips and carrots are considered indigenous roots of France, our cauliflowers came from Cyprus, our artichokes from Sicily, lettuce from Cos, and shallots, or eschallots, from Ascalon. The art of gardening was introduced into England from the Continent about 1509, prior to which, most of the present produce of kitchen gardens was imported from the Netherlands.

ANTIQUITIES OF BAMIYAN.

BAMIYAN or Bamian, is a city placed in the centre of Paripamisus, a branch of mount Caucasus, in that part of Independent Tartary called Great Bucharia. In Sanscrit it is called Vami-nagari, Vami-gram, and in a derivative. form, Vami-yan, 'the most beautiful and excellent city.' It is a place of great antiquity, and at a very early period, was regarded as the metropolis of the sect of Buddha. It was therefore emphatically styled Buddha-Bamiyan; but this venerable title has been perverted by the malicious mussulmen into But-Bamiyan or Bamian, 'of the evil spirit.'

This celebrated city, the Thebes of the east, is represented in the books of the Bauddhits, as the source of purity and holiness. They pretend that it was built by the patriarch Shem, from whom it is sometimes called Sham-Bamiyan. This patriarch they suppose to have been an incarnation of Jina or Vishnu; an opinion which likewise prevails among the Bramins.

Bamiyan is situated between Bahlac and Cabul, from the latter of which it is distant eight manzils or days' journey. Like Thebes in Egypt, it is entirely cut out of an insulated mountain; and the surrounding valley is called in the language of the country, the Tagavi, or district of Bamiyan. About two miles south from this place are the ruins of an ancient city called Gulghuleh, which, at a remote period, was desolated by the furious zeal of the Mussulmen. The ruins of some buildings of masonry are still seen round a small conical hill in the neighborhood, whose summit is crowned with the ruined palace of its ancient kings. Through the ruins of Gulghuleh, and the district of Bamiyan, flows a pleasant, though scanty stream, which rises in the adjacent hills, and falls into a lake, from which issue four rivers, the Hirmend, the Landhi Sindh, the rivers of Bahlac, and of Conduz.

The city of Bamiyan consists of a great number of apartments and recesses cut out of the rock; and from the Ayeen Akberry, as well as from the concurring reports of travellers, we learn, that there are about 12,000 of these recesses in the Tagavi of Bamiyan. Some of these appear, from their extraordinary dimensions, to have been designed for temples. None of them have pillars, but some are adorned with niches and carved work; and fragments still remain of figures in relievo, which have been miserably mutilated and defaced by the Mussulmen. The walls, too, have been decorated with paintings, the colors of which gleam, here and there, through the smoke with which they have been in general obscured by the fires of the inhabitants. These recesses are called by the natives Samach'h, and by the Persians Samaj. They are very frequent in the country of the Afghans; some of

them extremely rude, but others highly finished and beautifully decorated. The most perfect are at Mohi, on the road between Bamiyan and Bahlac, in which the paintings retain their original freshness, as their situation amongst precipices has prevented the Mussulmen from making them their habitations.

But no curiosities in Bamiyan or its vicinity are more calculated to attract attention, than two colossal statues seen at a great distance, which are at least fifty cubits high. They adhere to the mountain out of which they are cut, and stand erect in a sort of niches, the depth of which is equal to the thickness of the statue. At a small distance from these stands another statue of less colossal size, being only about fifteen cubits high. Concerning the names or sex of these statues, oriental writers are not agreed. The few Hindus resident in these countries say, that they represent Bhim and his consort; while the followers of Buddha maintain, that they are the statues of Shahama, and his disciple Salsala. The Mussulmen, on their part, contend, that they are the effigies of KeyUmursh and his consort, that is to say, Adam and Eve; and that the third represents Selish or Seth, their son, whose tomb, or at least the place where it stood, is shown near Bahlac. As the Mussulman troops never pass that way without firing a few shots of cannon at them, one of the legs of the male figure is much broken. It is said that Aureng-zebe passing that way in his expedition to Balhac, in the year 1646, ordered a few shots to be fired as usual. One of them took effect, and almost broke the leg of the statue, which bled profusely. Some frightful dreams conspired with this prodigy, to make him desist from the sacrilegious attack, and the clotted blood, we are told, adheres to the wound to this day. This miracle is equally credited by Hindus and Mussulmen; the former ascribing it to the interposition of the Supreme Being, and the latter imputing it to witchcraft. Between the legs of the largest figure there is a door leading into a most spacious temple, at the entrance of which are stationed a few wretched Banians who sell provisions to travellers.

Bamiyan and Bahlac are constantly confounded by Persian authors, who call the first Balk-Bamiyan, and the second Balk-Bohhara. These authors suppose it to have existed before the flood; but the Buddhaists maintain that it was founded by a most religious man named Shama, (the same with the patriarch Shem,) and that his posterity lived there for many generations. They add, that BalkBamiyan was originally Abraham's place of abode; that patriarch, according to scripture, and the sacred books of the Hindus, having removed with his father to distant countries in the west. Diodorus Siculus informs us, that it existed before the time of Ninus; but he, like the Persian writers, has mistaken this city for Bahlac. By the natives, Bamiyan and the adjacent countries are regarded as the abode of the progenitors of the human race. Here, too, the first heroes of Persian story lived and performed innumerable exploits; here their holy instructors first delivered their precepts; and here was the site of the first temples that were ever reared.

Bamiyan fell into the hands of the Musulmen at a very early period of their history. At one time it was governed by kings; but this dynasty, after continuing but a few years, terminated in 1215. Gulghuleh, the royal residence, called then the palace of Bamian, was destroyed by Zengis Khan, whose resentment against the inhabitants was so violent, that he massacred them without distinction of age or sex, and even vented his fury against the brutes and trees. The natives of that country gave it then the name of Gulghuleh, signifying, 'cries of woe.' As it would have been ominous to rebuild it, they erected in its stead a fort, on a hill to the north of Bamians, which still bears the name of Imperial Fort. This castle also was destroyed by Zingis the Ushak, in 1628, and has never since been rebuilt.

The district of Bamiyan is now barren, and without a single tree; yet the sacred books of the Hindus, and of the Bauddhists, positively affirm, that of old it was fertile. There is a tradition, too, that at one period it was so overstocked with inhabitants, that trees, underwood, grass and plants, were all completely destroyed. The vegetable

soil, thus deprived of cultivation, was, in the course of ages, washed away by the rains; and indeed the soil in the valley is extremely rich, and the whole district as it now is, a most delightful spot. The vine, and almost all the fruit trees we have in Europe, grow spontaneously and to high perfection in the country to the eastward of Bami yan, as far as the river Indus. The natives, when they find a vine or any fruit tree in the forests, clear away all the wood about it, and dig the ground, which brings the fruit to perfect maturity. Bamiyan seems to be the Drastoca of Ptolemy, that name being derived from the Sanscrit Drashatca, which signifies the stone city' for before that time towns were nothing more than a mere assemblage of huts. The distance and bearing of Drastoca from Cabura, or Orthospana, leaves no doubt that it was the same city as Bamiyan.

LETTERS FROM THE CANARY ISLANDS.

BY D. J. BROWNE.

OUR readers will recollect that some weeks since, a letter from Mr. Browne was published in this Journal, and an intimation given that others would follow. Unexpectedly, however, Mr. Browne returned to this country much sooner than he anticipated, and has very recently published a digest of his travels, in a small duodecimo, which he has politely dedicated to those friends who kindly interested themselves in the objects of his research. Mr. Browne has established a reputation for industry and close research; and this little volume, from which the following extract has been made, shows that his scientific acquirements, and accurate investigation, give him a claim on men of understanding everywhere. It will be regarded as a curious fact, that valuable and interesting as these letters must be to all classes of readers, he has printed only seventyfive copies, which completely forbids its circulation beyond the immediate circle of those personal friends to whom it is dedicated.

THE measurement of the Peak of Teneriffe has occupied the attention of various individuals at different periods,