of the Orontes from the confines of Hamath to the sea, he obtained from them twenty talents of silver, half a talent of gold, one hundred talents of _anna_ (tin), one hundred talents of iron, &c. His successor received from the same people all these metals, and also copper. It is already highly probable, and farther discoveries may soon convert this probability to certainty, that the people just referred to (whom I incline strongly to identify with the _Shirutana_ of the Egyptian inscriptions) were the merchants of the world before Tyre was called into existence; their port being what the Greeks called Seleucia, when they attempted to revive its ancient greatness. It is probably to them that the discovery of Britain is to be attributed; and it was probably from them that it received its name. In G. W.'s communication, a derivation of the name from _barat-anac_, "the land of tin," is suggested. He does not say by whom, but he seems to disclaim it as his own. I do not recollect to have met with it before; but it appears to me, even as it stands, a far more plausible one than _bruit-tan_, "the land of tin:" the former term being supposed to be Celtic for _tin_, and the latter a termination with the sense of _land_: or than _brit-daoine_, "the painted (or separated) people." I am, however, disposed to think that the name is not of Phoenician origin, but was given by their northern neighbours, whom I have mentioned as their predecessors in commerce. These were evidently of kindred origin, and spoke a language of the same class; and I think it all but certain, that in the Assyrian name for tin (_anna_) we have the name given to it by this people, from whom the Assyrians obtained it. "The land of tin" would be in their language _barat_ (or probably _barit_) _anna_, from which the transition to Britannia presents no difficulty. I assume here that _b-r-t_, without expressed vowels, is a Phoenician term for "land of." I assume it on the authority of the person, whoever he may be, that first gave the derivation that G. W. quotes. I have no Phoenician authority within reach: but I can readily believe the statement, knowing that _banit_ would be the Assyrian word used in such a compound, and that _n_, _r_, and _b_ are perpetually interchanged in the Semitic languages, and notoriously so in this very root. _Ummi banitiya_, "of the mother who produced me," is pure Assyrian; and so would _banit-anna_, "the producer of tin," be; all names of lands being feminine in Assyrian. It would be curious if the true derivation of the world-renowned name of Britain should be ascertained for the first time through an Assyrian medium. EDW. HINCKS. Killyleagh, Down. * * * * * As there are several Queries in the Note of G. W. which the Celtic language is capable of elucidating, I beg to offer a few derivations from that language.