"We see it, in the first place, in the geological history of our globe. There is an increasing agency at work all around us to wear down the mountains, and to fill up the valleys; and we see the evidence of powerful diluvial action in comparatively modern times, in the accumulation of detritus, and in the grooves and furrows which the surfaces of rocks exhibit. As we descend into the solid strata, we meet with perpetual proof, in the chemical and mechanical characters of the rocks, and in their organic remains, that a multitude of changes have been going on during their deposition: or rather, that there has been unceasing change.

"At this point, geology connects itself with astronomy; and the two sciences are made to reflect mutual light upon each other. Astronomy discloses to us certain facts in respect to other worlds, that lead the geologist strongly to suspect, that they too are undergoing those changes, and that progressive improvement, which the earth has experienced. The comets appear to be in the very earliest stages of those transmutations. They appear to be even in a gaseous condition, through excessive internal heat; and are not yet brought into such a state that any animal or vegetable natures with which we are acquainted could inhabit them: though the remarkable history of the extinct organized beings of our own globe should lead us not to be very confident on this point. To become the fit residence of such natures as ours, by the operation of natural laws, will surely require periods of almost incalculable length. Still further removed from the condition of our globe appears to be that of the nebula; consisting apparently of the materials out of which comets might be formed: though here too, uncertain conjecture is our only guide. But the point which we wish to be borne in mind is, that these bodies, as well as the comets, seem to be in a condition analogous to what the records of geology lead us to conjecture might have been the state of our globe at some period of the immense past. The moon, we may reasonably conjecture, seems to be so far redeemed from the excessive violence of volcanic agency, as to be adapted, perhaps, to the natures of some organized beings: though it is doubtful whether that globe has such an element as water, or any atmosphere, upon its surface. This fact, however, by no means militates against the idea that it may contain living beings. For to infer, that water and air are essential to all organized existence, because such is the case on this globe, would be the conclusion of a narrow-minded philosophy. Jupiter, on the other hand, it would seem, may be covered as yet with one shoreless ocean: and there perhaps such leviathans may now be playing as once sported in the earlier seas of our globe.

"Such are the motions and orbits of the asteroids of the solar system, that ingenious men have been led to conjecture that they once constituted a single planet between Mars and Jupiter, which was burst asunder by some internal force. And if such a process of refrigeration has taken place in other planets as in our own, might we not admit, that under possible circumstances, such a terrific disruption might have taken place? and that too in exact accordance with the most wise and benevolent plans of the Deity?

"Those solid meteors that sometimes fall to the earth appear to have been in a state of fusion; and, indeed, they are usually intensely heated when they descend. May we not regard these facts too, as perfectly consonant with the idea, that all the bodies of the universe are undergoing important changes by powerful agents, not the least of which is heat?

"Is it not most natural and philosophical to regard the sun as an immense. globe of heated matter, constantly radiating heat into space, and therefore gradually cooling? And what are the spots on its surface, but the incipient crust? And what is the zodiacal light, but elastic vapours, driven by heat from the sun's surface, and made to assume an oblate and almost lenticular form?

"Shall we regard those fixed stars that have in past ages disappeared from the heavens, and those which now shine only periodically, as evidence of disorder and ruin among the works of God? Rather let the analogies at which we have hinted lead us to view them as worlds in particular stages of those mighty changes to which we have reason to believe the universe is subject, and without which all would be stagnation and death. "We acknowledge that these astronomical facts afford us but faint glimpses of the geology of other worlds. Nevertheless, they seem to us to lead the mind that is conversant with the geological history of our globe irresistibly to the conclusions, that similar causes are in operation, and similar changes are in progress, in other worlds: and that perpetual change is not an anomaly peculiar to our planet, but the very essence of a vast system embracing the wide universe.

"Faint as is the light that is yet thrown upon this subject, yet what an immense field for contemplation does it disclose to our view! and how do the plans of the Infinite Mind enlarge and ramify, as we gaze upon them, until we see them connecting past eternity with that which is to come; the two extremities being lost in the dimness of distance! God is here exhibited to us as employing the same matter, under successive forms, for a great variety of different purposes; all, however, connected into one vast system; and all bearing upon the happiness of animated natures. How much more of grandeur and moral sublimity does such a view of creation exhibit, than the common opinion, which supposes this world, and even a large proportion of the whole universe, created to subserve the wants of man, and to be destroyed when man ceases to exist. The latter plan might, indeed, be worthy of a man, or an angel; but the former is worthy of the Deity*.

"And in what a new aspect does the view we have taken of this allpervading principle of change, exhibit the tendency to decay and ruin so deeply marked on the whole material world! Poets and sentimentalists have ever taken a melancholy interest in depicting the perishable nature of all created things:

'What does not fade? The tower that long had stood
The crush of thunder and the warring winds,

Shook by the slow but sure destroyer Time,
Now hangs in doubtful ruins o'er its base;
And flinty pyramids and walls of brass
Descend: the Babylonian spires are sunk ;
Achaia, Rome, and Egypt moulder down.
Time shakes the stable tyranny of thrones,
And tottering empires rush by their own weight.
This huge rotundity we tread grows old,
And all those worlds that roll around the sun.
The sun himself shall die, and ancient Night

Again involve the desolate abyss.'

"But let this tendency to dissolution be regarded only as one of the necessary forms through which matter passes, in its progress towards improvement, and as necessary to the preservation and happiness of the universe, as in fact an essential feature of a sublime and far-reaching plan

Sed cum eæ rationes, quibus inductus Universum condididit, intellectui divino semper observarentur, cur mihi non persuadeam, Deum infinite potentem ac bonum jam multis retro sæculis mundi systemata produxisse, cur vim ejus creatricem angustis terræ nostræ, cujus existentiam sex mille circiter annos non excedere lubens fateor, terminis circumscribam?

Since the reasons that led the Deity to found the Universe always exhibit a Divine Intelligence, why should I not believe, that a God, infinitely powerful and good, created the system of the world many ages ago? Why should I confine his creating power to the narrow limits of our earth, whose duration I willingly confess does not exceed six thousand years?'-Doederléinii Theologia, p. 477. Note by the commentator, C. Godofr. Junge.

of the Deity; and when we see nature thus apparently descending into her grave, we shall look upon her drooping form as a sure presage of her speedy resurrection in renovated strength and beauty. The decay and dissolution of our own bodies (in which there is something evidently penal) have thrown a melancholy aspect over the great and salutary changes which take place in nature, only for the good of the universe. But the view of the subject which we have taken dissolves this unhappy association, and leads us to connect all the revolutions of the material world with its improvement, and with the vast plans of Jehovah.

"But we will dwell no longer on this great theme. Our only hope is, that we have thrown light enough into this almost unexplored field, to satisfy noble minds that here they may obtain such glimpses of the purposes of the Deity, as will fill and overwhelm the loftiest intellect, and excite the strongest emotions of reverence and love towards the Infinite Mind that is capable of contriving and executing such plans.

"Such is the religion of geology. Prejudice may call it atheism, because it presents before us views so new and peculiar; and scepticism may pervert these views to suit an unsubdued and unholy heart. But we call this religion a transcript of the Divine perfections. And if there be one spot in the whole circle of science, where the student of natural theology can find fuel to kindle up the flame of devotion, it is, as it seems to us, when he secures a live coal from the altar of geology.

III.-Vocabulary of one of the Kol Dialects, with Proposal for a Comparative Vocabulary of all the Mountain Tribes.

GENTLEMEN,

To the Editors of the Calcutta Christian Observer.

In common with an increasing number of friends to India, I view with the deepest interest and hope the vigorous efforts now making to secure the use of the Roman character in all the languages of the East; and feel well persuaded, from the encouraging progress already made, that the effort will be in good time abundantly successful. More than one of my immediate friends engaged in the instruction of native pupils, who from the statements of others had been formerly prejudiced against the introduction of the system, have been persuaded to try it; and on witnessing the effect, have become its zealous patrons. Let but its friends persevere in the effort, and remembering that great masses of men are moved but by slow degrees, be content with steady, though it be not very astounding, progress; let them supply suitable publications, invite teachers to use them, and publish the result; and in a few years, they may live to be themselves surprised at the wide expanse of country over which their beneficial influence has extended itself.

One subordinate, but by no means unimportant, result of the efforts alluded to, is the aid which the friends of Oriental Literature must derive from the use of an uniform system of orthography, in the expression of the different languages

of the East. I feel highly gratified by the efforts now making to procure a comparative vocabulary of all the Indo-Chinese dialects, as detailed in a late No. of your work; and earnestly hope, that for the assistance of Oriental students, it may be fully supplied. It is a disgrace to us, as the paramount power in India, that long ere this, complete vocabularies of all the more important languages of the neighbouring nations have not been compiled and published; and that even as regards so important a language as the Tibetan, it is to a learned Hungarian that we are indebted for the only vocabulary that can with any confidence be relied on. But this is not all. Even in our own territories, there are numerous mountain tribes, of whose language we are almost entirely ignorant, so that we can form no judgment whether they are intimately or remotely connected, or are perfectly independent of each other. I am given to understand, that by the exertions of your friends in Asám, you have procured vocabularies of the numerous mountain tribes inhabiting the districts on our N. E. frontier. I have been long hoping that you would give so interesting a document a place in your pages, and trust it will not much longer be withheld*. Meanwhile, it has appeared to me a problem deserving of solution, how far the mountaineers, inhabiting the great Vindya range, are connected in language with each other, and with the inhabitants of other parts; and with a view to contribute what I can towards settling the question, I beg to send you the following list of words spoken by a class of the Kol tribe inhabiting Chhotá Nágpur, a few months ago the scene of warlike operations. It was communicated by an intelligent native, who was formerly a pupil in the General Assembly's School, and is now labouring among the Kols as a teacher. The accompanying remarks, extracted from a recent letter which contained the vocabulary, give satisfactory evidence of his thirst for knowledge, and may shew European scholars the use which may be made of native agency (an agency hitherto too much neglected) in their search after useful information.

After much inquiry and investigation, I have been given to understand, that the Kols have no letters of themselves. They have no way of communicating their ideas to a distant friend; nay, not even hieroglyphics ; so that in this, as well as in many other points, they are perfectly barbarous. There are amongst them perhaps one in some hundreds who can write; but then he writes his own language in Nágarí characters. This therefore is a fine field for the introduction of the Roman Characters, which will at any rate be conferring a great boon on these uncivilized and benighted people.

* We have placed the papers referred to by our correspondent in the hands of a gentleman eminently qualified to elicit from them the most valuable results, and are promised at an early period a communication on the subject, which shall have immediate insertion.-ED.

As to the affinity which their language, denominated the Kol-pársí, bears either to the Hindustání or Bangálí, I cannot at present give correct information; I should rather think that there is hardly any resemblance between it and either of them. However, that a matter of so great moment may be properly examined and investigated, I take the liberty of sending you the enclosed list of a few of their words. I shall lose no opportunity to gather as much information as I possibly can, respecting their language, manners, customs, religion, &c.

I should add, that the following words are spoken by the Uraón, one of the two classes of the Kols; but that these are hardly understood, far less spoken, by the Mundá, the other class.

N. B.-Those words which resemble Bengálí, I have marked with B. and those Hindusthání, with H.

While looking over this list of words from my Native friend, it has occurred to me, Messrs. Editors, that were you to invite the aid of Officers of Government, Missionaries, and others, we might in time secure through your pages a vocabulary of all the hill dialects in India. Mr. Leslie, who, as I saw by