“The purport of his book is” (I quote from a friendly critic), “that our civilization, our religion, our legends, our gods, have come to us from India, after passing in succession through Egypt, Persia, Judea, Greece, and Italy.” This statement, we are told, is not confined to M. Jacolliot, but has been admitted by almost all Oriental scholars. The Old and New Testaments are found again in the Vedas, and the texts quoted by M. Jacolliot in support of his theory are said to leave it without doubt. Brahma created Adima (in Sanskrit, the first man) and gave him for companion Heva (in Sanskrit, that which completes life). He appointed the island of Ceylon for their residence. What follows afterwards is so beautifully described that I may be pardoned for quoting it. Only I must warn my readers, lest the extract should leave too deep an impression on their memory, that what M. Jacolliot calls a simple translation from Sanskrit is, as far as I can judge, a simple invention of some slightly mischievous Brahman, who, like the Pandits of Lieutenant Wilford, took advantage of the zeal and credulity of a French judge:— “Having created the Man and the Woman (_simultaneously_, not one after the other), and animated them with the divine afflatus—the Lord said unto them: ‘Behold, your mission is to people this beautiful Island [Ceylon], where I have gathered together everything pleasant and needful for your subsistence—the rest of the Earth is as yet uninhabitable, but should your progeny so increase as to render the bounds of paradise too narrow a habitation, let them inquire of me by sacrifice and I will make known my will.’ “And thus saying, the Lord disappeared.... “Then Adam and Eve dwelt together for a time in perfect happiness; but ere long a vague disquietude began to creep upon them.... The Spirit of Evil, jealous of their felicity and of the work of Brahma, inspired them with disturbing thoughts;—‘Let us wander through the Island,’ said Adam to his companion, ‘and see if we may not find some part even more beautiful than this.’ ... “And Eve followed her husband ... wandering for days and for months; ... but as they advanced the woman was seized with strange and inexplicable terrors: ‘Adam,’ said she, ‘let us go no farther: it seems to me that we are disobeying the Lord; have we not already quitted the place which he assigned us for a dwelling and forbade us to leave?’ “ ‘Fear not,’ replied Adam; ‘this is not that fearful wilderness of which he spake to us.’ .... “And they wandered on.... “Arriving at last at the extremity of the Island, they beheld a smooth and narrow arm of the sea, and beyond it a vast and apparently boundless country, connected with their Island only by a narrow and rocky pathway arising from the bosom of the waters. “The wanderers stood amazed: the country before them was covered with stately trees, birds of a thousand colors flitting amidst their foliage.