That an extensive old literature exists in the Kannaḍa (or so-called Canarese) language is admitted by more than one eminent writer on Oriental subjects, but of the nature and history of that literature little or nothing is known, beyond the fact that it was of Jaina origin. The sectarian titles of many of the works, taken as being a sufficient key to their probable contents, may perhaps have stopped inquirers—if any there have been—from going further. Following up the clue obtained from the writings of Pampa, further researches have enabled me to throw some light on this hitherto virtually unexplored subject.

The main interest of the world's history centres so indisputably in the doings of the Aryan and Semitic races, that even those whose attention has been chiefly devoted to other areas of human development cannot but concur in the judgment which assigns to the object of their studies a secondary place. At the same time, the second place, and even the third, has a claim to some hearing; and if we grant (as we are bound to do) the second place to China as the intellectual, and to some extent the political leader of Eastern Asia, the third place will perhaps be allowed to belong to Japan. Pending the settlement of the disputed Accadian question, Japanese literature takes us back many centuries further than the oldest documents of the Mongols, Mantchus, Turks, Finns, or any other nation of the Altaic stock; and, as the Archaic Japanese language may, on account of its superior antiquity, lay claim to the title of the Sanskrit of the Altaic tongues, so, also, is it to be presumed that the early Japanese civilization and religion present us with the most original features of Altaic thought and life.

Hiouen-Thsang, towards the end of the lOth book of the Si-yu-ki, alludes to a celebrated mountain called Potakara, on which Avalokitesvara was accustomed to reside.

The question of the origin of the worship of this deity by the Buddhists is so interesting that I was led, when engaged in the translation of the Si-yu-ki, to inquire further into the subject. I gladly submit my conclusions to the notice of this learned Society.

Will you allow me to supplement Professor Julg's very interesting account of the authorities and materials available for Mongol history and philology by some additional notes upon two works overlooked by him. By far the most important of these is a work published by the Archimandrite Palladius in a Russian translation in the fourth volume of the Memoirs of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission at Peking, and which he styles the Yuan chao mi shi. The syllable mi being the popular pronunciation of the character pronounced pi in the Mandarin dialect, Dr. Bretschneider has adopted the title Yuan chao pi shi, in which I have followed him in a detailed account of Chinghiz Khan and his Ancestors, which I have been publishing for some time in the Indian Antiquary, and in which the contents of this work are incorporated. The Yuan chao pi shi is in every way a remarkable work and contains the most valuable materials for the earlier life of Chinghiz Khan, and for that of his ancestors, which are available anywhere.