right finger, and produced a golden egg in which Brahmā appeared and was commissioned by Siva to create the worlds.

He was altogether a very choleric deity, and one of his characteristics is that he does not care a jot for the good or bad opinion of gods or men. We have seen how he cut off Brahma's fifth head and wanted to kill Brighu, and there are other instances of his savage revengeful spirit.

On one occasion he and his wife, Parvati, had not been invited to a sacrifice celebrated by one of the Rishis called Daksha, who was Parvati's father. Parvati went without an invitation, and was so insulted that she threw herself on the sacrificial fire and killed herself. On hearing this, Siva rushed to the scene, tore out a lock of his hair which became a terrible monster (Virabadhra) who killed Daksha, and dispersed the gods. A drop of Siva's perspiration also fell to the ground and became the demon of fever. Eventually, Siva was pacified, and restored Daksha to life, but with a goat's head, Parvati was restored to life, and the fever demon was expelled from heaven and sent to roam on the earth. Siva has many different forms. He is Mahadeva, the great all-wise god. He is Siva, which means the bright blessed one. This hardly seems consistent with the character of destroyer, but it must be remembered that in the Hindu mind destruction is only a step towards re-creation, and in this character he is the recreator. He is Rudra, Bhairava, or some other terrific personage representing his destructive and punishing aspect. He is Mahayogi, the great ascetic. He is also the lord of demons and goblins, the haunter of graveyards, the wearer of skulls and ashes, etc. Now, he receives little worship in these forms, but is worshipped in the form of the Linga, which is the emblem of creation. It can be easily understood that a mere emblem does not

lend itself to such loving worship as do personal incarnations like the Rama and Krishna forms of Vishnu.

Siva's wife is the chief goddess of the Saktas, or worshippers of the female deities. They worship her more in her destructive characters than in others, especially at Calcutta, where, during the Durga Puja festival, her temple swims with the blood of sacrificed animals.

She has as many different forms as her lord. As Parvati she is a beautiful, loving wife. As Devi or Annapurna she is the goddess of plenty and charity. It is she who showers blessings on the pious household; it is she who fills the beggar's bowl; it is she who rewards the charitable. As Durga she appears in a majestic form, destroying demons. As Yogini she is the type of female ascetics, and as Kali she is a terrific being destroying demons and men, supporting her worshippers the Thugs, sending diseases on the earth and demanding blood in streams, so that there is hardly a phase of human mind to which she does not appeal in some form or other.

The above give a fair idea of the Hindu mythological legends, but as yet their real meaning and value is unknown.

Some of the Vedic hymns-which early translators considered to be accounts of the battles between Indra with his allies and the drought demons-are regarded by later scholars as being poetic histories of the wars between the Aryan invaders and the primitive tribes of India. Other legends, such as the one that Siva cut off Brahma's fifth head, may have been only skits by sectarian poets on the god of their religious rivals, and may be misunderstood, just as if the historians of A.D. 3000, having found a Punch's cartoon showing Lord R. Churchill as a little boy with a big moustache, and the Prime Minister standing over him with a birch rod, should evolve the historical fact

that the Prime Ministers of the nineteenth century wore petticoats, and were in the habit of using the birch rod to refractory M.P.'s. As Oriental knowledge increases, the true meaning of these legends will be found, but till then they must be received with caution, and must not form the basis for a judgment of the Hindu religion. That religion has satisfied the wants of millions of civilised, thinking people who were certainly not mere worshippers of stocks and stones. It has lasted for three thousand years or more, modified, it is true, but never broken, even though attacked by powerful foes; it contains a great deal that is good, and must not be judged lightly.

THE ROMAN WALL.*

BY THE REV. HAROLD D. FORD, M.A.

I SUPPOSE I need hardly say that the title of this Paper refers to the great barrier which Hadrian drew across our land, the string of forts, connected by a stone wall, reaching from Solway to Tyne, by which he hoped to keep out the wild tribes of the north. For this is not the only work of the kind, and to rear an artificial frontier against a dangerous enemy, when no natural one was to be found, seems to have been a device somewhat familiar to the generals of Rome. So we have Graham's Dyke, in Scotland, the work of Antoninus Pius; there are Cæsar's forts, near Geneva, along the Rhone, raised by him against the Helvetii; and there are other works of a similar description, executed chiefly by Trajan, strengthening the weak points along Danube, and joining it to Rhine.

But the remains of none of these, although they exist to-day, compare with the great barrier which Hadrian erected, either in extent or in interest; it, therefore, is the Roman Wall of antiquarians: it possesses a literature of its own; it has been surveyed and described from end to end several times, and it is always the scene of steady, patient research, the result of which yearly contributes a little more to our previous stock of knowledge concerning it.

For the Wall exercises a fascination upon its lovers. Nowhere in England, I question if anywhere in Europe, are the iron talons of the Roman eagle so visibly stamped upon the land to-day. I believe nowhere is the military

*This Paper was illustrated by Lantern Slides.

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