Bengali is spoken by over 48 millions of people, and naturally it has many dialects. These dialects range themselves into four main groups—Western, North Central, Northern, and Eastern (with a South-Eastern sub-group). The morphological differences between the four groups of dialects are slight, except in the case of the South-Eastern sub-group; but considerable divergences exist in sounds and phonology. These divergences, however, are not so great as to create mutual unintelligibility among speakers of Bengali in different parts of the country, except, perhaps, in the extreme east and south-east. The language which is commonly used in literature is a ‘high’ dialect, which is composite in its inflections, although it is based mainly on West Bengali of several centuries ago. The grammar of this ‘high’ Bengali—the sādhu bhāṣā, as it is called—is archaic, and explains most of the forms of the modern dialects as presenting the prototypes of these latter; but its pronunciation and intonation vary with the different dialectal areas.

Mr. W. W. Skeat, M.A., the leader of the Cambridge University Exploring Expedition to Lower Siam in 1899–1900, has placed in my hands for detailed examination the transcriptions and phonographic records of a number of native songs and chants. They were gathered by him in the States of Patani, Kělantan, and Kědah, and are therefore chiefly worded in the Malay dialect of those States, which presents very interesting phonological differences from Standard Malay. But they also comprise specimens of strange primitive chants, sung by remote and fugitive Negrito tribes (Sěmang and Pangan), and worded, of course, in those languages.

In Vol. 1, Part III, of the Bulletin (pp. 1 ff.) Mr. Grant Brown has given a valuable account of the Kadus of Burma, and, after comparing their speech with several other cognate Tibeto-Burman languages, has been unable to fix its exact classification. Perhaps the following notes may help to decide the question.

The Turkana language has been studied by Mr. A. C. Hollis (see Sir Charles Eliot, Introduction to Hollis' The Nandi), though his results are apparently unpublished; and by the late Hon. A. Bruce, whose notes appear to have been lost; a short comparative vocabulary is to be found in The Uganda Protectorate, vol. ii, by Sir Harry Johnston.

Dr. O. Rescher is one of the most industrious of Arabic scholars, and in the last few years he has done a large amount of valuable work. During a prolonged residence in Constantinople he devoted his attention to the libraries of Stambul, and he has published descriptions of a large number of the most important manuscripts, especially those relating to poetry, philology, and belles lettres. His descriptions, which form an important contribution to Arabic bibliography, are to be found in various periodicals, such as the Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft, the Rivista degli Studi Orientali, Le Monde Oriental, the Mélanges de l'Université St. Joseph à Beyrouth, and the Wiener Zeitschrift fur die Kunde des Morgenlandes. It is scarcely necessary to say that these descriptions have made known to European scholars not a few works the existence of which would otherwise have remained unsuspected. Bibliography, however, is by no means the only branch of learning which has benefited by the activity of Dr. Rescher.

This poem is mentioned by Steere (in the Preface to his Swahili Tales, p. xii) in the following terms: “I should have been glad to have exhibited the whole of the ‘Utenzi on Job’, which was the best I met with, but my authority could give me no more than the beginning, my copy breaking off short in the council of the fiends as to how to avail themselves of the permission to vex Job [st. 37–46]. The stanzas I have printed [1–6 in an imperfect form] are followed by a confession of God's greatness and a long commemoration of Mohammed, his family, and chief followers. Then there is an account of Job's prosperity, mentioning, amongst other things, the ducks and fowls which he had; then the colloquy between Satan and the Almighty, and the planning of the temptation. The language of this Utenzix is singularly clear and intelligible.”

In the course of an examination of George Sale's translation of the Qurʼán, I was struck by certain remarks made by him in his address to the reader. He says first that, with the exception of a MS. of Baydawi's Commentary, which he borrowed from the Dutch Church in Austin Friars, he relied solely on MSS. and books in his own possession for his Moslem authorities.