It is well ascertained that the word eunuch, does not always signify what is generally supposed, but an officer of state who occupies a certain post in the palace of an eastern monarch. See margin, Genesis, xxxvii. 36.

Daniel, ii. 4. O king, live for ever!-1 Kings, i. 31. Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the earth, and did reverence to the king, and said, let my lord king David live for ever!

The Cingalese salutation and farewell is, āwibōwan, May you live long !-Natives on receiving a favour, put their hands together and touch the donor's feet.

Daniel, iii. 21. Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.

It should seem, the enraged monarch ordered these dissenters to execution in such a hurry, that they were not divested of their official dress,-whether regimentals, or canonicals. Say canonicals (see margin) their caps of office, whether trencher-caps or mitres, their gowns, and their cassocks.

Daniel, v. 27. Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.

The Great Mogul is weighed annually on his birth-day, and an account being kept, his physicians report upon his health. Numbering the kingdom, may refer to counting coin by tale or weight.

Hosea, iii. 1-3. ...... So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half-homer of barley. And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days: thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man; so will I also be for thee.

Stipulations are made by the Tartars for temporary wives in a similar way-whose value is expressed by measures of millet, though money is in use. There is also a marriage in which the parties agree to live together at such a price for such a time. Our Lord in his prohibition of hasty divorces is thought to glance at these usages; and 1 Cor. vii. 2, "Let every man have [retain] his own wife; and every woman have [retain] her own husband;" probably relates to marriages of the imperfect kind.

Hosea, xiii. 3. Therefore they shall be ...... as the smoke out of the chimney.

Heb. a crack, hole, window. The Cingalese have no notion of the use of a chimney, though Europeans have been so long resident among them; but construct their cook-rooms without any particular opening to let out the smoke. Hence they are almost suffocating. In my Cingalese Dictionary, chimney is necessarily rendered, the smoke window.

Amos, ii. 13. Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves. [Margin, or I will press your place, as a cart full of sheaves presseth.] See also Isaiah, xxviii. 27.

The threshing-machine of Egypt and Arabia may well illustrate these passages. It is a sledge in which the driver sits, drawn by oxen, and having three rollers with rings about them, which press out the grain, but damage the reed.

Amos, v. 19. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.

The walls of the houses in Ceylon and India, being mud and sticks, usually unplastered, (the marks of the fingers used in applying the clay remaining,) when with heat and age they shrink, are often infested with serpents.

Zechariah, xiv. 20. In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, holiness unto the Lord.

The roads in the interior of Ceylon are so narrow and bad, that a bell fixed to a bullock-cart is a great convenience, for indicating to the driver of another in the opposite direction, the need of stopping in a place where they may conveniently pass each other.

Matthew, i. 1. The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.

A generation does not always denote an actual birth or life, but a period of time-say 36 or 37 years. Thus the Babylonian captivity lasted two generations; and Matthew's names do not answer; but his 14 periods from Abraham to David do.The Arabs likewise trip from one great ancester to another, omitting the intermediate ones, till they reach the first patriarch.

Matthew, i. 18. His mother Mary was espoused to Joseph.

A Cingalese or Hindoo couple is usually espoused some months, sometimes upwards of a year before marriage. Frequently the match is concerted by parents from early life; and I have been told, families sometimes agree before the birth of children to promote matches between them.

Matthew, ii. 18. In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning: Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted because they are not.

A Cingalese mother, like one among the Hindoos, expresses her grief in loud lamentations. "It is indeed," says Mr. Ward, "almost impossible to conceive of a scene more truly heart-rending, than that of a whole town of such mothers wailing over their massacred children."

Matthew, iii. 4. And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.

Swarms of ants may in Ceylon be often seen. I am informed, that the sepoy cast attract them by burning a torch, which scorching their wings, they drop to the ground. After picking them up and frying them with rice, the mess is divided, and sent round to their friends as a delicacy. The wild honeycomb, after it is fallen from a tree, may be often seen. See note on Psalm, cix. 19.

Matthew, iii. 11. He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear.

A Budhuist priest may be often seen walking barefoot, as the Cingalese usually go, with a boy behind him carrying his shoes, or rather, clogs or pattens. See note on Exodus, iii. 5.

Matthew, iv. 5. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple. See chap. xxvii. 53.

The orientals, says Volney, never call Jerusalem by any name but the Holy. He thinks its etymology indicative of all the high or holy places of antiquity.

Matthew, v. 25. Agree with thine adversary quickly, whilst thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.

Satisfaction for money was forbidden by Moses, (Numbers, xxxv. 31,) in instituting the cities of refuge; but among the Turks, criminals guilty of murder or manslaughter, are allowed up to the moment of execution, to make up the matter by fine.I have heard magistrates of long experience in Ceylon, say the natives frequently compromise matters, when evidence against an offender is strong, but when doubtful, the probability of an acquittal induces him to risk a trial.

Matthew, v. 41. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.-Esther, viii. 14. So the posts that rode upon mules and camels went out, being hastened and pressed on by the king's commandment.

Colonel Campbell speaks of the power of Tartar guides to compel a supply of every necessary; and of their cruelty, to show their consequence. It is well known, that in India, the cooley cast in particular, are liable every moment to be pressed for government duty.

Matthew, vi. 2. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues, and in the streets, that they may have glory of

men.

The Moors at giving alms to a company of pilgrims, blow a shell; the Cingalese collect the people the same way, or by beating the tong-tong.

Matthew, vi. 7. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.