The most important acquisition of the year was the collection formed in San'a and some unexplored parts of Yemen, by the Austrian traveller, Dr. Eduard Glaser. It consists of 328 Arabic MSS., with dates ranging from the eleventh to the present century, and represents a branch of Arabic literature hitherto quite unknown in Europe, and hardly known in the East beyond the limits of Southern Arabia, being the literature of the Zaidites, who form an independent branch of the Shi'ah sect. The Zaidites take their name from Imām Zaid, son of Imam Zain al-'Abidīn, and, consequently, greatgrandson of Ali. It was in his lifetime (he died A.H. 122) that the schism of the Shi'ah took place, part of them declaring for Zaid, while the larger number proclaimed his brother, Muhammad Bākir.

Unlike the main body of the Shi'ah, who recognize only twelve Imāms, the Zaidites hold that there must be at all times a living Imām, chosen as the fittest and most worthy among the descendants of Ali. They had, in fact, an unbroken succession of such Imams, who, settling in the highlands of Yemen, and combining temporal power with spiritual authority, maintained for centuries, with fitful success, some measure of political independence, and opposed a stout resistance to the Turkish invaders.

Their peculiar system of divinity and law has been set forth in standard works, written, for the most part, by the Imams themselves, which, together with their numerous commentaries, form the main bulk of the Glaser collection. The principal of these works are, in chronological order, as follows:

Al-Muntakhab by Imam al-Hadi Yahya B. al-Husain, who died A.H. 298; MS. of the thirteenth century.

Decision on points of doctrine and law, by the Imāms al-Murtaḍa, who died A.H. 310, and Tarjumān al-Dīn al-Kasim, who died A.H. 393; MS. of A.H. 479 (A.D. 1086). Al-Tahrir by Imam al-Naṭik, who died A.н. 424; MS. of A.H. 558 (A.D. 1163).

Al-Intiṣār, a work of considerable extent, in which the doctrines and legal decisions of the Imams are set forth

and defended against other sects, by Imam al-Muayyadbillah, who died A.H. 747; eight volumes, mostly of the fourteenth century.

Al-Tadkirat al-Fākhirah, a manual of law, by the Fakih Sharaf al-Din Hasan al-Nahwi, a contemporary of the preceding Imām; with numerous commentaries.

Al-Azhar, a text-book of Zaidi law, by Imam al-Mahdi, who died A.H. 840; with many commentaries.

Al-Bahr al-Zakhkhār, a full exposition of the Zaidi system of theology and law, by the same Imam.

Ghayat al-Afkar, an extensive commentary upon the preceding work by its author.

Of many works dealing with the history of the Imams of the Zaidites, the following may be specially mentioned :Al-Risalat al-Naṣihah, a poetical account of the Imams, by Imam al-Mansur 'Abdallah, who died A.H. 613; with an historical commentary.

A Kasidah addressed by the same Imam to the Khalif of Baghdad, in commemoration of the Imams, with a full commentary, entitled Maḥasin al-Azhar, by Ḥumaid alMuhalli.

Yawāķīt al-Siyar, a general history of the Imāms, by Imam al-Manṣur Aḥmad, who died A.H. 840.

Al-Hada'ik al-Wardiyyah, a detailed history of the Imāms brought down to the same period, by Humaid al-Muḥalli; in two volumes.

Al-Bassamat al-Kubra, a poetical record of the Imams brought down to A.H. 849, with a full historical commentary and continuation by Ibrāhīm Ibn al-Wazir.

Bughyat al-Murid, an account of the Imams of Yemen brought down to the eleventh century of the Hijrah, by 'Amir B. Muḥammad.

Simt al-La'āl fi Shi'r al-Al, a collection of the poetical compositions of the Imams, with biographical notices, by Sayyid Isma'il (a great-grandson of Imam al-Kasim), who died A.H. 1079.

Sirat, or Life, of al-Mansur-billah al-Kasim, who died A.H. 393, by al-Husain B. Ya'kūb.

Kashifat al-Ghummah, a life of Imam al-Nasir, who died A.H. 793, with an account of his predecessors, by al-Hadi Ibn al-Wazir.

Al-Suluk al-Dahabiyyah, a life of Imam Yahya Sharaf al-Din, who died A.H. 965, by his descendant Sayyid Muhammad B. Ibrāhīm, who died A.H. 1085.

Poetical account of Imam al-Naşir Muḥammad, who died A.H. 1130, with an historical commentary entitled al-Raud al-Zahir, by Zaid Ibn Abi'l-Rijāl.

JOURNAL

OF

THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY.

ART. XIV.-Notes on the Early History of Northern India. Part VI. On the Historical Value, Origin, and Growth of Early Methods of Record anterior to Alphabets, including Ideographic Signs, Sacred Numbers, and Myths. By J. F. HEWITT, M.R.A.S.

As botanists and zoologists trace the successive stages of existence traversed by living plants and animals through species and genera to families, so the historian of human progress finds himself obliged to extend his generalizations through tribes and nations to races. Research proves that it is these larger units who, through the combined work of the several component parts of the race, are the authors of the underlying ideas which are acted out in its achievements. It also seems to show that there are two races who have most materially aided in the development of civilizationone, quiet, silent, hard-working and practical, whose members have always looked on the public benefit of the tribe or nation to which they belonged as their best incentive to action: the other, impulsive, sensitive, generous, and eloquent, who have looked on personal glory and the aggrandizement of their families and personal adherents as the object of their ambition.

But though these two races, represented by those called VOL. XXII.-[NEW SERIES.]

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