________________
356
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[DECEMBER, 1888.
distance to the east of Saida (Sidon). Its depth is about 15 mètres below the level of the earth. This artificial cave had not to all appearance any doors or exit, since the inner walls, formed of the rock itself, remained undisturbed. When it was accidentally opened men were let down from above, through the opening by means of a rope, for which a wooden staircase has now been sub. stituted by Hamdi Bey. The bottom of the cave exhibits the form of a square room, surrounded on all sides by a number of niches, also out in the rock, in which were found magnificent sarcophagi of white marble and unusually elegant workmanship. With the exception of some of Phoenician origin, the sarcophagi are Greek. Three of the latter are very remarkable :-The first of these was found in the eastern niche and has the form of a mausoleum of white marble, on the side of which are carved eighteen figures of weeping women, and on the lid the ceremonial of a funeral.
The two others were found in the southern niches. One of them is conspicuous by the incomparable beauty of its sculptures:--groups of warriors fighting carved on the sides, some coloured with red paint. Another is a large mausoleum, weighing about 15 tons, and a similar one is hardly to be found in the museums of the whole world. The lid is of a convex shape and exhibits groups of horses prancing and female figures. On one of its sides sphinxes are represented. The sarcophagi are all of solid marble, but nothing has been found in them. In order to get them out Hamdi Bey proposes to construct a tunnel and they are to be sent to Constantinople by a special ship. Subse. quent intelligence has been received that at Said another sarcophagus has been found of black marble.
(4) Criticism and Bibliography. (1) The Fall of Constantinople, by Nestor Iskander of the XVth Century. Edited by the Archimandrite Leonidas. St. Petersburg, 1866. Written in Old Slavonic by a man who witnessed the taking of Constantinople by the Turks in 1433. It contains many Turkish and Arabic words.
(2.) K. P. Patkanov.-Some Remarks on the Dialects of the Gipsies beyond the Caucasus. As yet we have only received information about the European Gipsies. Although the gipsies are undoubtedly of Indian origin, yet to which of the Indian races do they belong? Why did they leave their country? At what time did their migrations begin and by what routes did they go ?
The language of such a despised race would naturally be rude, and we accordingly find that they have borrowed largely from the vocabularies of the countries through which they have passed. Miklosich has done much for the philology of the European gipsies, but the Asiatic have been neglected. The first chapter of the work treats of the gipsies generally; the second of the Caucasian races, Bosha, Karachi and Miutriup; the first of which are Christians, the second Shi'as, and the third Sunnis. Of the Bosha language he gives 46 phrases and 238 words. It shews very strong Armenian influences, for the case inflections and vowel forms are Armenian. The dialect of the Karachi is more interesting : in this we have 101 phrases, a short tale and 268 words. In contradistinction to that of the Bosh it shews many independent forms, and ther are no traces of the influences of Persian or any other language. The writer of the review analyses the grammatical forms and decides that the dialect is rather Iranian than Indian. He concludes with a list of some of the most valu. able Russian works on the Gipsies, and congratulates M. Patkanov on this highly useful contribution to philology.
(3) Peter Pordniev. The Dervishes among the Musalmans. Orenburg, 1886. Reviewed severely by V. Rosen). Most of it taken from John Brown's The Dervishes, or Oriental Spiritualism. London, 1883. The book is without scientific value. The author pretends to know Arabic, but his ignorance is shewn by many blunders.
(4) Major Biddulph. The Populations of the Hindu Kush, translated by P. Lessar. Askábad. An excellent translation with a good ethnological map.15
(5) Pestchurov. A Chinese Russian Dictionary, contains about 6000 Chinese characters. The editor gives a warm welcome to this valuable little book, the first of the kind which has appeared in Russia.
(6) Dr. H. Fritsche. On Chronology and the construction of the Calendar, with special regard to the Chinese computation of time compared with the European. St. Petersburg, 1886.** Herr Fritsche was for sixteen years director of the Observatory at Pekin, and for some time taught astronomy in a school founded by the Chinese Government on the European model. This work is based upon the lectures delivered there. The information concerning the Chinese Calendar and computation of time is taken chiefly from Chinese
11 But see ante, Vols. XV. and XVI.--ED.]
1: The tale is here given, with elaborate philological Annotations by K. Z., the anonymous author of this highly interesting review.
13 By the well-known P. Lessar. Both the name of the translator and the place of publication are noteworthy.
11 Title in English.
