NOTES TO THE APPENDIX.

NOTE XL p. 313.

In the public buildings of India , we find proofs andmonuments of the proficiency of the B ahrr.iris ir. fcience,particularly of their attention to aftronomical obfervat on.Their reh'gion enjoins, that the four tides of a Pagodafiiould face the four cardinal points. In order to executethis with accuracy, they take a method defcribed byM. le Gentil, which dilcovers a confiderable dcg'ee offcience. He carefully examined the polltion of one oftheir Pagodas , and found it to be perfectly exact.Voy. tom. i. p. 13?, &c. As fome of their Pagodasare very ancient , they niuft have ear'y attained (uch.a portion of knowledge as was requifue for placing themproperly. On the ceilngs of Choultries, and other ancientedifices , the tW'elve iigns of the zodiac are often de-lineated ; and , from their relemhlance to thofe whichare now univerfally uftd, it is highly probable that theknowledge of thefe arbitrary fymbols was derived fromthe Eaft. Colonel Call has publifhed a drawing of thefigns of the zodiac , which he found on the ceilingof a Choultry at Verdapettab , in the Madura country.Phil. Tranfact. vol. lxii. p. 333, I have a drawingof them in my pofTeffion , differing from his in iomeof the figures, but I cannot fay in what particular placeit was found. Sir Robert Barker defcribes an obfer-vatory at Benares, which he vifited A D. In

it he found inftruments for aftronomical obfervation, ofVery large dimenfions , and conftrudtcd with great fkilland isgenuity Of all thefe he has pubiifhed drawings.Phil. Tranfadt. vol. Ixvii p. egg. According to tra-ditionary account , this oblervatory was built by theEmperor Akber. The view which Sir Rob'rt took ofit was a hafty one. It merits a more attentive infpec-tion, in order to determine whether it was conftrudt-dby Akber , or erected in i'ome more early period. Sir