And on its sides, with Ommau's * pearls inlaid,
Full many a tale of love, shall be pourtray'd.
Hesper shall rise, and warn us to be gone,
Yet will we revel 'till the breaking dawn;
Nor will we heed the morn's unwelcome light,
Nor our joys finish with returning night.

"Not Georgia's nymphs can with my love compare ;
Like jet the ringlets of her musky hair;
Her stature like the palm, her shape the pine;
Her breasts like swelling clusters of the vine;
Fragrant her breath as Hadramut's perfume,
And her cheeks shame the damask rose's bloom.
Black, soft, and full, her eyes serenely roll,
And seem the liquid mansion of her soul.
Who shall describe her lips where rubies glow,
Her teeth like shining drops of purest snow.
Beneath her honey'd tongue persuasion lies,
And her voice breathes the strain of Paradise.

"A bower I have, where branching almonds spread,
Where all the seasons all their bounties shed;
The gales of life amidst the branches play,
And music bursts from every vocal spray :
The verdant foot a stream of amber laves,
And o'er it, love, his guardian banner waves.
There shall our days, our nights, in pleasure glide;
Friendship shall live when passion's joys subside,
Increasing years improve our mutual truth,
And age give sanction to the choice of youth.

"Thus fondly I of fancied raptures sung,
And with my song the gladden'd valley rung ;
But fate, with jealous eye, beheld our joy,
Smil'd to deceive, and flatter'd to destroy.
Swift as the shades of night the vision fled,

Grief was the guest, and death the banquet spread;

A burning fever on her vitals prey'd,

Defied love's efforts, baffled med'cine's aid,

And from these widow'd arms a treasure tore,

Beyond the price of empires to restore.

The sea of Ommau bounds Arabia on the south, and is celebrated by the eastern poets

for the beauty of the pearls it produces.

"What have I left? What portion but despair,
Long days of woe, and nights of endless care?
While others live to love, I live to weep:
Will sorrow burst the grave's eternal sleep?
Will all my prayers the savage tyrant move
To quit his prey and give me back my love?
If far, far hence, I take my hasty flight,
Seek other haunts, and scenes of soft delight,
Amidst the crowded mart her voice I hear,
And shed, unseen, the solitary tear.
Music exalts her animating strain,

And beauty rolls her radiant eye in vain :
All that was music fled with Hinda's breath,
And beauty's brightest eyes are clos'd in death.
I pine in darkness for the solar rays,

Yet loath the sun and sicken at his blaze:
Then curse the light, and curse the lonely gloom,
While unremitting sorrow points the tomb.

"Oh! Hinda, brightest of the black ey'd maids
That sport in Paradise' embow'ring shades,
From golden boughs where bend ambrosial fruits,
And fragrant waters wash th' immortal roots;
Oh! from the bright abodes of purer day
The prostrate Agib at thy tomb survey;
Behold me with unceasing vigils pine
My youthful vigour waste with swift decline.
My hollow eye behold and faded face,
Where health but lately spread her ruddy grace,
I can no more---this sabre sets me free---

This gives me back to rapture, love, and thee.
Firm to the stroke, its shining edge I bare,

The lover's last, sad, solace in despair.
Go, faithful steel, act nature's ling'ring part

Bury the blushing point within my heart,

Drink all the life that warms these drooping veins, And banish, at one stroke, a thousand pains.

Haste thee, dear charmer; catch my gasping breath, And cheer with smiles the barren glooms of death! 'Tis done---the gates of Paradise expand,

Attendant Houris seize my trembling hand;

I pass the dark, inhospitable shore,

And Hinda, thou art mine---to part no more!"

REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMITTEE OF CORRESPONDENCE OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY.

'AT the annual meeting of the Royal Asiatic Society, held on the 15th of March, 1828, Sir Alexander Johnston, Chairman of the Committee of Correspondence, having verbally reported the proceedings of that Committee since its institution,

'It was resolved,

"That he be requested to reduce his report to writing, and that it be printed in the Appendix to the Society's Transactions." 'Report of the Committee of Correspondence.

The Committee of Correspondence understand it to be theirduty, 1st. To open and keep up a correspondence and communication with every Government, Society, and individual, who can in any way assist the literary and scientific objects of the Royal Asiatic Society.

2d. To inspire all such Governments, Societies, and individuals, with an interest in the success of the Royal Asiatic Society, and a zeal in promoting their researches in every part of the world.

3d. To procure for the Royal Asiatic Society, and for such persons as may apply to the Committee, information relative to Asia, from every source and every country from which it can be derived; from every work, ancient and modern, in whatever language it may be written; from every servant of the Crown, and of the East India Company, whether civil, military, naval, or medical; from every diplomatic agent and public consul; from every Christian missionary, whether Catholic or Protestant; from every traveller, trader, or navigator, whether Christian, Mahommedan, Hindoo, or Buddhist; and from every country in Europe, particularly from Portugal, Spain, Holland, Denmark, Italy, France, Germany and Russia.

With this view of its duty, the Committee will now proceed to report to the Society what it has done within the last twelve months, in Great Britain, in India, and on the continent of Europe.

'In Great Britain.

'The Committee have to report under this head, that they have opened and kept up a correspondence with the East India Company, the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the Royal Institution, the Medico-Botanical Society, and the Mechanics' Institute.

'The East India Company.

'As the East India Company possess so extensive an empire in Asia, and so valuable a collection of Oriental works in this country, the Committee have felt it to be their duty to communicate with the Directors of that powerful body upon every occasion upon which their co-operation was material, and are happy to lay before the

members of the Society, a detail of the circumstances which are connected with one of the communications, and the important result to which it has led. Sir Alexander Johnston having long considered it of importance to a general knowledge of Oriental literature in Europe, that English translations should be made of all such Oriental works as are believed to contain new or useful information, in any branch of science or literature, had frequent communications upon the subject with Professor Lee, whose talents, and knowledge of Oriental languages, have so justly placed him in the highest rank of Oriental scholars in Europe; and Sir Alexander, some months ago, received a letter from the Professor, which will be found in the Appendix, No. 1.

Upon the receipt of this letter, Sir Alexander spoke to Mr. Lindsay, the Chairman of the Court of Directors, and ascertained from him, that he agreed perfectly with Mr. Lee, as to the utility of the plan which he proposed; and that he would willingly, if the plan were sent to him officially, lay it before the Court.

'Sir Alexander Johnston then submitted the measure to the Council of the Royal Asiatic Society, which, upon the motion of Sir Alexander, sent a deputation of its members, consisting of Sir Alexander Johnston, Dr. Babington, Sir R. Barclay, Colonel Doyle, and A. Macklew, Esq., to the Chairman of the Court of Directors, with a request that he would officially bring the subject before the Court. He accordingly did so, and the Court having approved of Professor Lee's proposal, in a very liberal manner voted an immediate donation of 1051., and an annual subscription of 1051. more, in furtherance of the object of the Royal Asiatic Society, which will be found in the Appendix, Nos. 2 and 3. Sir Alexander knowing that the plan of making English translations of Oriental works was very popular with many persons, who in other respects felt little or no interest in questions relating to India, thought it advisable to take advantage of this feeling, and consulted upon the occasion with Colonel Fitzclarence, who throughout the proceedings had taken a most active and efficient part in favour of the measure.

'The Colonel immediately spoke to his Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence, who, being satisfied of the policy of the plan, not only subscribed his own name to it, but with a zeal which had always marked his patronage of the Society, adopted immediate steps for ensuring the success of the measure. Sir Alexander also knowing the weight which the public would justly attach to the patronage of the head of the church to such a plan, obtained through Dr. D'Oyly, the patronage and subscription of the Archbishop of Canterbury to it and a Committee has now been formed for carrying it into

The Letters referred to in this and other parts of the Report, are of an extremely interesting character, and we regret that the length of our Domestic and Indian Intelligence, should render their insertion in this impression impossible. They will appear in the September Number.-Ed.

effect, which is composed of several members of the Society, and some of the most distinguished Oriental scholars in England, under the direct patronage of his Majesty and the Royal Family; of the First Lord of the Treasury; of the heads of the church, navy, and army, and many of the most powerful and distinguished individuals in Great Britain.

The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

'The high character which the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge hold in the estimation of the Government, and of the people of England, the talents and erudition of their members, the influence which they naturally exercise over the education, and the religious and moral opinions and feelings of the leading men in the country, the collections which they possess of Oriental works, the attention which they pay to Oriental literature, the efficient aid which they can afford, by means of their printing presses, to the printing of Oriental manuscripts, and of the English translation of them, must render their co-operation of the utmost importance to any Society in England, that is engaged in researches into Oriental literature and science, many parts of which are often of so much use, in illustrating and explaining subjects which are intimately connected with the true reading and perfect understanding of the most remarkable passages in the Holy Scriptures. The Committee, therefore, took the earliest opportunity of opening a communication with both these learned bodies. With respect to Oxford, they have to report that Mr. Peel, as soon as he was informed by Sir Alexander Johnston of the objects of the Society, and the wishes of the Committee, not only promised his own support to their proceedings, but with the liberal feeling and spirit which he evinces on every occasion, in which the interests of literature and science are concerned, immediately wrote upon the subject to the Bishop of Oxford, on whose suggestion such a communication as the Committee had wished, was soon after opened between the delegates of the Clarendon press and the Royal Asiatic Society. With respect to Cambridge, the Committee have to report, that through Professor Lee, a similar communication has been opened between some of the leading members of that University and the Society, and that the result of these communications is that the two Universities approve of the proceedings of the Royal Asiatic Society, and that there is reason to believe they will afford the Society such assistance as their respective institutions will permit.

'The Royal Institution.

'The variety of the combinations of different metals which are used for domestic and other purposes by the Natives of India; the variety of the materials which they manufacture, and of the substance of which their dyes are composed; the simplicity of the processes to which they have recourse in their several manufactures, render researches concerning them an object of interest to