priests, or rather monks, of Siam, and is supposed to be | p. 110. In their dresses of yellow cotton or silk, which derived from the fan which they always carry, usually are of the same fashion with those of the Buddhist priests made of a leaf of the palmyra-tree, and hence, says Craw-in Ava and Ceylon, the Talapoins of Siam present a highly furd (Journal of Embassy to Siam, p. 358), denominated by the Sanscrit word Tulpat. Tal is the common Indian name for the palmyra; and the older travellers give Talapa as the Siamese word for a fan. In the Pali (or learned tongue) the Talapoins of Siam are said to be called Thaynka; but in the common language of the country they are spoken of, as well as to, simply by the term Chau-cou, or Chau-ca, which signifies My lord (or literally Lord of me), the first of the two forms being that commonly used, the other that employed to express extraordinary inferiority on the part of the speaker. (La Loubere, Du Royaume de Sam, i. 407.) Mr. Crawfurd states that they are called Phra, which he says is a Pali word signifying Lord, applied also to Gautama or Buddha, to the king, to the white elephant, to the idols of Buddha, &c. By the Burmese the Talapoins are said to be called Rahans, whence seems to come the name Raulins, given to them by the Mohammedans: as by the Chinese they are called Ho-changi; in Tibet, Lama-seng or Lamas; and in Japan, Bonzes. (Prevost, Histoire Générale des Voyages, vi. 328; and Dr. Fr. Buchanan, On the Religion and Literature of the Burmas. in Asiatic Researches, vol. vi.) In Ceylon the name for the ordinary priests is stated to be Tirounnanse; but, as the novices are said to be styled Saman Eroo Ounnanse, and certain inspectors, exercising a general superintendence over the temples, Naïke Ounnanse and Mahanaïke Ounnanse, it would seem that the name for priests of all kinds is Ounnanse. (Joinville, On the Religion and Manners of the People of Ceylon,' in Asiatic Researches, vol. | vii.) Samana, or Somona, according to Dr. Buchanan, is a title given in Burma both to the priests and to the images of Buddha; whence the Buddhists are often called Samanians. It is derived, he says, from the Sanscrit word Saman, signifying gentleness or affability.

favourable contrast to the rags and squalidity of the gene-
ral population. On the other hand, a talapoin is not only
separated from society by being condemned to celibacy,
and is prohibited from possessing property, but is expected
to observe very strictly several of the precepts of the
national religion which are very little attended to by any-
body else, especially the prohibitions against the slaying
of animals (although they will eat them when slain), steal-
ing, adultery, lying, and drinking wine. There are differ-
ent orders of Talapoins, and La Loubere says there are
also female Talapoins, whom he calls Talapouines; but
these, according to Crawfurd, are only a few old women
who are allowed to live in the unoccupied cells of some of
the monasteries. The national head of the Talapoins,
styled the Son-krat, is appointed to that dignity by the
king, and always resides in the royal palace.
TALAVE'RA DE LA REYNA, or LA REAL, a
large town of Spain, formerly in the province of Toledo,
but now, since the late division of the Spanish territory,
the capital of the province of its name. It is situated on
the right bank of the Tagus, at the end of an extensive
and well cultivated plain, 38° 52′ N. lat., 6° 39′ W. long.
It was called by the Romans Ebora Talabriga, as the in-
scriptions and remains found in its territory show. It has
a fine Gothic church, the foundation of the celebrated
Rodrigo Ximenez, archbishop of Toledo, the author of a
history of the Arabs and a Latin chronicle of Spain, about
the beginning of the thirteenth century. The town is
badly built, and the streets are narrow and crooked. The
population does not exceed 12,000, who are chiefly occu-
pied in the manufacture of pottery and hardware, for
which Talavera is famous all over Spain. A large silk
manufactory, which belongs to the government, employs
also many of the population. In July, 1809, Talavera was
the scene of a battle between the British under Wellington
(then General Wellesley) and the French commanded by
Jourdan. The battle was long and obstinately contested,
but it ended in the complete defeat of the French. The
exhausted condition of the English troops, who were
without provisions, prevented them from following up
their advantage and pursuing the enemy. There is an-
other town, in La Mancha, called Talavera la Vieja, or
the old.'

TALC, a mineral which occurs crystallized and massive, and it is probable that some distinct species of minerals have been so called. Primary form of the crystal a rhom boid, but usually occurs in the secondary form of hexagonal laminæ, and sometimes in long prisms. Cleavage distinct, perpendicular to the axis. It is easily separable into thin plates, which are flexible, but not elastic. It is easily scraped with a knife, and the powder is unctuous to the touch. Colour white, green, greyish, and blackish-green and red. Becomes negatively electrical by friction; lustre pearly. Transparent; translucent; opaque. Specific gravity 2.713.

Ample information on the subject of the Talapoins is given by La Loubere, who visited Siam in 1687-8, in quality of envoy from the French king, in his work entitled Du Royaume de Siam,' 2 vols. 12mo., Amsterdam, 1691, vol. i., chaps. 17, 18, 19, 21, pp. 341-368 and 381-426; and by Mr. Crawfurd, in his Journal of an Embassy from the Governor-General of India to the Courts of Siam and Cochin China' (in 1821-22), 4to., London, 1828, pp. 350, &c. They are, as has been stated, a species of monks hving in communities of from ten to some hundreds, and employing their time in devotion, religious study, and meditation, and in begging, or rather receiving alms, for they are not permitted actually to solicit charity. Their monasteries, in which each monk has his separate cell, are always adjoining to some temple; but it does not appear that the Talapoins officiate as priests or ministers of religion in our sense of the term. Neither are they considered as forming or belonging to the literary or learned class: the pursuit of any secular study is looked upon as unseemly and profane in a Talapoin; and in fact they are mostly very ignorant. Yet the instruction of youth in the elements of learning appears to be chiefly or exclusively in their hands. Every Siamese, we are told, becomes a Talapoin for some time. Every male in the kingdom,' says Mr. Crawfurd, must at one period or another of his life enter the priesthood, for however short a time. Even the king will be a priest for two or three days, going about for alms like the rest, and the highest officers of the government continue in the priesthood for some months. Usually, it may be supposed, a man goes through the ceremony of getting himself made a talapoin without any intention of permarently forsaking the world; but if he enters one of the sacred communities a second time, he cannot again withdraw from it. The Talapoins are said to be very numerous; but they seem to consist for the greater part of mere temporary members of the order, and of persons who have thus entered it for the second time in advanced life. Its advantages, or temptations, are, a life of idleness, exemption Indurated tale is massive, of a greenish grey colour; the from taxation and from the conscription, security of sub-structure is schistose and curved: it is of a shining and sistence and comfortable raiment, together with the cere- sometimes of a pearly lustre, and somewhat translucent. monious marks of respect with which a talapoin is every- It is soft and rather unctuous to the touch. Its specific here treated. All the monasteries are endowed by the gravity is 2.9. government, or by wealthy individuals, under whose protec- It occurs in primitive mountains in clay slate and sertion they are considered to be. La Loubere has given a pentine, in several countries on the continent of Europe; drawing of one; and another is described in Finlayson's in Britain, in Perthshire and Banffshire in Scotland, and account of The Mission to Siam and Hué in 1821-22,' | in the Shetland Islands.

Crystallized tale is mostly white, or of a light green colour; is met with in serpentine rocks in small quantity, with carbonate of lime, actinolite, steatite, and massive tale, &c. It is found in the mountains of Salzburg and the Tyrol: it occurs in many other parts of the world, as in Cornwall, in Kynan's Cove, where a bed of it underlies serpentine. It also occurs in Scotland, in Glen Tilt, Perthshire; and in Saxony, Silesia, and Piedmont, &c.

The massive varieties of talc are less flexible than the crystallized: they are principally of an apple-green colour, and sometimes of a radiated structure. It is met with in considerable quantity in beds in micaceous schistus, gneiss, and serpentine.

Some of the varieties of tale are infusible; others be come white, and yield a small button of enamel with borax.

CHARLES KNIGHT AND Co., 22, LUDGATE STREET.

MDCCCXLII.

Price Seven Shillings and Sixpence, bound in cloth.