190 THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY. [JrjfE, 1875. but whence did Paojabi aud Gujarat! take it ? The latter two have come little iu contact with any but Aryan tongues. But clavdite jam rvvos pneri ; sat prata bibervtnt. It would be ungracious to complain of defects in a work which has cost its author an immensity of toil, and contains such a muss of information; and we shall therefore merely express the hope that when a second edition appears, Mr. Beames will say something on the following points : — 1. The dialects of Hindi, particularly the Braj BhukM, which may be called a literary language ; _ The dialects of Eajputana ; of which he does not even give us the names ; 3. The Musalmun Bangui!; 1. The Assamese ; 5. The Konkani. Mr. Beames speaks indeed of Kohkaui, but he means only that form of Marathi which is spoken below the Ghfifcs, and which differs in a very slight degree, and in its inflections not at all, from the language as spoken above the Ghats. But there is another dialect of Marathi which might almost be reckoned as an additional language, differing from Marathi nearly as much as Gujarati does ; and this is known by the name ofKohkani. It extends from about Goa to Ho- nawar. Wo commend it to Mr. Beames's attention. G. The dialects spoken by women. — In the Pros- pectus of his HZndiisfdni, undEnglisJiDicticmaryDr. Fallon mentions that this portion of the language has been " strangely overlooked." He estimates its importance highly, though not, we thank, too highly. But it is not only in Hindi and Hin- dustani that the speech of women is deserving of study ; it is equally bo, we believe, in all the dialects. At all events, it is so in Marathi and Bangali. ' In both of these— particularly Limgali— there has been an effort on the part of Pandits and many others to drag bark the the existing forms of ike language to their Sanskrit prototypes, which is no better than childish and vexatious pedantry. The true phonetic forms and idioms will often beet be found in the speech of women of tho upper and middle classes. And now to conclude. "We have nothing but admiration to express when we think of the vast labour which Mr. Beames has undergone in fcbifl important and difficult held of investigation. If the two remaining volumes shall be elaborated with t lie same loving earo as the present, he will not perhaps have bestowed on the world a monumen- turn tsro perennius, but he will have achieved all that cau reasonably be expected of a pioneer, and will have set a high example, which, we trust succeeding scholars will earnestly seek to follow. ijitojh, 16& April 1870. J. MlRHAV MJTCHELL. Statistical, Descriptive, and Historical Account or the North-Western Pkovi.ni.k- o» India. Edited, nnder orders of the Government t India, by Edwin F. xYth.tN.soN, B.A., Bengal Civil Service. Vol. I. Bundeb kuaud. Printed at the N. W. P. Govt. Press, Allahabad, 1871. This is the first volume of tho long-promised If orth-West Provinces Gazetteer; and as a com- pilation of official statistics it reflects much credit upon the industry of its editor, who has not only brought together a great mass of useful informa- tion, bat has also shown considerable skill in its methodical arrangement. But as regards mat- ters with which we are more specially concerned, viz. ethnical and linguistic scholarship, we can scarcely speak iu such high terms; and without any wish to detract unjustly from the merits of a performance which has been commended in other quarters for its practical utility, we will proceed to point out a few defects which it would he desir- able to amend in a re-issue. They are almost all of one kind — the natural result of the writer's extremely limited knowledge of the country and the people, whom ho was called upon to describe. To the best of our belief, Mr. Atkinson lias never been stationed in any part of Bundelkhand, and if he has visited any even of its most historic sites it can only have been as a hurried traveller. His descriptions are therefore somewhat colourless ; and the whole book is not so much what would be called in England a Gonntxj History as a County Directory. Tho former is generally the result of the lifelong labour of some enthusiastic Dryas- dust, who knows by heart tho ramifications of every genealogical tree, and the date of every sculptured atone in the churches and castles of his neighbourhood; while the latter is manufac- tured by tho agent of a London firm, who up lor a night at the village inn, and fills in his blank forms after a consultation with the oldest inhabitant and the parish clerk. The information thus derived is at all oventB vivd voce, and comes direct from the fountain-head; while- that upon which Mr. Atkinson has been obliged mainly to depend has twice undergone the process of trans- lation,— iu its passage from tho Hindl-apeaking Patwari to the Munshis of tho Tahsili, and from them to the Assistant ilagifitrate, who reduced the chaotic facts into some semblance of order I t ransmittmg them to the Gazetteer Office at Alla- habad. With so many difficulties to surnion the pursuit of accuracy, it is matter for congra- tulutionthat the errors to be eliminated an not more serious than they are : but it is well to bear in mind, whenever a reference is made to tho volume, that the statements which it contains on m of detail are neither those of an actual eye-witness, nor can have been very thoroughly checked. It may also be regretted that while the whole
