Proceedings of the Asiatre Society of Bengal, January, 1846.

The stated monthly meeting was held on Wednesday evening, the

7th of January, W. B. O'Shaughnessy, Esq., M. D., senior member of

the Committee of Papers, in the chair.

The Proceedings for the month of December were read and confirmed.

The Secretary referred to what had passed at that meeting in refer-

ence to an Iron Railing, and it was resolved that the following gentle-

men be nominated a committee to take this matter into consideration :

Captain Marshall, B. N. I.

W. Tayler, Esq. C. S.

R. Frith, Esq.

W. Elliot, Esq., Madras C. S. was ballotted for and declared duly

elected and the following new member was proposed :

Lord Arthur Hay.

Proposed by E. Blyth, Esq., seconded by R. Frith, Esq.

The following gentlemen were tected as members of the com-

mittee of papers for 1846:

G. A. Bushby, Esq. C. §

J. R. Colvin, Esq. C. 8.

W. Tayler, Esq. C. S. KES

The Secretary stated that, See ev. J. Long, Raja Sreesh

Chunder Bahadoor of Nuddea had placed at the disposal of the Socie-

ty for copying, a portrait of his ancestor the learned Raja of Nuddea,

which was in the hands of a competent artist. The thanks of the Socic-

ty were voted by acclamation to the Raja.

Read the following list of books, presented, exchanged, and pur-

chased :

List of Books received for the Meeting of Wednesday, the 7th January, 1846.

PRESENTED.

1. The Caleutta Christian Observer for December, 1845, and January, 1846.—By the

Editors.

2. The Oriental Christian Spectator for December, 1845.—By the Editor.

3. Sepulchres of Ancient Etruria.—By H. Torrens, Esq.

4, Central Amcrica, Chiapas and Yucatan, 2 vols.—By H. Torrens, Esq.

il Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Jan. 1846.

5. General Report on the Sanatory condition of the labouring population of Great

Britain.—By H. Torrens, Esq.

6. Actes de L’Academic Royale des Sciences, Belles-Lettres, et Arts De Bordeaux,

vol. 5th. parts I. IL. ITI. IV. and vol. 6th. parts I. IT. IIT. [1V.—By the Society.

7. Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, vol. 15th, part Ist, 1845.—

By the Society.

8. Transactions of the Geographical Society of London, second series, vol. 7th, parts

I. and II.—By the Society.

9. Life of Rammohun Roy.—By Babu Kissory Chand Mittra.

10. Proceedings of the Hindu Theo-philanthropic Society, vol. lst, 1844.—By Babu

Kissory Chand Mittra.

1]. Religious Hymns in Bengalee, composed by Réjé Rammohun Roy, 2 copies.—

By Babu Kissory Chand Mittra.

12. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, for 1845, part Ist.

—By the Society.

13. Proceedings of the Royal Society, for November, 1844.—By the Society.

14. Proceedings of the Geological Society of London, vol. 4th. No. 101.

15. Afsop’s Fables in Ordoo. By J. F. Corcoran, Esq. (35 copies.)

16. Meteorological Register for September, 1845, from the Surveyor General’s Office.

The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine, Nos. 178, 180.—By

the Editor.

Histoire des Sultans Mamlouks De L’Egypte, par M. de Quatremere.—Tome second.

PURCHASED.

.17. The Classical Museum, No. 9.

18. Southey’s History of Brazil, 3 vols.

19. History of Ancient Philosophy, 3 vols.

20. Journal des Savans for August, 1845.

21. The Annals and Magazine of Natural History, No. 105—September, 1845.

22. The Zoology of the Voyage of H. M.S. Sulphur, under the command of Capt.

Sir E, Belcher R. N. C.B. F.R.G.S. &e. during the years 1836 to 1842, Nos. 4 and 5.

EXCHANGED.

23. Atheneum, No. 936, 937 and 938, for October, 1845.

24. The Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, Nos. 77 and 78.

25. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, vols. 1 and 2, Nos. 25 and 26.

26. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

27. Mackerstorm’s Magnetical and Meteorological Observations, for 1841 and 1842.

28. Proceedings connected with the Magnetical and Meteorological Conference, held

at Cambridge in June, 1845, during the Meeting of the British Association for the Ad-

vancement of Science.

The Secretary presented the following list drawn up by Dr. Roer:

Abstract of the List of Books received into the Library from Jan. 14th, to Dec. 8d, 1845.

Encuisu Books.

1. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, vol. 14th, 1844, No. 92, 94, 96, 99, 100,

103 and 104.

Jan. 1846.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. ill

2. Archzologia or Miscellaneous Tracts, relating to Antiquities.

3. Arnold (T.) Introductory Lectures on Modern History. Second edition. London,

1843, 1 vol.

4, Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register. Third series, vol.9, November and Decem-

ber, 1844, Nos. 19 and 20 ; January, 1845, No. 21; No. 24. Fourth series ; Ist vol. No. 1.

5. Athenzum, 1844, Nos. 844, 897, 1845, Nos. 898,907, 913, 921, 923 and 935.

6. Beresford, (H. B.) Arabic Syntax, London, 1845, 8vo. 1 vol.

7. Blacker, (V.) Memoir onthe Mahratta War. London, 1821, 4to, 1 vol.

8. Brougham, (H.) Political Philosophy. London, 1843—1844, 8vo. 3 vols.

9. Buist, (G.) Vid. Observatory at Bombay.

10. Calcutta Christian Observer, vol. 14, 1845, January to September and November.

11. Caleutta Journal of Natural History, 1845, Nos, 20—23.

12. Classical Museum, 1845, Nos. 6—8.

13. Correspondence relating to Persia, 1841, fol. 1 vol.

14, Ditto and Affghanistan, fol. 1 vol.

15. Crawford, (J.) History of the Indian Archipelago.

16. Donaldson, (J. W. ) New Cratylus, Cambridge, 1839, 8vo. 1 vol.

—————_—_— Varronianus. 1 vol.

17. Dawson, (J.) Geographical Limits, History and Chronology of the Chera King-

dom of Ancient India.

18. Elliott, (H. M.) Supplement to the Glossary of Indian Terms, 1 vol.

19. First Report.of a Committee of the Statistical Society of London, on the state of

Education in Westminster, 1837.

20. Gibson, (A.) Notes on Indian Agriculture. P.

21. Grey, (H.) History of Etruria, part 2.

22. Hamilton, (W.) Description of Hindosthan. London, 1820, 4to. 2 vols.

23. Heeren, (A. W. L.) Reflections on the Political Intercourse, &c., of the ancient

Nations of Africa, 2 vols.

24. History of the Reign of Tippoo Sultan, 1 vol.

25. Hugel, (v.) Travels in Kashmir and the Punjaub, 1845.

26. India-House Papers, Marquess of Hastings, 1824, fol. 1 vol.

27. Ives (E.) Voyage from England to India. London, 1773, 4to. 1 vol.

28. Jameson’s Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, Nos. 73—75.

29. Jerdon (J. C.) Lllustrations of Indian Ornithology.

30. Jomotjerna, (M. B.) Theology of the Hindoos. London, 1844, 8vo. 1 vol.

31. Journal of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of India, vol. 3, parts

and 4: vol. 4, parts 1—3.

32. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Nos. 15 and 16.

33. Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, vol. 13, part 2.

34. Latham, General Synopsis of Birds. London, 1781—1790, 4to. 10 vols.

do. Latter, (T.) Grammar of the Language of Burmah. Calcutta, 1845, 4to. 1 vol,

36. Lloyd, (H.) Lectures on the Wave-Theory of Light.

——--, l'reatises on Light and Vision.

——--, (B.) Mechanical Philosophy.

37. London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science,

No. 162, Supplement, No, 163—177.

iv Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Jan. 1846.

38. Macclelland, (J.) Vide Caleutta Journal of Natural History.

39. Macpherson, (J.) Natural History, Diseases, &e., of the Aborigines of Brazil,

translated from the German of Dr. v. Martius. P.

40. Mantel’s Medals of Creation, 2 vols.

41. Map of India, London, Allen and Co. 1845.

42. Maps, (5) of different parts of Asia. Berlin, Reimer.

43. Martins, (v.) Vide Macpherson.

44, Meteorological Register from April to December, 1845.

45. Mill, (J. 8.) System of Logic. London, 1843, 2 vols.

46. Muir, (J.) Address to the Students of the Benares College. P.

47. North British Review, Nos. 1—6.

48. Observatory of Bombay, Barometrical Observations. 1 vol.

--—— Magnetic Reports, May to December, 1843.

——--—————. Meteorological Observations for 1843.

--—— Report on the Meteorological Observations in 1842, by G. G.

Buist.

——--——-——- - Tracings of the Wind-Guage, 1842 and 1843.

49. Oriental Christian Spectator, vol. 5th, No. 12, vol. 6th, Nos. 1 to 11.

50. Prinsep (H. T.) Historical Results from the Discoveries in Affghanisthan, 1 vol.

51. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Science in Philadelphia, vol. 2, Nos. 2

and 3.

Geological Society of London, vol. 4, Nos. 97—99.

Royal Asiatic Society for 1844.

Royal Society, No. 59.

Society of Arts.

——__—_—_—_—_-——. Zoological Society, for 1843, 2d part, end January and March,

1844.

52. Report of the 14th Meeting ofthe British Association for 1844. London, 1845,1 vol.

53. Report of the Metropolitan Commissioners in Junacy. London, 1844.

54. Report on the Vital Statistics of Large Towns in Scotland. London, 1843. P.

55. Selections of Papers from the Records of the East India House. London, 1820

—1826, fol. 4 vols. .

56. Specimens of the Illustrations of the Rock-cut Temples of India. 1 No.

57. Strange, Elements of India’s Law, 2d vol.

58. Sykes, (W. H.) Buddhism versus Brahmanism. P.

——- Debate at the East India House.

Inscriptions from the Boodh Caves near Joonar.

Explanatory Notes, respecting 6 new varieties of vine.

—_—_—_—————. Notice respecting some fossils collected by W. Lonee.

Remarks on the Identity of Personal Ornaments, sculptured on

some figures in the Buddha Cave Temple at Carli.

Measurement of Heights by Common Thermometers.

—— Statistics of the Educational Institutions of the East India Com-

pany in India.

Statistics of the Metropolitan Commission in Lunacy.

Temple of Somnath.

Jan. 1846. ] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. Vv

—— Three-faced Busts of Siva.

59. Thirlwall, (C.) History of Greece, 8th vol. Lardner’s Cabinet Cyclopedia.

60. Todd, Discourses on the Prophecies relating to Anti-Christ.

61. Transactions of the Irish Academy.

of the Society of Arts, vol. 55.

—— of the Zoological Society, vol. 3. parts 2 and 3.

62. Usher’s Works, vols. 2—13.

63. Walker, Livius, 7 vols.

64. Wall, Ancient Orthography of the Jews. 3 vols.

65. Whewell, Philosophy of Inductive Sciences, 2 vols.

History of Inductive Sciences, 3 vols.

66. Wray, (L.) Sugar-Planter’s Companion, part 2d.

FRENCH.

67. Agassiz, (L.) Monographie des Poissons Fossiles. 1-2 livraisons.

Récherches sur les Poissons Fossiles, 17 and 18 livraisons.

68. Annales des Sciences Physiques et Naturelles de la Société Royale de Lyon.

69. Brosset, (M.) Catalogue de la Bibliotheque d’Edchmiadzin. St. Petersb. 8vo. P.

Déscription Géographique de la Géorgie, par le Szaréwitch Wak-

housht. St. Petersb. 1842, 4to. 1 vol.

—— Monographie des Monnais Arméniennes. St. Petersb. 1839, 4to. P.

70. Bullétin de la Société de Géographie. Deuxiém série. Tome 20, 1843. Troisiéme

série, Tome 1.

71. Burnouf, (E.) Introduction dans L’histoire du Buddhisme Indien, vol. 1.

72. Collection Géographique de la Bibliothéque Royale. P.

73. D’armand, Documents and Observations sur le cours du Bahr et Abrial. P.

74. Florival, (V. de) Mékhitaristes de St. Lazare, Histoire d’Armenie, Venice, 1841,

1 vol.

75. Journal Asiatique, 4me Série, Tome 3, Nos. 13—23.,

76. des Savants, January 1844 to January 1845.

77. Mémoires de la Société des Antiquairs du Nord, 1840—1843, 1 vol.

78. —— de la Société de Physique de Genéve, Tome 10, 2e Partie.

79. Siebold, (W. de) Lettre sur L’utilité des Musées Ethnographiques. Paris, 1843.

80. Tassy, (G. de) Rhétorique des Nations Musulmanes. Traduit du Persan. Paris

1844. P.

GERMAN.

81. Akademischer Almanach der Baierischen Akademie der Wissenschaften fiir das

Jahr 1844. P.

82. Frahn, (Ch. M.) Ibn Fozlan’s und Anderer Berichte uber die Russen alterer

Zeit. Text und Ubersetzung. Petersburg, 1823, 8vo. 1 vol.

Minzen der Chane vom Ulus Dsutchi’s. Petersburg, 1834, 4to. 1 vol.

83. Hammer Purgstall, (J. v.) Geschichte der Ilchane, vol. 2d.

Zeitwarte der Gebets, Arabisch und Dentsch. Wien, 1844, 1 vol.

84. Jahrbucher der Litteratur, 1844, Nos. 105—108, 4 vols.

85. Klaproth, (J.v.) Archiv ftir Asiatische Litteratur, Geschichte und Sprachen-

kunde. Erster Band. St, Petersb. 1810, 4to. 1 vol.

vi Proceedings of the Asiatic Socrety. [Jan. 1846.

86. Pallas, (P. 8.) Sammlungen historischer Nachrichten uber die Mongolischen

Volkerschaften. St. Peterb. 1776—1801, 2 vols.

87. Ritter, (H.) Geographie, vols. 2—9, 9 vols.

88. Schmidt, (J.J.) Grammatik der Tibetischen Sprache. St. Petersb. 1839, 4to.

1 vol.

Mongolisch-Deutsch-Russisches Worterbuch. St. Petersb. 1835, 4to.

1 vol.

Thaten Bogda Jesser Chan’s. Aus dem Mongolischen. St. Petersb.

1839, 8vo. 1 vol.

Tibetisch-Deutschers Worterbuch. St. Petersb. 1841, 4to. 1 vol.

———. Weise und der Thor, Tibetisch and Deutsch. St. Petersb. 4to. 1 vol.

89. Stuhr, Reich sreligion der Chinésen, 1 vol.

Religions systeme der heidnischen Volkerschaften, 2 vols.

DutTcu.

90. Eysinga, (R. V.) Nederduitch en Maleisch en Maleisch en Nederduitch Woor-

denbook. Batavia, 1824, 2 vols.

91. Natuur—en Geneeskundig Archief voor Neérlandsch Indie. Herste Jaargang,

1844, 4 Nos. Tweede Jaargang, 2 Nos.

92. Temminck, (J. C.) Vid. Verhandlingen.

93. Tidsschrift voor Neerlands Indie. Zesde Jaargang, 12 Nos. Zevende Jaargane,

1845, 8 Nos.

94. Verhandelingen van het Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Weten-

schappen. Vols. 1, 5, 8, 11, 12, 15, 16 and 17, Nos. 2, 7, 18, 19 and 20.

95, ———— over de Natuurlij ke Geschiedenis der Nederlaandsch overzeesche

Bezittingen, door J. T. Temminck. 1 vol. Batavie, Leiden, 1839—1842, fol.

96. Vormaer, (J. N.) Korte Beschrijning van het Zuid—Oostelijk Schiereiland van

Celebes.

LatTINn.

97. Bopp, (F.) Glossarium Sanscriticum, Fascicul. ns.

98. Eysinga, (P. R. de) Abul Abbasi Amedis Vita et Res Gestae. Lugd. Bat. 1825,

4to. I vol.

99, Fraehn, (Ch. M.) Recensio Numorum Muhammadanorum. St. Petersb. 1826,

4to. 1 vol.

100. Hamaker, (H. A.) De Expugnatione Memphidis et Alexandriae Liber. Text

Arab. Lugd. Bat. 1825, 4to. 1 vol.

101. Hasskarl, (J. C.) Catalogus Plantarum in Horto Botanico Bogoriensi Cultarum

Alter. Batav. 1844, 1 vol.

102. Hoogliet, (M.) Diversorum seriptorum loci de regia Aphtasidarum familia.

Text Arab. and Versio Lat. Lugd. Batav. 1839, 4to. 1 vol.

103. Meursinge (B.) Asojutit Liber de interpretibus Korani. Text. Arab. Lugd.

Batav. 1839, 4to. 1 vol.

—_———. Liber Alter.

104. Kutgers, (A.) Historia Jemanae sub Hasano Pascha. Lued. Bat. 1838, 4to.

i vol.

JAN. 1846.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. vii

105. Sandifort (Edw. and Gerh.) Museum Anatomicum Academiae Lugd. Bat.

1793—1835, fol. 4 vols. ;

--(G.) Tabulae craniorum diversarum nationum. Lugd. Bat. 1838

—1843, fol. 3 Fasciculi.

106. Valeton (J. J. P.) Taalibii Syntagma dictorum brevium et auctorum, Text.

Arab. et Versio Latina. Lugd. Bat. 1841, 4to. 1 vol.

107. Veth (P. J.) Specimen e literis Orientalibus, exhibens majorem partem hbri,

Asojutii de nomia relativis inscripti, Text. Arab. Lugd. Bat. 1840, 4to. 1 vol.

—---. —___— J.D. Pars Reliqua, 1842, 1 vol.

108. Weijars (H. E.) Specimen criticum, exhibens locosIbn. Khacanis. Text. Arab.

et Versio Lat. Lugd. Bat. 1831, 4to. 1 vol.

OrienTAL LANGUAGES.

109. Armeno-Pysii Slowany. Mosk wa, 1838, 8vo. 2 vols.

110. Chmidta (R. J.) Polwigi, Zaslygh. Gevor. St. Petersb. 1836, 4to. 1 vol.

111. Ciaekeiark, (P. E. ) Nuovo Dizionario Italiano-Armeno-Turco. Venezia, 1829.

112, Cobalebscimb (O.) Mongolscar Khrestomatie. Kasan, 1836—1838, 2 vols. 8vo.

113. Bengalee Tracts.

114. Grammatica Tyresca-Tatarchago. Kasan, 1839, 8vo. 1 vol.

115. Hindee New Testament.

116. Hindustani Pentateuch.

117. Holy Bible in Hindustanee.

118. Haji S. Khalfae Lexicon, 1 vol.

119. Kitaiska Grammatica, St. Petersb. 1838, Fol. 1 vol.

120. Krishna Lall Deb, Prushnaprasika.

121. Lichaschababa, Map of the Huree Vesetra.

122. Logranie chi. Mogolsco Rogbees chi. Kasan, 1841, 8vo. 1 vol.

123. Mongolscae Khrestomatie, Kasan, 1836, 2 vols.

124, Muir, (J.) Brief Lectures on Mental Philosophy, Sanscrit.

125. New Testament in Bengalee.

ge ond Englisch

127. Persidichae Krestomathe, Moskwa, 1832—34, 3 vols. in 2.

128. Ponofa, (A.) Arithmetic (Armenian). Kasan, 1837, 4to. 1 vol.

129. Psalms of David in Bengalee.

130. Radhakant Deb, Sanscrit Dictionary, vol. 6th.

131. Risbi, (Seiida Muhammed) Asseb-o-Isscrib ili, Lemb Planet. Kasan, 1832, 4to.

1 vol.

132, Pchonbinot, (D.) Dictionaire, Georgien, Russe-Francois. St. Petersb. 1840, 4to.

1 vol.

133. Tekstomb, (K.) Suhb Isbi. Isird ili Troedoba. St. Petersb. 1839, 4to. 1 vol.

Read the following letter from the Society’s London Agents :—

Hzyry Prippincron, Ese., Sub-Secretary to the Asiatic Society.

Sir,—We have received your letter of the 28th June last, enclosing a bill of lading

for three cases shipped by the Lallah Rookh to our care, to be delivered as addressed.

They shall have attention on the arrival of the vessel,

Vill Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Jan. 1846.

We are not prepared to promise the various numbers of the Asiatic Journal which are

sull required to complete the series in the Library of the Society. If we find we have

them we shall be most happy to present them.

We are, Sir,

. Your most obedient servants,

London, October 24th, 1845. Wm. H. Auten anv Co.

Read the following letter and enclosures from the Royal Academy of

Christiana, forwarded with the bill of lading by Sir Charles Tottie,

Norwegian Consul in London :—

Fra det akademiske Collegium ved det Kongelige Frederiks Universitet.

To the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Calcutta.

It gives the Council of this University great pleasure to acknowledge the reception of

several very valuable scientific collections from the Asiatic Society at Caleutta, viz. a

Zoological one which arrived last autumn; one of different sorts of seeds and one of

several books, which have been received at earlier periods. The council, in returning its -

sincerest thanks for these renewed proofs of kindness towards our scientific institution, begs

leave to send a collection Ist. of Zoological objects from this country, consisting of quad-

rupeds, birds, insects, skeletons, and skulls ; 2d. of coins ; 3rd. of books ; 4th. of dried

plants and seeds, as specified in the accompanying list. Although the university council

knows perfectly well, that the scientific objects, which can be got in this country, and

which it has in its power to present the Asiatic Society with, by no means can be

compared to those which are found in your celebrated country, it trusts, you will be kind

enough to take the will for the deed, and, as hitherto, continue the scientific intercourse

which has been so happily established between both learned institutions. The Zoological

objects which are wanted for the Museum of your Society, the university council shall

take all possible care to procure, and it hopes, a new collection may be sent next summer.

Itis scarcely necessary to add, that our university will feel itself most happy to show

your Society any service with respect to scientific objects in its power.

F. Hoimeor, Fr. Haruacer, Drerricnson, Buyrr, R. Keren, Cur. Housr.

The Council of the Royal University at Christiania, the 22d July, 1845.

Fortegnelse over endeel, sbm gave fra det Kongelige Norske Universitet i Christiania til

det Asiatiske Selskab i Calcutta, bestente Boger m.m.

1. Gaea Norvegica, zweite Lieferung mit zevei safeln,

(Férste Levering er allerede sendts i Aaret, 1843.)

2. Nyt Magazin for Naturvidenskaberne.

(Ade Binds. 1—IV Hefte.)

3. Norsk Magazin for Legevidenskaben.

1—1X Bind: (ialt 27 Hefter. )

4. Das Konigreich Norwegen, statistisch beschrieben von Amtmann Blom, mit zwei

Karten.

5. Beretainger om Kongeriget Norges occonomiske Tilstandi Aarene 1835—1840.

med tuhdrende statistike Tabeller.

JAN. 1846. | Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 1x

6. Udkast lit Lov om Medicinalvasenet i Norge—med Motiver.

7. Indstilling fra Strafanstalt-Commissionen.

8. Om Sindssvage i Norge.

9, Holst om de Britiske Faengsler m. m.

10. Tre lagevidenskabelige Afhandlinger af Professér, Dr. medic. Holst.

11. Bjorgynjar Kalfskinn, edid. P. A. Munch, Historiarum Professor.

12. Enumeratio plantarum vascularium, gorecirca Christianiam sponte nascuntur,

auctore M. N. Blytt, bo'anices professére.

13. Endeel forskjellige Academica.

14. Det Kongelige Norske Frederiks Universitets Aarsberetning for 1842.

15. En Pakke indeholdende 81 Stf Mynter.

16. En Samling Frosorter.

17. En Norskt Herbarium.

18. Some drawings of Norwegian antiquities.

19. En Samling of Insecter efter vedlagte Fortegnetse.

Christiania 22d Juli, 1845.

Cur. Hotsr.

List of Norwegian Mammalia and Birds sent from the Museum of the University to the

Asiatic Society’s Museum of Calcutta.

Mammalia

Skins.

1, Felis Lynx var. virgata, Nilss. 9 adult: killed in the neighbourhood of Christi-

ania, March, 1840.

2. —_—_—_——_ -———_ $ junior, killed February 1831.

382. — , 1848.

(The three species of Mr. Temminck are not to be considered as species but only as

varieties. Specimens of this species are difficult to procure. )

4, Canis Lupus g adult: killed in the neighbourhood of Arendal, January, 1842

(common in Norway. )

5. Mustela martes, var : abietina, (not common) winter dress.

6. Lutra vulgaris, from Thellemarken, spec. junior, Autumn, 1844.

7. Canis lagopus, ¢ this specimen was shot in the neighbourhood of Christiania in

the last hard winter. It happens seldom that it comes so far from the higher

mountains.

8. Meles Taxus, ¢ (not rare in the southern part of Norway.)

9. Castor Fiber, 9 (This animal is on the term of his extinction in Norway ; in 20

years our museum has procured only two specimens); this is from Thellemar-

ken, 1844,

10. Mus sylvaticus, (very common.)

11. Sciurus vulgaris (abundant ; migrates in certain years, and is then very abundant).

Skeletons.

1. Canis Lupus, shot in the neighbourhood of Christiania, December 1844, (not full-

grown?)

2. Phoca vitulina, shot in August, 1843, on the west coast of Norway, (young. )

3. Delphinus leucoplewrus, Rasch. killed in the fiord of Christiania, June, 1842.

4. Phocena vulgaris, (common. )

x Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Jan. 1846.

Crania.

1.—2. Ursus arctus, g adult: Q junior. (This species is not rare in Norway. )

3. Gulo borealis, @ adult: (Not common and very difficult to procure.)

4, Canis vulpes, (common. )

5. Head of Cervus alces (with the skinon): g@ four years old. Is at the present time

very difficult to procure. The feet of the animal are added.

6. A frontlet with adherent head-skin of Cerv. Tavandus, fem: ¢ killed November,

1843, in the Alps of Guldbrandsdalen.

7. A head without horn of the same animal.

8. A frontlet. :

Birds. :

1. Pernio apinarus, 9 (a rare preying bird in Norway.) :

2,.—3. Buteo vulgaris, (very common in the southern part.)

4. Milvus regalis, ¢ (rare in Norway but common in Sweden.)

5.—8. Astur palumbarius, old and young, (common. )

9.—11. Strix Aluco, (common.)

12. Otus, (rare. )

a5. Tegnmalmi, (not common. )

14. Pusserina, g Gin. acadica, Temm. (rare. )

15. Cypselus apus, (common. )

16. Caprimulgus ewropeus, (common. )

17.18. Picus viridis, f gQ ditto.

19.—20. martius, (not rare. )

pA —— leuconotus, (rare.)

22.—24. Plectrophorus nivalis, (in certain years common.)

25.—26. Emberiza hortulana, (common.)

27. Pyrrhula vulgaris, g (ditto.)

28. Fringilla montifringilla, ¢ summer dress (com. in the alp. reg.)

29, ———— spmus, ¢ hab. estivali, (common. )

30.—31. Sitta europea, ¢ P : (common. )

32.—33. Hirundo rustica, (abundant. )

34.—35. Bombycilla garrula, ¢ 9 (in certain winters very abundant.)

36.—37. Garrulus glandarius, ¢ 9 (common.)

38.—39. Nucifraga coryocatactes, g @ (this rare bird was in the past autumn very

abundant in the whole peninsula and migrated southwards. )

40, Pica caudata, (very common.)

4), Cinclus aquaticus, @ : (common. )

42,—43, Anthus obscurus, g¢ Q : (common on the west coast,) Christiansund, 1843.

44,.—45. Motacilla flava, (not rare.)

46. Saxicola enanthe, (very abundant.)

47. Lanius excubitar, (rare. )

48. Crex pratensis, (common, )

49. Totanus Glottis, hab. estivali, (not rare.)

50. Scolopax major, (not rare. )

59. Corvus cornix, (abundant. )

Christiania, 20 Juni, 1845. H. Rascu.

JAN. 1846. ] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. xl

Read the following note from Captain Huddlestone :—

My pear Sir,—I have the pleasure to send a few horns, a large sheet of Nepaul

hill paper, a small copper blow pipe used by the Sonars in the hills, and a few speci-

mens of woods for the Asiatic Society’s Museum, which I hope may be acceptable.

Your’s truly,

W. Hvuppiestone, Capt.

Spence’s Hotel, Jan. 2d, 1846. 7th Regt. N. I.

Read the following letter :—

No. 678 of 1845.

From P. Metvyri1, Esa. Officiating Under Secretary to the Government of India.

To the Secretary to the Asiatic Society of Fort William, the 22d Dec. 1845.

FOREIGN AND SECRET DEPARTMENT.

Srr,—I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter without date, with its

accompaniments, which have been retained in this office.

2. Ihave however to remark that, two other papers as noted in the margin did not

1. Notesonthe Commerce, Reve- accompany the above as required in the Office Me-

nue, and Military Resources of the morandum from this Department dated 18th

| erent ce verte July last, No. 2044; I have therefore to request

little known to Europeans lying be- that they may be forwarded with the least practi-

yond the Indus and Cabool Rivers. cable delay.

I have the honor to be, Sir,

Your most obedient servant,

P. Metvitt,

Offg. Under Sec. to the Govt. of India

Fort William, the 22d Dec. 1845.

Read the following letter from the Academie Royale de Bordeaux :—

Academie Royale Des Sciences, Belles-Lettres et Arts de Bordeauc.

Mownsieur,—J’ai Vhonneur de vous adresser le recueil des travaux de l’Academie

Bordeaux durant les anniés 1843 et 1844.

Votre Société avait bien voulu nous faire passer autrefois le journal mensuel qu’ elle

publiait et cette communication était pour nous d’une bien grand prix ; malhenrensement

depuis la fin de 1838, nous si avons plus rien rien de vos publications.

J’espere, Monsieur, que vous seréz assez obligeant pour nous en transmettre la suite ;

elle nous parviendra exactement si vous voulez bien l’addresser a Mr. Guestier junior,

V un de nos collegues.

Cet echange de travaux Scientifiques doit, de part et d’autre, tourner 4 un mutuel

avantage.

Veuillez agreer, Monsieur, l’assurance de ma consideration la plus distingué.

Gre. Branet,

Bordeaux, Le 26 Juillen, 1845, Secretaire General,

A Monsieur le Secrétaire de la Société Asiatique 4 Calcutta,

Xil Proceedings of the Asiatie Society. [Jan. 1846.

Read the following letter and catalogue :

To H. Torrens, Esa. Secretary, Asiatic Society, &c. &c. &e.

Srr,—I beg you will do me the favour of presenting to the Asiatic Society the accom-

panying series of fossil shells from Danish and Swedish localities, identified in the an-

nexed list, which I have lately received by H. D. M. ship Galathea, from Professor

Forchhammer of Copenhagen. Some of the shells are mentioned and figured by Mr.

Chas. Lyell, in his memoir on the Cretaceous and Tertiary Strata of the Danish

Islands of Seeland and Moen. (Transact. Geolog. Society. Vol. v. 2d. Ser. p. 243.)

I have. the honor to be, Sir,

Your most Obedt. Servt.

Tuo, Cantor.

Staff Barracks, Fort William, 29th Dec. 1845.

. Brachiurus rugosos. Newer chalk. Faxoe.

. Brachiurus levior. Newer chalk. Faxoe.

. Serpula gordialis. Greensand. Scania.

. Nautilus Danicus. Newer chalk. Faxoe.

. Belemnities mucronatus. Greensand. Scania.

. Belemnities mamillatus. Greensand Scania.

. Trochus niloticiformis, Schl. Newer chalk. Faxoe.

. Cerithium Faxoénse. Newer chalk. Faxoe.

. Cerithium Selandicum. Newer chalk. Faxoe.

10. Cyproea spirata. Newer chalk. Faxoe.

11. Cyproea bullata. Newer chalk. Faxoe.

12. Arca lineata, Schl. Newer chalk. Faxoe.

13. Nucula ovata. Greensand. Scania.

14. Nueula, ? Newer chalk. Faxoe.

15. Terebratula carnea. Newer chalk. Steons Klint.

16. Terebratula flustracea. Newer chalk. Faxoe.

17. Terebratula. Newer chalk. Faxoe.

18. Terebratula lyra. Greensand. Scania.

19. Terebratula longirostris. Greensand. Scania.

20. Terebratula ovata. Greensand. Scania.

21. Lima ovata. Greensand. Scania.

22. Lima ~————? Greensand. Scania.

23. Lima denticulata. Greensand. Scania.

24. Pecten inversus. Greensand. Scania.

25. Pecten subaratus. Greensand. Scania.

26. Spondylus lamellosus. Greensand. Scania.

27. Spondylus truncatus. Greensand. Scania.

28. Mytilus ungulatus. Newer chalk. Faxoe.

29. Ostrea diluviana. Greensand. Scania.

30. Ostrea lunata. Greensand. Scania.

31. Ostrea vesicularis. Newer chalk. Steons Klint,

32. Ostrea reflexa. Newer chalk. Faxoe.

33. Ostrea hippopodium, Greensand. Scania.

Cmonrtnrnn bP Ww =

Jan. 1846. ] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. Xlil

34. Ostrea curvirostris. Greensand. Scania.

35. Ostrea acutirostris, Greensand. Scania.

36. Exogyra cornu-arietis. Greensand. Scania.

37. Exogyra laciniata. Greensand. Scania.

38. Exogyra auricularis. Greensand. Scania.

39. Crania striata. Greensand. Scania.

40. Crania nummulus. Greensand. Scania.

41. Ananchytes suleata. Greensand. Scania.

42. Ananchytes striata. Newer chalk. Steons Klint.

43. Dentalium rugosum. Newer chalk. Seeland.

44. Impressions of Isis Stobei. Scania.

45. Isis Faxoensis. Newer chaik. Faxoe.

46. Fungia coronata. Greensand. Scania.

47. Fungia. —— ? Greensand. Scania.

48. Coprolithes Mantelli. Saxony.

Some of the fossil shells mentioned in Transactions of the Geological Society, Vol.

V. 2d. Series, XX. Onthe Cretaceous and Tertiary Strata of the Danish Islands of

Seeland and Moen. By Charles Lyell, Esq. P. G.S., F. R. S.

Read the following letter from Lieut.-Colonel Stacy addressed to the

Sub-Secretary.

My pear Sir,—At page 81 of Proceedings, No. 163, July, 1845, you are quoted as

the authority for Captain Cautley having said I presented the two articles he took down

for me from Futteyghur to the Society. As I understand Captain Cautley has sailed,

allow me to correct this mistake. They are not presented to the Society but simply sent

for submission to the Society and then to be placed with the rest of my property in the

museum.

I beg you will do me the favour of communicating accordingly to the Society. Will you

also do me the favor to request that a spare print of any published coins may always be

sent with my copy of the journal, I should be obliged by your sending me plates, Nos. 1

and 2, of Indo Sythic coins, by Tieut. Cunningham.

Your’s, &e.

Meerutt, December Ast, 1845. S. B. Stacy.

The Sub-Secretary explained that his present impression was still that

Captain Cautley had not only presented the antiquities from Col. Stacy,

put that a chit had been sent with them stating it, which he yet hoped

to find. It was ordered that the note should be printed as a record.

Captain Marshall objected to the infringement of the rules of the

Society, in the case of the Committee of Papers having engaged in

certain financial arrangements which they ought not to have interfered

with. He urged a recurrence to the strict letter of the rules restrict-

ing the Committee to the execution of their own peculiar duties.

An explanation was offered by the Secretary, which went to shew

XIV Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [JAn. 1846.

that the Committee did no more than propose a course to be adopted

by the Society, without taking any actual measures themselves.

After some discussion the subject dropped.

Captain Marshall remarked on a certain entry in the proceedings of

May, 1845, as follows :

«The Secretary brought forward a MS. Journal of Travels in the

Himalaya written by me in 1827, and a book of drawings which had

been sent to him for insertion in the Journal of this Society. The

Secretary remarked to the Meeting, that my Journal was of “a private

and domestic nature,” and he further stated to the effect that the paper

had lost its interest from the long period which had elapsed since its

composition, and in consequence of other travellers having since passed

over the same ground. The Secretary then, after a short pause, and

without submitting my contribution for the orders of the meeting, pro-

ceeded to other business.”

Resolved that the Society put on record, that the expressions made

use of by the Secretary with respect to Capt. Marshall’s paper are not

the sentiments of the Society, and they do not contain the opinion of

the Society as to its contents.

The Secretary expressed his regret at having recorded in the pro-

ceedings his individual opinion ofa Journal, as to which other and most

competent judges thought very differently, and which he did not at the

time know to be Capt. Marshall’s.

Report oF THE Curator Musrum Economic Grotocy anp GroLocicaL AND Mine-

RALOGICAL DEPARTMENTS.

GroLocy anp Mineraocy.

The only contributions we have received this month have arrived too late for me to

report upon them, having no letters or papers with them. The following letter from

Lieut. Sherwill has just been received.

To H. Pippincron, Esa. Curator to Museum Economic Geology, Calcutta.

My pear Prppincton,—I write these few lines to inform you of the despatch per

steamer of a small box containing specimens of a very pretty variety of kunkur, from

the district of Benares, containing about fifty per cent. of fresh water shells, from an

inch and a half in length to those of a microscopic smallness. I have only been able out

of many thousands, to detect more than 5 kinds, all of which are of fresh water origin,

exceedingly brittle, but beautifully perfect, evidently the deposit of an extensive lake,

long since filled up, as they lie 20 feet below the soil. For the following description

of locality, &c. Iam indebted to my friend, Mr. George Wyatt, Deputy Collector of

Benares. :

Jan. 1846.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. XV

“« The shell kunkur is found in large quantities between the Naudh and Burnah Nud-

dies, at a depth of 15 to 20 feet under the surface of the country. The specimens are

from the village of Pindra on the road from Benares to Jounpoor. ‘Towards the

Naudh Nullah the shells in the kunkur are in larger quantities than in the kunkur

about the Burnah. It is found in one uninterrupted sheet from 15 to 20 miles in extent

varying from one to two inches in thickness. The kunkur is eagerly sought after for

Lime, which is purer and more valuable than that made from the common nodular

kunkur.

“Small wells are dug, barely wide enough to admit the workman, and when he

arrives at the stratum of kunkur he works laterally as far as he can with safety, breaking

up the kunkur with a pickaxe.

“ The kunkur is too soft to be used as metal for roads.”

I enclose you a sketch of the various shells—natural size ; and have sent per dak bhan-

gy asmall box containing some detached ones.

R. 8. SHERwILL.

Buxar, 29th December, 1845.

Museum or Economic GEouLocy.

I have been mostly employed in the Laboratory during this month, but have not suffi-

ciently completed any thing to report upon it with confidence.

The collections of the Coal and Iron Committee have been received into the Museum,

but I have been obliged to delay arranging so as to report upon them, in order to get the

cases painted.

H. PipprncrTon.

For all the above communications and presentations the best thanks

of the Society were awarded.

‘ ‘ile

‘al co ge

. Lead, Bowe

a Abies : a

nas Tatar y : ibe A

> Shadi wh, ita Rites ‘ Pl en ua

si y 1m i ’

‘al

r te a sia

Vise bs rit

fee Mes ee

m= TAGULAL Me esi

= r ae mB Mel Sa

=a Ayes

ie : ir

we : , eee i roy iss a

. i. eal ert pace | oe ae - , oe RS. hl i

Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Fesruary, 1846.

The stated monthly meeting of the Society was held at the rooms

at 2 past 8 p. m. on Wednesday the 4th February.

The Rev. Dr. Heeberlin in the chair.

The following new member, proposed at the last meeting, was _bal-

lotted for and declared duly elected :

Lord Arthur Hay.

And the following gentlemen were proposed :

Lieut. T. C. Blagrave, 26th N. I. (Scinde.)

Lieut. C. E. Burton, 46th N. I. (Scinde.)

Both proposed by Mr. Piddington and seconded by the Secretary.

The Proceedings of the January meeting were read, and with some

alterations and additions confirmed, it being understood that a Protest

made by Capt. Marshall be withdrawn, and that a note be substituted

satisfactory to him on the subject of which he complained.

Read the following list of books presented, purchased and exchanged.

List of Books received for the Meeting of Wednesday the 4th February, 1846.

PRESENTED.

1. Meteorological Register for November and December, 1845, from the Sur-

veyor General’s Office.

2. The Oriental Christian Spectator for January, 1846.—By the Editor.

3. The Calcutta Christian Observer, for February, 1846.—By the Editors.

4, London Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of

Science, No. 181, for November, 1845.—By the Editor.

5. Bulletin de la Societe de Geographie, tome III.—By the Society.

6. Hindu System of Medicine, by T. A. Wise, Esq., M. D.—By the Author.

7. Selections from several books of the Vedanta, translated from the Original

Sanscritta, by Raja Rammohun Roy.—By Babu Kissory Chand Mittra.

8, Introduction to Vajasoney Oopanishad.—By Babu Kissory Chand Mittra.

9. Discourse read at the third Hare Anniversary Meeting.—By Babu Kissory

Chand Mittra (2 copies.)

10. Bengalee tract on the power, wisdom and goodness of God.—By Babu

Kissory Chand Mittra.

11. Notice Sur l’Establishment Geographique de Bruxelles par M. Drapiez.—

By M. D. Vander Maelen.

Xvi Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Fres. 1846.

12. Etudes Sur l’Histoire primitive des Races Oceaniennes et Americanes par

Gustave D’Eichthal.—By the Author. ;

13. Histoire et Origine Des Foulas on Fellaces par Gustave D’Kichthal.—By

the Author. 2

14. Grammar Persanne de Sir W. Jones. —By M. Garcin de Tassy.

15. Catalogue de l’Etablissement Geographique de Bruxelles.—By Ph. Vander

Maelen.

16. The Universal Atlas of Geography Prospectus. —By Ph, Vander Maelen.

17. Atlas de L’Europe, Prospectus.—By Ph. Vander Maelen.

PURCHASED.

18. Edinburgh Review, from No, 1 to 166 (with the exception of two Nos.)

19. The North British Review, No. 7. November, 1845.

20. The Annals and Magazine of Natural History, No. 106, November, 1845

21. Hurreebhuctee Bilas (2 copies.)

22. The Birds of Australia, parts 1 to 19, by J. Gould, F. L. S.

23. Journal des Savants, September, 1845.

EXCHANGED.

24. Journal Asiatique, Nos. 25 and 26, for July and August, 1845.

25. Proceedings of the Geological Society of London, Vol. 4, Nos. 102 and 103.

26. The Athenzum, Nos. 939 to 944.

27. Journal of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of India, part 4.

vol, IV.

Read the following letter from Dr. Wise :—

To H. Torrens, Esa., Secretary, Asiatic Society.

My pEAR Si1r,—With this note you will receive a copy of my Commentary on

the Hindu System of Medicine, which I request you will do me the favor of pre-

senting to the Asiatic Society.

Tuos. 8S, WIseE,

Dacca, 27th January, 1846.

Dr. Heeberlin, who stated that he had read the work, and was ac-

quainted with the original Shastras from which it was compiled and

abridged, and Mr. Piddington who stated that in the absence of Dr.

Wise in Europe he had corrected a great deal of it for the press, and

had since read the remainder, both spoke in terms of high commenda-

tion of this book, as one requiring great labour, long and careful re-

search, and talent and perseverance of no common order to produce ;

and which for the scientific man, the physcian and the philosopher, and

for all who had not access to, or could not read the often rare and valu-

able works which Dr, Wise has consulted, would be quite invaluable.

tte eel ie

Fes. 1846. ] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. XIX

The Secretary suggested that a work of this kind would be highly

gratifying to many of the Society’s correspondents both oriental and

scientific, if presented to them, as usual with the Society’s own publi-

cations.

It was therefore proposed by Dr. Hzeberlin, seconded by the Secre-

tary, and carried unanimously :

That the Society do purchase 30 copies of Dr. Wise’s work for presentation to its

correspondents.

The Secretary was requested to communicate with Dr. Wise as to

the price.

Read a letter from the Society’s London Agents announcing ship-

ment and enclosing Bill of Lading for 3 cases and 1 bundle specimens

of Natural History from the Royal Academy of Christiana, per ship

Persian, Capt. Edington.

Read the following letter :

Henry Torrens, Esa., Secretary to the Asiatic Society of Bengal.

S1r,—We have received your favor of the 3d September, ordering us to return

to India about half of the stock of the Asiatic Researches received from Mr. John

Murray in March, 1844.

We have had the volumes named in your letter divided into equal proportions,

in case of accident to the vessel, and have shipped one portion packed in six cases

by the Euphrates, Capt. Wilson, and for which we beg to enclose youa Bill of

Lading. We annex a memorandum of the cost of the cases and the shipping

expenses upon them amounting to £18-2-0—which sum we shall place to the

debit of the Society. The Researches were received from Mr. Murray in sheets

and in the absence of instructions we have not thought it advisable to subject the

Society to the expenses of boarding so large a number of volumes without orders

to that effect.

The shipment has not been insured, but should you think it necessary it can be

done in Calcutta, upon the receipt of this advice, nearly as cheap as it could have

been effected here.

The second portion of the Researches will be forwarded by the next vessel for

Calcutta. Should you think it necessary to effect it, insurance on both shipments

may be done at the same time, as the next will be a duplicate of the present.

We shall be obliged by your saying what we are to do with the Researches that

will, after the second shipment, still remain in our hands. We have some time

since expressed our inability to dispose even of one set, and were the Researches

advertised we fear the result would not be satisfactory. We shall have no objec-

tion to continue the care of the Researches, but if we cannot make sales it is only

reasonable that we should charge warehouse-room for the books. We shall be

XX Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Frs. 1846.

much obliged if you will consider the subject and let us know what you. think

should be done. - ‘

Wn. H. ALLEN Aanp Co.

London, December 3d, 1845.

Astatic Socrrry, Caucurta, To Wm. H. ALLen anv Co.

‘5 Asiatic Researches, Vol. 1, 4to. 5 Asiatic Researches, Vol. 14.

2 Ditto Vol. 2. 50 Ditto Vol. IT.

40 Ditto Vol. 10. 25 Ditto Vol. 6.

50 Ditto Vows 30 Ditto Vol. 8.

50 Ditto Vol. 9. 100 Ditto Vol. 12, 8vo.

7 Ditto Volga: 13 Ditto Vol. 12, 4to.

Charges.

Six Cases for packing lined with Tin, 1 to 6, at 33s. each ....... Sass: 0

Packing and examining the Same, .....scecesccecvcccscevsceon 1 a Aa

Entry, Cartage to the West India Docks, Wharf Charges, Shipping

Expenses and Bills of Lading,..:...0c2e0ceseaccsesenne gy 3 Aina

eerecoeoevpe Fe ce eocseee Ce oe es

Freight and. Primage, .. case «000+

. 2°48 2.°D

Wn. H. ALuen anv Co.

Some conversation occurred on the subject of the enquiry and re-

ference made by Messrs. Allen and Co. in this letter, when it was

resolved that a communication be made to Mr. Konig of Bonn, inform-

ing him of the number of the volumes of the Researches which would yet

remain in London, authorising him, as the Society’s continental book-

seller, to indent upon Messrs. Allen for such number of copies as he

may wish for, and requesting him generally to interest himself and

afford the Society his best advice and assistance in the disposal of the

home. stock. .

The Secretary stated that he had purchased, subject to the Society’s

approbation, a complete set of the Edinburgh Review at the low rate of

1-4 per volume. The purchase was duly sanctioned.

Read the following letter :—

To the Secretary to the Asiatic Society. .

Sirn,—I am directed to acknowledge with thanks the receipt of your present

of Corcoran’s Jouhan-i-Akhlak, being the Fables of Esop translated into Oordoo,

and to acquaint you that they have been deposited in the Library of the College of

Fort William in the name of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta.

G. T, MarsHAtt,

College of Fort William, 12th Jan. 1846. Secy. College.

Fes. 1846. | Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. XXI

Read the following lettter :—

H. Torrens, Esa. Secretary and Vice-President of the Asiatic Society.

Sir,—Herewith I beg to submit a copy of the Yazaka in Original Sanscrit,

being a treatise on Astrology compiled by Neelkantha, a celebrated Pundit of anci-

ent times, and I hope you will kindly accept it as a present to the Society, and

allow it to be placed in its Library.

The work is of acurious nature, as it contains several Arabic words written in.

Sanscrit character ; such as,

Lae yaa: Moosullah.

LO! <fsret Inttha.

Jail fara Ittisal.

J sad0 wage Mukbool.

dsHone aycaage Ghyr Mukbool.

os we Hadd, &e. Ke.

and I conclude from the system of the Zodiac adopted in it being precisely the same

as in the Ue, Ramal, or Astrology of the Arabs, that it owes its origin to the

Mahommedans; and the compilation, or rather the translation, must have been

made during the time this country was invaded bythem. The work, however, is

in much repute in Hindu Society, notwithstanding the religious prejudices of the

one being opposed to those of the other, and I therefore presume to offer it asa

present on account of its curiosity.

NEELRATNA HALDAR,

Calcutta, the 1st February, 1846.

Read the following extracts from a letter to the Sub-Secretary from

Lieut. Blagrave, dated 21st Dec. 1845.

Extracts from a letter from Lt. Blagrave, B. N.I., to the Sub-Secretary, dated

Akul ka Got (Scinde), 21st December, 1845.

“« Many thanks to you and to Mr. Torrens for the kind interest you have taken

with us ‘‘ young Egyptians ;’’ your proposition is a most advantageous one for us,

and no doubt will be gladly accepted, but I doubt whether for some time yet we

shall have ought much worth publishing, but there is no saying, for there are many

men in Scinde well qualified to write on different interesting subjects, but at present

they have either no time or else no inclination to do so ; the Society was got up by

a few of us more for the sake of establishing a Museum at Kurrachee, and eventu-

ally good local ones at Hyderabad and Sukkur ; we have got about six and twenty

subscribers, and have already got an embryo Museum consisting of a little of every

thing, fossils, birds, fish, insects, snakes, &c., &c, I and a few others are going on

collecting for it, and I hope that by this time next year we shall have a house and

something in it to shew, and then we may hope for more assistance from those that

have it in their power to aid us ; but as soon asI receive your next letter, which you

say it to be an official copy of your proposition, I will send it down to Kurrachee

XXIl Proceedings of the Asiatic Society.

and get the votes of the members upon it. Lt. Burton tells me he has received a

letter from some gentleman (I forget his name) in charge of your Museum, asking

for specimens of the Scinde wolf, foxes, rare birds, fish and reptiles. I will so long

as I remain in Scinde take care that a duplicate collection of all specimens shall

be made by myself and people, the one set of which shall be forwarded to you, and

will write to our Secretary and request him to lay by all duplicate specimens that

he may receive for you.’’

‘¢ Should I remain in Scinde, which is doubtful, I shall be stationed at Sehwan,

where I hope to make some discoveries among the ruins or rather foundations of the

Old Fort. I have got a copy of some inscriptions in Arabic and Persian on some

stones found by Capt. Lavie, the Collector there, when digging a foundation for

some buildings; the people say they are 600 years old, but as I believe Captain .

Lavie intends sending or has sent a description and translation of the inscriptions

down to our Secretary, I need not forward mine to you, at least until I hear whe-

ther he has done so or not.”’

‘‘ By the by, have not you published, or are publishing, the fish of the Indus

sketched and collected by Sir A. Burnes? if so, what number have you got? there

are an immense number and perhaps you have not all; if you could furnish me with

a list of the Native names (I suppose Sir A. Burnes sent them), I should then know

whether any that I may collect would be worth sending to you or not.’’

The Secretary presented, on the part of Edward Wyatt, Esq., Deputy

Collector, a Statistical Memoir of the district of Benares.

Owing to the lateness of the hour the Report of the Curator

of the Museum of Economic Geology and Geological and Mineralogical

Departments was not read.

The best thanks of the Society were voted for the various communi-

cations and presentations made.

Proceedings of the Anniversary Meeting held at the Society's Rooms,

on the 4trH Marcu, for the 7th January, 1846.

The Rev. Dr. Heeberlin, in the chair.

The following gentlemen, proposed at the last meeting, were ballotted

for and declared duly elected :

Lieut. T. C. Blagrave, 26th N. I. (Scinde).

Lieut. C. C. Burton, 26th N. I. (Scinde).

The usual communications were ordered to be made to them.

The following new member was proposed :

J. T. Shave, Esq., proposed by 8S. G. T. Heatly, Esq., seconded by

the Secretary.

The following gentlemen were elected as the Office-bearers of the

Society for the ensuing year :

Vice-Presidents.—The Lord Bishop of Calcutta; the Hon’ble Sir

J. P. Grant; the Hon’ble Sir H. W. Seton;: Lieut.-Colonel W. N.

Forbes, and H. Torrens, Esq.

Secretary.—H. Torrens, Esq.

Librarian and Assistant-Secretary.—Babu Kissory Chand Mittra.

Committee of Papers——The Rev. Dr. J. Heberlin, W. P. Grant,

Esq., C. Huffnagle, Esq., G. A. Bushby, Esq., W. Tayler, Esq., Babu

Prosnocomar Tagore, 8S. G. T. Heatly, Esq., W. B. O’Shaughnessy,

Esq., M. D., Lieut. A. Broome, B. H. A.

The proceedings for February, having been read, it was proposed by

Colonel Forbes, that they be confirmed and published as respects the

propositions put to the vote and carried in the latter portion of the pro-

ceedings, all else being recorded and not published.

Seconded by the Secretary.

The question was put to the vote and carried by a majority.

Read the following list of books, presented, purchased, and exchanged :

XXIV Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. (Marcu, 1846.

List of Books received for the Meeting of Wednesday, the 4th March, 1846.

PRESENTED.

1. Meteorological Register for January, 1846. From the Surveyor General’s

Office.

2. The Calcutta Christian Observer, for March, 1846.—By the Editors.

3. The Oriental Christian Spectator, for February, 1846. By the Editor.

4, London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine, No. 179, for Sep-

tember, 1845.—By the Editor.

5. Zeitschrift fur du Kunde des Morgenlandes herausgeghen Von Christian

Lassen, Funften Bundes Zweites Heft, 1844.—By the Author.

6. Atlas of Anatomical Plates, Fasciculus I. containing the Bones.—By F, J.

Mouat, M. D.

7. Astronomical Observations made at the Royal Observatory, Cape of Good-

Hope, 1834, under the direction of F. Maclear, Esq.: F. R. S. R. A. S., &c. &e.,

Her Majesty’s Astronomer, vol. Ist.—By the Royal Society.

8. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, part 12, 1844.—By the

Society.

9. Tareek Eausafee, by Esuf Khan Hydrabadee.—By the Author.

PURCHASED.

10. Wilkinson’s Manners and Customs of the Ancient Ezyptians, 5 vols.

11. Plates to Wilkinson’s Ancient Egyptians,

12. Journal des Savans for October, 1845.

13. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, vol. 16, No. 107, for Dec. 1845.

14. Gould's Australian Birds, part XX.

15. Sanghita, 18 numbers.

16. Edinburgh Review, Nos. 161 and 162.

EXCHANGED.

17. Journal Asiatique, vol. 5, No. 24, June, 1845.

18. The Athenzum, No. 946 to 948, for December, 1845.

Read the report of the Committee of Papers upon the questions which

have occupied its attention as regards the employment of a salaried Sub-

Secretary ; it appearing that the funds of the Society do not permit

of the maintenance of this officer, the Committee recommended that,

much as it regretted the necessity which the proposed arrangement

included of depriving the Society of the services of Dr. Roer, it was

obliged to suggest a re-arrangement of the Secretary’s establishment,

whereby an individual, in a position to devote the whole of his time

to the duties of Librarian, and capable at the same time of acting as

assistant to the Secretary might be engaged. The Committee, therefore,

Marcu, 1846. | Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. XXV

suggested that funds not being available, the office of Sub-Secretary

should cease to exist, and that arrangements should be adopted by the

appointment, experimentally, of Baboo Kissory Chand Mitter, as Libra-

rian and Assistant-Secretary. It was resolved that letters should be

addressed to Mr. Piddington and Dr. Roer accordingly, and that the

native gentleman above-named should be appointed to the offices mdi.

cated on a salary of eighty Rupees a month, for six months, with an

assistant at forty Rupees. The salary of Babu Kissory Chand Mitter

to be increased to 100 Rupees at the end of that period, if the arrange-

ment be found to prove satisfactory. The question was put to the vote

and carried by a majority.

It was then proposed by Dr. Heeberlin, and carried by acclamation :—

That the Society offer to Dr. Roer, the expression of its regrets at

losing the advantage of his services as Librarian, and apprise him that

he has been elected an Associate Member of the Society.

It was proposed by Dr. Heeberlin, seconded by the Secretary, and

carried by acclamation :—

That the thanks of the Society be voted to Mr. Piddington for the

valuable and constant assistance which he has afforded to the Society

and the zealous manner in which his services have been invariably

devoted to it.

The accounts of the Society having been laid upon the table by the

Secretary for the inspection of the members, it was resolved that C. K.

Robison, Esq., Capt. Marshall, the Rev. J. Macqueen, and J. Ward,

Kisq., be requested to form a Committee of Audit.

For all presentations, the thanks of the Society were accorded.

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Proceedings of the Asiatic Society for the month of Arrix, 1846.

The monthly meeting of the Society was held at the usual hour at

the rooms on Wednesday the Ist of April. Colonel Forbes, Vice-

President, in the chair.

Read a letter from the Secretary, apologising for his inability to

attend the meeting, and intimating that Mr. Heatly would officiate for

him during the evening.

J. T. Shave, Esq., proposed at the last meeting, was ballotted for

and declared to be duly elected as a member. The usual communica-

tion was ordered to be made to him.

The Proceedings of the March meeting were then read, confirmed,

and directed to be published.

Read the following list of Books :—

List of Books received for the Meeting of Wednesday, the 1st April 1846.

Booxs PRESENTED.

1. Meteorological Register for February, 1846, from the Surveyor General’s

Office.

2. The Calcutta Christian Observer for March, 1846.— By the Editors.

3. The Oriental Christian Spectator for February and March, 1846.—By the

Editor.

4. Brief lectures on Mental Philosophy and other subjects, delivered in Sanscrit to

the Students of the Benares Sanskrit College, with an address to the Pundits and

Students. (2) Copies.—By J. Muir, Esq. C. S.

5. The Oriental Translation Fund,—By the Oriental Translation Fund.

6. Ibn Khallikans Biographical Dictionary, Translated from the Arabic by Baron

Mac Guckin de Slane, vol. iii. Part 1. By the Oriental Translation Fund.

7. Astronomical Observations made at the Observatory of Cambridge, by the

Reverend J. Challis, M. A. By the University of Cambridge.

8. Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, vol. 15, Part II. 1845.

—By the Society.

9. The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine, No. 184.—By

the Editor,

XXviil Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Apriz, 1846.

PURCHASED.

10. The Classical Museum, No. 10.

11. The Annals and Magazine of Natural History, No. 109.—January, 1846.

12. Journal des Savants.

13. Shaw’s Metal Work.

14, The Hindistani Manual. By Duncan Forbes.—

15. Bhagbut Gita.

EXCHANGED.

16. The Atheneum, January 3d, 10th, 17th, 24th, and 8Ist, 1846.

17. The Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal.—By Professor Jameson.

Read the following memorandum by the Secretary, accompanying a

copy of a Pali inscription laid on the table for the inspection of mem-

bers :-—

The inscription was sent, through Mr. Beadon, by Mr. Latour, Magistrate of Be-

har. Further details as to the exact place of its discovery have been requested to be

supplied; in the meantime care has been taken to attempt to decypher the character,

which is asa whole new; some of the letters will be readily recognized as coincident

with certain of the old Pali of the Jats, but the greater part are of a decidedly Ti-

betan type. Mr. Paul, who with the late Pundit Kamlakanta was employed by my

predecessor Mr. J. Prinsep in aiding to decypher, has been referred to as a Tibetan

scholar. The Pundit, Sarodah Pershad, will also prepare a list of the recognizable

characters of the Pali occurring in it. When these preliminary labors have been

performed, should Dr. Heberlin, the Reverend Mr. Long, Captain Marshall or other

Orientalists of the Society not desire to take up the examination, I would suggest

its being referred to Mr. Hodgson, the inscription being in all probability valuable,

and on subjects relating to the early history of Buddhism. The site of its discovery -

(ancient Maghodha) and the philological affinity of its characters both point to this

conclusion.

Dr. Heeberlin having intimated his willingness to examine and report

on the inscription, if provided with information regarding the facts of

its discovery, the Secretary was instructed to make it over accordingly

to that gentleman, with all the information that had transpired relative

to it.

Read the following letter from Colonel Low (Penang) :—

To the Secretary of the Asiatic Society.

Province Wellesley, Penang 10th Feb. 1846.

Dear Sir,—I will esteem it a great favour if you can supply me with specimens,

where they differ from each other, of the inscriptions in the Pali or Pracrit

character which have been discovered hitherto in the Kast—since such would mate-

APRIL, 1846. | Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. XXIX

rially assist me in my antiquarian researches here. Ido not wish for specimens of

Sanscrit inscriptions. J wish to have the numerals also of each kind.

I beg to refer, in explanation of this my request, to p. 412-13 of No. XII. of the

Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society, my object being to have specimens of the

Inscriptions arranged by Mr. Wathen (vide p. 413) of the said language, as well as

of any other of value, beginning from the earliest and up to the latest.

I have requested Mr. Morgan to defray any charge for copying, should the Socie-

ty favor me by permitting it, and to receive your reply.

I remain, Dear Sir,

Your’s very faithfully,

James Low.

P. $.—I am also very anxious to have a correct alphabet of the language employed

by the Priests of Chang in Assam, and the characters used by them, with a vocabu-

lary of, say 100 of the most prominent words, and the numerals. From the rather

scanty specimens in my possession I am induced to believe both to be of Siamese

origin, i.e. that Siamese Priests carried them to Assam.

A list of Assamese records and numerals would likewise be very desirable, for

I believe they can be nearly identified with the Siamese spoken language.

Read also a letter from Messrs. Macintyre and Co., stating that they

were prepared to pay for the expense of copying the inscriptions Col.

Low applies for.

Referred to the Secretary to report in what manner Col. Low’s

request could be complied with.

Read a letter from Messrs. John Munro and Co., requesting the

return of a statue of Silenus belonging to Col. Stacy, but in deposit

with the Society.

Resolved that the statue be returned to Col. Stacy, and a cast taken

from it with the proprietor’s permission.*

Read the following extract of a letter from J. R. Logan, Esq., Sin-

gapore :—

To the Secretary of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.

By the Peninsular and Oriental Company’s Steamers I have forwarded, under cover

to your address, a paper on the Geology of Singapore, &c., which if thought worth

insertion in the Society’s Journal is much at your service. It is I regret rather long,

but it contains the results of much observation and refiection, directed to a locality

hitherto almost unexamined and from swamps, dense jungle and want of roads not

* The Journal (vol.—p.—) already contains an account and delineation of the

sculpture. Ep.

XXX Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [AprRiL, 1846.

easily examinable. If too long to appear in one number a convenient break will be

found at the end of p. 33.

The paper alluded to in it on the Straits of Malacca and the alluvial plains on

its borders is well advanced, but as it is mostly a collection of facts gathered from

various sources not always accessible, it may be some time before it is completed.

From time to time I will send notes on different localities in Singapore and the

vicinity, and ere long I hope, with the co-operation of Mr. Thomson, to furnish

you with a geological map with sections.

A short time ago I transmitted through Mr. Prinsep an account of a hill range

in Penang, and I requested him to ascertain from you whether translations or ab-

stracts of Malayan works would be suited for the Journal ; my professional avocations

allow me occasional leisure but the little that I have I shall willingly bestow in

advancing to the utmost of my power the objects of the Society, and I shall value

any suggestions you may oblige me with touching any enquiries it would desire

to be prosecuted here.

Read the following letter from Edward Madden, Esq., Almorah :—

To the Secretary of the Asiatie Society, Calcutta.

Dear Sir,—Last autumn I performed a journey from Simla over the snowy

range into Kunawur, of which J have drawn up some notes, chiefly botanical, which

perhaps you might deem acceptable for publication in the Journal of the Asiatic

Society. They extend or will extend to some 60 pages of foolscap and will be ready

by the end of this month, and I shall then be happy to forward them to you on

receipt of intimation from you that such matters would be desirable for the Journal.

The route referred to includes the Shatool and Roopice Passes, and other districts

not often travelled, and some of them little known. :

Your’s faithfully,

Epwarp MADDEN.

Almorah, 17th March, 1846.

Read the following letter from Captain Hollings, Lucknow :—

To the Secretary of the Asiatic Society, Calcutta.

My pEAR Sir,—I have been desired by Eusoof Khan, an intelligent officer in

the service of His Majesty the King of Oudh, to forward to you for presentation to

the Asiatic Society a Book in Persian containing an account of his voyage to Eng-

land and journey through that country and part of France, &c., in 1837-38—and

some coins, said to be of ancient date, which he picked up in different parts of Oude.

I have sent a copy of the work written in Oordoo to Dr. Sprenger at Delhi, with

the view to its publication being undertaken by the Translation Society.

As Eusoof Khan is anxious to return to England if he can get sufficient money,

I trust that if there is any chance of a profitable sale the Society will undertake the

publication of the work.

ApRIL, 1846. | Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. XXXi

As Lam about to leave Lucknow and proceed to join my Regiment by Dak, I

shall feel obliged by your addressing any reply you may send to the address of

Eusoof Khan, Adjutant Artillery, H. M. K. of Oudh’s service, Lucknow, care of

Captain Drake, officiating Superintendent of Police, Lucknow.

The coins were given to me on the 4th December, but I delayed sending them

until I could also send the Book. I saw Eusoof Khan yesterday, and told him that

I would send the Book to you with the coins.

I remain, &c.

G. E. HoLuines.

Lucknow, 20th January, 1846.

The book has been sent to yon by dak banghy to-day.

Read a letter from W. Knighton, Esq., Secretary to the Ceylon

branch of the Royal Asiatic Society :-—

To H. Torrens, Esa. V. P. and Secretary Bengal Asiatic Society.

Sir,—I am directed by the Committee of Management of the Ceylon Branch of

the Royal Asiatic Society, to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 20th

October last, as also of the case of books, per Brig ‘‘ Emerald,’’ containing sets of the

Asiatic Researches, and of the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, for all

which I am directed to convey to you the best thanks of the Society.

It gives our Society great pleasure to find itself in co-operation with a body so

distinguished by its success in Oriental Researches as the Asiatic Society of Bengal,

and it is our hope that the anticipations expressed in your letter may not be disap-

pointed.

I have the honor to be, &c.

Won. KnicutTon,

Hon. Secy.

Ceylon Branch Royal Asiatic Society,

Colombo, 4th January, 1846.

The arrival in the river of the specimens, &c., from the Royal

Norwegian University of Christiana was announced.

Read a letter from Col. Jackson, Secretary to the Royal Geographical

Society, complaining of non-reciprocity in exchange of publications,

and that the Geographical Society have been obliged to purchase copies

of the Journal of the Asiatic Society up to and including No. 56, New

Series, when with a view to necessary economy it was given up.

Resolved, that it be explained to the Royal Geographical Society,

that the omission to exchange the Asiatic Society’s publications for the

Journals of that Society could only have arisen from some mistake, and

XXXii Proceedings of the Asiatic Society.

that the Secretary be instructed to forward to Col. Jackson the numbers

of the Journal subsequently to No. 56.

Read a letter from Mr. H. Piddington, resigning the Secretaryship

of the Burnes’ Committee.

Mr. Heatly, as reporter to the Committee appointed last year to

consider the feasibility and advantage to the Society of renewing its

statistical researches, gave a verbal account of what had been done with

a view to ascertain the assistance on which the Society might reckon.

Extracts of a letter from Col. Sykes were read stating that the hearty

co-operation of the London Statistical Society might be expected, and

that the late measures of the Court of Directors were sufficient evi-

dence of the favorable disposition with which it would be disposed to

regard such labours on the part of the Asiatic Society.

The Rev. J. Long was then placed on the Committee of Report,

in consequence of Mr. Alexander’s departure to England.

For all the presentations and communications the best thanks of the

Society were accorded.

Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal: May, 1846.

(Wednesday Evening, the 6th May, 1846.)

The usual monthly meeting of the Society was held at the Rooms on

the above evening, at half-past eight, pr. m.

S. G. T. Heatly, Esq., the senior member of the Committee of Pa-

pers present, in the chair.

The proceedings of the April meeting were read, confirmed, and di-

rected to be published.

. James Hume, Esq., was proposed for election as a member at the

next meeting, by the Secretary and seconded by Mr. Heatly,

List of Books received for the Meeting of Wednesday the 6th May, 1846.

PRESENTED.

1.—Meteorological Register for March, 1846, from the Surveyor General’s Office.

2.—The Calcutta Christian Observer for April and May, 1846. By the Editors.

3.—The Oriental Christian Spectator for April, 1846. By the Editor.

4.—Notes on the renewal of statistical researches by the Asiatic Society. By

8S. G. T. Heatly, Esq.

5,—Journal of the Bombay branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. By the Society.

6.—History of Ceylon. By the Author.

7.—Sketch of the religious Sects of the Hindoos, by H. H. Wilson, F. R. S.

By J. Muir, Esq. C. 8. (20 copies).

Books presented by the University of Christiana.

8.—Norsk Magazin for Laegevidenskaben udgivet af Laegeforeningen i Christiania,

1840 to 1844. 27 pamphlets.

9.—Nyt Magazin for Naturvidenskaberne udgives af den physiographiske Foren-

ing i Christiania, 1843 to 1845. 4 pamphlets.

10,—Enumeratio Plantarum Vascularium qvae Circa Christianiam spoute Nascun-

tur Auctore M. N, Blytt. (2 copies.)

11.—Indere Scholarum in Universitate regia Fredericiana sexa gisimo qvarto ejus

semestri Anno; 1845 Ab A. D. XVII. Kal Februarias Habendarum. (3 copies.)

XXXIV Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [May, 1846.

12.—Solennia Academica in Memoriam Sacrorum per Lutherum reformatorum ab

universitate regia Fredriciana Die X. Mensis Novembris Celebranda indicit Collegium

Academicum. 1842 and 1844 (2 copies.)

13.—Om de Sanitaire Forholde i Faengsler efter nyere systemer. Ved Professor

Fred. Holst, M. D. 1840.

14.—Om Sygepleien i Straffeanstalterne i Norge Ved Professor Fred. Holst, M. D.

1841.

15.—Indistilling fra Strafanstatts Commissionen, 1 vol.

16.—Udkhast til Sov om Medicinal vaesenet i Norge med Motiver, I vol.

17.— Holst om de Britiske Faengeler, 1 vol.

18.—Om Sindovages i Norge, 1 vol.

19.—De Acide Nitnei usa Medico Dissertatio, 1 vol.

20.—Det Kongelige Norske Frederiks Universitels Aarberetning for 1842, I vol.

21.—Berotningor om Den deconomiske Tilstand mm. (Statistics) i Norge, 1 vol.

22.—Ovissight over de af Amtmaedene af gione (Statistics). Rapporter, I vol.

23.—Registrum piodiorum et reditium adeilisious, &c. 1 vol.

24.—Fortegnelse over telstedevarende Studerende, &c. 1 vol.

25.—Statistic Tables illustrative of the Social of Norway, 6 vols.

26.—Beretning om Kongredt, &c. 1 vol.

27.—Cabeller, 1 vol.

28.—Eaca Norvigien, | vol.

29.—Foreningen for Norske fortids Mindesmarkers Bevaring, 1 vol.

EXCHANGED.

Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British and Foreign India, China and

Australasia, vol.10. (N. S.), January to April, 1833, vol. XI. May, 1833, and

April to December, 1840 with supplement Vols. XXXI, XXXII and XXXIII.

The Atheneum, Feb. 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th and March 14th, 1846.

Journal Asiatique Quatrieme Serie, Vol. VI. No. 27. September and October,

1845.

The London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Sci-

ence, Third Series, No. 185, February, 1846.

PURCHASED.

North British Review, No. VIII. February, 1846.

Journal des Savants for Dec. 1845.

The Birds of Australia, by J. Gould, F. R. S. &c. Part XXI.

The Annals and Magazine of Natural History, No. 110, Feb. 1846, with Supple-

ment, No. 108.

Read a letter from Capt. T. Latter expressing his wish to have cor-

rected a misnomer in a late article, by him, in the Society’s Journal.

The passage occurs in No. 165, page 629, and the correction wished ts

May, 1846. | Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. XXKV

as follows: “‘ Dentals. I have since learnt that this is a misnomer, the

drop-shaped objects to which I refer being, I believe, styled Gutta, from

their supposed similarity to drops of water.’ Instructions were given

accordingly.

Read the following extract of a letter, dated 23d March, 1846, from

fi. T. Prinsep, Esq., to the Secretary :

You may recollect that about a year ago, when I reported what had passed be-

fween myself and Baron Brunnow, the Russian ambassador, anent the proposed

interchange of articles of Oriental literature, I mentioned a suggestion I had made

for extending the interchange to mineral and other specimens that might conduce to

advantageous comparisons between the Altai and Himalaya mountains.

A few days ago I saw the Secretary of the Russian legation, and he put into

my hands the enclosed as the result of my suggestions. You will see that

the Russian authorities profess a willingness to entertain the proposition, and re-

fer me to Col. Helmerson, with whom the manner of carrying it out is to be arrang-

ed. I have yet had no communication with the Colonel, and I learn that he will not

be in England till August or September. In the meantime | think it right that you

should know what is in agitation, that you may bring the subject before the Society,

and with Mr. Piddington’s aid, and that of other scientific proficients in the depart-

ment point out what classes of specimens you most wish to procure from Russia, and

what you can furnish out of your own duplicate stores. At the suggestion of Baron

Brunnow, I called upon Mr. Murchison, in order to talk over the subject with him,

but found he was not prepared to make any specific suggestions as to the articles

first to be interchanged. Expense I pointed out was a consideration on your side,

but if the Russian authorities would be content with the duplicates of what we had

in store, this consideration would not apply, so much as if we were to collect new

specimens, and in this case there must be delay. However, I should be glad to learn

the views taken of this matter by the scientifics of Calcutta.

I have had a summons to sit for completion of my picture to-morrow; it has

been untouched for more than a year in consequence of the painter’s (Mr. Say)

serious illness * * TI guess it will now very shortly be completed, perhaps in

time for exhibition, but that is uncertain.

The Royal Asiatic Society will have out very shortly Col. Rawlinson’s arrow-

headed inscriptions from Behistoor, and Mr. Norris’s reading of the Kupoordigeri,

(rock inscription. )

Both are highly interesting, the first the most wonderful that has ever been found

and deciphered.

The communication from Baron Ouwaroff to Baron Brunnow, refer-

ed to in the above extract, was also read and is as follows :—

XXXVi Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [May, 1846.

MonsIeurR LE BARON,

Par Voffice du 13th Avril, 1844, sub No. 40. Votre Excellence a bien voulu me

communigquer la proposition de Mr. Prinsep établir entre les Museés de St. Peters-

bourg et de Calcutta, un échange de fossiles et de produits mineralogiques, ains que

la lettre qu’il vous a adressé a ce sujet. Je me fais un devoir de vous instruire que

j’ai eu Vhonneur de soumettre cette proposition a Monseigneur le Duc de Leuchten-

berg ; le corps des mines et ses riches collections des mineraux, se trouvant sous les

auspices et la direction immediate de Son Altesse Imperiale. Son Altesse a daigné

me répondre qu’Elle n’a aucune objection a entrer dans un pareil arrangement et qu’

Elle accepterait tous les echanges qui Lui seront offerts par le Musce de Calcutta ;

en y ajoutant, qu’ Elle approuve fort ce systeme, qui est en pleine vigueur dans l’eta-

blissement, que Monseigneur dirige. L’Académie Imperiale des sciences, a laquelle

j’ai communiqué en meme temps la proposition de Mr. Prinsep, vient de me presenter

son rapport a ce sujet. De son avis un pareil échange ne peut étre que trés

utile au Musée minéralogique de 1’ Académie.

En Vous faisant part, Monsieur le Baron, des mesures que j ’ai prises, je crois de

mon devoir de Vous instruire, que l’Académie des sciences, ayant en vue l’acheve-

ment d’un nouveau catalogue des minéraux de son Musée, ne manquera pas de

charger son Adjoint, le Colonel Helmerson de se mettre en rapport direct avec Mr.

Prinsep.

Je me plais 4 espérer que Votre Excellence voudra bien préter son assistance

bienveillante 4 ces relations qui certainement ne laisseront que de contribuer 4 en-

richir les collections minéralogiques de 1’ Empire de Russie.

Veuillez, Monsieur le Baron, agréer l’assurance renouvellée de ma considération

trés distinguée.

OUWAROFF.

St. Petersbourg, ce 31 Janvier, 12 Fevrier, 1846.

Some conversation took place as to the best mode in which the

Society could reciprocate Mineralogical and Geological specimens with

the Russian Government, a conversation which ended with instructions

to the Society’s Curator in that department to report on the subject, with

special reference to the duplicates in the ability of the Society to devote

to such exchange. It was particularly suggested by Mr. Blyth, and ap-

proved by the Society, that application should be made for casts of the

most remarkable specimens of fossils in the Imperial Museum of St.

Petersburgh, together with such original specimens, as could be spared,

of the more common species. Mr. Blyth offered on his own part to draw

up a list of various zoological specimens from northern Asia, the posses-

sion of which and comparison of them with Himalayan specimens might

May, 1846.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. XXXVil

throw much light on many doubtful points. The offer was accepted

with thanks.

Read a letter from Lieut. Yule accompanying a paper entitled, “A

Canal Act of the Emperor Akbar, with some notes and remarks on the

history of the western Jumna Canals, by Lieut. Yule, Bengal Engi-

neers, First Assistant W. J. C. Thanks were specially returned for the

contribution, and it was ordered for publication in the Journal.

Read the following letter from J. Muir, Esq. C. 8.

To H. W. Torrens, Esa. Vice President and Secy. Asiatie Society ef Bengal.

My pDzEAR Sir,

The subject briefly proposed in the following letter from the ‘‘ Friend of India”

of the 26th ult. seems well worthy the notice of the Asiatic Society. Our imme-

diate province, no doubt, is to discover and describe whatever the past has produced

or the present possesses, of the beautiful, curious, or interesting in art, literature, or

natural phenomena. But the reproduction and development of the scattered elements

of Hindu architecture in the way proposed in the letter, is very closely connected

with our professed objects, even in their most confined and literal sense ; inasmuch

as nothing could conduce so greatly towards the formation of vivid conceptions of

the past as_ the revival of its forms in our modern works of art,

These considerations, with the others urged in the letter, appear to me to give the

subject a strong claim on the attention of the Society, and on such efforts as our

association may properly make for the furtherance of such objects.

‘¢ Srr,—When the construction of such buildings as the Kishnaghur College is in

** contemplation, it appears to be a favourable time for considering whether we could

*‘not do something towards perpetuating and improving the old national architecture

*‘of India. That the elements of this style have already been combined in structures

** of considerable beauty may be seen from the specimens given in Col. Tod’s work on

** Rajasthan, among which the ancient Jain Temple, of the interior of which a draw-

*‘ing is given at page 778 of the Ist Vol., is deserving of particular mention; and

** that these elements are capable of being united in a manner suited to compose an

‘¢ extensive building, and without any such profusion of minute ornament as would

‘* render the adoption of this style more expensive than any other, I have been in-

** formed by a high architectural authority. It is even probable that the style may be

‘¢ developed by persons of taste into combinations more beautiful than it ever assumed.

“¢ under the hands of its original inventors, or their successors. However this may be,

‘‘it appears to be only due to the Hindus to gratify their natural predilections in fa-

‘¢ vour of any thing national by constructing after this model any buildings to which it

*‘may be properly applicable from use or association. Such a course would no doubt

‘interest and gratify the people of this country, in a way too, which would involve

**no sacrifice of principle on our parts ; a result which it is often difficult to attain

XXXVI Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [May, 1846.

‘* when we would endeavour to conciliate their good will. And to descend to a lower

‘* consideration, this appeal to the national feelings of the natives might have the ef-

“‘ fect of inducing them to subscribe more liberally in cases where it was employed.

I remain, my dear Sir, your’s truly,

zimghur, April 21, 1846. J. Murr.”’

The meeting fully concurred in the view taken by Mr. Muir, and the

Secretary was requested to call the attention of Capt. Kittoe, the author

of an able work on Indian Architecture, to the subject.

The Secretary exhibited to the meeting a sectional sketch of the

borings lately made in the beds of the Soane River by Mr. F. De Gar-

nier, Engineer to the East India Railway Company, during the survey

carried on by that Company. The sketch, together with a memorandum

explanatory of it, was referred for publication in the Journal.

Read the following extract of a letter from Walter Elliott, Esq. C. 8S.

dated Madras, May lst, 1846.

‘*T have now got my Buddhist sculptures safely landed and deposited in the Col-

lege, after great trouble and difficulty in transporting such heavy blocks down the

Kistna to Masulipatam and thence by sea to Madras ; some of them weigh upwards

of two tons, and the expence has far exceeded what I bargained for. 1 am now en-

gaged in trying to get a sketch of the Dehgope restored, and I am sanguine of suc-

ceeding. The volume of McKenzie’s drawings is invaluable, and I am happy to say

that from it I have ascertained that many of the finest sculptures are still in exis-

tance at Masulipatam, where they have passed into the hands of an individual, who

however has no right to them, and they may be recovered.’’

Read a letter from Dr. Taylor, dated Dacca, April 16, 1846, accom-

panying a paper, entitled “ Remarks on the Sequel to the Periplus of the

Erythreean Sea, and on the country of the Seres, as described by Am-

mianus Marcellinus.” The special thanks of the Society were ordered

to be returned for the contribution, and the paper was referred for pub-

lication in the Journal.

Read the following extract of the letter dated Almorah, 6th April,

1846, from E. Madden, Esq.

‘7 think it was in the 17th ultimo I had the pleasure to address you relative to

the diary of a trip over the snowy range near Simla, made by me last season, and

which I proposed to transmit to you for insertion in the Journal of the Asiatic

Society of Bengal.

* 2 * X* * * a * * *

I think it best to forward the paper to you, with the request that should it not

May, 1846.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. XXXIX

suit the purposes of the Society, you would be good enough to return it to me at

your earliest convenience.”’

The thanks of the Society were ordered to be returned for the contri-

bution, and the paper was referred for publication in the Journal.

The Secretary, with reference to the recent completion of the

Tareekh-i-Nadiree, read the following preface :—

The text of this work has been prepared by careful collation with a number of

manuscripts of the Tareekh-i-Nadiree, procured from various quarters, the best of

which were two manuscripts brought by Major William Anderson, C. B. from Can-

dahar, and two kindly lent by Nawabs Busheer-ood-deen and Ruheem-ood-deen,

grandsons of Tippoo Sultan. I have likewise to express the acknowledgments

of the Society, for the loan of manuscripts, to Hajee Kurbelai Mahommed, of this

city, Hafiz Uhmud Kubeer (Principal of the Calcutta Madrussah), Molvee Abdool

Wahab, (Meer Moonshee to the Government of India), and other gentlemen. The

manuscripts were, even Major Anderson’s, more or less defective, and it would have

been impossible to produce a good edition of the work without the examining and

collating at least twelve different copies, so incorrectly did the work seem to have

been generally preserved. Among the manuscripts was a translation of the work

into Oordoo by Moonshee Syud Hyder Bukhsh, belonging to the Library of the So-

ciety, which was to a certain degree useful, as respected the collation of the narra-

tive.

The rough draft or first editing of a manuscript from all the copies of the work

available, was undertaken by Molvee Gholam Ukbur, Persian Librarian to the So-

ciety ; who aided by some literary friends, executed this task with great patience, and

much ability. The five best manuscripts were then taken, and the collated work

was gone through, and carefully compared by me with them in conjunction with our

Librarian for the purpose of selecting preferable readings, any question of doubt

being referred to Hafiz Uhmud Kubeer, and the professors of the Calcutta Mud-

russah.

Molvee Gholam Ukbur then prepared a rough vocabulary of the Toorkee words

occurring in the manuscript, which, principally by the aid of a gentleman named

Shah Oolfut Hoossein, was finally put into its present shape. I have been careful

to record the names of those gentlemen, by whose gratuitous aid the difficult work

of preparing a good copy of the Tareekh-i-Nadiree has been principally accomplish-

ed, as feeling that this at least was due to them, the Asiatic Society of Bengal being

so mainly indebted to their labours for the production of a work long called for, and

much valued, in a complete and creditable shape.

H. Torrens,

Vice President and Secretary,

Asiatic Society of Bengal.

xl Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. {May, 1846.

The following memorandum was read, enumerating the Oriental pub-

lications of the Society sold during the month of April, 1846 :

—)

—

Naishada (one COpy) .cccesceccccccescecccessccvessssessess G

index to the Mahabharata Vols. hy a, 5, 4.. e@ereoos oee ceo secre ee ce 6

fawn)

Fatwa Alemgiri I Vol. 2 copies

7? v7 : 97 : 7 ee eeereeve ee ee *e oe ee © 2 Be oe

77 77 9 99 evoecvee oe eceewse oo oeeveee 68 08 Oe

oF o> 4 99 4 7 Seeveeos er se ee ee Ce oe eo OO Oe 152 0 8

>? bab A 5 bm) 4 > @@oert@ et eoeoeesee oe ose ee oe ae oe

?? 9? 6 7? 4 bia e° pe errVoe eer ce ee ee ee O86 Oe 8 Ost

Harriwansa, one copy eeooec ee ee eo eoee se ee reese es ee Pee O08 28 2e Oe 5 0 0

Tariki Nadiri, one copy ee eoerevoaceveree ec ee aeesereoe er ee 6€# 6G 88 8 8 0 0

Total,, Co,’s Rs.-9¢ 127 0 .6

Kissory Caanp Mirrra,

Librarian and Asst. Seey.

A library order, was then read out, for the information and sanction

of the meeting, giving Babu Kissory Chand Mittra, the Officiating

Librarian and Assistant Secretary, three months leave of absence on

urgent private affairs, and appointing Babu Rauj Krishna Mittra to

act for him.

The Secretary explained the absence from the meeting of the Society’s

Geological Curator, as arising from recent and severe indisposition. The

usual report of the Zoological curator, on the acquisitions to his depart-

ment during the month, was then verbally delivered.

At the conclusion the Secretary exhibited a curious and interesting

painting of Raja Kissen Chunder Roy, Bahadoor and his principal

officers, which had been copied from the original in possession of the

Raja’s present representative, the Raja of Nuddeah.

For all presentations the thanks of the Society were ordered to be re-

turned.

Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, JunE, 1846.

The ordinary meeting of the Society for the month was held, as

usual, at the Society’s Rooms, at 85 p. M. on Wednesday, the 3d June.

The Rev. Dr. Heeberlin occupied the chair as Senior member, present,

of the Committee of Papers.

James Hume, Esq., proposed at the last meeting, was duly ballotted

for and elected a member of the Society. The usual communications

were ordered on the occasion.

The minutes of proceedings at the May meeting were read, confirm-

ed and ordered to be published.

Read the following list of additions to the library during the last

month :—

PRESENTED.

1.—La Rhétorique des Nations Musalmanes, d’aprés le traite Persian, intitulé,

Hadayik-ul-Balaghat. Par M. Garcin de Tassy, Membre de l'Institut, &c.

EME OR NAT PIEOT <6 o 0:5. 3:0; »,ahe01 = m0 6 he lu siiird6 ni 61 9\6i'oler anus ecnie leieys bie aleit > « 1

2.—A Primer of the Seelong language.—From GOVERNMENT. ..05..neeee 1

3.—The History of the British Empire in India, by Edward Thornton, Esq.,

author of ‘‘ India, its state and prospects,’’ &c.—From GOVERNMENT..... 5

4,—A Gazetteer of the countries adjacent to India on the North-west ; includ-

ing Scinde, Affghanistan, Beloochistan, the Punjab and the neighbouring

States. Compiled by the authority of the Honourable Court of Directors of

the E. I. C., and chiefly from documents in their possession, by Edward

Thornton, Esq.—From the GOVERNMENT. ..... alata ManthePetew a een 2

5,.—History of the Batavian Society of the Arts ae Sey By Dr,.,S..J.

Budding.—From the AuTHor.. : ‘ l

6.—Journal of an Experimental Ta up ie ol on ge ha H. C.

Steamer Megna. By Capt. Digney, commander.—From GovERNMENT. .. ]

7.—Meteorological Register for April, 1846.—From the SuRvEYor GENERAL’S

I le Wik fas nas 0). 0.a,6) n.d, viarisih oe ole o6i0'n eo) s 0:s/e. sie apenmede Ge Eien

8.—Calcutta Christian Observer for June, 1846.—From the Epitors. ...... 1

9.—Oriental Christian Spectator for May, 1846.—From the Epiror. ...... 1

EXCHANGED.

10.—Journal Asiatique : quatrieme serie, tom. VI. Nos. 28 and 29, Novembre

et Decembre, 1845. seeseoveeseteeeoesseeteaogerseveseresesepeuerees C8 ee eHveoetsean 2

xhii Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Junz, 1846.

11.—London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine; 3d series, No.

Beebe BRON, TAA. os gins ain cee abt nce. cos er emetmiatie, cateie Seats ane ose

13i-— the Atheneum, March 21st, 1646." oo ick ob woceeso eevee cere

PURCHASED.

13.—Annals and Magazine of Natural History, No. 111, March, 1846....... i

Ordered that the unbound books be bound as soon as possible.

Read a letter from C. Beadon, Esq. Under Secretary to the Govern-

ment of Bengal, accompanying a presentation to the Society, from the

Government, of a Primer of the Seelong language, forwarded by the

Commissioner of the Tenasserim Provinces, together with a copy of

that officer’s letter containing some account of the Seelongese.

Ordered that the paper on the Seelongese be referred for publication

in the Journal.

Read a letter dated 11th February, 1846, from C. Beadon, Esq., Un-

der Secretary to the Government of Bengal, forwarding for publication

in the Journal, copies of a correspondence regarding some samples of

coal discovered by Lieut.-Col. Ouseley, Agent to the Governor General

and Commissioner on the South-west Frontier.

Ordered that the correspondence in question be referred to the Cura-

tor in the Mineralogical department for report.

Read the: following letter from J. Thornton, Esq., Secretary to the

Government of the North-western provinces.

No. 455.

From J. Tuornton, Esa. Secretary to Government, North Western Provinces,

to H. Torrens, Esa. Secretary to the Asiatic Seciety, Calcutta.

GENERAL DEPARTMENT, N., W. P.

Str,—I am desired to request that you will lay before the Asiatic Society, the ac-

companying report on the Cave Temples at

Copy of letter of Secretary to Mr. Kallinjur, in Bundlekund, prepared by

Rose, dated September 15th, 1845. Ensign Maisey, of the 67th Native Infantry,

Extract paras. 1, 4 of Mr. Rose’s letter at the instance of Mr. H. Rose, C. §S,,

of May 6th, 1846. Magistrate and Collector of Banda.

Mr. Maisey’s Report in Original. 2. The Society will perceive that these

Inscriptions, ‘ Original. researches have been prosecuted in pursu-

Drawings, ance of the Instructions of the Honourable

Copy of Mr. Rose’s notes, the Court of Directors, dated May 29th,

1844, on the subject of antiquities of this

JuNE, 1846. ] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. xliti

nature. The sudden summons of this enterprising young Officer, Ensign Maisey,

to march with his corps to the frontier, during the late war with the Sikhs, interrupt-

ed his operations, and left them in a very incomplete state. There is, however, good

reason to hope that he will be able to renew his enquiries during the next cold

season,

3. In the mean time the Lieut.-Governor believes that he is best consulting

the wishes of the Honourable Court in forwarding to the Society this incomplete

account, in the hope that if they consider it worthy of publication they will give it a

place in their Journal. The progress which has been made will thus not be lost,

and this curious series of temples will, at any rate, be prominently brought to the

notice of those who are skilled and experienced in such researches.

4, The Lieut.-Governor begs to be favored with 50 Copies of any publications on

the subject which the Society may put forth.

I have the honor to be, Sir,

Your most obedient servant,

J. THORNTON,

Secretary to Government, North Western Provinces.

Agra, the 19th May, 1846.

Ordered that the special thanks of the Society be returned for the

communications above alluded to, and that they be published in an early

number of the Journal.

Read the following extract of a letter to the Secretary from the

Hon’ble J. Thomason, dated May 13th, 1846.

I hope to be able to send you scon another interesting account of a number of

Buddhist cave temples or monasteries discovered at a place called Mundab in the

Rewah country, about 100 miles due south of Mirzapore. I know not whether

the existence of these caves has ever been mentioned before. There are several of

them. From the drawings I have seen, they are like the Vihara caves of Central

India, but as yet no inscriptions have been found.

Read aletter from Dr. Wise, dated Dacca, 23d February, 1846, ap-

prising the Secretary of the despatch of the copies of his Commentary on

the Hindu System of Medicine, which were subscribed for by the

Society. Dr. Wise further stated the price to be ten rupees a copy.

Read the following extracts of a letter to the Secretary from Mrs.

Ballin :-—

I beg to send Mr. Ellis to receive your orders respecting the remaining sets of

drawings of Sir A. Burnes’ work (6in number) which are to be rectified, and also for

the 7 sets that have been at the Society’s rooms since February last for examination’

I beg leave to bring to your notice, that more than three years have expired since

these drawings were originally sent by me for examination, and it was only within

xliv Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Junz, 1846.

the last year that they or some of them were given back to me to be rectified. The

length of time therefore the paper has been kept makes it a difficulty to remove the

color already used, and consequently I have been put to an additional expense to

have the drawings retouched which would not have been the case had they been

returned to me in proper time.

The Secretary expressed his regret, that in consequence of Mr. Pid-

dington’s resignation of the Secretaryship to the Burnes’ Committee, a

full report is not yet ready for submission.

Read a letter from Mr. Piddington, the Secretary to the Dwarkanath

Testimonial Committee, presenting to the Asiatic Society, on the part

of the committee and subscribers, a framed proof engraving of Babu

Dwarkanath Tagore.

Ordered that the thanks of the Society be returned to the Com-

mittee for its kind attention.

Read the following list of Oriental publications sold :—

Memorandum of the Oriental Publications sold in the month of

May, 1846.

Raja Latanemi, (one copy); @ 5, sa. deen sa 2 Heetealteie ee is ee nO

Mahabharata,

Ist Vol. Llecopy )

2d ditto 1 copy

3d ditto 2 copies

4th ditto 1 copy

Index to Mahabharata,

Ist Vol. 2 copies )

2d ditto 2 copies

3d ditto 2 copies

4th ditto 2 copies J

Asiatic Researches,

Vol, 19; part. 2-1

Vol. 20, part 1.1

Journal of the Asiatic Society,

Nos. 158, 162, & 164 being 3 copies, @ 2.....cecsecvs sees 6 0 0

“Nos. 156 to 162, being 7 copies, @1-8.......ssesseeseeeeee. 10 8 0

5 copies; (Q10F. casa hie <!eia s4alv vigils vie bile Ae DO

heme 8 ‘copies, @ 1-8.25. 6. 0eeus acne seas ele me OU

bheing 2 copies, @ 5. .6cecesecsseeeeeeees 10 0 0

Co’s. Rupees, 93 8 0

Ravus Krisuna Mirrra,

Officiating Librarian and Assistant-Secretary Asiatic Society.

Asiatic Society’s Rooms, 31st May, 1846.

JUNE, 1846.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. xlv

Some general conversation having taken place on the propriety and

expediency: of selling the Oriental Publications of the Society to Scho-

lastic institutions at reduced prices it was formally

Moved by the Chairman, seconded by the Secretary, and unanimously

resolved :—

That all educational institutions should be supplied with the oriental

publications of the Society at half the price they are sold to others.

Read a report from Mr. Tucker, the Librarian to the Medical and

Physical Society, stating that the instructions of the Secretary to re-

move the books of the Medical Society into the Library of the Asiatic

Society have not been entirely carried out from want of room ; two

more shelves being requisite. ©

Ordered that the shelves required be sanctioned.

Read a letter, dated Batavia, 18th April, 1846, from Dr.8. J. Bud-

ding, to the Society, accompanying the gift of his ‘‘ History of the Bata-

vian Society of Arts and Sciences from 1778 to the present day.”

Ordered that the thanks of the Society be returned to Dr. Budding.

Read a letter, dated London, 30th March, 1846, from Mr. Hugh

Cumming, apprising the Secretary that he had forwarded by the Lssex

parts 13 to 36 of Reeves’ Iconica Conchologica, and parts 4 to 6 of

Sowerby’s Thesaurus, subscribed for by the Society. Mr. Cumming

likewise renewed his request for duplicates of shells from the Soci-

ety’s Museum.

Ordered that the letter be made over to Mr. Blyth.

Read a letter from Mr. Blyth to the Secretary, requesting the ap-

pomtment of guards over the rooms of the Museum, additional assist-

ance in the taxidermist’s: department, and an augmentation of salary

for his assistant Mr. Roberts.

Ordered that the propositions of Mr. Blyth be referred to the Com-

mittee of Finance for report.

Proposed by Capt. Marshall, seconded by the Becretanyss and unani-

mously resolved :—

That the names of Dr. Heberlin and of R. W.G. Frith, Esq., be

added to those already on the Committee of Finance.

Read the following Report for May, 1846, by the Geological Curator,

xlvi Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Junn, 1846.

GEOLOGICAL AND MINERALOGICAL.

Dr. Bradley, Nizam’s Service, Ellichpoor sends us some concretions which he

supposes to be coprolites, and adduces them as ‘‘ one of many corroborative proofs

that their sandstone rocks are identical with the new red sandstone of England.’’

I find, on dissection with dilute muriatic acid, that the grey ones are now merely cal-

careous concretions of silica and apparently fragments of flint, and the red ones fer-

ruginous concretions, also of siliceous matter, coloured almost to heliotrope by

peroxide of iron, but yielding this after some days digestion in muriatic acid. The

white concretionary matter is apparently also siliceous, as these red specimens give

but very little effervescence.

I am thus on the whole (and especially by comparison with our own specimens

from Dr. Buckland) inclined to think that these are not coprolites, nevertheless I

would not speak positively at present.

Dr. Bradley has also sent us a specimen of a silicified substance which he thinks

must once have been an organic body, and he states that Professor Orlebar, of

Bombay, also agrees with him in this opinion. It is at present a pure chalcedony,

whatever it may formerly have been.

I have the pleasure to announce a valuable addition to our collection in a

meteorolite of a good size, discovered amongst a pile of specimens, without labels

or numbers, in the Coal Committee’s collections, which I have been busy in

arranging. I trust to obtain yet some notice of this valuable treasure, which for us is

truly one, for it is of a kind which we had not yet so perfect in the curious mar-

bling which it presents on fracture. I have not had time to look for the different

descriptions of these substances so as to see if any are described resembling it.

Museum or Economic Grouoey.

As I have only been convalescent in the latter part of this month I must defer

till the next report noting what I have been able to do.

For all the presentations and communications the thanks of the So-

ciety were accorded.

Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Juuy, 1846.

The ordinary meeting for the month was held, as usual, at the Rooms,

on Wednesday the lst July, at } past 8 P. M.

The Rev. Dr. Heeberlin occupied the chair, as senior member present

of the Committee of Papers.

The minutes of proceedings at the June meeting were read, confirm-

ed and ordered to be published.

The following gentlemen were proposed for election at the next

meeting :—

A. Mitchell, Esq., Proposed by T. W. Laidlay, Esq., seconded by

E. Blyth, Esq.

E. A. Samuells, Esq. proposed by B. Colvin, Esq., seconded by H.

Piddington, Esq.

Read the following list of additions to the Library during the last

month :—

PRESENTED.

1.—Report of the Committee for the investigation of the Coal and Mineral

Resources of India, May, 1845. By tHE GovERNMENT. Two copies, fol... 2

2.—Remarks on the Scope and Uses of Military Literature and History.—By

PEEREEOMITEEEOR, «555 6 c0 oc +c prone velsce'e

3.—Philosophical Transactions of the aan geeks of pach for | 1845, eae

II.)—By THE Socrirety........ SEE MC RS SEER Scan aan!

4,—Proceedings of the Royal Society ; No. 60, (1844) and 61, 62, (1845). me

Mil) OCIETY..6 0600

e e @oeereteeeeeeseeoese ee ee ee 3

5.—List of Members of the eens Society (20th Novemk 1845).—By THE

BRT 5 once ae oe on oe

siisia eia Snhw alias . efeuulavate ile aciaei

6.—Journal of the Fea tt ate and Horticultural Rohe of India. .. (Vol. V. part

EEE PRBE OCU, o.oo oo ii (cle, Mix. wc6l'e a) a/cia 0-856 a0 0-6 nin 3 6/k.wi6ioi ss biel sie aeeoiae soll

7.—Meteorological Register for May, 1846.—By Tue SuRVEYoR GENERAL’S

BRM og a nla se 0c 00 0 s.ne

eee aso eeeseeveeoseoevoeve ese e208 ce ee ea ee ee aoeee 1

8.—Oriental Christian Spectator ie iia 1846.—By THE ae ae

EXCHANGED.

9,—Journal Asiatique: quatrieme serie, tome VII. Nos. 30 and 31. Jan. et

Fev. 1846. at Wane Miaeialacs es Oeee cece aeensoevetcces

10. SE rerabursh New Philosophical Jour ny, Pye! 80, April, 1846. .escoceres

xlvill Proeeedings of the Asiatic Society. [Jury, 1846.

11.—London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine, No. 187, April,

1846. GO CC 0.8.0 OB 2 6 O6 BO OO 418 BIS 0 Ce 6) ere RVey a) 6 The B1S618: 6 Gone) Se sere (eels a ele be elie acele ]

12.—The Atheneum, No. 966, 2d May, 1846. “....c,c.0 saem nner e et

PURCHASED.

13.—Annals and Magazine of Natural History, No. 112, April, 1846......... 1

14,-——Thé ‘Glassigal) Maseum, Nod Maseiitns.cesesois wes wdlar aq meee oeene ee De

15,—Religions de L’ Antiquité, (one copy.)....0.-.seeeseees eee ene

Ordered that one of the two copies of the Coal Committee’s Report,

presented to the Society, be made over to the Geological Curator for

the use of his department.

Some conversation having arisen on the subject of the resolution

come to at the last meeting, with reference to the sale of oriental pub-

lications to educational establishments, it was resolved further that the

Council of Education should be formally made acquainted with the de-

termination of the Society, and the Secretary took it upon himself

otherwise to diffuse a knowledge of it as widely as he possibly could

among the public.

Read a letter from J. Agabeg, Esq., dated 11th June, 1846, pre-

senting a model of a Cingalese boat to the Society.

Ordered that the thanks of the Society be returned to Mr. Agabeg

for his donation.

Read the following letters from Messrs. Allen and Co. relative to

matters connected with their agency.

Henry Torrens, Esa., Secretary of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.

Srr,—We have received your favour of the 3d September, ordering us to return

to India about half the stock of the Asiatic Researches received from Mr. John

Murray in March, 1844.

We have bad the volumes named in your letter divided into equal proportions, in

case of accident to the vessel, and have shipped one portion packed in six cases, by

the Euphrates, Captain Wilson, and for which we beg to enclose a Bill of Lading.

We annex a memorandum of the cost of the cases and the shipping expenses upon

them, amounting to £18-2, which sum we shall place to the debit of the Society.

The Researches were received from Mr. Murray in sheets, and in the absence of

instructions, we have not thought it advisable to subject the Society to the expen-

ses of binding so large a number of volumes without orders to that effect.

The shipment has not been insured, but should you think it necessary it can be

done in Calcutta upon the receipt of this advice nearly as cheap as it could have

been effected here. .

ee eS ee

Jury, 1846.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. xlix

The second portion of the Researches will be forwarded by the next vessel to

Calcutta; should you think it necessary to effect insurance, both shipments may be

done at the same time, as the next will be a duplicate of the present.

We shall be obliged by your saying what we are to do with the Researches that

will, after the second shipment, still remain on our hands ; we have some time since

expressed our inability to dispose even of one set, and were the Researches

advertized we fear the result would not be satisfactory. We shall have no objection

to continue the care of the Researches, but if we cannot make sales it is only reason-

able that we should charge ware-house room for the Books,—we shall be much ob-

liged if you will consider the subject and let us know what you think should be

done.

We have the honor to be, Sir,

Your faithful Servants,

W. H. ALLEN anv Co.

London, 3d December, 1845.

To Henry Torrens, Esa. Secretary to the Asiatic Society, Calcutta.

Sir,—We have the pleasure to enclose you Bill of Lading for a case of Books,

consigned to you on the ‘‘ Samarang,’’ Captain W. Buckle, for, and on account of,

the Society :—This case was forwarded to us, from Rotterdam, without any advice,

a Bill of Lading having only reached us through the broker. As the least cost to

the Society, we had it bonded for exportation, and now hand you tlie total cost of

charges incurred, £4 13s. 6d. We have thought it right to insure the package in

the sum of £50. We shall be obliged by your instructions as to any future pack-

ages, that may reach us in the same manner.

Your favor of the 8th December last, verifying our account to the 30th of June,

has been received: the balance, after the payment by us for the bust of Mr.

Hodgson, being £ 14 Is. 9d. in our favor.

Mr. Francis Grant has completed a portrait of W. W. Bird, Esq. for the Socie-

ty; his charge for which, including case and packing, has been one hundred and

fifteen pounds (£ 115) ; to this we shall have to add shipping expences, freight and

insurance, amounting, to about £10 or £11 more. We doubt not the Society

will enable you to remit us a bill on account. We have had the advice and assist-

ance of Mr. Bird, in the selection of the artist, and we trust the Society will be

pleased with the striking likeness to the original. Bearing in mind thatif this por-

trait was to be now shipped, it would arrive at the worst part of the year, Mr.

Bird has agreed with us, as to the propriety of not sending it out until the depar-

ture of one of the last best ships of the season: we shall thus ship it so as to arrive

out after the rains, and we trust the Society will approve of the same.

We have the honor to be, Sir,

Your most obedient servants,

Wo. H. ALLEN Aanpv Co.

7, Leadenhall Street, London, April 18th, 1846.

Proceedings of the Asiatie Society. [Juny, 1846:

Asiatic Society, Catcutra, To WM. H. ALLEN AND Co,

Paid Disbursements, Freight, &c. on a Case of Books weighing 113lbs.

received per Giraffe from Rotterdam je: (008..) 504.804 54 2504 Orehe SDL Fad

Entry, Warehousing, Lighterage, Wharf Charges, Shipping Expences,

Bonding and Cartage to the Docks, shipping the above per Samarang, 112 0

Bills of Lading, Freight, and Insurance on £ 50, .........0e0e00005. 2 4 6

LAG

(Signed) Wm. H. ALLEN anv Co.

Astatic Society, Catcutta, To Wo. H ALLEN AND Co.

5 Asiatic Researches, Vol. 1, 4to. | 5 Asiatic Researches, Vol. 14.

2 Ditto Vol." 2. 50 Ditto Vol. 14, 4to.

40 Ditto Vol. 10. 25 Ditto Vol. 6, 4to.

50 Ditto Vol. 7, Ato. 30 Ditto Vol. 8, 4to.

50 Ditto Vol. 9, 4to. || 100 Ditto Vol. 12, 8vo.

7 Ditto Vol. 13. 13 Ditto Vol. 12, 4to.

Charges.

Six Cases for packing lined with Tin, 1 to 6, at 33s. each,........ 918 O

Packing and examining the same, ......eese0-- BAe ee ere 112 0

Entry, Cartage to the West India Docks, Wharf Char ges, Shipping

Mxpeaces and ills or Wading, hue ccs ss se win: aceaceae ss oe inteees 7 0

PYCIGitC ANGE NIMES e, ay ve he ee ee ees ae ee eee eek ae eae 0

es iene ©

(Signed) Wm. H. ALLEN AnD Co.

Read a letter from C. Beadon, Esq , Under Secretary to the Govern-

ment of Bengal, dated 17th June, 1846, and its two official enclosures,

announcing a donation to the Asiatic Society of a copy of the “ Natu-

ral History of New York,” in ten volumes quarto, with a geological

map accompanying, by the Regents of the University of the State

of New York, ew officio “‘ Trustees of the State Library, acting as the

representatives of the State.’’ The remaining volumes of the under-

taking when completed are promised to be duly forwarded.

Read a letter from 8. Hunter Christie, Esq., Secretary to the Royal

Society, dated 20th March, 1846, expressing the thanks of that Associa- '

tion for the volumes of the Journal presented to it by the Asiatic Society, ;

and requesting the Society to complete the set by despatch of volumes ‘s

I, Il, VIII; of Nos. 21 to 24 (inclusive) of volume IX. (1840); and :

JuLy, 1846.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. li

of Nos. 25 to 29 (inclusive) of volumes X. (1841). Ordered that the

volumes in question be forwarded to the Royal Society.

Read a letter from Dr. Martius, Secretary to the Mathematical and

Physical Class of the Royal Academy of Munich, dated 6th April, 1846,

thanking the Asiatic Society on the part of the Academy for the pre-

sent of a set of its oriental publications, and announcing that the Aca-

demy has despatched in return a set of its Memoirs and a selection of

such of the smaller Academical publications as it judges convenient for

the purpose of the Asiatic Society. The communication went on to

state that at the request of the Academy, the Royal Mining department

of Bavaria had made over to it, for the Society, “ three chests containing

échantillons of the Bavarian carboniferous formations, and of the Loess

formation of the Rhine ;” and a further collection illustrative of the Trap

formation in the neighbourhood of Bonn from the Siebengebirge, is

promised. Dr. Martius likewise presents on his own behalf a copy of

his “Systema materize medic vegetabilis Brasiliensis,’’? and on behalf

of Professor von Kobell, a copy of a memoir by that learned gentleman

on Galvanographics.

Read the following letter addressed to the Curator of the Zoological

department, whose exertions in opening out new channels of scientific

intercourse with foreign institutions received the expression of the So-

ciety’s great satisfaction on the occasion.

Epwarp Buiytu, Esa., Asiatic Society’s Museum, Calcutta.

My pEAR Sir,—So long a period has elapsed since you were kind enough to

forward to us a collection of your indigenous birds, that I almost fear you may

have forgotten the circumstance. 2

The packages, two in number, you entrusted to the care of Mr. G. Sandeman ;

but I am sorry to say, by what accident I know not, the first only reached us eigh-

teen months after its shipment; and the second (containing specimens of aquatic

Birds), only four months ago. The specimens contained in the first case received

were truly gratifying, and will form a very desirable and pleasing addition to our

Museum; but I regret to say that, from some uncommon mismanagement in the

transit, the second case, when opened, was found to contain nothing we could

make available. This we truly regret, as the subjects were very valuable and ap-

peared to have been prepared with great care.

The Committee direct me to convey to you our most cordial thanks for your

liberality and attention to us; and to assure you of our desire to reciprocate with

you in the natural productions of our respective countries.

hi Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Juny, 1846.

The circumstances of the times, which have pressed so severely upon the private

interests of our colonists, have not been favorable to objects of a purely scientific

nature ; but even in the dawn of a more prosperous era, the desire to promote the

interests of science has been peculiarly evinced in our legislative assembly, by a

liberal grant having been passed during their last session, for the exclusive purpose

of erecting a suitable building as a Museum, and it is now in the course of erection.

I am also happy to say that the very general interest displayed by all classes in

the success of this establishment, affords a well grounded hope, that the natural

productions of this vast country, of all kinds, will soon be made acceptable for the

advancement of science in every department of Natural History.

I would beg to explain to you, that hitherto our committee have had many

and insurmountable difficulties to contend with. We have not had the advantage

of any building in which our specimens could be properly displayed, or even ade-

quately preserved. Under these circumstances it could not be expected that any

great interest in the Museum would be evinced by the colonists ; and although we

have received, from time to time, many valuable contributions from individuals, we

cannot boast of that general support of which we now feel confident. As a small

return for your very liberal present, I am now directed to forward for your Museum,

as per accompanying list, such specimens of our Birds, &c., as we have at our imme-

diate disposal ; but I am to assure you, that such as you have desired, which are not

now sent, shall be carefully kept in mind, and, together with such others as we may

consider will be gratifying to you, they shall be forwarded with the least possible

delay. Jentertain a hope that the recently established traffic in horses between

this country and Calcutta, will afford us increased opportunities for communication.

The recent discoveries of my friend Dr. Ludwig Leichardt, who has just returned

from an overland journey from Moreton Bay to Port Essington, during which he

discovered vast tracts of fine country closely bordering on the eastern Coast of Car-

pentaria, cannot fail of, ultimately, establishing a close connection between this

country and India.

With regard to those objects of Natura! History with which you might be able

to favor us, our Committee desire me to say that while any thing you may send

will be highly acceptable to our young Museum, yet we should be still more highly

indebted for specimens of the larger Pachydermata and Carnaria peculiar to In-

dia, with the forms of which our younger population are quite unacquainted. Spe-

cimens of the Lion, Tiger, Bear, Rhinoceros, Elephant, &c., would attract general

notice; for any of these you are so obliging as to send we shall be particularly

grateful.

In order to secure greater attention to the package we are sending, I have had

it handed over to the charge of the Chief Officer of the Stratheden, which vessel

is freighted for the service of your Government and will sail in a few days. I send

this letter by the ‘* Lloyd’s.’’ Pray look out for the arrival of the Stratheden.

I have also sent in the Box, abrief account of Dr, Leichardt’s journey, drawn up

JuLy, 1846.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. hii

by himself, and printed here to afford immediate gratification to public curiosity.

It will, I dare say, be interesting to your society.

Hoping to have the pleasure of hearing from you again,

T remain, my dear Sir, yours very faithfully,

Rozsert Lynp,

Hon. Secretary to the Committee.

Australian Museum, Sydney, April, 1846.

Read the following letter from W. W. Bird, Esq. :—

To Henry Torrens, Esa., Vice-President and Secretary, Asiatic Society of

Bengal.

_Srr,—I beg leave to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated the 7th of Novem-

ber last, forwarding to me a diploma from the Royal University of Norway, and to

express a hope that as this high compliment has been paid to me in consequence of

the proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, at a time when I had the honor of

filling the office of President, the Society will do me the favor of communicating to

the University my grateful acknowledgments for the same, and how deeply I feel the

distinction conferred upon me by so flattering a mark of its approbation.

I have the honor to be, Sir, Your obedient Servant,

W. W. Birp.

Paris, 21st April, 1846.

Read a letter from Captain Kittoe, enclosing a paper for the Journal

and a memorandum relative to a singular custom at Lahore. It runs

as follows :—

I send a few lines on a subject which I believe to be interesting to many of your

readers. It is a hurried affair, as I have little leisure, and what I have is grudged.

Saroda Pursad may make out the words of which I send faec-similes. They are, I

expect, technical terms. The numerals are clear enough.—The memo. on the curi-

ous custom at Lahore (which I believe is an ancient Hindu one) may be acceptable.

—I hope to senda paper on a curious discovery I made here [Shergotty] last

year, of a Hindoo temple, 460 years old, with Cufic inscriptions, which no doubt

have led to its being spared by the Mahommedans. A number of the inscriptions

were chiselled out at Mr. Robert Neave’s suggestion. There is a fine Sanscrit

inscription there too, of which I have a copy and a translation.

The memorandum, forwarded by Captain Kittoe, is the following :—

Travellers are said ‘‘ to see strange things,’’ and justly so. The misfortune is

few care to keep memoranda of them, and most dislike to repeat any thing that

might seem marvellous or savouring of ‘‘ a traveller’s story.’’ Nevertheless this

silence is to be regretted, and I for one must break it and tell my story at the risk

of repeating what may be already well known.

liv Proceedings of the Asiatie Society. [Juny, 1846.

Lately when at Lahore, I observed in the outskirts of the city, in many places,

horses’ heads hung up by the nose on trees. On asking the reason of this, I was

told that it is an olden custom, there, for suwars and others in whose care a friend

may have left a horse, that if it died in his absence the head was cut off and thus

suspended in order that, when he should return, it should be shewn to him in proof

that it had not been stolen or otherwise made away with. The owner is taken to

the spot and is told—‘‘ There, brother, is your horse’s head ; recognise it ; it died ;

be satisfied.’’

Read the following letter, dated 11th June, 1846, from Major

Jenkins, with reference to Col. Low’s wish to become possessed of

authentic copies of Assamese characters (Journal Asiatic Society, vol.

Proceedings).

With reference to your note of the 12th of May, enclosing a copy of a letter from

Col. Low, requesting an alphabet of the Abom character, &c.—I have the pleasure

to send you a note from Captain Brodie, who will, as quickly as possible, forward

what the Colonel wishes for. I will ask Captain Brodie to send a -few of the

Boorunjees he alludes to, and which I have no doubt will be curious as showing

the common dialect of about a million of Assamese; formed out of the corruption

and mingling of Bengali, or whatever was the language of the old Kamroop kingdom,

(the same I presume as what prevailed in Sylhet), and of the Shan language brought

in by the Kooch Cacharees and Aboms. The Assamese is now confined to Assam,

but it probably extended down to Dacca and over all the Eastern parts of Bengal,

wherever the Kolitas and Koches can be traced. The latter, beyond Assam, are

now all Rajbunses, but the former are probably lost under the name of Koist. But

in all the Eastern zillahs, the greater part of all the Bengalis of this class are pro-

bably only recently converted Koches, as we know that we are losing our Kolitas

daily.

The following, dated 4th June, 1846, is Captain Brodie’s letter,

enclosed :—

I shall have much pleasure in doing my best to procure the alphabet, vocabu-

lary and numerals, which the Asiatic Society require for Colonel Low. I havea

memo. of the numerals in the Roman character, and they appear to be identical with

the Siamese.

Ling, or 4, See. 7. Cheet.

Loong. 5. Hans. 8. Pet.

2. Sung. 6 Rook, or 9. Kau.

3. Sam. ; Hook. 10. Cheep.

These correspond, many of them, exactly with the Siamese numerals found at

page 55 of Low’s Grammar.

JuLy, 1846.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. lv

The months are lunar and like the Chinese are counted by numbers; thus—Den-

ching, the first month; Den-kam, the second; Den-sam (3), the third; Den-

see (4), the fourth, and so on to the twelfth. The cycle of 60 years, called Tew-

singa seems also of Chinese origin—the names of the years (Laklee) of it, being

formed like the Chinese by a combination of a double series of terms; one of ten,

the other of twelve. * * Our Abom scholars are disappearing every day, and the

rising generation will not in all likelihood give many new ones. The tables at the

end of the Boorunjee we had printed here give the namerals, the names of the

months, the names of the years of the cycle, tables for finding the corresponding

English year and the Indian Sak, in the Assamese-Bengali character. Should these

be of any use, I shall be glad to send ten or a dozen copies of the Boorunjee to the

Society.

Read the subjoined letter, dated 5th June, 1846, from G. T. Lush-

ington, Esq. (Almorah), accompanying the valuable paper to which it

" alludes.

I send herewith a register of the thermometer and state of the weather at Nynee

Tal, in this Province, from April, 1845, to April, 1846, inclusive, and request that

you will lay the same before the Society for insertion in their journal (should it be

deemed worthy) in the name of Major General Sir W. Richards, K. C. B., by whom

it was drawn up, and to whose kindness I am indebted for the copy now sent.

You are doubtless aware that a new hill sanatarium is rapidly springing up at

Nynee Tal, and that by many of the residents and visitors there it is supposed to be

equal in point of climate, scenery, and capabilities to the other hill stations ; whilst

at the same time it possesses an advantage not enjoyed by them, a deep and capaci-

ous lake, or rather lakelet, on which amateurs in rowing and sailing find ample

amusement.

The distance from Nynee Tal to the foot of the hills is about eight miles, and to

Moradabad (the nearest station) is fifty-nine.

_ The thanks of the Society were returned for the contribution.

Read a letter, dated 10th June, 1846, from J. Thornton, Esq., Secre-

tary to the Government of the North West Provinces, announcing the

transmission to the Society, for publication in its journal, of a sum-

mary of Major Cautley’s project for irrigating the Doab from the

Ganges, drawn up by Captain Baker of the Engineers, together with

the plans which accompanied it.

Ordered that the special thanks of the Society be returned for the

valuable paper communicated, which is referred for insertion in the

journal.

lyi Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. (Juny, 1846.

The Kallinjur Cave-temple inscriptions and Ensign Maisey’s draw-

ings illustrative of the temples themselves, were then exhibited to the

meeting ; after which was read the following letter from the Hon’ble

J. Thomason to the Secretary ; dated 5th June, 1846.

I have now the pleasure to send you the fac-simile of the Callinger mscription,

deciphered with the assistance of Kewul Ram (the College Pundit) and translated.

The reading may be questioned in some places, but the inscription is of no value,

save that being in the Kutila character, (Journal Asiatic Society, Vol. VI. p. 779

and Vol. VII. p. 276,) it was probably engraved about the tenth century, A. D. The

mode of taking off the fac-simile is good, and I hope we may be better rewarded

next year.

The first report, a provisional one, of the Sub-Committee of Finance

was then read, as follows :—

First Report of the Finance Sub-Committee.

The Finance Sub-Committee, appointed at the Meetings of May and

June, having met on two occasions, have now the honour to report, provi-

sionally only, (as much of the information which they require is want-

ing, but mostly in preparation) as follows :—

It was reported to the Society at the last meeting that the Accounts

and Vouchers had unfortunately been lost after the death of the late

Mr. Robison.

These, they are happy to say, have been recovered, but so late that

they were only replaced in the hands of the Sub-Committee at its first

Meeting on the 22d of June.

The Sub-Committee elected the Rev. Dr. Teeberlin, ae and

Capt. Marshall, Secretary.

1. The Sub-Committee having examined the accounts for the years

1843, 1844 and 1845, report them correct.

2. Resolved, that the accountant of the Society be directed to pre-

pare without delay for the Sub. Committee, an abstract of the Accounts

of the Society’s Funds for 1842, 1843, 1844, and 1845, in the same

form as that for 1841, contained in the Journal, No. 122, at page 198.

3. The Sub-Committee find, that on the 3lst Dec. 1841, there was a

balance in favour of the Society of Co.’s Rs. 19,516-1-9, that on the

31st Dec, 1845 there was due from the Society to the Treasurer Co,’s

Jury, 1846.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. lvii

Rs. 134-12-9, liabilities" Rs. 9,102, and that there was Company’s

Paper in hand, in amount Rs. 13,066-10-8.

4. They further find that the average annual income from every

source, for the last four years up to the 3lst Dec. 1845, has been

about Co.’s Rs. 24,000, the average annual expenditure for the same

period has been about Rs. 25,500. The items of the above annual in-

come and expenditure are as follows: viz.

INCOME.

Government Allowances.

Be reiG) PGBUCALIODS:, 4 «<i yerinieys sips dawns o's 6,000 0 0

memeacor Of Mrseum, .:55- So 5:29 o> owseeeae 3,000 0 0

ay breservation.of Subjects. ..00 <5 <c cersicc ence 600 0 0

Peeaonomic Geolory. ... .2'5 +0 nels eiesiess sa nas 3,000 0 @

peeemiuineoncies f0F DOs. 5. 24 oig)ss tle oe es pe os ee 768 O 0

eM LA DT ATV. a. ania. 'p9 n/n oho e:6 W013 co\'eie anes 936 0 0

0 0

Petes rinions rom ici bers, oinisinise.+«s.0.salss pie valgs'pe evades oe 7,500 0 0

eg inl Sie d analy andis' tars. uess sw wseelbs westosweld 2,200 0 0

Total Co.’s Rs. 24,004 0 0

EXPENDITURE.

SePRtCaY EUDIICAMONS, pa. 2. ccecceceseacs. 1,267

I EIENE laa 's, win nies ae 0 2 6's sie ow sie oe ne ee *s 6,060

Se tivenomie Geolosy. 00s... cev ct ewesse ses | 3,600

REM oS ss cella. Siincicd aeleldaslaciedesree) » 4,200

Ie RENT S OLICE.. o)6.0n\o nies so > sis .si0ts side ns os 3,000

6. Journal, Printing and Sundries. ,........... 7,000

eo o co Go

eo co 902 CG.o

Co.’s Rs. 25,567 0 0

5. It will be seen from the above details of our income and expen-

diture, that the Government entrust to us Rs. 14,304 per annum for

specific purposes, and of course it is the duty of the Society to apply

the various sums to the definite objects for which they were granted.

But it appears that under the head of Oriental Publications, we re-

ceived from Government Rs. 6,000 per annum, whilst our expenditure

in that department only reached about Rs. 1267 per annum, whereas in

the Department of the Museum we received from Government Rs.

lyiii ’ Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Jury, 1846.

3,600 per annum whilst our average experftliture was -Rs. 6,000 per

annum. .

6. The Sub-Committee beg to bring to the especial notice of the So-

ciety, the following communication regarding Oriental publications from

the Secretary to the Government of Bengal, dated 20th June, 1838, and

which is recorded in our Journal of June, 1838, pages 556 and follow-

ing, viz :—

To JamEs Prinsep, Esa. Seeretary Asiatic Society.

Srr,—With reference to your letter to this department, dated 21st September,

1835, and to the reply dated the 30th of the same month, I am directed by the Ho-

nourable the Deputy Governor of Bengal to transmit, for the information of the

Society, the accompanying copy ofa letter, No. 8, of 1838, from the Honourable the

Court of Directors, in the public department, dated the 28th March, and of its

enclosures ; and to state that the sum of 500 Co.’s Rs. per month, has from the

18th June, the date of the receipt of the despatch, been placed at the disposal

of the Asiatic Society, for employment in the manner indicated by the Honourable

Court. The amount will be made payable monthly from the General Treasury on

the bills of the Secretary of the Society, countersigned by the President and duly

audited, and at the close of each year, an account must be rendered, shewing the

manner in which the amount has been expended.

Iam, &ce.

(Signed) H.T. Prinsep,

Secy. to the Govt. of Bengal.

Fort William, the 20th June, 1838.

The Sub-Committee beg to recommend, in accordance with the spe-

cific terms contained in the above communication, that the Secretary of

the Society be desired to draw up an account-current of the receipts and

expenditure of the Oriental Publication Fund, from the commencement

to the present time, as no such documents appear to have been regularly

furnished. As far asthe Committee can ascertain, it would appear that

up to the beginning of the present year, the balance for the purpose of

the fund, not expended, and which ought to be in our hands, amounts

to not less than Rs. 25,000.

7. On a mature consideration of the financial position, the various

operations and obligations of the Society, the Sub-Committee would

beg strongly to recommend to the Society that the following scale of Ex-

penditure for the various objects specified should be immediately adopt-

ed and strictly adhered to, viz :—

Jury, 1846.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. lix

F vageedivece 1 000 per’? Mensent

wee Orrental Publications, 1%... .2.0005

meeemmeeern (Zoological)... 2k. ewe ne ee ceacccee G00 Ee ay

MerrnEEe CXCOLOSY.,. onan ts tc tcceccesccecacuceene | GOO , ss

Meemecrotary s office and Library. °,....... .scececess GOO 5 ~

5. Journals, Researches and Printing. ........ ...... 300 “A rf

MPMI Ge mia Ges: 6< Ness ce wecsOsccaccncess | LOO sf ti

Total Rs. 2,000 i *

or 24,000 per annum

(Signed) J. Haperzin, Chairman.

R. W. G. FritTu.

JouHn McQueen.

J. WARD.

G. T. MarsHauuz, Member and See.

It was resolved that the report be received and adopted generally.

With regard to the suggestion relative to assigning a definite sum to the

expenses of each department, it was proposed by G. A. Bushby, Esq.

seconded by B. Colvin, Esq. and unanimously resolved—

That the Sub-Committee be requested to receive from the heads of

the various departments under the Society, a report of the manner of

application, as respects the sums assigned to them, in their several sec-

tions, leaving the Sub-Committee to consider and report on them to

the Society.

Read the subjoined proposal by Dr. Heeberlin on the propriety of

publishing the Smritis, among the Society’s Oriental collection.

Proposal to print the Smritis.

Next to the Vedas, the ancient Smritis, or Dharma Shastras, deserve the atten-

tion of the learned. The treatises, now extant under that name, are generally

ascribed to the sages, who throughout the Hindu Literature, in ancient and modern

times, are not only represented as the progenitors of the Hindu race, but who from

the beginning of the people appear to have directed the social and religious, as well

as the political developments of the national mind.

Most of the writers of the Smritis are likewise mentioned as the authors of con-

siderable portions of the Vedas ; and both classes of their writings bear the clearest

traces of antiquity on their foreheads. The very high antiquity of the Smritis, as

a whole, considering that many of them must have been composed at least 3,000 years

ago, would claim, on this very account, our best attention.

But when it is considered that on the foundation of these treatises is laid the

entire, most complicated and most astonishing system of Hinduism, which has out-

Ix Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Juny, 1846.

lived the mutations of Society, and seems even till now to have grown stronger

under oppressions from without ; when it is considered that down to this hour the

maxims of law first adopted, or devised, by the ancient sages of the Hindus, still

regulate, more or less, the civil jurisprudence of more than 100 millions of peo-

ple; it appears not only natural that we should wish to become fully acqnainted

with the ancient sources, whence sucha mighty river has sprung, but it is surpris-

ing that so little is known as yet, respecting these writings.

Yajna Valkya, himself one of the number, counts twenty ancient lawgivers, whose

treatises are still extant; in the Padma Purana and later writings, 36 are men-

tioned ; but the entire number exceeds forty.

Now of all these works, as ancient most of them as the Vedas, and so import-

ant in various ways, fwo only have found their way into the hands of the literati.

Manu and Vajna Valkya, (the latter, however, only in the Mitaksharé, acomment on

the original text) have been printed in the original Sanscrit ; all the rest are scat-

tered about in manuscripts.

The object of this short notice is to draw the particular attention of the Asiatic

Society to the ancient Smritis ; and to propose, if it shall meet the approbation

of the Society, to print the entire body of the ‘‘ Dharma Shastra’”’ or Smritis, with

the exception of Manu, sufficiently well known, and two or three other treatises,

which latter, indeed, bear the name of Smritis, but the external evidence of which

clearly shows them to be of a much later date than the others, and to incorporate

too many pauranic elements, for their claim to antiquity and originality to be

admitted.

It is supposed that all the works it is meant to publish in the original, about 30

in number, could be compressed into two 8vo. volumes.

In the arrangement which I propose to follow, the order observed by Yajna

Valkya, as far as it goes, would be adhered to.

I would only, further, mention, that having already translated nearly one half of

the works I would propose to publish in Sanscrit ; I might hereafter, perhaps, be

able, if it should appear desirable, to publish a literal version into English of all

the treatises, with critical and historical notes, introductory to the several works,

and elucidatory of their contents.

Caleutta, July 1st, 1846. 3 J. H#BeERLIN.

Ordered that the proposal be referred to the consideration of the

Committee of Papers.

Owing to the lateness of the hour, the meeting broke up without

receiving the reports of the Curators. The Geological Curator, however,

handed over to the Secretary the following reports of a former month,

which owing to some oversight remained hitherto unpublished.

Jury, 1846. | Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. Ixi

Report of the Curator Museum Economic Geology and Mineralogical and Geolo-

gical Department.

GEOLOGICAL AND MINERALOGICAL DEPARTMENT.

The specimens and shells announced by Lieutenant Sherwill from the fresh water

deposit near Benares have reached us and are on the table.

Economic Geo1Loey.

Mr. J. Ellis, of the Commissariat Department, has presented us with a bag of the

remarkable gem-sand of the Ava river. [I learn fromthe jewellers that this is often

brought to Calcutta and sold in large bags at very low rates, the greater part of

stones being utterly valueless for them, though really gems. It appears to con-

tain a numerous variety, some crystallised, but most fragments or rolled crystals of

every thing, from spinelle rubies, with probably sapphires, corundums, cinnamon

stones, beryls, agates, garnets, &c., down to smoky quartz; but it is a long labour

to find a specimen worth putting aside, and perfectly useless to go through the labour

of discriminating them till the whole is picked. It is in fact more curious as a

mixture than separate specimens would generally be,

I present two reports, one on the Cerium ore sent by Captain Newhold, and the

other on the ore of Antimonial Galena forwarded by Colonel Ouseley from Hisato,

Chota Nagpore.

The following is an extract from a letter from Lieut. Blagrave, Scinde, to whom

Thad written again on the subject of the sulphur deposit of Kurrachee, reported

upon to Government in September, 1843, but of which we had heard nothing :—

“«T sent off three boxes of fossils the other day to you, in one of which were

specimens from the sulphur bed at Kurrachee, but which I fear will not turn out so

good as expected. ‘The report that was sent in by the Bombay Government gives a

percentage cf 30 or 40 per cent. I forget exactly the quantity stated, and by a trial

made at Kurrachee with very indifferent means the result was little above 30

per cent. Will you kindly have the different specimens that I have sent analyzed,

and let me know the exact quantity of sulphur yielded by each. I wrote, I think, on

each, the different depths at which each was found. Among the specimens sent there

are lumps of mould filled with a white flaky substance, I should like to know what

itis. I have just seen the sulphur springs at Luckee, and collected a whole basket

full of specimens, of which I will send you samples when I have more leisure. The

springs are situated among, I think you would call them, limestone rocks, but

that you will be able to judge of from the specimens of the rocks when they reach

you. I shall try also to obtain a sketch of them for you, as the strata are curiously

jumbled together; the bed of the streams from the springs are covered with bright

green and red (I first thought deposits) but afterwards found that the green was a

sort of lichen, and the red, small animalcule. Some of the stones are covered with

erystals of sulphur and some with melted yellow sulphur ; the temperature of the

highest spring is only 105° and the lowest 102°, at least that was what it stood at

when I visited them. The stones near and in the water courses are covered with a

Ix Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Juty, 1846.

white yellow and bright orange crust, in feel like the white sugar on an old cake, a

slight crust outside but not inside. I will send specimens of it, and if I have time

a paper describing them more fully.

‘*T forgot to mention that Meer Nusseer Khan had tried to turn the sulphur at

Luckee to account, and expended a considerable sum of money in the attempt,

but only got a few maunds of sulphur, the natives say, for the large sum of money

expended ; but that might have been owing to the faulty system adopted. You will

be enabled to judge the true percentage when the specimens reach you.”

We have to acknowledge the receipt from Government of a copy of the Revenue

Survey map of the Midnapore District and of a skeleton map of the Hajeepore and

Balagutch Dearuhs, Zillah Patna.

From Mr. J. Weaver, of Cossitollah, we have received a very beautiful specimen

of iron spar (carbonate of iron), shewing the crystallisation and the rough spar, with

its appearance as an ornamental material.

Examination of an ore of Cuntum from Southern India by Captain J. T. Newbold,

Assistant Commissioner, Kurnool, Madras Territory. By H. Piddington, Cura-

tor Museum Economic Geology.

This ore was found by Captain Newbold in the central range of the Eastern

Ghauts, between Curnum in Cuddapah and Gogarpilly in Kurnool, a little south of

the Nundi Cunnama pass; he describes it—and I give his description first as being

that of an accurate and experienced observer, and as conveying the impression it

makes at first sight on the Mineralogist—as ‘‘ A light-reddish and fawn to peach

coloured matrix, which has sometimes a glimmering lustre like that of Lepidolite ;

hardness about 6.0 Mohs, but often hard enough to strike fire with steel, where it ap-

pears to pass into chert, which also appears in the vein stuff. The fracture is even-

ly granular, inclining to splintery, streak faint pink or reddish white, opaque.”

This specimen, sent to the Society, I should thus describe as to external appear-

ance. It is a massive matrix, mixed with bluish and greenish white chert, with nests

and brief veins and specks of galena, so interspersed through it that it is impossi-

ble to procure any notable quantity free from some intermixture without perhaps

destroying the specimen. Its colour varies froma light tile red, through light-orange

and pink-red, to a whitish-red orange; the weathered surface would be, judging

from the little we possess, dark-red brown, with perhaps reddish-white veins, but

always dull.

The fracture is granular and somewhat splintery, glittering in some places, and

is thus like a fine-grained red sandstone; here and there are nests of an orange

brown colour with some appearance of crystallisation, like the fine varieties of car-

bonate of iron, which they may possibly be. I could not so much disfigure our single

specimen as to pick out enough for examiuation.

The fracture is evenly granular and perhaps may incline to splintery, as Captain

Newbold observes ; but there is no fair opportunity of judging of fracture in chip-

ping off minute bits for analysis.

Jury, 1846. ] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. Ixiii

The few fragments I obtained were angular.

The mineral is opaque, the streak a dirty white inclining to orange-grey. It does

not soil. The hardness of the purest mineral I find to be 5—6 as compared with

Apatite and Adularia.

It is rather tough and there is a slight adherence to the tongue. It feels mea-

gre and cold ; the specific gravity is very uncertain, and, in truth, no datum at all,

for the mixture of galena and chert is so considerable that we have no piece which

would give even an approximation to the correct determination of this character. I¢

rings a little, I think, when struck with the hammer, and when breathed on gives a

strong clayey smell. When pounded it is easily reduced to an impalpable powder

of a yellowish-fawn or rosy-buff colour.

Blowpipe Examination.

A portion of the darker red crystallised part in the forceps changes to a bright

chocolate brown, with a slight metallic or slaggy lustre in some parts, but does not

fuse—

On charcoal it takes a greyish brown colour with a whitish dust about it in some

places—

The powder fused with Soda on charcoal gives bright spots, and on Platina

wire effervesces and spits sharply. In the reducing flame, a dull, dirty greenish

white bead but nothing reduced from it—

With Borax on platinum wire in small quantities a clear glass; with more of

the mineral, a light clear emerald green glass, both in the reducing and oxidating

flame, which cools to almost a colourless one when quite cold—

With Microcosmic salt on platina wire infusible ; when borax is added fuses to a

light green yellowish-white bead, becoming quite opaque and much less coloured

when cold.

Via Humida.

The mineral was found soluble with much effervescence in all the mineral

acids, but acetic acid had no effect upon it.

The acid solutions, particularly that with sulphuric acid, gave abundantly with

potass the characteristic gelatinous and semi-crystalline precipitate of cerium;

and it was found by the usual tests that it contained moreover iron, sulphuret of

lead, and lime, besides the usual accompaniment of silex and traces of alumina.

{t was dissolved in sulphuric acid, which took up the iron and cerium only, and

left the lead and lime as insoluble sulphates. No fluorine was detected by this or

by the blow pipe. The solution was almost neutralised by ammonia, and the iron

and cerium thrown down by benzoate of ammonia. It had been previously ascer-

tained that the benzoate of cerium was highly soluble, and thus when the mingled

benzoates were thrown on a filter they were easily separated by washing; the inso-

luble benzoate of iron remaining on the filter. The benzoate of cerium was found

to crystallize in acicular plumose crystals, forming thin broad feather-like tufts and

groups.

Ixiv Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Juxy, 1846.

The oxide of cerium was also obtained independently by Laugier’s process, as

given in the last edition of Turner’s Chemistry, so as to leave no doubt of its

identity.

The mineral thus appears to be a triple carbonate of iron, lime and cerium, the

mixture of galena being merely fortuitous and visible to the naked eye. I assume

the combination of the three first to take place, as they are usually found in the

common cerite, which our mineral probably is. It is certainly none of the fluates of

this mineral.

I have not yet been able to ascertain if the combination is in definite proportions,

but I think it not improbable that the orange brown nests alluded to are the crys-

tallised mineral.

Report on the ore of Lead and Antimony sent by Lieutenant-Colonel Ouseley from

Hisato, Chota Nagpore.

Lieutenant-Colonel Ouseley, at my particular request, has sent not only the ore in

large lumps, but also specimens of the rock matrix, and other rocks and minerals

found in the neighbourhood of this vein, and all these I have carefully examined,

so that nothing of importance could, I think, escape us.

1. Judging from the masses we have, which are tolerably large, the vein appears

to be composed of crystalline quartz in a few places, and in and near this the ore

appears purest, but the greater part is an opaque, granular, and loosely aggregated

guartz, mixed up with innumerable masses of crystals and grains of the antimonial

galena, with minute masses and cubes of common sulphurets of copper and iron,

and in some few places of white iron pyrites.* The silex in many parts is deeply

tinged with iron, and sometimes almost assumes the appearance of Bronzite from

the ferruginous impregnation.

It was evident that such an ore and matrix might contain silver in quantities

worth working, and also that if care were not taken to take good averages, and these

from various parts and separate specimens, the silver might be overlooked. Thence

has arisen the necessity for close and repeated examination of all the various parts of

the ore to be well assured we were not overlooking what we were seeking for ; since

from the distance of the vein from all roads and rivers it is only as an argentiferous

ore that it could have any value.

For the same reason all the other ores and earths near the matrix have been care-

fully examined. They are as follows:

Black scaly mica, and micaceous earthy matter.

Brown iron ore, and ferruginous earths of several kinds.

Jaspery iron ore in bands.

Red and Yellow Ochre.

Greenish Clay.

* These last mostly occur in the neighbourhood of a few nests of rhomboidal limestone

which are found in the quartz.

— es

JuLy, 1846.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. lxv

2. The pure ore isin the usual pseudo cubic and cubico-lantinar masses and

fragments. By the common goniometer the angles of the best fragments, perfectly

bright and pure, which I could pick out, were 88° on 92° and the faces were

evidently slightly curved.

The specific gravity of a good crystal, water-worn, but with all impurity care-

SeemeMeneCMn TG, was, Cul.) A). b Lf), eee. ele Lae

Of a bright mass from the lumps, which however might retain a little air.. 7.51

Mean, 7.485

Thomson gives 7.53 to 7.65 for galena, but according to Vauquelin it may

vary from 7.10 to 7.60, and thus specific gravity is evidently an uncertain cha-

racter, especially where, as in this ore, antimony and silica and silicate of iron form

considerable proportions.

3. Before the blowpipe it does not decrepitate and fly, but melts and disen-

gages bubbles; gives a bright but dark-coloured steel-grey metallic bead with little

bubbles on its surface ; smokes when roasting, and the charcoal has the bluish gray

deposit of the antimonial ores. By continuing the reduction it becomes a bright

tin-white and highly malleable bead, giving then the dull yellow powder of oxide of

lead on the charcoal as the bead diminishes. The closest and often repeated inves-

tigations could discover no trace of silver or arsenic. Iron, bismuth, lead, antimony,

sulphur and silica were the only constituents of the purest ore; the bismuth also in

very small quantities.

4. The results of several analyses made on various proportions of the purer and

impure portions, and in large averages of 1000 grains, that nothing of value might

be overlooked, gave always the same results as to constituents, and the absence of

silver ; with now and then a trace of copper from the copper pyrites already no-

ticed as occurring in the matrix.

The picked and purest ore contains per cent.—

RIB ET VSCOMAEENIC), oui sis soc e « ciele siercieicie dn cess seca tis eene 2.50

Sulphuret of Lead (Galena), (giving Metallic Lead,. 47.02)......54.50

Sulphuret of Antimony, (giving Metallic Antimony, ASD )ikyn cc. 17.00

CREE ONY ccs, ale ia; c/s: v'ai's,0 Sie. eie rei siesa'e 216 oe wea’e 4.00

Silicate of Iron, eo ee ee ee ee ee se ee ere OO ee Bese eee 21.50 vo 00 25,50

MMMM NRENCE giclee 5.6) SSA ha ie Pee bel ie ae ee es bbee 0.00

99°50

Behe iiaeis eww isaae 0.50

100.00

There can be no question that this vein should be followed to see what changes

of ores, if any, take place, It is almost positively mischievous to publish the exa-

Ixvi Proceedings of the Asiatie Society.

minations of these mere surface specimens, for they may create an idea that a vein

is worthless which is, on the contrary, a rich one at 50 or 100 feet deep. The best

mines in many parts of the world are capped by poor ores, and sometimes of a dif-

ferent kind, and those almost worthless. The capping of copper by the common

Blende or ‘‘ Black Jack’’ is a familiar instance, and has even grown into a semi-

proverbial saying in Cornwall, where the miners think it a favourable indication

when sinking a shaft for copper, to find plenty of Blende (Sulphuret of Zinc)

** for,’’ they say, ‘‘ Black Jack rides a proud Horse.’’

For all presentations and communications the thanks of the Society

were accorded,

Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Srrt., 1846.

The ordinary meeting for the month was held, as usual, at the

Rooms on Wednesday, the 2d September, at half past 8 p. M.

Lieut. Col. Forbes, V. P., in the chair.

The minutes of proceedings of the July meeting were read, confirmed

and ordered to be published.

E. A. Samuells, Esq. (C. S.) and Alexander Mitchell, Esq., proposed

at the July meeting, were duly elected members.

The following gentlemen were proposed, for ballot at the next

meeting :—

James Colville, Esq., Advocate General, proposed by the Honorable

Sir Henry Seton, V. P., and seconded by the Secretary.

G. R. Wilby, Esq , proposed by Mr. Heatly and seconded by the

Secretary,

W. Knighton, Esq. proposed by Mr. Piddington and seconded by

the Secretary.

Dr. Young, proposed by Mr. Blyth and seconded by the Secretary.

James Dodd, Esq., proposed by Dr. W. B. O’Shaughnessy and

seconded by Col. Forbes.

W. Grey, Esq. (C. S.) proposed by Mr. Welby Jackson and

seconded by Col. Forbes.

A recommendation from the Committee of Papers was read, propos-

ing that Mr. D. H. Williams, the Geological Surveyor to the Govern-

ment of India, be elected a Corresponding Member of the Society.

The proposal being put, and duly seconded by Mr. J. Ward, was

carried by acclamation.

Read the following list of additions to the Library during the last

two months.

PRESENTED.

1.—Meteorological Register for the months of June and July, 1846.—By the

Surveyor General’s Office.

2.—Meteorological Register kept at Kyouk Phyoo, for June and July, 1846.—

By the Superintendent of Marine.

3.—The Calcutta Christian Observer for July and August, 1846 —By the Editors.

4.—The Oriental Christian Spectator for August, 1846.—-By the Editor.

5.—The Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, vol. I. for 1845, and Nos.

5 and 6 for February and May, }846.— By the Society.

6.—Travels of Evleya, part 11.—By Oriental Tr nslation Fund.

7.—Haji Khalfac, Lexicon, Arab. et Lat.—By the Oriental Translation Fund.

Ixviti Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Seprr. 1846.

8.—Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. XV.—By the Society.

9.—Notices of Persian Poets, by the late Right Hon’ble Sir Gore Ouseley, Bart.,

by the Rev. J. Reynolds. —By the Oriental Translation Fund.

11.—The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland,

No. XVI. part 2.—By the Society.

12.—The Report of the British Association for the advancement of the Sciences,

for 1845.—By the Association.

13 —Natural History of New York, part I. Zoology, by James E. DeKay,

5 vols.—By the State of New York.

14.—Natural History of New York, parts III. and IV. Geology, by W. W.

Mather, Lardner, Vanuxem, Lewis C. Beck, James Hall and E. Emmous, 5 vols.

and 1 map.—By the State of New York.

15.—Jahrbiucher der Literatur, January to December, 1845, Nos. 109, 110,

111 and 112.—By Baron Von Hammer Purgstall.

16.—Monographie des Poissons Fossils du Systéme Devonien (old red sand

stone) par L. Agassiz, 1845.—By the Author.

17.—Ditto ditto, Du vieux Gres Rouge, par L. Agassiz, 3me Livraison 1845.

—By the Author,

18.—Bulletin de la Société de Géographie, Troisieme Série, Tome IV.—By the

Society.

19.—Antiquarisk Tidsskrift, Bulletin de la Societe Royale des Antiquaires du

Nord, 1843 and 1844, 2 vols.—By the Society.

20.—Moore’s Indian Appeal Cases, 6 Nos.—By the Government.

21.—Extract from a Report on the District of Babriawar, by Capt. G. Le Grand

Jacob.—By Government.

22.—Report upon the General Condition of the Province of Katteewar, by

Capt. Jacob.—By the Government.

23.—Transactions of the Medico-Chirurgical Society for the year 1845-6. vol. I.

24.—Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. I. part I.

5 copies.—By the Secretary to the Society.

25.—Commercial Annual for the years 1844, 45 and 46, by E. Wilkinson, Esq.

1 copy.—By the Author.

26.—The History of the Kings of Assam, 8 Pamphlets.

27.—AMap of Pooree, or the Southern Division of Cuttack.—By the Government.

. PuRCHASED.

Journal des Savans, January to May, 1846.

The North British Review, No. IX. May, 1846.—5 Nos.

Annals and Magazine of Natural History, including Zoology, Botany and Geology,

vol. XVII. No. 114, June, 1846.

Illustrations of Indian Ornithology, by S. C. Jerdon, Esq. April, 1846, 2 copies.

Fauna Antiqua Sivalensis, being the Fossil Zoology of the Sewalik Hills in the

North of India, by Hugh Falconer, M. D., F. R. S. F.L. S. F. G. S. and Proby

Serr. 1846. | Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. Ixix

T. Cautley, F. G. S., Letter Press, part I. 3 Nos. and Illustrations, part I. 9 Nos.

The Birds of Australia, by J. Gould, F. R. S. part XXII.

EXCHANGED.

Journal Asiatique, quatriéme série, Tome VII. Nos, 32 and 33, March and April,

1846.—2 copies.

Calcutta Journal of Natural History, No. 21, April, 1845, and No. 26, April,

1846.

The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of

Science, third Series, Nos. 188 and 189, May and June, and No. 190, Supplement

vol. XXVIII.

The Atheneum, Nos. 967 and 968, May 9th and 16th.

The Second Report of the Sub-Committee of Finance, being pre-

sented to the chairman, was then read.

Second Report of the Sub-Commitiee of Finance of the Asiatie Society

of Bengal, 3d July, 1846.

The Finance Sub-Committee appointed at the Meeting of March 4th,

and June 3d, have now the honor to report as follows :—

1. The Sub-Committee find, that some members of the Society have

failed for longer or shorter periods to pay their subscriptions, they

therefore recommend that these members be reminded of their obli-

gations,

2. The Sub-Committee called upon the Heads of Departments, accord-

ing to a Resolution of the last meeting of the Society, to state in detail

the manner in which they proposed to arrange their establishments with

reference to the limited expenditure fixed by the meeting, at the sugges-

tion of the Sub-Committee. The Secretary of the Society (Mr. H.

Torrens) stated, that his successor must arrange the establishment of the

Library and the Secretary’s Office, as he (Mr. Torrens) had resigned.

The Curator of the Museum of Economic Geology (Mr. Piddington)

gave ina detailed statement of his department, amounting to the sum

prescribed, which was received as satisfactory. The Curator of the

Museum (Mr. Blyth) stated that the business of the Zoological De-

partment, including his own salary, could not be carried on upon the

sum fixed. The Sub Committee have received a letter from Mr. Blyth

respecting his claims on the Society aid on the subject of his depart-

ment generally, which document they beg to submit for the consider-

ation of the Society.

Ixx Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Sepr. 1846.

3. In the third paragraph of their First Report, the Sub-Committee

stated, according to the information then before them, that the habili-

ties of the Society amounted to Co.’s Rs 9,102, the chief item of which

was Rs. 7,000 for printing the Society’s Journal up to No. 162 at the

Bishop’s College Press. They now find in consequence of enquiries

they considered it necessary to institute, that this item should have

been only Co.’s Rs. 4,019 11 0. This discrepancy appears to have

originated in the circumstance of the accounts of the Journal of the

Society for the three years ending 31st December, 1845, exhibiting the

former item instead of the latter, evidently arising from the charges

for the Journal before it became the Society’s property, being accidentally

mixed up with those incurred since it became so. In the course of

these enquiries they also found, that the total receipts for subscription

to the Journal since it became the Society’s property up to the Ist

July, 1846, amount to Rs, 5,355 8 0, giving about 2,000 per annum

additional income on account of the Journal. They have therefore

much pleasure in announcing to the Society, that they can recommend

1,500 Rs. per annum or 125 Rs. per mensem to be allotted to the de-

partment of Journals, Researches, and printing, and Rs. 500 per annum

or about Rs. 42 per mensem to the Zoological Museum, in addition to

the sums agreed upon at the last meeting of the Society, as contamed

in the 7th paragraph of their First Report.

The revised scale of expenditure, if approved by the Society, will

now stand as follows :—

per mensem. per annum,

]., Oriental: Publications. i...... s..000.. Je-a es BS, 000 OO GGG T

Zz Minseum (ZGOlomicaly) ss oi. .6e. ise en ws aie) rec ccare o92-" 0) OSs 7 OM 6

3. Museum of Economic Geology, Mineralo-

gical and Geological Departments............. 350 0 0 4,200 0 0

4. Secretary’s Office and Library. .......... +0 350 0 0° 4,200 0 0

5. Journals, Researches and Printing............ 475 0 0 5,700 0 0

G. COMMNBENCIES sn waco cvs omsie we eee ener womens 100 0 0 1,200 0 0

oo a

Total Co.’s Rs. 2,167 0 0 26,000 0 0O

(Signed) J. Haper.in,

R. W. Frits,

J. McQuEEN,

J. Warp,

G. T. MarsHALL,

(True copy.)

H. Torrens, V. P. and Secretary.

Sept. 1846. | Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. Ixxi

Asiatic Society’s Museum, July 17th, 1846.

My DEAR Sirs,

I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your note of yesterday’s date, requesting

information for the Society’s Sub-Committee of Finance as to whether the ex-

penses of the Zoological Department of the Museum can be brought within 350

Rs. per mensem.

With every disposition to carry out the wishes of the Sub-Committee, I cannot

but remark in reply, that I consider such an arrangement to be impracticable ; if

only that my own very moderate salary of itself more than covers that amount.

It will be remembered that from May Ist, 1844, an increase of 100 Rs. per

month was granted me, to be paid with arrears when the letter-press to accompany

the publication of Burnes’s drawings should be ready for printing ; and I leave you

to judge. therefore from the fact of the present accumulation of those arrears, how

exceedingly I require further assistance in the Museum, to be enabled to discharge

efficiently all the duties of my office.

That office requiring the whole undivided energies of the person holding it, is

therefore incompatible with any other appointment: hence what salary I receive

I must derive from this one source only ; and with no sort of promotion in view, it

must be acknowledged to be but a poor remuneration for the laborious occupation of

the entire time of an educated European in this climate. Nought but devotion to

Science could continue to reconcile me to it, whatever may be its non-pecuniary

contingent advantages.

I would next remind the Sub-Committee, with all respect, that on my being

deprived of the great advantage of personal residence at the Museum, it was thought

but just to grant me compensation for the increased personal expenditure which the

new arrangement entailed upon me: but the amount of that recompense is still

under consideration, with six months of it due at the present time.

Passing now to the consideration of the subordinates employed in my department,

I can only repeat the statement, which I have before had occasion to make, by again

urging that the present establishment is not merely at its extreme minimum, com-

patible with efficiency, but considerably below that standard. Our establishment

is not nearly adequate to the amount of work required of it, and the consequence is

that arrears are at this time accumulating. With an extensive collection of valuable

skeletons in store, scarcely one has been mounted upon wire for the last tlree

years ; other sub-departments under my superintendence become unduly neglected ;

my time is continually taken up with drudgery ; which might and ought to be per-

formed by additional assistants,—to say nothing of the incessant application which

it involves on my part; and what is personally most of all annoying I feel how

much more I could accomplish for the Society with the necessary humble aid,

which the bkestowal of an additional 50 Rs. monthly would place at my disposal.

Under these circumstances, I can suggest no alteration between at least conti-

nuing the existent establishment in the Zoological department ofthe Society’s Museum

Ixxii Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Sepr. 1846,

and that of suppressing it altogether in its present most flourishing condition: as it

is, the indifference of our countrymen generally to Scientific Natural History is

matter of deserved reproach with all civilized foreigners to this day. Oxford nor

Cambridge can boast of a chair for Zoology among its Professorships; and during

the ‘brief period that the French held sway in Egypt, more was done towards the

investigation of the natural productions of that country, far more than has been even

yet accomplished for India. 1 had hoped to effect something that should at least

contribute to remove this stigma from our nation, and have thought myself entitled

to look to the Society to second my exertions to carry out the objects of my cura-

torship, at any rate to afford due scope for the exercise of such abilities as I may

possess, and grant me the chance of earning all possible reputation that should com-

pensate in some degree for the insignificance of my pecuniary allowances.

It is to be remarked that the contingent expenses of the Zoological department

of the Museum, have certainly not increased in the ratio of its developement ; but

on the contrary have decreased for the last two years and more, from the consider-

able diminution of the number of purchases of specimens. What few indeed are

now brought, in the bazar or of Shikarees, are almost wholly with a view to supply

other Museums with specimens, in return for the contributions we receive of desi-

derata for our own; and it will be admitted that money can scarcely be better

spent than in such intercourse. It is chiefly by the present system of active cor-

respondence with working naturalists that our collections have been advanced to

their present highly prosperous condition ; and it is only by adhering to that system

that a continuance of the same success can be assured to us. ¥

By dint of no small labour and perseverance a very extensive system of corre-

spondence both within and out of India has been gradually established, to the results

of which our collections bear almost daily testimony, but we only begin to reap the

advantages of that intercourse, and a more inauspicious time for checking the fur-

therance of its objects by the withdrawal of the funds necessary for that among

other purposes can scarcely be than just at present.

In conclusion I must repeat that the establishment is already at its minimum

compatible with ability, and that in my humble opinion no retrenchment can be made

in its expenses without much more than commensurate detriment to the Society’s

Museum, and obstruction to the objects for which in part the Society was originally

constituted.

Believe me, wy dear Sirs, ever truly your’s,

(Signed) E. Biytu,

Curator Zoological Museum,

(True Copy.)

H. Torrens,

V. P. and Secretary.

Sept. 1846. | Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. Ixxill

Cart. MARSHALL, Secretary Sub-Committee Finance Asiatic Society,

Sirz,—In reply to your letter I beg to say that understanding the Society to ap-

propriate as follows, 36 Rs. from its own funds, i. e. Government allowance for the

Museum of Economic Geology Curator.........ce.eseeecceeee 200 0 0

ICH iaiha sh. tiaisnh erie aiSarse Je ue we sk cece ne dsescessucne 64 0,0

314 0 0

From Society for Geological and Mineralogical Departments........ 36 0 0

——

Total Co.’s Rs. 350 0 O

I can only as before, continue with the same establishment as sanctioned by Go-

vernment, viz :—

Sircar and Writer, who is also assistant (as far as he can be so) in making Ca-

talogues, marking and arranging specimens,&c. &C........00..-- 16

Carpenter, who also polishes and cuts stones. ...... ee eeee neces 8

WAY ow cn ow oc ee oe eter ne eces nc ee senate ae stonvens 2

Mn fer Petters ecOs SCs. Fs Sia ee le Nt ae ol se wale clay cle eeeeve 5

Co.’s Rs..7 4 31,4.0i-.0

It will be noted that these persons are all employed for the 3 Departments,

though paid for by the Economic Geology, which is scarcely fair to Government, but

which can not be avoided. I make the bearer and Punka boy and Carpenter, and at

times the Sircar, assist also in the Laboratory !

Peammine-Goveroment Allowance Of... ..0.4» ss< <o.s0 nis a6 elses qe cis we 64 0

MMRMOTEMME tie a's. vce sip" ss wie Weis g ws wattle Se tale sicie chad, die e viaiaie 31 0

Leaves for Books, Chemical, and agents and all other contingencies for

fee teonomic Geology Only... csc ces cece cccccecdecce 33 0 0

Peeetery 5 CANLOWANCE.. re 05.26 voce me ndicsseesicsvccccsene 36-0 6

Co.’s Rs. 69 O O

I have a bearer who keeps every thing clean below and attends to the windows,

doors, &c. as well as assisting those upstairs. He is now become very intelligent

and handy in the laboratory also. He has hitherto been paid by the Society, but I

suppose it must be necessary to pay him from my department, on which the Com-

mittee will decide.

The sum of 69 Rs. I need not remark is really not much more than the

expenses of the laboratory very carefully managed would amount to in this country,

where every thing is so absurdly expensive which relates to Chemical pursuits; and

there are books, specimens, postages, freights and a host of smaller charges besides,

as will be seen by the accompanying books which I send for the inspection of the

Committee, being the petty account books of the Departments for 1845-46, but

Ixxiv Proceedings of the Asiatic Society.

which do not include books and some bills paid by the Secretary’s department direct

which will bring the whole to the amount allowed by Government.

I am, Sir, Your obedient servant,

(Signed) H. PrppiIneTon,

Curator Museum Economic Geology.

(True Copy.)

H. Torrens,

V. iP. and Secretary.

Calcutia, 17th July, 1846.

After considerable discussion, it was proposed by Mr. J. Ward,

seconded by Mr. E. B. Ryan and carried—

That the Reports of the Finance Committee be laid on the table for

the perusal of the Society for the period of a month.

A recommendation from the Committee of Papers was read, to the

effect, that the acquiescence of Dr. W. B. O'Shaughnessy having been

obtained to the arrangement of associating him in the Secretariat of the

Society, as the colleague of Mr. Torrens, if that arrangement were

acceptable to the General Meeting, the Meeting do approve of it.

In accordance, it was proposed by the President, seconded by Mr.

B. J. Colvin, and resolved, that the Society does approve of, and confirms

the arrangement.

In consequence of the private business of the Society having en-

grossed nearly the entire time of the meetings for several months, a

heavy accumulation of scientific arrears had resulted. It was therefore

moved by Mr. Heatly, seconded by Mr. Laidlay, and carried unani-

mously,

That there be a supplementary meeting during this month, exclu-

sively to dispose of arrears of scientific business: to be held on the

17th instant.

mee in

Proceedings of the Supplementary Meeting of the Asiatic Society of

Bengal, SEPTEMBER, 1846.

Pursuant toa resolution passed at the monthly meeting of the So-

ciety, a Supplementary meeting for the disposal of the arrears of Scien-

tific business, was held at the Society’s Rooms, on Thursday evening,

at half-past 8, Pp. M.

Lieut.-Colonel Forbes, Vice-President, in the Chair.

The minutes of Proceedings of the last meeting were read and re-

served for confirmation at the next regular monthly meeting.

Read the following Report for September, 1846, by the Curator

Museum Economic Geology.

REPORT OF THE CURATOR OF Musrum oF THE ECONOMIC

GEOLOGY FOR SEPTEMBER.

Geology and Mineralogy.—I have obtained from the bazar some

fragments of Encrinital or Pentacrinital fossils, which are sold there as

medicines, and called the “ branches of the Huzoor ul Loheid,’’ which

I have described and named provisionally “ Loheidolite’” in my report

of October, 1844.

They are said to be from Loheida, also, so that it is possible this is a

locality rich in fossils of the period to which these belong, though little

dependance can be placed upon what is said of locality, as they may

be brought to Loheida from a considerable distance.

Dr. Spilsbury has sent from Bundlecund a specimen of Copper-ore,*

and one of a highly curious sandstone, of which last he says :—

“The other is a specimen of the sandstone used in building at Lul-

lutpoor, (the Lurthpoor of Arrowsmith’s map,) a station of Scindia’s

Contingent, some 20 miles east of Chunderee ; it is remarkable for the

ferruginous spherules imbedded in the stone, a good example of which

is sent, as also the half of another to test its nature: the rock is quarried

about 20 miles from the station.”

* Will be noticed in the Economic Geological Report.

Ixxvi Proceedings of the Asiatie Society. [Supr. 1846.

I have not sacrificed this very valuable little fragment to testing,

which would only shew us probably that it isa highly ferruginous sand-

stone, and have only satisfied myself that it is not magnetic ; for it is of

much higher interest than in a mere lithological point of view, inasmuch

as, when examined by the magnifier or even by the naked eye, it shews

exactly the structure of the Voleanic Bombs as described by Darwin

and other writers, being highly compact at the external surface, where

the iron also is in the state of a deutoxide, and of a locse coneretionary

texture at the centre, where (and also at the surface from the effects of

exposure to the atmosphere), it is in the state of peroxide.

When we look at the specimen in the sandstone it is difficult not to

suppose that it must have been imbedded there when the sandstone

was soft! and we thus arrive at the conclusion that our little ferrugi-

nous bullets may have been volcanic grape shot, since their size does not

entitle them to be called bombs. I have written to Dr. Spilsbury for

more of these very curious specimens, when we shall be able to say

more of them.

I have to announce also a further addition to our collection of Aero-

lites, being a second specimen obtained from the refuse of the Coal and

Iron Committee’s Collections, probably from Assam.

I at first thought that this was only another fragment of the former

one announced in my report of June last, and indeed it very greatly

resembles it in physical qualities, but upon chemical examination it has

proved to be an entirely different specimen, and a remarkable one, as

containing a considerable per-centage of Cobalt, of which the first is

entirely destitute, and very little if any Nickel, of which it will be re-

membered the first has a notable proportion.

Museum of Economie Geology.—Dr. Spilsbury has also forwarded to

us a specimen of Copper-ore from the Sahgurh territory, about 60 miles

north of Saugor in Bundlecund, sent in by the Chief to the Deputy

Commissioner, Captain Hamilton,and said to have been worked in former

times, but it is so very poor an ore that it should rather be called a

Gossan.* I was in hopes that the greenish black crust at the surface

might contain Uranium, but it does not, being merely iron with a very

little copper.

* The Cornish Miner’s name for a ferruginous concretion more or less impreg-

nated with copper, which indicates at the surface the existence of veins below.

Serr. 1846. | Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. Ixxvil

Meteorological Note.—At the last meeting our Secretary handed to

me a letter addressed to him by Dr. McGowan, inclosing one from Dr.

Bellott of H. M. Ship /Volf, giving an account of a shower of ashes or

dust at Shanghae, which enclosed a minute specimen of it. On examin-

ation it proved to be so highly curious that I have made it the subject

of areport which may perhaps be worth insertion in the Journal, as

illustrating meteorological questions of much importance.*

HI. PrppINGron.

Mr. Blyth, the Curator of the Museum of Zoology, exhibited the

rare and valuable specimens of Birds, &c. received from Australia.

The following propositions were adopted by the Society :—

Proposed by G. A. Bushby, Esq., seconded by C. Huffnagle, Esq.,

‘and carried,

That the thanks of the Asiatic Society be offered to the several So-

cieties, and individuals, from whom specimens have been presented this

evening, through Mr. Blyth.

Proposed by G. A. Bushby, Esq., seconded by R. W. G. Frith, Esq.

and resolved, that special thanks should be communicated through the

Government of Bengal for the valuable gift from the State of New

York to the Society’s Library of the great work on the Natural History

of New York, received at the last meeting.

Proposed by Mr. Heatly, seconded by Mr. Ward, and resolved, that

im returning thanks for contributions to the Museum, Library, &c., the

established copper-plate form be adhered to.

* This paper will appear in the Journal.

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Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, OcroBER, 1846.

At a meeting of the Asiatic Society held on the 7th October, 1846,

Lt.-Col. Forbes, Vice-President, in the chair,

The Proceedings of the meeting of the 2nd September and of the

supplementary meeting of the 17th September, were read and confirm-

ed. .

The following gentlemen having been duly ballotted for were unani-

mously elected members of the Society :—

G. R. WivBy, Esq.

W. Knicurton, Esq., Professor, Hindu College.

James Cotviuz, Esq., Advocate General.

JamES Dopp, Esq., Assay Master.

Dr. YOuNG.

W. Grey, Esq., C. 8.

C. J. Montague, Esq. of Serampore, was proposed for election as a

member at the next meeting, by the Rev. J. Long and seconded by

A. Mitchell, Esq.

The annexed list of works received since previous meeting was laid on

the Table.

List of Books prepared for the Meeting of Wednesday, 7th October, 1846.

PRESENTED.

The Calcutta Christian Observer, for September and October, 1846.—By the

Editors.

The Oriental Christian Spectator for September, 1846.—By the Editors.

The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, Vol. XVI. Part I.—

By the Society.

Self-Monition, an Armenian Poem, by Mr. George A. Zechariah of Java,

through Mr. Avdall.—By the author.

* (Radices Lingue Sanscrite, N. L. Westergaard, 1841—12 copies.

Kalidasa’s Ring—Cakuntala herausgegeben von Dr. Otto Boehtlingk, 1842—

12 copies.

* German Books within the parentheses have been forwarded by the Society’s

agents in London without any advice but more likely for sale than presentation to

this Society.

Ixxx Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. (Oct. 1846.

Zeitschrift fiir die Kunde des Morgenlandes. Von Christian Lassen—1841, 42,

43, 44 and 1845.—14 copies.

Indische Alterthumskunde. Von Christian Lassen, 1843—6 copies. —

Scriptorum Arabum De Rebus Indicis, Edidit Joannes Gildemeister—12 copies.

Malavika et Agnimitra, Edidit Dr. Otto Fred Tullbergh, 1840—3 copies P. P.

Radices Pracritice, Edidit et illustravit Dr. Nicolaus Delius, 1839—12copies P. P.

Kalidasee Meghaduta et Cringaratilaka, J. Gildemeister, 1840—12 copies P. P.

Die Falsche Sanscrit Philologie des Herrn Dr. Haefer in Berlin, Von J. Gilde-

meister, 1840—12 pamphlets.)

EXCHANGED.

Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, by Professor Jameson. Aprilto July,

1846.

The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of

Science, No. 191, July, 1846.

The Atheneum, July 4th, 11th, 18th, 25th, and August Ist, 8th and 15th,

PURCHASED.

The Annals and Magazine of Natural History, No. 115, Vol. XVII. July, 1846.

Supplementary number, and number 116.

Lardner’s Cabinet Cyclopedia. History of Ireland—Vol. IV.

Histoire Naturelle des Poissons—Vol. XVIII.

Ditto .. Planches—Vol. XVIII.

Read a letter, No 2305, from Cecil Beadon, Esq. under-Secretary

to the Government of Bengal, to the Vice-President and Secretary to

the Asiatic Society :—

Sir,—The Hon’ble the Court of Directors having intimated their approval of

the transfer to the Asiatic Society of the Books referred to in Mr. Secretary Prinsep’s

letter to the address of the Secretary tothe Society, No. 265, dated the 24th Febru-

ary, 1836, I am directed to state that the monthly sum of 78 Rupees, allowed by

Government for the custody of the Books in question is to cease from the end to

the current month, agreeably to the conditions contained in Mr. Prinsep’s letter.

T have the honor to be, &c.

C, BEapon.

Under-Secy. to the Govt. of Bengal.

Proposed by Dr. Heeberlin, seconded by Mr. Huffnagle and resolved,

That this letter be referred to the Committee of Papers for report.

Read the following letter from Mr. H. T. Prinsep, enclosing copy of a

letter forwarded by the Russian minister in acknowledgment of receipts

of the principal publications of the Asiatic Society.

Oct. 1846. ] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. Ixxxi

To H. Torrens, Esg. Secy. As. Soc.

37, Hype Park GarpEns, 24th July, 1846.

My pear Torrens,—I have just received from Baron Brunow, the Russian

minister, the original, of which a copy is subjoined. His Excellency requests me to

make the substance known to the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and to return the ori-

ginal, which compels me to make the copy.

Believe me,

Your’s very sincerely,

H. T. PRinsep.

Mowns!IEvuR LE Baron,

Je viens de recevoir par l’entremise de la maison Allen & Co. a Londres, sur

le bateau a vapeur Magnet, l’envoi contenant le second exemplaire des principales

publications de la Société Asiatique de Bengale, qu’elle avait mises dans le temps ala

disposition de Sa Majesté Impériale.

_ Ayant Vhonneur de vous en instruire, je me fais un devoir de vous remercier des

soins que vous avez prétés a cette affaire. Veuillez bien, Monsieur le Baron, re-

nouveller aussi l’expression de ma reconnaissance ala Société Asiatique de cette

offre si intéressante et si utile a nos établissemens scientifiques.

Agréez en méme temps, Monsieur le Baron, l’assurance de ma considération trés

distinguée.

(Signé) OUVAROFF.

(True Copy)

(Signed) H. T. Prinser.

St. Petersbourg, ce 1 (13) Juin, 1846.

A son Excellence Monsieur le Baron de Brunow, &c. &c.

Read letters from the Secretary to the Marine Superintendent for-

warding Registers of Meteorology of Tides, of Anemometer and Plu-

viometer, kept at Kyouk Phyoo, and notifying landing of two cases of

books from the ship Elizabeth.

Read extracts from a letter from Monsieur Jules Mohl, dated Paris,

22nd July, 1846, and notifying that the sum of 2245 franes 65 cents

remained at credit of the Society in his hands from sales of oriental

publications.

Société Asiatique. Secretariat, Rue Taranne, No. 12, Paris, le 22 Juillet, 1846.

Dear Sir,—I have sent you on the 16th of March last year, the detailed account

of the receipts and expenses for the sale of your Society’s books here, but having

received no answer, I suppose that my letter has not reached you. The result of the

account was that I had in hand for your Society 1997 francs 65 cents. This sum

has increased by last year’s sale and amounts now to 2245 francs 65 cents, all expenses

deducted, and I am waiting for your order to whom it shall be paid in London on

your account.

Ixxxii Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Ocr. 1846.

If any of the Paris Society’s books should have been sold in Calcutta, I beg you

will let me know the amount that I may deduct it from the above sum due to you.

I have remarked that in the advertisements which you are so kind as to put in

the Journal of your Society, the Aboulfeda is marked 8 rupees, but it ought to be

15 rupees.

I have asked you formerly to send parcels or boxes of books by French ships, but

I find so much irregularity in the manner of delivering them, that I think the best

will be in future to send all to London. It will cost us something in duty and

commission, but at least we shall get the parcels sooner and by far more surely.

In consequence of the new arrangements which we have been obliged to make on

the death of M. Cassin, our former agent, I find some difficulty in superintending

the sale of the books of your Society. I think it would be to the advantage of the

sale, if you would allow me fo commission M. Duprat with it. M. Duprat is our

Society’s bookseller, since madam Pondy Dupin has retired from her business, and

is a most honest man. I could audit his account every year, just as I did M.

Cassin’s. He would be cbliged to increase the prices a little, but not much, and lam

convinced your Society would gain by the change. Of course if your Society should

wish that the actual arrangement should continue, we will go on as before, but my

own opinion is that M. Duprat will sell more of your books than we do.

Could you buy for me two copies of M. Elliot’s supplement to the Glossary, Agra,

1845? It is a most excellent book and I and M. Burnouf are very anxious to

get it. I should be very happy too, if you could buy for me a copy of the Calcutta

Agricultural Society’s papers. I have often written to England to get them, but

have never been able to buy them; there is most likely many a book published in

India which we should be happy to get, but we learn their expense only by accident.

I am, Dear Sir,

Your’s very truly,

Jutes Moat.

Resolved that this letter be referred to the Secretaries for special re-

port, and that information be solicited from those officers as to the state

of the Society’s accounts with the several agencies entrusted with the

sale of the Society’s publications.

Proposed by G. A. Bushby, Esq., seconded by Dr. Hsbeidia and

resolved,

That the Secretaries be requested to report on the stock of books

belonging to other Societies or individuals intrusted to this Society for

sale, also as to the state of preservation of the books.

Read a letter from Cecil Beadon, Esq., under-Secretary to the Gover-

ment of Bengal, forwarding a map of Pooree, in 9 parts, for the museum

of Economic Geology.

Oct. 1846. | Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. Ixxxiii

Read a letter from P. Melvill, Esq., under-Secretary to the Govern-

ment of India, forwarding a Report by Captain Jacob, 2d Grenadier

Regiment, Bombay N. I., on the Province of Kotewar, and extract from

Report on the district Babriawar.

Read the following letter from the Librarian of the Calcutta Public

Library :—

To H. Torrens, Esa., Vice-President and Secretary, Asiatie Society.

Sir,—The Curators of the Calcutta Public Library being desirous of increasing

their Collection of Oriental works, direct me to say that they will feel much indebt-

ed for one copy of each of the following books. They trust the society will comply

with this request, calculated as it is to promote the cause of Oriental literature.

Index to Mahabharata.

Khazanat ul ilm ul Riazi.

Anis ul Musharrahin.

Sharaya-oo} Islam.

Burnouf’s mémoire sur deux inscriptions cunéiformes.

Ditto, Commentaire sur le Yacna, with notes.

' Elémens de la Grammaire Japanoise—Par Rodriguez et Remuset.

Do. Supplement.

Contes Arabes, traduits par J. J. Morcel.

Brosset, Elemens de la Langue Georgienne.

Klaproth Vocabulaire et Grammaire de la langue Georgienne.

Géographie d’Aboulfeda, Texte Arabe.

Points in the History of the Greek and Indo-Scythian Kings, &c. translated by

Dr. Roer, and edited by H. Torrens, Esq.

I have the honor to be, Sir,

Your most obdt. Servant,

Peary CHANpD Mittra,

Librarian, Calcutta Public Library.

Metcalfe Hall, the 4th August, 1846.

Referred to the Secretaries for special report whether books be procu-

rable, it being suggested by Mr. Piddington that the curators of the

Public Library might on this occasion be requested to allow the officers

of the Asiatic Society the free use of books from their Library for

scientific or literary reference.

The Reports of the Finance Committee having been read and dis-

cussed; on the suggestion of Dr. W. B. O’Shaughnessy, C. Sec. it

was proposed by Dr. Heeberlin, seconded by Mr. Ward, and resolved

unanimously,

Ixxxiv Proceedings of the Asiatic Society.

1. That the debts of the Society be paid at the earliest possible date ©

by the sale of Company’s Paper or other available means.

2. That the Funds assigned by Government to particular purposes,

be in future strictly applied to those purposes alone.

3. That the items of distribution of general expenditure detailed in

the Finance Committee’s reports be referred to the Committee of Papers

in association with the a for suggestions and further

information.

It was arranged that a meeting of the Committees should take place

at an early date for conference on the subject of the last resolution.

For all’presentations the thanks of the Society were ordered to be

returned. '

Proceedings of a Meeting of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, held on

the 4th NovemMBER, 1846.

J. W. Laidlay, Esq. in the Chair.

The Proceedings of the October meeting were read and confirmed.

C. J. Montague, Esq., of Serampore, having been ballotted for, was

duly elected a member.

Dr. Hough, Physician General, Bengal Medical Service, was named

for ballot at next meeting. Proposed by Mr. Blyth, seconded by Dr.

O’Shaughnessy.

Ineut. Latter, Bengal N.1., proposed by Capt. Marshall, seconded by

Rey. Mr. Long.

Read the following announcement by the Committee of Papers of

the resignation of Mr. Torrens, late Secretary to the Society :—

October 30, 1846.

Sir,—I have the honour to state that being under orders for employment out of

Calcutta, it will soon cease to be in my power to continue in the duties of Hono-

rary Secretary to the Asiatic Society of Bengal.

I have to request that you will tender my resignation of this honourable post to

the Vice-President and Members here resident of the Society, and oblige me by

notifying it to the Societies with whom we have been in correspondence.

I am, &c,

H. Torrens,

V. P. Asiatic Society of Bengal.

With reference to Mr. Torrens’ letter, the Committee of Papers pro-

posed the following resolutions for adoption by the Society :—

Resolved, that the Asiatic Society of Bengal on the occasion of their

being deprived of Mr. Torrens’ services as their Honorary Secretary, do

hereby record their grateful sense of the distinguished zeal and ability

with which, for several years he has conducted the duties of the office. As

a testimonial of their respect, they further resolve to elect Mr. Torrens

an Honorary Vice-President of the Society, and they solicit that in this

Ixxxvl Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Nov. 1846.

capacity, he will continue to afford them his highly valuable co-opera-

tion in the prosecution of the numerous objects of literary and antiqua-

riin research which he has already pursued with such eminent success.

Resolved, that J. W. Laidlay, Hsq., be elected a Co-Secretary of

this Society.

Resolved, that the management of the Correspondence—general busi-

ness of the Society—and immediate control of the office establishment

be assigned to the Senior Secretary, in order to obviate the confusion

which is apt to arise when the duties of one office devolve on two indi-

viduals.

Mr. Torrens was accordingly elected an Honorary Vice-President of

the Society, and the 1st and 2d resolutions proposed by the Committee

of Papers were unanimously carried ; the 3d, relative to the arrange-

ments for the secretariat duties being left to these officers to settle as

they may think fit.

The following Report was submitted of the conference between the

Committees of Papers and Finance, held on the 29th October, in ac-

cordance with the resolution of the Society passed at the October

regular meeting.

Asiatic Society, 29th October, 1846.

Pursuant to the resolution of the last meeting, the Committees of

Papers and Finance met at the Society’s rooms at 83 P. M.

Present.

W. P. Grant, Esq., in the Chair ; Lt.-Colonel Forbes, Messrs. Ward,

Frith, Heatley, Dr. W. B. O’Shaughnessy, Secretary, Mr. Bolst, Ac-

countant, in attendance.

The Second Report of the Finance Committee having been read, the

Committees proceeded to examine the items of the proposed scale of

expenditure in each Department.

ORIENTAL PUBLICATIONS.

The Committees of Papers and Finance recommend that Government

be respectfully solicited to permit the Society to defray from the month-

ly allowance of 500 Rs. for Oriental Publications, 1st, the expense of

the custody of the works now in store (for which asum of 78 rupees

Noy. 1846. | Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. Ixxxvil

per mensem allowed by Government has lately been withdrawn), and

2d, the cost of the publication in the Society’s Transactions and Journal

of all papers on Oriental Literature, History, Antiquities, Geography

and kindred subjects of research.

Museum or ZooLtoGy AND NATURAL History.

Read Mr. Blyth’s letter to the Finance Committee, dated 17th July,

1846, objecting to the scale proposed, namely, Co.’s Rs. 392 per men-

sem, as very inadequate, and not more than the amount of salary and

house-rent promised by the Society to Mr. Blyth from July, 1844,

payable on his completion of the MS. of the “ Burnes” drawings.

The accounts handed in by Mr. Bolst showed, that Mr. Blyth and

his establishment at present draw,

Bets ek salary os icieii cis lait) Sai poli o's ox or RSE ~ 250

Mr eS IGENE oye th es S pa aeid'sws ssordks aroma ae ESS

MEN cc ga ea ah bs aha. 3 a teaipts oy 2 LOD

Total, Rs. 490

Of which Government allow Salary,................ 250

IRS ra ee ek ie eee se see ene te OO

Total, Rs. 300

Leaving 190 Rs. as the amount now paid from the So-

ciety’s own funds, while Mr. Blyth claims an addi-

ero bis Own salary,...<..............Co.’s Rs. 100

RT ry se ee le tk ee a 40

Additional Allowance for establishment, ............ 50

Co.’s Rs. 190

The Committees, on the testimony of Messrs. Torrens, Heatley and

Frith, that the Society did duly and at a general meeting pledge them-

selves to the increased allowance claimed by Mr. Blyth, and with

reference to that officer’s zealous exertions and the very great augmen-

tation and improved arrangement of their Zoological collections effect-

ed by his labours, unanimously recommend to the adoption of the

Society the subjoined resolution :—

Ixxxviii Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Nov. 1846.

‘That on the testimony of Messrs. Torrens, Frith and Heatley to the

fact of Mr. Blyth’s claim for an addition to his salary of 100 Rs. per

mensem from July 1844, on his completion of the MS. of the ‘‘ Burnes”

drawings, being in conformity with a regular vote of the Society, the

Society stands pledged to the obligation, and directs that the sum due

be paid accordingly on the ‘ Burnes” MS. being finished and deliver-

ed to the Secretaries ; that it be notified to Mr. Blyth that the Society

find with much regret the state of their funds compels them to return

to his original salary of 250 Rs. with 40 Rs. for house-rent per men-

sem from the lst of January, 1847, but that on their means permitting

it they will have pleasure in increasing his salary and the allowance for

his establishment to the total sum of 580 Rupees per mensem.

Museum or Economic GEoLoGy.

[The Report on this head still remains under consideration. ]

LIBRARY AND SECRETARY'S OFFICE.

The Committee of Finance have recommended 350 Rs. per mensem

for the Secretary’s office and Library, while the present expenses stand,

Library, including office establishment,............ Rs. 414 0

Secretary ana. Accountant's ofiee, Yo. 2. sacs eos 95. 12

Rs. 509 12

The Committees consider the subjoimed arrangement deserving of

adoption by the Society :—

Salary‘of Librarian, o.:i.) 4.1 ees. We. eigen 4S.) eee

Accountant, ..:. ad':./seleieas eee ats ASE Sere ei 60

Purchase of Scientific Journals and Stationary, ........ 100

Servants—Peons, Writer, SirCaiys ci, ). 2 a0 + 0p @ nels bees 90 :

Rs. 350

The Committees recommend that Bahoo Rajender Mittro be ap-

pointed Librarian and Assistant Secretary, on a salary of 100 Rs.

per mensem. The appointment to be on trial for six months ; that the

Librarian be required to attend in the Library from 10 to 4 daily,

Hindu Holidays included ; and that in his capacity of Assistant Secre-

tary he correct all proofs, and prepare all routine letters for the Secre-

tary’s office.

Nov. 1846. | Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. Ixxx1x

JOURNAL, RESEARCHES AND PRINTING.

The Committees recommend that the sum suggested by the Finance

Committee. viz. Co.’s Rs. 475 per mensem, be idouted for this head of

expenditure, and also that part of Mr. Torrens’ stock of the back num-

bers of the Journal be reserved for the use of the Society to the value

of Co.’s Rs. 1500.

CONTINGENCIES.

For this head the Finance Committee proposed the sum of Rs. 100

per mensem, the Committees now suggest that this item remain open

to future consideration and arrangement.

A letter having been read from Mr. Torrens’ to the Co- Secretary re-

garding the accounts and expenditure of the Society during his secre-

tariat—

It was resolved unanimously and directed to be laid before the next

general meeting for record.

That the Committees beg leave to repeat prominently the previous de-

claration of the Finance Committee, that the confusion in the accounts of

the Journal arose entirely from an accidental omission and error on the

part of the accountant, and further that they consider that every act of

Mr. Torrens, in the management of the Society’s pecuniary affairs has

been done most openly and with their full cognizance and sanction.

W. P. Grant, Chairman.

The above Report was fully adopted by the Society.

- It was proposed by Dr. O’Shaughnessy, seconded by Mr. Laidlay,

and carried, that Colonel Forbes, Captain Marshall and C. Huffnagle,

Esq. be requested to act as Auditors of the Society’s accounts for the

remainder of the current year.

Captain Marshall and the Rev. Mr. Long having expressed their opi-

nion that the Philological objects of the Society were not duly considered

in the arrangements for the Secretariat.

It was proposed by Dr O’Shaughnessy, seconded by Mr. Laidlay, and

earried unanimously, that Captain Marshall, the Rev. Mr. Long, the Rey.

Dr. Heberlin and Dr. Roér should be constituted the nucleus of an

oriental sub-committee or section, for advice and reference to on all mat-

ters connected with oriental literature.

xe Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Nov. 1846.

It was further proposed by the Rev. Mr. Long, seconded by Dr.

O'Shaughnessy, and carried, that Dr. Roér be elected a Co-Secretary of

the Society in the oriental literary department.

List of Books received at the Meeting of Wednesday, 4th November,

1846.

PRESENTED.

1.—Meteorological Register for September, 1846, kept at the crane Gene-

ral’s office —By THE SurvVEYoR GENERAL.. ali Roane wp wiatgeiaate 1

2.—The Calcutta Christian Observer for Nov. 1846, sat THE jf sy:

3.—The Oriental Christian Spectator for October, 1846.—By Tur noe = ew

4,—The Registers of the Anemometer and Pluviometer and Tide Gauge kept

at Kyouk Phyoo for September, 1846.—By THE SUPERINTENDENT OF

MARINE....... i ilste Sth . 2 ate «eet

5.—Transactions sor oe oon Philosophical na Thine spel Vol. I. Part

I.—By THE Society....... “Loiejelexcina’s tigmete Re A

6.—Laws and Regulations ae the ieee iy DuNORB Steet a and Saiiary Sauce pp-

——DBY THE SOCTEWN 2. eta salen is <)ninbielon 1

7.—Annual Report of the teks Philosophical mr oe y ‘Sod for 1840,

41, 42, 43, 44, pp.—By THe Society... Wiel ieawiehay«) ofc le1 (ele ©) a10) eae

8.—An Account of an Egyptian Mummy, pp. _By THE ecules PHILOSOPHICAL

AND LITERARY SOCrETY 5. ....06'4 aieleheiare bist ene 1

9.—A Poetical Work, or Musnavie, in pie Urdu Eas by sinonte coe

Krishna Bahadur.—BY DHE - AUTHOR) cs boils decnw oiynetevee bia eee 1

EXCHANGED.

10.—Journal Asiatique, Quatrieme Série, Tome VII. No. 34, Mai, 1846. .. 1

11.—Calcutta Journal of Natural History, July, 1846....,..00...ccevececs 1

12.—London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine, No. 192. ee

1846.. eeceeeee e esoeeoceoeee e e 1

13.—J aaa of the Agricola ‘ad eisetintnatil Society « of f India, Pai Ir.

Vol. Ve @eoeee e ee eesee oc eeceoeeeeee . l

14.—The oeee J ae, ae the De tetcat Society, 1 Now: 7% Angad 1846. :

15.—Annales de la Société Royale d’Agriculture, Histoire Naturelle de Lyon,

Tome VII. 1845. ee ae 7 sie enue 1

16.—The Keene ey 982 and 983, aoe 22d = ‘29th, 1846, -

PURCHASED.

17.-—Journal des ‘Savans; Juin, UGG aig 16 oe eos 6 60 ie ahs om aie archer wey tele 1

18.—Gould’s Birds of Australia, No. XXIII. Lcle'ee ees Sieg = eeatseras 1

The thanks of the Society were en rotak to “ike several learn-

ed Societies and individuals by whom the above contributions have been

offered.

Nov. 1846. ] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. x¢ci

Oriental Literature.

Read letters from Major Troyer, Professor Lee, Dr. Von Martius, M.

Jules Mohl, Mr. Ellis, Dr. Sprenger, the Maharaja Apurva Krishna,

all which communications were referred to the Oriental Sub-Committee

for report and information. The subjoimed Report has accordingly

been drawn up by the Sub-Committee.

November 7th, 1846.

Meeting of the Philological Section, present—the Rev. Mr. Long,

Dr. Roer, and Captain Marshall.

1. Read a letter from Professor 8. Lee; he suggests to the Society

the publication of an Arabic Dictionary the ‘ Sihah of Jowharri,” with

an appendix.

Resolved to refer the subject to Dr. Sprenger, and ask for informa-

tion as to the expense of printing, size, &c. of the work, and anything

else he may favor us with.

2. Read a letter from Maharaja Apurva- Krishna, presenting an Urdu

Musnavie, written by himself.

Resolved, that the Raja be thanked for his present.

3. Read a letter from Dr. Sprenger, recommending the printing of a

Persian History of Cashmere in original by Mahomed Azeem, at an

expense (lithographed at Agra) of Rs. 400 (for 200 copies), and also

an English Translation of the same by himself.

Resolved, to recommend the printing of the original, and to inquire

of Dr. S. the expense of the same.

4. Read a letter from Moulavi Gholam Hyder, requesting patronage

to four Arabic and Urdu books.

Resolved, that it be recommended that five copies of each be taken.

5. Read a letter from the Librarian of the Public Library, asking for

certain oriental books.

Resolved, that a copy of each work published by the Society be pre-

sented, but many of the works belong to the Asiatic Society of Paris and

are deposited for sale.

Received a communication from the Rev. Mr. Long, stating that a

gentleman was about to print off Tabular Lists of some of the current

words of the Aboriginal languages of India with a view to their being

xcll Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Nov. 1846.

distributed to intelligent individuals for the purpose of gaining additions

to the stock.

Resolved, that the object is highly approved of and recommended

for encouragement,

[Dr. Roer having left Calcutta for Moulmein immediately after the

meeting of the Sub-Committee, the publication of the requisite extracts

from letters referred to above is unavoidably suspended till Dr. Roer’s

return in December.—W. B. Q’S.]

General Correspondence.

Read the following letters from Major Williams, descriptive of the

recent volcanic eruption at Kyouk Phyoo.

Kyouk Phyoo, 26th October, 1846.

My pear Srr,—About quarter to 9 o’clock last night, we had an eruption of one

of our Volcanoes near the village of Chein Kroong, about three or four miles from this

station, on the island of Ramree—it burst out suddenly with a slight noise, emitting

a brilliant flame, which instantly went out, and again burst forth ; this happened for

fifteen or twenty times, when the flame burnt steadily, gradually diminishing, and

disappeared altogether about daybreak, or a little before it, this morning ; it rained

heavily all the time.

The whole sky was illuminated brilliantly, and again suddenly every thing was im-

mersed in darkness during the flashes and their sudden disappearance, which I can

only compare to the effect, on a small scale, of a handful of oil, or any combustible

matter being thrown into a fire.

I have sent out ten coolies to collect stones, mud, &c. and hope to be able to

send you some by the Steamer with this letter.

Your’s sincerely,

D. WILLIAMS.

The flashes were exactly similar to those we saw out at sea two years ago, only

that in this Volcanoe we saw the flame, there is therefore no doubt but that a Vol-

canoe burst out of the sea at the time I allude to, and which some attributed to

a vessel on fire.

Oct. 28th. I send you specimens under the care of Ensign Anderson of the 25th.

Kyouk Phyoo, 28th October, 1846.

My pear Sir,—I have had a more correct description of the Volcanoe to-day—

the size of the Crater is about six feet in diameter only; surrounded on all sides to

some extent with soft mud knee-deep, and the jhow or Cassuarino trees growing

around unhurt, in a regular manner as if planted there ; no other kind of trees near,

and of course all other vegetation covered with the mud thrown out. It is still burn-

Nov. 1846. | Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. x¢clil

ing, and it is just now a place of resort by these superstitious people who make

offerings to the Naga, the cause of earthquakes and volcanoes. It appears that there

is no hole where the flame (still burning and about two feet high) issues from, it

comes up through the soft mud.

Your’s sincerely,

D. WILLIAMS.

I now fill up a one dozen case full of the stones, mud, &c. collected from the

volcanoe’s mouth.

ea e following letter from Captain Duran ommissioner ‘Tenas-

Read the foll g letter fi Captain Durand, C T

serim Provinces, relative to his visit to the Salones tribe.

(Copy. ) ’

No. 324.

From Captain H. M. Duranp, Commissioner Tenasserim Provinces,

To F. J. Hautipay, Esq. Secretary to the Government of Bengal, Fort William.

Dated H. Co.’s Steamer ‘* Proserpine,’’ the 11th April, 1846.

Sir,—I have the honor to report that when proceeding from Mergui to the

Pak Chau, I gave permission to Mr. Brayton, of the American Baptist Mission, to

embark on board the H. Co.’s Steamer ‘‘ Proserpine,’ and on passing the Island

of Lampee, he was landed in Marble Island Bay.

2. The object of this gentleman’s visit to the island of Lampee was of a purely

missionary character with reference to the Salones.

3. I took advantage of his visit to request that he would have the goodness to

assemble as many of the Salones as could conveniently be brought together, in order

that on the return of the Steamer I might have an opportunity of communicating

with them,

4. On my return from the Pak Chau to Marble Island Bay, I found forty Salone

boats assembled. Each boat was said to contain on an average ten individuals,

men, women and children. The boats were excellent, and the appearance of the

people neither so savage nor miserable as from their mode of life might have been

anticipated. They were decently clad and seemed not at all deficient in intelli-

gence.

5. The humane exertions of my predecessor to induce these people to enter upon

a more civilized mode of life, and to attempt cultivation, and the formation of vil-

lages failed ; but encouraged by the example of a Salone family from one of the is-

lands to the southward of our territories, the Lampee Salones are now meditating

the establishment of two small villages, one of six and another of five houses. The

Salone who has set the example has cultivated between two and three acres. 'The

tamily state that the islands to the southward of the British territories are frequent-

ed by Salones in greater number than those in the Mergui Archipelago, and that

some of the Southern Salones have taken to cultivation and form permanent villages.

The language is the same with that of the Salonese of the Mergui Archipelago.

XCiV Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Nov. 1846.

6, Although the exertions of my predecessor failed in one respect, his liberality

and the application of Mr. Brayton have succeeded in another and a very important

particular.” Mr. Brayton having acquired some knowledge of the Salone language,

has taught several of them to read, and there is every probability of his Salone

school being increased during the approaching rains. I forward three copies of the

first Salone work, a small primer.

7, One of my objects in assembling the Lampee Salones was to ascertain whether

they had during this dry season been visited by Malay Boats, their great dread. I

was happy to learn that these timid unresisting people had during the dry season

been free from molestation, and carried on their Sea Slug collections undisturbed

and successfully.

8. Formerly the Salones paid a tax to Government of 3 rupees a boat, the tax was

discontinued by my predecessor, and I have not imposed any new one upon them,

nor do Lintend it. Their Sea Slug collection is not unproductive, the slug selling at

the rate of 30 to the rupee; but with the exception of a few mats, the making of

which is the S. W. monsoon occupation, the slug forms their only wealth; it is

caught or rather dug up, during the N. E. monsoon, at the period of low water in

spring tides, and it is from the value of this article in the Mergui market that they

obtain the means of purchasing rice, salt, and clothes. Their food is rice, fish,

and shell fish; a few hogs are caught and killed by the aid of their numerous dogs,

and some of the Lampee Salones had fowls with them. When as frequently occurs,

the Salones have expended their rice, they have resort to a wild root which grows

in abundance, and which after much maceration in water, parts with its poisonous

matter, and becomes safe and edible.

9. I have no means of ascertaining or estimating the number of Salones in the

Mergui Archipelago. Any guess must be a very random one. At Lampee, a

favorite Salone place of resort, I suppose that instead of forty, with timely warn-

ing, nearly 100 boats might have been assembled, but it is their best frequented

place of wandering. What the forests are to the Karens, the sea and the coasts of

the islands of the Mergui Archipelago are to the Salones. The latter having boats,

dispense with houses altogether, and are therefore still more migratory in their

habits than the Karens. These are habits which it will require much time and favor-

ing circumstances to break.

I have, &c.

(Signed) H. M. Duranp,

Commissioner T. P.

(True Copy)

Crcit BEADON,

Under-Secy. to the Govt. of Bengal.

The Meteorological Registers kept at Kyouk Phyoo for September,

1846, were presented by the acting Superintendent of Marine.

Nov. 1846. | Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. xcV

Read a note from Captain Brodie to Major Jenkins, forwarding an

Assam alphabet and numerals. (Referred to the Oriental Sub-Commit-

fee).

Mr. Piddington presented the annexed extract from Dr. Spilsbury’s

letter, forwarded with coins presented to the Society.

I send you some specimens of copper currency dug up at Irun Irun, (or Ariun

of the maps,) famous for its lath, and an immense Burah, a drawing of which you

will see in Asiatic Journal but I have not time to refer to the number.

Nore.—Some of the supposed coins are evidently drops from small copper cast-

ings. Perhaps the castings of the very curious little relics themselves ?

Hop.

A notice of the Nicobar islands was received from the Rev. L. Barbe

and referred to the Committee of Papers.

(This valuable paper will be published in an early number of the

Journal).

Read the following memorandum from Mr. Torrens, relative to the

discovery of silver coins, and some remarkable specimens of pottery

on Sagur island.

The accompanying specimens* of pottery are presented through Mr. R. J.

Snell, C. S. They were brought from Sagor Island, having been found on what

appeared the site of a deserted village not far from Sagor Point. The party who

went on a pleasure excursion to explore the jungle and by whom these relics where

discovered, met with a more than ordinary visitation from the effects of the pestilen-

tial tract into which they had ventured.

Having heard of coins having been found by some of the Lascars attached to the

light establishment on Sagor Point,—information which he obtained from the

Marine Superintendant’s Office, to whom the coins (here exhibited) had been sent,

—a European clerk, named Waller, employed as Accountant in the Calcutta Stamp

Office, with the two friends, named Denham and Kay, went to explore the spot.

They brought away the earthenware specimens which Mr. Waller intended for the

Society’s Museum, but before I could obtain particulars of this discovery from him,

he was struck down, as also were his two companions simultaneously almost, with

jungle fever, of which Denham and Waller died on the same day; the third person

Mr. Kay, escaping death after a very severe struggle. While on their expedition

* Two images of the destroying power, in the shape of Kaloo Raee and Dukhin Raee.

They are commonly revered about the Soonderbuns, and no wood-cutter, or hunter en-

ters the jungle without pooja to them,

Two earthen lamp stands.

Various ordinary pots.

xevl Proceedings of the Asiatic Society.

a native servant with them was carried off in the jungle by a tiger. These incidents

give further evidence of the excessive danger attending the exploration of a natu-

rally unhealthy tract at the most unhealthy season of the year.

The coins* silver and gold, together with a broken ring of base metal, were found

in the jungle between the light-house stockade and the sea at Sagor point. Some of

the lascars having been seen constant-

ly at work in the jungle, were watched,

and these coins found upon one of them,

who sought to get away to Calcutta

under circumstances which excited sus-

* Silver—76; 10 with a native friend

for inspection—66 submitted. Gold—16,

(one broken, ) base metal, one broken ring.

1.—( Obverse.)—U1 Sooltan ul Azim

Shumsh ood Dooniya wu ood Deen Ibn

ul Muzuffer ul—ul Sooltan.

[Nov. 1846.

( Reverse. )—La Ullah ila ul Ullah, Mu-

hummad Rusvol Ullah ul Mustunzir bu

Oomr ul—Umeer ul Momineen. :

2.—Fee uhad ul Imam ul Mustunzir

Umeer ul Momineen, or in some, Imam u!

Musta’assim.

picion. The silver coins are all rupees,

and generally in good preservation: all

are of Musalman kings. The coin put

apart in paper is a good specimen. Its

legend is as noted marginally. A great number of them belong to one coinage

bearing on the reverse (No. 2 legend), I have not had time to go through them

all, nor identify their era. Some are in the hands of a native friend, and if returned

to me I can easily classify or have classified the whole.

The gold coins are fanams, such as are, or were current in southern India. The

base metal ring appears of the same composition with those fanams of zinc and

silver, of which I found a large bagful in the museum without a trace of whence they

came, or wherefore.

The character,t which is not Tamul, may lead to identify these coins, which when

returned I will endeavour to do. The whole was most likely deposited on the

shore of Sagor Island in the wreck of some native vessel.

Should the Society, or any members desire to possess any of these coins they can

be taken rupee for rupee, and the gold at its value.

Nov. 4th, 1846. H. Torrens.

REpPoRT oF THE CURATOR OF THE Museum or Economic GEOLOGY FOR

OcTOBER.

Geology and Mineralogy.

We have received from Professor Zipser of Neusohl in Hungary, in continuation

of his letter, which will be found in the Proceedings for August, 1845, a box contain -

ing the first hundred of the collections offered by him.

I have translated Dr. Zipser’s letter and catalogue ; the letter is as follows :—

HonovurABLeE Srrs,—I have received in due course the obliging letters of the

illustrious Asiatic Society of Calcutta, and am happy to find that my proposal for the

augmentation of the Museum was acceptable I have in consequence forwarded to

Messrs. Waitjen and Co, at Bremen, a chest marked A. S. of B. No. 1.

+ L have some reason to believe it to be the Musalman Chulia character.

Noy. 1846.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. Xevli

It contains as a specimen, the first Century (hundred) of my Orycto Geognostical

Mineral Collections of Hungary. Without waiting for the acknowledgment of it

by your Honourable Society. I shall forward forthwith the second hundred and

proceed with the despatch of others as time and stock will allow me. I flatter myself

in this wise to be of some small service to the Scientific Institution of Calcutta.

If the Honourable Society will favor me with the works published by it relative to

the Natural Sciences, that is to say ‘‘ The Proceedings of the Asiatic Society,’’* or

with its works on Oriental Literature, I shall feel greatly obliged. I fear only the

expenses of carriage. Those from Bremen I shall gladly undertake to pay. If my

unpretending donation should come to the knowledge of the European-renowned

Indian Baboo, Dwarkanath Tagore, and he should desire any of my collections for his

son, who is studying in London, I shall be most ready to forward them to him. It

will be of the highest possible gratification to me to have in this manner awakened

in him a taste for Natural History.

The honourable Society’s obedient servant, &c.

Dr. ZipsEeR, Professor.

Neusohl in Hungary, 18th March, 1846.

P. S.—As a devoted Coin-collector I cannot conceal my wish to obtain some large

Asiatic Silver Coins, and I take the liberty thankfully to beg to be allowed to offer

repayment of their nominal worth.

1. The largest silver money used in Bengal in the 19th Century.

2. The same from Bombay, Madras, Island of Ceylon, (one rix dollar,) Sumatra

and Java,

3. The large silver coins of the settlements in India, Danish, French, Dutch,

Portuguese.

All these are wanting in my collection, therefore I shall be most thankful if at

least I can obtain a part of them.

H. Pippineton, Esq. Asiatie Society of Bengal, Calcutta.

Bremen, 14th April, 1846.

Srr,—We have in due time received your valued lines of September last, accom-

pained by a letter of introduction of Messrs. Huschke, Wattenbach and Co., of

your city, and with pleasure have offered to your correspondent, Professor Dr.

Zipser, of Neusohl, in Hungary, our services for the purpose of forwarding any

packages, he may have to send to you this way.

We have now received of him for your Society, (A. S. of B.) 1 box of minerals,

which, in the absence of any direct opportunity for your port, we have shipped to

London, as directed, to Messrs W. H. Allen and Co., Booksellers, there, requesting

these gentlemen to forward the same by the first vessel, to your address.

For our expenses, viz.

* The Transactions are probably meant, but the Journal contains much more matter

relative to the Natural Sciences.—H. P.

xeviil Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Nov. 1846.

Freight and charges from Neusohl to Vienna, ......ee...ee-08 ff. a 0

Freight from thence to Bremen, 2... ,. 0000 Ss secu es cccueecses fy 9 30

f. °°" PP°S6

or Rd. 9 59

Shipping charges here, 2h0. 2.09 OU Ae, ea see ee eb es we de 0 63

Postage from Neusohl and Vienna to London,.........ssseeeeee f. 22

In-all, BrementRix dallarsye: 5.2 Seer ee oe eee ke ok c Ce eases 12°" *@

We have drawn on Messrs. Hinck and Co., in Hamburg, who will recover this

amount from you through their agents, Messrs. Huschke, Wattenbach and Co., of

your city.

With a tender of our services in this place, we have the honor to be, &c.

D. H. Wartrsen and Co.

I trust that the Socicty will meet this liberal donation, which has been obtained by

Circulars of the Museum of Economic Geology, republished on the continent by my

brother at Brussels, in a corresponding spirit. Our reply to him offered in exchange

what might suit his views, whether scientific or literary. And he has pointed out

what would be agreeable to him.

Economic Geology.

Captain Ouseley has sent us from Chota Nagpore for Mr. Williams of Llandilo,

a good supply of the Agalmatolite mentioned in my report of October, 1844, and

June 1845, as that gentleman is desirous of having trials made of it. As it looks

promising, I have requested Messrs. Lyall, Matheson and Co. to forward specimens

to China, to learn if it has any commercial value with the Chinese, whose taste in

the stones of this class used by them for ornamental work is peculiar, and to us quite

unknown. Corresponding specimens are kept in the museum marked—

No. 1. Large flat Slabs,

No. 2. More massive kind, but in thick layers,

and these may be always referred to.

At the August Meeting (I think) our Secretary handed to me a letter from the

Secretary to Government of Bengal with a copy of a report from Dr. McClelland, re-

specting some Coal from Badam near Chota Nagpore, sent to Government by Lieut.-

Colonel Ouseley.

As we had no specimen of this Coal I requested Colonel Ouseley to be good

enough to furnish us with some, which he has, as usual, obligingly done ; and speci-

mens are on the table. Dr. McClelland has reported on this Coal, which indeed ap-

pears of amost promising quality, but its position, until we have a rail-road, is sadly

against it.

A gentleman who does not wish his name to be known, has obliged us with three

small but very pretty carved blocks of Chinese ornamental stone. The one is grey

and is clearly an Agalmatolite ; the second is probably the variety called Lardite by

Nov. 1846. | Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. Xclx

some Mineralogists ; and the third I should suppose to be a serpentine. These

little specimens are too small and neat to spoil by chipping for further examination,

but they serve to show the ornamental uses to which these minerals are so ex-

tensively applied in the east.

We received some time ago from Messrs. Fowle and Lonsdale of Moulmein a box

containing upwards of thirty specimens of Ores from the Antimony Mines* near

that place, with a request that they might be examined, their desire being of course

to ascertain carefully and certainly if they contained any, and what, proportion of

the precious metals. One of the Ores sent up was indeed a ‘‘ supposed Antimonial

silver.”’

Now, in complicated ores of this description, this sort of examination requires great

care, time, and often repeated analysis, before a negative can safely be pronoun-

ced from a small specimen, to assure the miner or smelter who works on a large scale

that nothing of value exists in his ores, and these references have thus occupied a

very considerable portion of time and labour, and as is often the case in such inves-

tigations, have proved wholly unfruitful. Antimony, Iron, Arsenic and Sulphur with

Bismuth, and in one instance a trace of Molybdena being all which can be discover-

edinthem. The results have been sent to Messrs. Brightman, but are not worth

detailing or printing.

I have suggested however to these gentlemen that they may find it well worth

their while to sink a shaft ‘‘ for a change of ores.’? AsI now understand their ope-

rations they seem to be occupied with what one might call mere surface-digging rather

than mining, and the pronouncing, as we must now do, that these ores contain nothing

of value, is not to be understood as saying that the locality contains nothing, but

merely that the ores at the surface have not been found valuable ; which in Corn-

wall, and I think in Germany, is often thought to be a favourable indication. _

We have received from Mr. Williams, the Hon’ble Company’s Geologist,a collec-

tion of the Sandstone and Coal of the Burdwan district, collected by him in his sur-

vey, of which he has sent corresponding series for the Museum of the Hon’ble Com-

pany and for the National Museum of Economic Geology in London.

The proceedings of the evening were closed by a demonstration by the

Curator of the Museum of Zoology, of numerous valuable additions to

the Museum, acquired during the previous month.

Report oF THE Society’s ZooLocicaAu CurAatToR FOR THE MEETING HELD

NovemeBer 47TH, 1846.

W. B. O’SuHavuensssy, Esa., Senior Secretary of the Asiatic Society.

Sim,—Agreeably to your request, I resume the monthly publication of my reports

of donations to the Zoological department of the Society’s Museum, which the

pressure of occupation and the impossibility of continuing regularly to treat the

* From an Estate belonging to Messrs. Brightman and Co,

c Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Nov. 1846.

subjects of my reports in such detail as was formerly my custom, and also my prac-

tice of embodying the substance of them in another form—as opportunities arose

for treating on the different groups of animals they referred to, have conduced to

occasion a very long suspension of their publication, which I trust will be in part

remedied by that of a catalogue of the rich collection of Vertebrata now in the

Museum, A brief summary notice of the objects presented to the Society during

the past month, with the names of the several donors, is all that is now required

of me, and as much as can be conveniently given on the present and similar occa-

sions.

I have to acknowledge the receipt of a large case of specimens, despatched from

London by Mr. Bartlett, and containing collections presented by several gentlemen

to the Society, with the view both of assisting my researches, and some of them in

return for specimens which I have formerly sent away on behalf of the Society.

To Mr. W. Davison, proprietor of the Alnwick Museum, our thanks are espe-

cially due, for a very rich collection of British mammalia and birds, comprising

various species that I greatly wanted, and some of considerable rarity. Among the

mammalia are fine specimens of Cervus elaphus (imperfectly mature male), C. dama

(remarkably fine), and C. capreolus (female) ; also an albino specimen of the com-

mon Seal (Phoca vitulina), an Otter (Lutra vulgaris), &c. &c. ; with 112 specimens

of British birds, for the most part in excellent order.

Mr. Kirtland, of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, has also favored us with 50

species of British birds, comprising some that were very acceptable.

Mr. H. E. Strickland has presented a valuable labelled collection of mammalia,

birds, reptiles, and shells, containing among the first Rhinolophus hipposideros and

Vespertilio pipistreiius, among the third a nearly complete series of British rep-

tiles, and 123 species of British shells, in general showing the progress from youth

to maturity, and comprising many specimens of the great majority of the species.

The birds consist, for the most part, of generic types, and are therefore of especial

value, more particularly as they comprehend various rare species that had long been

desiderata with me, from continental Europe, North and South America, Africa,

Australia, and even Northern Asia.

Mr. Bartlett, in packing the above collections, added several interesting species

from his own stores, as particularly some fine examples of the smaller British mam-

malia, a skull of the European Bos taurus, &c.

Dr. Stewart, of H. M. 50th Regiment, has sent from Allahabad, various reptiles

and fishes preserved in spirit, and living specimens of Aguila falvescens, Po-

liornis teesa, Urrua bengalensis, and U. umbrata.

Mr. E. O’Ryley, of Amherst, various reptiles, fishes, and insects, preserved in

spirit.

Captain Wall, of the ‘ Tenasserim’ S. V., a remarkably fine specimen of the

‘Tokké Lizard of the Tenasserim Provinces (Platydactylus Duvaucelei.) The

range of this species extends northward into Arracan and Assam.

Noy. J846. | Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. cl

Mr. Birch, of the Pilot Service, various reptiles, fishes, and Crusfacea, from the

vicinity of the Sandheads,

Mr. Halfhyde, of the Preventive Service, a very fine specimen, just dead, of

Paleornis erythrogenys of the Nicobars, also a stuffed example of Ostracion cor-

nutus, and some other specimens.

Lastly, I must beg to express my thanks to the Joint-Secretary of the Society,

J. Laidlay, Esq., for the assistance he has rendered in setting up Mr. Strickland’s

shells ; and the acknowledgments of the Society are due to him for a variety of

species (especially tertiary shells from the later deposits of the Paris basin), with

which he has enriched its collection: and i must also bring prominently to your

notice Mr. E. Lindstedt’s volunteered services in setting up severel skeletons of

birds, (including a fine Emeu,) which, with a large collection of other skeletons

yet in store, had been long awaiting their turn to be mounted, with no immediate

prospect of it from the incessant demands of other duties upon the time of my

subordinates.

In conclusion, I must take this opportunity of mentioning at least the names of

some of the most liberal of the many contributors to our Zoological collections,

during the last three years. It may seem almost invidious not to enumerate a still

longer list, but the Society has been very greatly indebted to the exertions of

Captain Phayre, and of Captain Abbott, in Arracan ; of the Rev. J. Barbe, in Tip-

_perah, the Tenasserim Provinces, the Nicobar Islands, and Penang; also of Captain

Lewis, in the Nicobars, and at Tranquebar ; of E. O’Ryley, Esq. of Amherst ; of

the Rev. F. J. Lindstedt, Malacca ; of F. Skipwith, Esq. in Sylhet, Tipperah, and

Chittagong; of Major Jenkins, in Assam; C. S. Bonnevie, Esq. Rungpore ; Dr.

Stewart, now in Allahabad ; G.T. Lushington, Esq. Almorah ;—not to mention more

particularly Mr. Jerdon, Lord Arthur Hay, and Mr. Frith ; and we have received high-

ly valuable collections from the Royal University of Christiania ; of Malayan species

from the Natural History Society of Batavia; and of Australian from the Sydney

Museum. Further collections are moreover at this time expected, and partly from

new contributors and fresh localities; and we have every reason to hope and expect,

under existing encouragement, that the Zoological department of the Society’s

Museum will continue to thrive as it has done, and to excite increasing interest

with all whose tastes lead them to study the diversified tribes of animals, which in

this country are everywhere so abundant, and yet so little generally known, for the

most part, even to professed students of systematic Natural History.

I have the honour to be, &c.

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Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, DeEcEMBER, 1846.

The usual monthly meeting was held on Wednesday evening, the

2d December.

The Hon’ble Sir J. P. Grant, in the chair.

The Senior Secretary read the proceedings of the last meeting.

Captain Marshall objected to the election of Mr. Torrens as a

permanent Vice-President of the Society,—and the title of Monorary

V. P. was accordingly substituted. —

The proceedings were then confirmed.

Dr. Hough, Physician General, and Lieut. Latter, B. N. 1. were

ballotted for and duly elected members.

Dr. Duncan Stewart, was proposed by Dr. W. B. O’Shaughnessy,

seconded by Mr. Laidlay.

Mr. Edgeworth, C. 8S. having returned from furlough, has notified

his intention of rejoining the Society, and has been supplied with the

back numbers of the Journal published during his absence.

The Senior Secretary produced the accounts of the past month,

and stated that the debts of the Society, in conformity with the reso-

lution of the monthly meeting of October, were all paid off, except the

Bishop’s College bills for printing, which would be discharged imme-

diately ; further, that funds were reserved to meet the liabilities arising

from Mr. Blyth’s claim, and the purchase of Journals from the late

Secretary.

The Committee of Papers having deemed it necessary to make new

arrangements regarding the Society’s accounts, proposed the appoiat-

ment of Mr. J. Muller,* on a salary of 60 Rs. a month.

Captain Marshall objected to the appointment, as the accounts would

be kept at the Mint and rendered inaccessible to the members. He

would prefer employing some native to act as Librarian and account-

ant, and keep the books, &c. at the Society’s rooms.

* The principal accountant of the Mint.

civ Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Dec. 1846

The Senior Secretary explained that it was impossible for him to

transact the business of the Society, and have its accounts and cor-

respondence kept in order, unless the office establishment were situated

where he had to pass the official day—Mr. Muller’s great skill as an

accountant was well known, and he would soon prove his usefulness to

the Society. The accounts, the Secretary added, should be produced

at each monthly meeting, and a copy laid on the Library-table during

each ensuing month for general perusal.

Colonel Forbes, bore strong testimony to Mr. Muller’s skill and to

the necessity for adopting the arrangements proposed by the Commit-

tee of Papers.

The proposal having been seconded by Mr. Ward, was agreed to una-

nimously, Captain Marshall having withdrawn his objections.

By direction of the Committee of Papers it was communicated to

the Society that a representation having been made by the Librarian

of the property of the Society bemg im a most insecure state from 4

P. M. daily till 10 A. M. next day, valuable books, pictures, arms, &c.

being left entirely open and only nominally in charge of the Durwans

at the outer gate,—they had temporarily engaged as a night guard a

European, (who brought certificates of good character,) at 40 Rs. and

two native Chokedars obtained from Mr. McCann, Deputy Superinten-

dent of Police, at 6 Rs. each. The Committee requested that this

arrangement be confirmed by the General Meeting—as a temporary

measure. (Approved accordingly.)

The Committee of Papers stated that they have requested sub-com-

mittees to visitand report on the state of the Library, and the mu-

seums, in the several departments.

The following list of Books was submitted by the Librarian.

Books received during the month of Nov. for the Meeting of 2d Dec. 1846.

PRESENTED.

1. Meteorological Register for October, 1846.—From the Surveyor General’s

Office.

2. The Oriental Christian Spectator, for November, 1846.—By the Editor.

3. Report on the Embankments of the Rivers of Bengal.—By the Government.

4. Report of the Mesmeric Committee appointed by the Government to observe

and report upon Surgical Operations by Dr. Esdaile, two copies.—By the Govern-

ment,

Dec. 1846. | Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. cv

5. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Nos. 27 and 28.—By the

Society.

6. Tully’s Offices —By Mr. Parker.

7. Norris’s Miscellany.—By Mr. Parker.

8. Two Treatises on Government, being Essays on Political Economy.—By Mr.

Parker.

9. Boyle’s Incentives to the love of God.—By Mr. Parker.

10. Labour and Indian Immigration question at Mauritius.—By H. Torrens, Esq.

11. The Calcutta Journal of Natural History, 4 Nos.—By H. Torrens, Esq.

12. Christa Sangita, 2 copies. (Sanscrit)—By H. Torrens, Esq.

13. Macnaghten’s Muhummadan Law.— By H. Torrens, Esq.

14. Hindu Intelligencer, Nos. 1 to 3.—By the Editor.

15. Bacon Paraphrased ; or Annotations on Bacon’s Essays. —By Babu Rajendra-

lal Mittra.

16. Gelehrte Anzeigen, Vols. 6 to 21.—By the Royal Bavarian Academy.

17. Denkschriften ;—Abhandlungen der Koniglich Bayerischen Akademie der

Wissenschaften, Vols. 10 to 21,—By the same.

18. Akademischer Almanach auf das Jahr 1843, 44 and 45, 3 pamphlets.—By

the same.

19. Die Japhetiden und ihre gemeinsame Heimath Armenien, ] pamphlet.—By

the same.

20. Gedechtnissrede auf Samuel Thomas von Sémmerring, von Dr. F. Dollingen,

1 pamphlet.—By the same. '

21. Beleuchtung der Epikureischen Ethik, von Dr. Friedrich Arp, 1 pamphlet.

—By the same.

22. Ueber das Studium der Griechischen und Rémischen Alterthumer, von Ernst

von Lasaulx, 1 pamphlet.—By the same. ;

23. Ueber die Vegetationsgruppen in Bayern, 1 pamphlet.—-By the same.

24. Die Baukunst und ihre Bedeutung im Staate, 1 pamphlet.—By the same.

' 25. Ueber die Gorgonen Fabel, von Dr. Franz Streber, 1 pamphlet.—By the same.

26. Mannigfaltigkeit in der organischen und unorganischen Natur, von Franz

von Kobell.—By the same.

27. Ueber die Nebelflecken, von Dr. J. Lamont, 1 pamphlet. —By the same.

28. Ueber Telegraphie, insbesondere durch galvanische Krifte. Von Dr. C. A.

Steinheil, 1 pamphlet.—By the same.

29. Mohammed’s Religion.

Von Joh. Jos. Ignaz Dollinger, 1 pamphlet.—By

the same.

30. Ueber das magnetische Observatorium der Konigl Sternwarte bei Min-

chen. Von Dr. J. Lamont, Miinchen, 1841, 1 pamphlet.—By the same

31. Betrachtungen iiber die Geschiclite, von J. K. Ritter Von Roch-Sternfeld.

Miinchen, 1841, 1 pamphlet.—By the same,

evi Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Dec. 1846.

32. Rede zum Andenken an Ignaz Dollinger, Von Dr. Ph. Fr. v.. Walther.

Miinchen, 1841, 1 pamphlet.—By the same.

33. Geschichte der bayerischen Subsidien, vom Jahre 1740 bis 1762. Von

Joseph von Stichauer, Miinchen, 1842, 1 pamphlet.—By the same.

34. Die Kartoffel Epidemie der letzten Jahre oder die Stockfaule und Raude der

Kartoffeln, Von Dr. S. Fr. Ph. v. Martius. Miinchen, 1842, 1 pamphlet.—By the

same,

35. Rede, gehalten zur 84sten Feyer des Stiftungstages der kéniglich bayeri-

schen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Miinchen, 1843, 1 pamphlet.—By the same.

36. Deutsch und Welsch, oder der Weltkampf der Germanen und Romanen.

Von Dr. Maassmann, Miinchen, 1843, 1 pamphlet.—By the same.

37. Rede zum Andenken an den hochwiirdigsten Herrn Ignatz von Streber, von

Dr. Franz Streber, Miinchen, 1843, 1 pamphlet.—By the same.

38 Die Geologie in ihrem Verhiltnisse zu den tibrigen Naturwissenschaften.

Von Dr. Karl Schashaut]. Minchen, 1843, 1 pamphlet.—By the same.

39. Der Fortschritt der Sprachenkunde und ihre gegenwartige Aufgabe, von

Friedrich Windischmann. Miinchen, 1844, 1 pamphlet.—By the same.

40. Andeutungen zur Charakteristik des organischen Lebens, Miinchen, 1845,

1 pamphlet.—By the same.

Exchanged.

41. The Athenzeum, for September 26th, 1846.

42. The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine, No. 193.

43. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Vol. xvi. part. IT.

Purchased.

44, The Annals and Magazine of Natural History, No. 118, September, 1846.

45. Journal des Savants, Juillet, 1846.

Read a note from Mr. Torrens, forwarding certain stray papers be-

longing to the Society.

Submitted M. S. from Mr. Blyth on the Zoology of the Nicobar

Islands, and of Chusan, in elucidation of the Paper by the Rev. Mr.

Barbe, and of Dr. Cantor’s drawings.

Read a note from H. Brown, Esq. of Rangoon forwarding a box of

fossil specimens from the Makkera Ming, brother to his Majesty the

king of Burmah.

Read a note from Dr. Taylor, late Civil Surgeon of Dacca, forwarding

revised copy of his remarks on the sequel to the Periplus of the Ery-

threean sea, first presented on the 6th of May.

Dr. O'Shaughnessy exhibited a specimen of Schienbein’s gun cotton

obtained from Mr, J. W. Grant, gave an account of its properties and

Dec. 1846.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. evil

added some conjectures as to its preparation, which though kept secret

by the inventor, Dr. O’Shaughnessy said he believed he could readily

describe.—The specimen was too small for analysis, but on microscopic

examination by Mr. Grant, proved not to be imbued with any crystalline

matters. Dr. O'Shaughnessy added that he had several years since

observed numerous facts, during the destruction of organic matters by

strong Nitric acid in medico-legal analyses, which convince him now that

Schoenbein’s gun cotton is prepared by the action of Nitric acid on that

substance—which is thus converted practically into solid Carbonic acid.

He had since receiving the specimen from Mr. Grant made several

experiments which were quite sufficient to shew that by the action of

Nitric acid at a properly regulated strength and temperature, on cotton,

flax, tow, paper and other organic matters, a powerfully explosive com-

pound is easily obtained.

Dr. Roer, the Co-Secretary, Oriental Department, stated, that he had

received from Dr. O’Shaughnessy a letter from Major Jenkins, for-

warding impressions of the coins of the Ahom kings, and also a corre-

spondence between Major Jenkins and Captain Brodie, respecting the

characters and numerals of the Ahom language, and vocabularies of the

Ahom and Khamti languages.—He was of opinion from the specimens

he had seen, that the Ahom vocabulary did not refer to the ancient

Ahom language, a branch of the Shan, which had ceased to be spoken,

and was only understood by the priests, the preservers of the ancient

religious traditions, but that it appeared to refer to the common

Ahom or Assamese language, which is very similar to the Bengali.

The Khamti language, he further observed, was a dialect of the Shan,

the characters however, Burmese, and he proposed, that Capt. Latter

should be requested to report on this vocabulary for reference to the

Oriental Section, while the Ahom vocabulary and the Ahom coins

should be immediately referred to that Section.

Ordered accordingly, and Captain Latter appointed a member of the

Oriental Sub-committee.

The Rev. Mr. Long submitted a statement of the price of grain at

Chinsurah, showing the average for the last fifty years.

A lengthened conversation ensued regarding the neglect of the inves-

tigation of the Ajunta caves and other topics of antiquarian research for

which the Society long since appointed a Special Committee, and Mr.

evil Proceedings of the Asiatie Society.

Laidlay was requested to examine the records of the Society and re-

port on this subject.

Mr. Blyth, Zoological Curator, read a list of books and periodicals

he desired to have purchased for his department, and was requested to

refer his wishes to the Committee of Papers in the regular course.

JOURNAL

OF THE

AsltATIC SOCIETY.

Notices and Descriptions of various New or Little Known Species of

Birds. By Ev. Buytu, Curator of the Asiatic Society's Museum.

[Continued from Vol. XLV, p. 602].

Buzzards. Archibuteo hemiptilopus, nobis. Nearly allied to the Mexican

Arch. regalis, figured by Mr. G. R. Gray in his illustrated work on the

‘Genera of Birds’; having the tarsi, as in that species, feathered to the

toes in front and externally, bare and scutated behind, and reticulated

for a slight distance on either side, the latter being hidden by the

feathers. Length, of probably a fine female, about twenty-eight inches,

the wing twenty and a quarter, and tail thirteen inches; beak, from

point to gape, two inches; and tarse exceeding three inches. Colour

(of the only specimen examined) a rich deep fuscous-brown, slightly

glossed with pink on the upper-parts; the inter-scapularies shading

laterally to fulvescent : on the nape, the feathers are merely tipped with

dusky-brown, the remainder being pure white, which shews very conspi-

cuously : head mingled whitish and brown, the latter predominating

on the crown, the former on the lower ear-coverts and throat: from the

base of the lower mandible proceeds a large blackish moustache : breast

fulvescent, the feathers more or less largely tipped with deep brown;

and the abdomen, flanks, vent, lower tail-coverts, with the long tibial

and the tarsal plumes, are of an uniform rich very dark brown throughout,

approaching to blackish: primaries dusky, paler above the emargination

of their outer webs, and the smaller primaries and the secondaries are

No. 169. No. 85, New Serizs. B

2 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 169.

obscurely, though distinctly, banded : internally, the large alars are white

at base, as in other Buzzards : tail barred throughout with many narrowish

undulating bands, alternately dusky and paler, becoming successively

more obscure towards the base, and the subterminal dusky band

broadish ; beneath, the tail is albescent to near its base, and the stems

_ of the caudal feathers are very white, both above and below. Beak

dusky horn-coloured, yellowish laterally at base of mandibles, and with

apparently a livid wax-coloured cere : the toes also, and hind portion of

the tarsi, livid waxy; and the talons horny-black. A very splendid

species, from Darjeeling.

_ Another fine Buzzard, the Buteo aquilinus, Hodgson, nobis, J. A. S.

(March) 1845, p. 176, has since been described by Mr. Hodgson by ‘

the name B. leucocephalus, in Proc. Zool. Soc. (April) 1845, p. 2t, 37.

where he speaks of it as ‘‘ peculiar to the Cachar and Tibet.” I repeat :

my former suggestion, that it is probably the Falco asiaticus of Latham, (

described to inhabit China. :

A third was described by Mr. Hodgson, in the ‘ Bengal Sporting :

Magazine,’ for 1836, p. 182, by the name Circus plumipes, which he has :

since altered to Buteo plumipes, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1845, p. 37, oo

retaining his opinion of its near affinity to Circus.*

A fourth is the B. canescens, Hodgson, (vide J. A. S. XII, 308,) which

is decidedly the ‘ Nasal Falcon’ of Latham; and Mr. Jerdon now iden-

tifies with it his B. longipes, and I much suspect that B. rufiventer,

Jerdon, is merely a small male of the same. Also, I think that B. pec-

toralis, Vieillot, will prove to be no other, in which case this last speci-

fic name will have to be retained. I have procured specimens of this

bird in the neighbourhood of Kishenaghur and Moorshedabad, in Lower

Bengal, and have picked up an undoubted feather of it in a mangoe tope

much nearer to Calcutta; but in the vicinity of Calcutta it must be

very rare, if it occurs at all; preferring a more open country.

* Mr. Hodgson has recently written me word that the Buteo plumipes, loc. cit., ‘ is

a Circus osculant to Buteo, as B. aquilinus (v. leucocephalus) is a Buteo osculant to

Aquila. The hétter is nota typical Buteo or Archibuteo,—witness its reticulate tarse,

&c. &c. This;Species is inserted incorrectly in the ‘ Proceedings of the Zoological

Society.’ Instead of plumipes belonging ‘‘ to Buteo proper and not to Circus,’’ it should

have been ‘belongs not to Buteo but to Circus.’—This species I have never seen,

but must confess to theoretical doubts of its truly connecting Circus with Buteo: the

latter genus and Aguila, on the other hand, are very closely allied, in fact but slight

modifications of the same immediate subtype ; and species of intermediate character

might have been looked for.

1846. ] or Little Known Species of birds. 3

B, pygmaeus, nobis, J. A. S. 1845, p. 177, is a fifth decided species,

from the Tenasserim provinces.

To the genus Spizaétus of Vieillot, Mr. G. R. Gray refers Nisaétus of

Mr. Hodgson as a synonyme (as I formerly did, in J. 4. S. XI, 456,

and XII, 305) ; thus bringing together certain species of the Old World

and of the New, concerning which suspicion at least of respective generic

diversity had been entertained. Morphnus of Cuvier, however, which had

generally been placed as synonymous with Spizaétus, is confined by Mr.

Gray to certain naked-legged species of South America, as M. urubi-

tinga and its affines; and, finally, Limnaétus, Vigors, is referred by the

same systematist to Spivaétus, though to judge from Dr. Horsfield’s

figure and description of L. unicolor (its type), he would scarcely seem

justified in doing so.

Upon a former occasion (ante, p. 176), 1 indicated the four Indian

species of undoubted Spizaétus (vel Nisaétus), after describing what I

conceived to be a new species of the form from Malacca, by the name

Nisaétus alboniger.* This last, however, proves to be decidedly the

true Falco caligatus of Raffles, (as was first pointed out to me by my

friend Dr. Cantor,) and will therefore now range as Sp. caligatus,

(Raffles) : consequently, it remains to determine what specific name

the common Bengal species, which I formerly conceived to be cali-

gatus, should retain; and this will probably be nipalensis, (Hodgson,)

since considerable doubt must attach at present to the identification

of it with the Javanese Falco niveus of Temminck. The species in

question is the Bauj Hagle and Nerwied Eagle of Latham, but does not

appear to have received a distinctive systematic name prior to that

bestowed by Mr. Hodgson, and which should refer exclusively to his

supposed crestless variety of the species, which usually presents a mere

rudiment of an occipital crest, very rarely further developed; though I

have obtained one middle-aged specimen (out of several dozens,) with a

crest two inches long.t This bird would appear to be very rare in the

Himalaya, while in the plains of Lower Bengal it is ext mely numer-

ous. I lately saw one specimen in a large collection fro

but Mr. Hodgson’s supposed crested variety of the species,

Darjeeling :

bsequently

* Also described under this name by Lord Arthur Hay, Madr. Journ. No XXXI,

145.

t More recently, also, another and younger specimen, with a slight crest, though still

very unusually developed for the species.

4 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 169.

termed by him N. pallidus, and which I refer to Falco indicus cirratus

of Ray (v. F. cirratus, Shaw), seems to be exclusively a hill bird, as are

also our other crested species, Sp. pulcher and Sp. Kieneri.

The variation in development of crest here noticed of Sp. nipalensis,

is both curious and instructive: a tendency to such prolongation of the

central occipital plumes being observable in various other Falconide,

as especially in Hieraétus (Kaup, v. Aquila,) pennatus, and slightly in

Buteo canescens ; while in the Indian Pernis, which is currently regarded

as a peculiar species by the name P. cristata, the crest is very com-

monly reduced to a mere rudiment (which might remain unnoticed if

not looked for), while in other specimens the feathers composing it are

prolonged an inch beyond those they immediately impend. Hence I

have some suspicion whether the species is really distinct from P.

apivora; and I also doubt whether more than a single species of this

very variable bird has been yet discovered. All those which are men-

tioned by Mr. G. R. Gray, I would thus provisionally reduce to one,

with the exception of my Lophastur Jerdoni, (J. A. S. XI, 464,) which

is erroneously referred by Mr. Gray to this genus; it being strictly

an aberrant Baza, and perhaps identical with B. magnirostris of the

Philippine Islands, mentioned by Mr. G. R. Gray, though I suspect as

yet undescribed.* While on this group, I may further remark that

Buteo cristatus, Vieillot, has been currently regarded as a synonyme of

Baza lophotes ; but, as described in the Dict. Class., where moreover

Australia is assigned as its habitat, it can neither be B. lophotes nor |

B. subcristata figured in Gould’s ‘ Birds of Australia’ ; and if not a “ Buse

Bondrée Huppée,” as he terms it (or Honey Buzzard), it is not impro-

bably the young of Aguila ? morphnoides, Gould, exhibiting a coloration

analogous to that of the immature plumage of its nearly allied congener,

Hieraétus pennatus, and in such case ranking as H. cristatus, (Vieillot).

* I had scarcely written the above, when the Society received asecond fine collection

of Scandinavian objects of Natural History from the University of Christiania. A

specimen of Pernis apivora is included, and I find the species is distinct from P.

cristata : the great variation of plumage is the same in both, and the varieties corres-

pond; but in P. apivora, in addition to there not being the slightest tendency to the

formation of an occipital crest, the beak is conspicuously smaller, and the toes are

much shorter. ‘Thus, in two specimens of exactly the same general dimensions, the

middle toe of P. apivora, from its separation from the next to the insertion of the

talons, measures an inch and a half; while in P. cristata it measures an inch and

seven-eighths, with the rest of the foot in proportion. The reticulate scutation of the

leg and foot is also much more prominent than in P. apivora,

1846.] or Little Known Species of Birds. 5

Among the true Hawks, we have a similar occipital crest in Astur

trivirgatus, (Tem.,) to which may be referred A. indicus, Hodgson, (Beng.

Sp. Mag. 1836, p. 177,) it being also the supposed A. palumbarius of

Mr. Jerdon’s Catalogue. The Society has lately received fine specimens

of this Goshawk from Yé (Tenasserim), forming part of a valuable collec-

tion from that province, presented by the Rev. J. Barbe, R. C. M.*

Of Indian true Aquila, as Mr. G. R. Gray now adopts the genus,

as Many as nine. species exist, which are as follow:—1. Tolmaétust

Bonelli, the Nisaétus grandis, Hodgson, and ‘ Genoese Eagle’ of Latham :

peculiar to hilly regions.—2, Ag. chrysaétos: Himalaya, and perhaps

Col. Sykes’s Dukhun bird, though Mr. Jerdon’s supposed ‘ Golden

Eagle’ of South India, refers to the next species.—3, Ag. mogilnik,

imperialis, and heliaca, Auct. India generally, chiefly however the

mountains. Of this robustly formed Eagle, there are two phases

of plumage. One is the dark brown, with pale head and nuchal plumes,

blackish forehead and throat, and often a great white patch on

the shoulder: the other has pale central stripes to the feathers of the

back, which are much broader on those of the neck and under-parts,

where they have merely dark lateral margins, and the wing also is more

or less spotted; in the latter plumage, the feathers of the back and

especially those of the breast and under-parts are considerably more

lengthened, attenuated and pointed, than in the other; and the dress

certainly does not appear to be juvenile, but analogous rather to the

spotted garb of dg. nevia. To judge from Hardwicke and Gray’s

figure, it might be thought the immature plumage of Aq. bifasciata, but

such is not the case.—4, Aq. bifasciata, Gray, v. nipalensis, Hodgson,

As. Res. XVIII, pt. Il, p. 18. Equal to the last in size, but less

robust ; and colour a dead brown, with the secondaries and great range

* Dr. M‘Clelland has lately favoured me with permission to look over his drawings

of Assamese animals; among which is one of his Spizaétus rufitinctus, Proc. Zool.

Soc. 1839, p. 153, which I consider merely to represent the adult female of Astur

trivirgatus.

t This group comprises T. Boneldi of Southern Europe and Asia, and I believe North

Africa; and T. bellicosus, v. armiger, (Shaw,) of South Africa. Mr. Hodgson thinks

that his name Nisaétus should now stand for this form; but as he has figured nipalen-

sis as the ‘‘ type of the new genus Nisaétus,’”’ J. A. S. V. 227, and subsequently charac-

terized that form as short-winged, V1, 3861, and elsewhere spoken of grandis as ‘‘an

aberrant species,’’? | am compelled in this case to dispute his claim to the sponsorship,

however unwillingly.

6 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 169.

of coverts tipped with fulvous-white, forming two conspicuous bars on

the wing; lower tail-coverts also fulvous-white, and tail tipped with the

same : wing twenty-two inches. A rare species, inhabiting mountain-

ous territory, and chiefly the Himalaya. Capt. Phayre has favoured the

Society with a very fine specimen from Arracan.—5, Aq. nevia, (Gm,) ;

‘ Spotted Eagle,’ ‘ Rough-footed Eagle,’ and ‘ Brown-backed Eagle, Var.

A’, of Latham. A beautiful and very variable species in its colouring,

allied in form to the last, but smaller; and larger, but less robust, than

the next. Fine adult males are richly empurpled brown, with fulvous-

white terminal stripes, more or less developed, on the interscapularies,

scapularies, and smaller wing-coverts ; larger and pure white spots on the

greater coverts, and two white bars tipping the secondaries and largest

coverts, as in Ag. bifasciata; tibial plumes similarly spotted, the under

tail-coverts and generally the short tarsal plumes white, and the abdomen

streaked with fulvous; cere, orbits, and toes, beautiful yellow: wing

generally about twenty inches. Others have the streaks of the upper

parts much more developed, but the white dingy and subdued, and

the dark colour generally paler: such are mostly females; and

others again, especially of the latter sex, are dull brown throughout

(inclusive of the lower tail-coverts), with sometimes paler head and

neck-hackles, the latter being however generally, though still not

always, tipped paler. This Eagle is very common in the Bengal Soon-

derbuns, and I have seen it also from the Himalaya, and from Central

India.—6, dq. fulvescens, fusca, and punctata, Gray and Hardwicke : Ag.

vindhiana, Franklin. Smaller and more robust than the last, a miniature

of Ag. mogilnik ; wing eighteen or nineteen inches, rarely twenty. Some

(females?) are uniformly deep fulvous-brown throughout : others light

fulvous, brightest upon the head and throat, obscured and dingy on the

back and scapularies, and whitish below, with dark shafts and bases of

feathers; these appear to be the young: but the most characteristic

plumage (that of the adult male?) is tawney or fulvous-brown, more

fulvous on the neck-hackles, which are tipped paler; head and throat

dusky, the coronal feathers tipped paler ; wings, breast, and lower-parts,

deep fuscous, the breast slightly speckled—and the belly and wings

spotted and streaked—with light tawny-brown; wing-bars, and tail-

tip, as in the two preceding species. Common in the plains of Upper

India, and along the banks of the Ganges above Monghyr, also in the

1846. ] or Little Known Species of Birds. 37

peninsula; but I have never seen it from the Himalaya, nor from the

Soonderbuns, where Aq. nevia is so abundant.—7, Aq. hastata; Morphnus

hastatus, Lesson: Spizaétus punctatus, Jerdon, Supp. This so much resem-

bles 4q. nevia, that it requires some practice to distinguish the two species

always, with certainty ; and the same may be said of 4q. nevia and Ag.

Sulvescens ; but the last named species could never be confounded with

the present one. It is altogether a more feeble bird than 4g. nevia, with

smaller bill and feet, and proportionally somewhat longer tarsi, but

which appear considerably more so from their slenderness. Plumage

variable ; but colour always a dead brown, as in Ag. bifasciata ; the neck-

hackles smaller than in the other species. The finest adult male

which I have procured has the coronal feathers lanceolate, and edged

paler ; a sort of supercilium formed by a range of feathers with small

whitish tips ; the nuchal hackles also tipped whitish, and the feathers of

the lower neck have each a terminal white speck ; three distinct ranges

of white terminal spots on the wings ; the tertiaries broadly whitish-

tipped ; the breast and flanks beautifully striped with a whitish medial

streak to each feather, those of the belly having a further central dark

one ; and the lower tail-coverts and tarsal plumes are pale and mottled.

Another adult male has the spots generally much less developed, but is

otherwise nearly similar. Females are commonly darker brown, with no

spots, except occasionally some on the smaller wing-coverts, and especi-

ally about the bend of the wing. The young are lighter brown, with

sometimes, traces of streaks on the pectoral and abdominal feathers ; and

the interscapularies and tertiaries are dark, contrasting strongly with the

whitish inner scapularies adjoining.—8, Hieraétus pennatus, (Br.) Kaup ;

Spizaétus milvoides, Jerdon: F. lagopus, Bengal variety, Latham. This

form chiefly deviates from the robust typical Eagles in its small size,

and proportionally small and Buzzard-like beak; also in shewing a ten-

dency to exhibit an occipital crest; in which respect, as also in the

whiteness of the under-parts in the young bird, it approximates the

Spizaétt, H. pennatus has invariably a white shoulder-spot at all ages, and

almost as constantly a white forehead. It is extensively distributed

over the country.—9, Ictinaétus malaiensis, (Reinwardt) Jerdon ;

Aquila, Heteropus, and Neopus, perniger, Hodgson : Spizaétus ?? ovivorus,

Jerdon, Supp. Remarkable for its very long wings ; its blackish colour

throughout, varied with white bands under the tail; and for the extraor-

dinary disproportion of its front toes and claws, of which the inner is

8 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 169.

‘particularly large, and the outer singularly small. Peculiar to mountain

regions. This bird conducts in some respects to Archibuteo.

These several Eagles exhibit variation of habit, as of form. The

Ictinaétus is pre-eminently a nest-robber, and feeds much on eggs: vide

J. A. S. XII, 128; where also is a notice of the nest-plundering pro-

pensities of Ag. hastata, under the supposition of the latter species being

Limnaétus unicolor. The more powerful of the tribe do not disdain to

feed on carrion; and Mr. Elliot remarks, of Ag. fulvescens,—‘‘ The

Wokhab is very troublesome in hawking after the sun becomes hot,

mistaking the jesses for some kind of prey, and pouncing on the Falcon

to seize it. I have once or twice nearly lost Shaheens” (F. peregrinator,)

he adds, ‘‘ in consequence, these flying to great distances for fear of the

Wokhab,” This is probably, therefore, the Jimach mentioned by Bu-

chanan Hamilton, (in Montgomery Martin’s compilation from his MSS.

I, 505). ‘The only pursuit worth notice which I saw in several days’

hawking,” observes the author, ‘‘ was from a large bird of prey named

Jimach, which attacked a very strong Falcon as it was hovering over

a bush into which it had driven a Partridge. The moment the Falcon

espied the Jimach it gave a scream, and flew off with the utmost

velocity, while the Jimach eagerly pursued. They were instantly

followed by the whole party, foot, horses, and elephants, perhaps 200

persons, shouting and firing with all their might, and the Falcon was

saved, but not without severe wounds, the Jimach having struck her to

the ground. I have never been able,” adds Buchanan, ‘“ to procure a

Jimach; but it appears to be a small Eagle, and is said to live entirely

on other birds of prey.” Aq. fulvescens, however, is a very indiscriminate

feeder, preying on rats, lizards, snakes, insects, and sometimes even

carrion; besides hares, and in fact whatever, living or dead, it happens

to meet with: still the fact of its attacking Falcons, or indeed of any

bird of prey attacking another, except for combat, or as when a tame

Falcon is flown at a Kite, (of Hawks thus “ picking out Hawks’ een,’’)

is, I apprehend, little known to the majority of naturalists. Lastly,

Hieraétus pennatus is a noted robber of the dove-cot and poultry-yard ;

whose depredations, as Mr. Jerdon remarks, are probably often mistaken

for those of the Kite.

Ephialtes spilocephalus, nobis, n. s.? Noctua auribarbis (?), Hodgson,

mentioned in J. A. S. VI, 369: Athene badia, (?), Hodgson, enumerated

in Mr, G. R. Gray’s list of the Raptorial birds in the British Museum.

1846.) _ | or Little Known Species of Birds. 9

This little Owl is certainly an Ephialtes (vel Scops, Auct., though it

appears this latter name was first appropriated to the Crowned Cranes),

and probably a young bird, from the loose and floccose character of its

plumage; but the aigrettes are not easily made out in the only speci-

men examined, though I believe that I have distinctly traced them. Its

size is that of Hph. lettia, but the bill, feet, and talons, are considerably

smaller. Length about nine inches, of wing six, and tail three anda

quarter; bill, in greatest vertical depth, seven-sixteenths of an inch;

feathered tarse an inch and one-eighth; length of middle toe and claw

but an inch, the claws slender, delicate, and of a whitish hue; beak pale

yellowish, or yellowish-white. The plumage of the head is very full

and puffy, the feathers loose and light; each of them having two

pale-coloured spots, set off with blackish, and the rest of the feather

a dull light bay or tawney, a little pencilled: facial disk fulvescent.

Upper-parts uniform dull tawney, pencilled with blackish ; and the ordi-

nary white spots occur on the outer scapularies: the primaries have also

a series of three white bands on the unemarginated portion of their

outer webs (the emargination being very slight): the secondaries and

tertiaries are principally bay on their outer webs, with imperfect blackish

bands; and the tail is barred with the same colours in about equal

proportions, the central feathers having six tawney-rufous bands. Under.

parts paler than those above, minutely speckled with dusky, and

with some larger whitish spots set off with blackish : lower tail-coverts

white, a little barred, except the longest which are distinctly so; the

tarsal plumes tawney-rufous, with dusky bars. From Darjeeling.*

Syrnium nivicolum, Hodgson, XIV, 185. Since describing this species,

I have seen several fine specimens. One, from near Simla, presented by

L. C. Stewart, Esq., now of H. M. 50th Ft., has the wing twelve inches

and a half: colour dusky above, mottled with larger spots of fulvous-

white than in that formerly described; but the under-parts are much

the same. Two males anda female, the former with wing eleven inches,

* In the ‘ Madras Journal,? No. XXXI, 120, Mr. Jerdon describes a Scops

(Ephialies) griseus, which = lettioides, Jerdon, nobis, J. A. S. XLV, 182. Dr.

Stewart has recently favored the Society with a specimen, from near Futtehpore,

on the route from Allahabad to Cawnpore, which tends to indicate the specifical iden-

tity of Eph. lettia and Eph. lettioides.

10 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 169.

the latter twelve and three-quarters, from Darjeeling, are dusky, with

the light mottlings much deeper fulvous, and there is a considerable

admixture of pure white below the facial disk. Not improbably these

were younger than the others.*

In XIV, 188, I suggested that Buceros bicolor, Kyton, is probably the

B. malabaricus apud Raffles, and B. albirostris apud Horsfield ; but I have

since seen several specimens of a Malayan species intermediate to those

two, combining the bill and casque of B. albirostris with the size and

white outer tail-feathers of B. pica (vel malabaricus) : this, Lord Arthur

Hay considers to be B. violaceus, Waglert; and the Society lately

received a young bird of the species in question from Penang. The

large head and casque referred to B. albirosiris in XII, 995, I now

consider to belong to the allied Penang species. The Society has

lately received specimens of true B. albirostris from the Tenasserim pro-

vince of Yé, undistinguishable from the bird of Bengal, Nepal, Assam,

and Arracan: we had previously a Tenasserim specimen of the young

of B. albirostris, presented on a former occasion by Mr. Barbe.

* The Norwegian collection has supplied us with three fine specimens of S. aluco,

all of the non-rufous variety, and very different from the one we previously possessed.,

S. nivicolum is very nearly allied, and the under-parts of some specimens of the two

species are undistinguishable : but the dusky ground-tint is much more predominant

on the upper-parts of S. nivicolum, to an extent that the two could scarcely be con-

founded.

Here it may be remarked that the common Ninow scutellatus, which occurs in most

collections from Malacca, has, in addition to its various other synonymes, been re-

cently designated Athene malaccensis by Mr. Eyton, An. and Mag. N. H. 1845, p.

228: and inthe same paper,—Criniger gularis, (Horsfield), is termed Pycnonotus

ruficaudatus ;—Ixidia cyaniventris, nobis, —Malacopteron aureum ;—Timalia pec-

toralis, nobis, —Malacopteron squamatum ;—T. striata, nobis, =Brachypteryx ma-

culatus ;—T. erythronotus, nobis,=—Br. nigrogularis ;—T. erythroptera, nobis,=Br.

acutirostris ;—Muscipeta plumosa, nobis, (of which it seems I described the female

only, )==Philentoma castaneum, which must accordingly be altered to Ph. plumo-

sum ;—and a state of plumage of the bird 1 described as Hemicercus concretus (XI,

195,) is described by the name Dendrocopus sordidus. Mr. Eyton’s Ixos metallicus

would seem to be nearly allied, except in size, to the species which I designated Bra-

chypodius melanocephalus, X1V, 176.

it is to be regretted that Capt. Charleton did not permit me to look over his collec-

tion of Malayan birds, when he had them in Calcutta; for all these useless synomymes

would then have been avoided. I offered to have them labelled for him.

t Described by his lordship in the Madras Journ. No. XXXI, p. 148: and follow-

ing this are descriptions of B. comatus, B. malayanus, and B. Ellioti, which last is B.

bicolor, Eyton, apud nos, and, as I still think, rightly identified with the latter.

1846.] or Little Known Species of Birds. 11

Hoopoes. This group is treated of in XIV, 189. I have now to add

that the Tenasserim Hoopoe equals Upupa epops in size, but is consider-

ably more rufous, and conspicuously so on the crest, which resembles

that of U. minor of S. Africa: one specimen is also very rufous at the

shoulder of the wing, and another moderately so; bill of each two

inches and a half to forehead; and wing five and a half to five and

three-quarters.

Halcyonide.—Todiramphus varius ; Halcyon varia, Eyton, P. Z. 8.

1839, p. 101. What I take to be the adult male, (and perhaps the

adult of either sex,) of this species, is a beautiful bird, the colouring of

which serves to connect Todiramphus (as exemplified by T. collaris and

LT. sacer,) with Halcyon atricapillus (v. albiventer of Scopoli, a name

too inappropriate to be retained) ; but the beak is strictly that of Todiram-

phus. Length about nine inches, or nearly so; of wing four inches,

and tail two and three-eighths; bill to forehead (in rather the larger of

two specimens,) an inch and three-quarters ;. and the gape two and a

quarter ; tarse five-eighths of an inch. Cap green, rufescent on forehead,

and margined posteriorly with verditer ; a broad black stripe commences

at the lores, and meets its opposite behind; above this is a slight rufous

supercilium, and below it a broad rufous streak continued to the nape,

and comprising the lower ear-coverts ; below this again, is a very large

rich purplish-blue moustache, commencing at the base of the lower

mandible: the nape and breast are brilliant ferruginous, paling on the

throat and belly, and the mantle, wings, and tail, are deep purplish-

blue, each feather touched with ultramarine-blue on the wings, while

the rump and upper tail-coverts are vivid verditer ;: bordering the ferru-

ginous of the nape is a band of deep black. Bill dusky above, the rest

apparently bright yellow ; and legs probably coral-red. From Malacca.

In XIV, 190, I described a new Kingfisher from Darjeeling, by the name

Alcedo grandis; which otherwise resembling A. ispida, is as much

larger than that bird, as A. bengalensis is smaller: A. ispida is common

in Afghanistan. Another closely allied species, which perhaps has not

yet been distinguished from 4. bengalensis, inhabits the Moluccas, and

which I may provisionally call A. moluccensis: this differs from A.

bengalensis in having avertically much deeper bill, and from all its allied

species in having the ear-coverts not rufous, but deep indigo-blue; the

mottled feathers of the crown and neck, moustache, and wings, are also

fueghirtlee

12 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 169.

more of a Prussian blue than in 4. grandis, ispida, and bengalensis : wing

three inches; depth of bill about three-eighths of an inch. Another

closely allied species is the A. meninting, Horsf., v. asiatica of Swain-

son’s Illustrations, which has the crown, neck, and wings, mottled indigo

blue, scarcely any moustache, the back and upper tail-coverts ultrama-

rine, and the breast and flanks deeper and richer ferruginous than in the

others.—A. biru, Horsf., is another beautiful little Malayan Kingfisher,

of a predominating light verditer-blue above and across the breast, but

the marking of its under-parts allies it to certain African Kingfishers, as

A. semitorquatus, and another which I have been unable to determine.

Bucconide (Barbets). There are three, if not four, species of Indian

Barbets, having the general plumage of B. caniceps, Franklin, the dis-

tinctions of which may be advantageously pointed out.—1. B. lineatus,

Vieillot, apud Dict. Class. ; described to inhabit Sumatra. Length about

ten inches, the wing five to five and a quarter. Upper-parts green,

weaker on the flanks, and still paler and more yellowish on the vent

and lower tail-coverts, spreading over the abdominal region in some:

head, neck, throat, and breast, whitish, confined on the crown to an ill

defined medial streak on each feather, the rest being dusky; on the

nape, these streaks are contracted and better defined, often upon a green

ground, and they gradually disappear on the back; throat spotless

whitish; the sides of the neck and breast having each feather laterally

margined with dusky-brown, the whitish however much predominating.

Common in some parts of Bengal, and in Nepal, extending westward to

the Deyrah Doon; also in Assam, Sylhet, Arracan, and the Tenasserim pro-

vinces, whence it probably extends into Sumatra.—2. B. caniceps, Frank-

lin; B. lineatus, apud Tickell. Rather smaller, the wing measuring

from four inches and a half to four and seven-eighths, though rarely

exceeding four and three-quarters. The general plumage also similar ;

but the head, throat, and breast, much darker ; the throat dusky-brown

instead of whitish ; and pectoral feathers with merely a narrow, ill

defined, pale central streak, often scarcely present ; lower breast paler :

the back commonly more streaked with whitish than in B. lineatus:

and, what constitutes a ready distinction of B. caniceps, the wing-coverts

aud tertiaries have each a terminal whitish speck, of which there is

never the slightest trace in the other. This species inhabits the penin-

sula generally, and Upper India, meeting B. lineatus in the Doon; but

1846. ] or Little Known Species of Birds. 13

I have not seen it from Nepal, Bengal, or any of the eastern countries

which are tenanted by B. lineatus.—3. B. viridis, Gmelin. Much smaller

than the preceding: the crown spotless dusky-brown; mere traces of the

lineation on the neck, and scarcely any on the breast; the throat and

breast paler than in B. caniceps; and no whitish specks on the wings.

Inhabits the Indian peninsula, and chiefly, I believe, to the southward.—

4? B. zeylanicus, Gmelin, founded on the ‘‘ Yellow-checked Barbet”’ of

Brown’s Illustrations. This is described (but not figured) to have the

*‘coverts of wings green, with small white spots in the middle of each

feather :’’ hence, Mr. Jerdon has referred to it the B. caniceps; but as

the figure is stated to be ‘‘ more than two-thirds of the size of the living

bird,’ whereas it is but one-third of. the linear dimensions of B.

caniceps, and but half that of B. viridis, it probably represents a distinct

species, approaching the last in size, and with the wing-specks of

B. caniceps.

Of the other Indian Barbets, two are confined to the Himalaya, B.

grandis, Gm., and B. Franklinii, nobis. J. A. S., XI, 167. B. indicus

(vel philippensis) is common throughout the country, also in the

Tenasserim Provinces, and Sir Stamford Raffles includes it in his list

of Sumatran birds; but I have never seen it from Arracan. B. asiaticus

(the Trogon asiaticus of Latham and Gmelin), vel cyanocollis, Vieillot,

and cyanops, Cuvier, abounds in the Sub-Himalayan region, in Nepal,

Bengal, Assam, and Sylhet, but becomes comparatively rare in Arracan,

and also in the Indian peninsula. B. barbiculus, Cuv., or a species which

agrees sufficiently with the description of this in the Dict. Class., inha-

bits Malabar ; though barbiculus is said to be from the Moluccas. Iadda

description of an Indian specimen, sent on loan by Mr. Jerdon. Length

five inches; of wing three and one-eighth; and tail an inch and three-

eighths ; bill to forehead five-eighths; and tarse three-quarters of an inch.

General colour deep green; the forehead, around the eyes, and the

throat, crimson, the last margined with yellow; occiput and cheeks

pale blue. In Arracan, there is further the B. australis, Horsfield, v.

gularis, Tem.; but the crimson of the cheeks, sincipita, and moustaches,

seems invariably to be much less brilliant than in Malacca specimens.

Five species occur commonly in collections from Malacca, (besides the

Caloramphus Lathami, v. Megalorhynchus spinosus of Eyton, which is there

common) : viz. B. chrysopogon, Tem.;—B. versicolor, Rafiles.;— B. armil-

peat £724

14 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 169.

laris, Tem. ;—B. quadricolor, Eyton ;—and B. australis, Horsf.:—a B.

trimaculatus, Gray, is also mentioned by Mr. Eyton from the same locality ;

and without having a specimen of his B. quadricolor, P. Z. S. 1839, p.

105, for present comparison, I rather suspect its identity with B. mystico-

phanes, Tem., and with B, Rafflesiz, Lesson, Rev. Zool. de la Soc. Cuv.;

1839, p. 139. The following description is from specimens in Lord A.

Hay’s collection. Length about nine inches; of wing three and three-

quarters ; and tail two and a quarter: bill to forehead an inch and three-

eighths; and tarse an inch. Colour green, with an emerald margin to the

feathers of the nape; forehead bright yellow; crown, throat, lores, anda

spot on the side of the breast, crimson; beneath the eye, and middle of

fore-neck, also crimson; sides of the crown, above and posterior to the

bare ocular region, black; and a yellowish tinge towards the base of the

lower mandible: emarginated portion of primaries edged with dull

yellow; and tail bluish underneath: bill, legs, and the bristles at base of

bill, black. A presumed female has the crown, lores, and spot at side of

breast, crimson, but less defined than in the (presumed) male; throat

mingled green and yellowish, passing to bluish on the fore-neck ; fore-

head bluish, with yellow shafts to feathers, and some blue beneath the

eye and at the base of the lower mandible; the latter is for the most

part white. Length of wing, three inches and three-quarters.

Picide. Woodpeckers. Typical Picus, apud G. R. Gray : Dendrocopus

of Swainson. I attempted a synopsis of the Indian species of this

group, in XIV, 196 e¢ seg.; since the publication of which, the Society

has been favoured by the Natural History Society of Batavia with a very-

interesting collection from Java and the Moluccas, which has enabled —

me to compare various Indian species with their Malayan represen-

tatives. Among them is the little Picus moluccensis, which, though

closely approaching to the Indian species referred to the same,

yet exhibits some differences upon minute comparison. Both are

certainly distinct from P. canicapillus of Arracan. As compared with the

Indian species, that of Java has rather larger bill and feet; the crown

is darker-coloured, passing to blackish, or deeply infuscated, on the

occiput and median line of nape; the wings are shorter, measuring two

inches and seven-eighths, while in the Indian species they are three and

one sixteenth ; and, lastly, there is a difference in the barring of the

tail-feathers, and in the form of the tips of the more outer ones, which

1846. ] or Little Known Species of Birds. 15

in the Indian bird are more rounded, or somewhat truncated, with a

slight emargination at the tip of the shaft, while in the Javanese bird

they attenuate and are obtusely pointed; the white bars also assume

more the appearance of transverse bands in the Javanese species, and

of separated round spots in that of India; while the outermost feather

is in the former tipped with white, and the penultimate has an all but

terminal white bar, both these feathers in the Indian bird being broadly

black-tipped, with a more interrupted white bar above. Should these

differences prove constantly distinctive, Mr. Jerdon proposes the name

Hardwickii for that of Southern India,* and which Dr. Stewart has re-

cently obtained near Cawnpore, a vicinity in which it was also procured

by Gen. Hardwicke.

With a few Australian birds, I lately purchased a Woodpeuar allied

to P. Macei, which I have not been able to determine. There is no

reason to suppose it inhabits Australia, where not a single Woodpecker

has yet been discovered; and while the known Australian species in

this small collection (including Hudynamys australis, Sw., quite distinct

from the Indian Coél,) were brought as skins, the Woodpecker alone was

mounted and wired. General aspect that of P. Macei ; but with merely a

faint tinge of red on the lower tail-coverts, and that of the crown is also

much less developed, but slightly tipping the feathers, which elsewhere

are black (there is an appearance, however, of the crimson having been

much abraded on the crown of this particular specimen): all the tail-

feathers are barred with white, the middle pair on each web alternately ,

and the rump is confusedly rayed with white and dusky black: breast

spotted with linear streaks ; and the flanks and belly marked with

obscure transverse rays. Length nearly seven inches; of tail two and

a quarter; (wings imperfect in the specimen ;) bill to forehead (through

the feathers) barely seven-eighths of an inch. If new, P. pectoralis,

nobis. Hab. ?

Sub-genus Gecinus. The Picus affinis, Raffles, is identified with

P. dimidiatus, Tem., in the Zoological Appendix to Lady Raffles’s ‘ Life of

Sir St. Raffles, p. 668; and Gecinus viridanus, nobis, is certainly ano-

ther synonyme of the same. This bird seems common throughout the

eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal, as in Arracan and the Tenasserim

* Madras Journal, No. XXXI, 138.

16 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 169.

provinces; in which latter range of territory G. occipitalis, (Vig.,) v.

barbatus, (Gray,) undistinguishable from the Himalayan bird, appears

likewise to be of plentiful occurrence.

G. chlorigaster, Jerdon, Madr. Journ. No. XXXI, 188: Picus mentalis

apud Jerdon, Catal. Though closely allied to G. chloropus, Vieillot, v.

nipalensis, Gray, with which I formerly identified it, this Woodpecker

proves on comparison to be a distinct species. It is rather smaller than

G. chloropus, and readily distinguishable by the crimson of its whole

occiput, which is transversely separated from the dark green of the

crown, and forms a pointed crest behind, which completely overhangs

the silky yellow feathers of the nape: in G. chloropus, this yellow nuchal

crest is much more developed, and the crimson is confined to the sides of

the occiput, the central portion being green continued from the forehead,

and the partly red and partly green occipital crest is not prolonged to

the length of the yellow feathers beneath it. G. chloropus has the colours

generally brighter and more contrasted than G. chlorigaster: the dusky

green of the neck and breast contrasts with the brighter green of the

upper-parts; there is a greater admixture of white about the throat and

ear-coverts, which last are uniform dark green in G. chlorigaster ; and the

loral feathers are conspicuously white, with a black streak above, this

white being scarcely observable in G. ch/origaster : the mottling of the

flanks is also of a different pattern. Length of wing four inches and

three-quarters; in P. chloropus, five inches to five and a quarter,

Inhabits Southern India.

In XIV, 193, I distinguished three species of the three-toed Wood-

peckers forming the division Tiga of Kaup; and in a note to p. 551, I

mentioned the existence of a splendid fourth species from Malacca. The

latter proves to be the P. Rafflesii, Vigors, of the ‘ Appendix to Sir St.

Raffles’s Life’ by Lady Raffles, p. 669. I took the following description

of a female, in the collection of Captain Thomas, of the 39th Regt. B. N. I.

Length a foot; of wing five inches and three-quarters, and of middle

tail-feathers four and three-quarters: bill to gape an inch and five-

eighths. Colour dull uniform golden-green above; the crown, much

lengthened occipital feathers, primaries and their coverts, and tail, dusky

black, with whitish tips to the primaries ; forehead ruddy orange ; throat

and moustaches, pale yellowish-buff ; and lower parts of a dingy, ruddy,

somewhat dusky, greenish-brown, with some transverse whitish spots

1846. | or Little Known Species of Birds. 17

on the flanks; ear-coverts blackish, bordered above and below with a

white streak, and bounded posteriorly by a white patch; and below the

inferior white line and patch is another broad streak of black. Bill

dusky-greenish towards base of lower mandible; and the legs appear to

have been green. The male (describing from memory, assisted by the latin

definition cited,) resembles the female, exceptin having the whole crown

and the much lengthened occipital feathers, very brilliant crimson.* This

beautiful species obviously connects the subdivision Tiga (v. Chrysonotus,

Swainson,) with Gecinus (v. Chrysoptilus, Sw.): indeed, were it not for

the absence of the fourth toe, I should scarcely have hesitated in refer-

ring it to Gecinus, regarding it, however, as a link between that division

on the one hand, and Brachypternus and Tiga, on the other. In

the Appendix to Lady Raffles’ work cited, P. Raffiesit is stated to

be of the size of P. tiga; which latter (as here referred to) I believe

to be my 7. intermedia, which is common in the Tenasserim Pro-

vinces, and that it is the Sumatran P. tiga of Raffles; while the Malacca

species is of the same small size as that of Java; lately received by

the Society, (the females of which have the head differently spotted

from those of 7. intermedia,) and to which I have appropriated the

name Tiga tridactyla.+

With regard to the species of Brachypternus, (p. 550 and note), Mr.

Jerdon informs me that the common species of Southern India is

identical with true Aurantius (v. bexgalensis), of which I sent specimens

for comparison ; and the same gentleman has favoured the Society with

an example of his P. ( Micropternus ) badius of Southern India, which

Lord A. Hay considered (p. 551) to be distinct from both its Bengal and

Malayan representatives : it is, indeed, intermediate to the other two, both

in size and colouring ; and combines the infuscated crown of M. pheoceps

with the dark throat of M. badius (verus), its tail-bars being also closer

than in the others, amounting to six in number on the middle feathers,

additional to the dusky tips, whereas the other species have only five.

Mr. Jerdon designates it M. gularis.t The range of M. pheoceps ex-

* Correct; and the colours also generally somewhat brighter.

t In the same Appendix, | find described a Phaenicophaus caniceps, which is the

young of Rhinortha chlorophea; —Dicoeeum croceoventre=D., trigonostigma,(Scopoli),

v. cantillans ; Chloropsis zosterops=Phyllornis Sonneratii, fem.;—and Vinago gi-

ganteus, which there can be little doubt refers to Zreron Capellei.

{ Madr. Jour. No. XXXI, 191.

18 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 169.

tends southward to the Tenasserim Provinces, and one female from

thence has the wing fully five inches long; that of M. gularis measures

four inches and three-quarters.*

Cuculide. The oriental species of true Cuculus are still far from being

definitively understood. First, there is the deep-coloured bird, otherwise

resembling C. fugar of India, described as C. nisicolor, Hodgson, in

XII, 948, but which I renounced as a species in XIV, 204. A Ma-

Jacca specimen in Lord A. Hay’s collection, however, renders this again

doubtful, and it will perhaps prove to be the veritable C. fugar of the

Malay countries.t Then, I suspect that I have confounded three species

under C. micropterus, Gould: viz.—l, C. saturatus, Hodgson, (XII,

942,) the supposed old birds, with upper-parts ‘‘ uniform pure dark

ashy,” mentioned in my description of C. micropterus, in XI, 903; and

these seem also to have the under-parts more closely barred than in true

C. micropterus, and are altogether more complete miniatures of C. cano-

rus, having the dimensions of C. micropterus. It inhabits the Hima-

laya. (This must be regarded asa doubtful species, however, as yet.)—

2, C. micropterus verus, with a larger bill than in C. canorus, the under-

parts more distantly barred, the upper-parts of a bronzed ash-brown,

and not pure dark ashy, the irides pale dusky, and the orbits and feet

light wax-yellow : the Bokuttdcko of the natives. Inhabits India generally,

but is more numerous in the hills.—3, C. afinis, A. Hay. Decidedly a

good species, resembling C. canorus’in size, and C. micropterus in form

and colouring; length of wing eight inches and a half, or an inch more

than in C..micropterus. Common in Malacca, and not improbably

the Javanese variety of C. canorus of Dr. Horsfield’s list. In addition to

these, we have C. sparverioides, of the same minimum group as C. fugaz

and C. nisicolor ; and also C. canorus, and the little C. poliocephalus (v.

himalayanus, Vigors), pertaining to the same minimum group as the

other species mentioned. I kept for about a year a pair of C. canorus

(indicus), for a long while in the same cage: upon separating them, the

* P. ceylonus, Forst., (v. P. neglectus, Wagler, ) is a species obtained in Ceylon by

Lord A. Hay.

¢ Since writing the above, | have seen Mr. Jerdon’s statement to the same effect,

Madr. Jour. No. XXXI, 140. Mr. J. thinks that the common Indian species should

be termed C. Lathami, Gray. I may add that his specimen of C. Sonneratii which

he refers to, is perfectly identical in species with others from Malacca.

1846. ] or Little Known Species of Birds. 19

male soon began to utter his cry, cuckoo, generally of a morning and

evening, ten or twenty times successively. The note was certainly

harsher and less musical than that of the English bird, whether heard

near or at a distance. It is very desirable that observers who have the

_ Opportunity, should strive to elucidate this very difficult little group of

Cuckoos: it is probable that attention to their notes would essentially

assist the study of them; and to naturalists located in the hilly parts

of the country, we must chiefly look for conclusive information on the

subject.

Simotes, nobis, x. g. Nearly allied to restricted Cuculus, but differing

in the great breadth and depression of the beak, which considerably

resembles that of Casmarhynchus, Tem., in general outline, being

however flatter, especially underneath, where the rami are united for

their terminal half or more, measuring from the gape; the nostrils

being also formed as in other Cuculi; and the tip of the upper mandible

entire, or unemarginated. Rest as in ordinary Cuckoos.

S. albiverter, nobis. Glossy black, with a broad white vertical

medial band from the forehead to the occiput. Some white feathers

also on the throat ; and slight whitish tips to the outer tail-feathers.

In immature plumage, the black is less intense, and the feathers are

looser in texture ; but there are no cross-bars. Bill black, paler below ;

and the interior of the mouth wholly yellow: legs dark brown, the

tarsi half-feathered externally. Length about fourteen inches; of

wing six and a half, or seven inches; and tail the same: bill to gape an

inch and three-eighths, and half an inch broad at the nostrils: tarse

seven-eighths of an inch. From Borneo (I have reason to believe) ;

being sent with other birds from that island by Mr. Jerdon.

Taccocua affinis, nobis. Three species: of this division are distin-

guished in Vol. XIV, p. 200; and subsequent observation has con-

firmed the propriety of the separation: but I find that the Sirkeer

of the Rajmahl and Monghyr hills requires further to be distinguished

from that of the Cawnpore district, higher up the Ganges in the

WNW. direction. Dr. Stewart has favoured the Society with a

Rajmahl specimen, which he justly remarks can be reconciled with

neither of my descriptions. It combines the size of 7. strkee with the

colouring of 7. infuscata ; but has the bill rather more abruptly curved

over than in either, and coloured as in all its congeners. Wing six

20 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 169.

inches ; middle tail-feathers nine inches; and tarse an inch and a half.

The deeper shade of colour of this bird distinguishes it from 7. sirkee,

to which it approximates most nearly, as also the decided brownish hue,

concolourous with the back, of its tibial plumes, which in the other are

highly rufescent ; and a further marked distinction from 7". sirkee con-

sists in the hue of the pectoral region, which has no rufescent tinge in

the specimen before me of 7’. affinis, while in T. sirkee, the ferruginous

tinge of the abdomen suffuses the breast and throat, passing insensibly,

with no decided line of demarcation. The abdominal plumage of this

bird is of a less dark tinge than in T. infuscata ; but the general co-

louring is much the same as in that species, from which the more slen-

der legs and vertically deeper and more abruptly curved bill help to

distinguish it. A further description is quite needless.

Centropus bicolor, Lesson; C. celebensis, probably of Temminck. A

description of this species will be acceptable to British students of orni-

thology. Length of wing seven inches, of middle tail-feathers a foot, the

outermost shorter by one-half; bill large, measuring to gape an inch and

three-quarters in a straight line ; long hind-claw seven-eighths of an inch.

Colour of wings and tail, a peculiar dull vinous-ruddy, nearly the same on 7

the flanks, vent, and lower tail-coverts, and with a ferruginous tinge on

the rump and upper tail-coverts: head, neck, throat, and breast, dull

isabelline, paler towards the throat, and browner on the crown and back ;

wing-coverts tinged with the same brown; and all passing backwards

into the vinaceous hue of the great alars and tail. Bill blackish, with

horny-white tip : legs apparently plumbeous. Plumage not very spinous,

- its general character and colouring being much that of the Sirkeers (Tae-

cocua). Inhabits the Celebes and the Moluccas.

Caprimulgide. The Indian and Malayan species of true Caprimulgus

resolve into three different subgroups, each characterized by a particular

style of marking: viz.—1, the C. macrourus group, comprising C. albo-

notatus, C. macrourus, C. mahrattensis, and C. asiaticus, which last differs

from the three others in having unfeathered tarsi; these have the two outer

tail-feathers on each side broadly tipped with white, which in the females

is sullied, more or less reduced in quantity, and sometimes altogether

wanting :—2, the C. indicus group, with a terminal or subterminal

white spot on all but the middle pair of tail-feathers, rarely seen, and

the white then much reduced in quantity, in the females ;—probably

1846. ] or Little Known Species of birds, 21

three species, at present not well determined (vide XIV, 208*) :—3,

the C. monticolus group, of which the males have their two outer tail-

feathers wholly white to near the tips: also apparently three species,—C.

monticolus,—another allied to this in Scinde,—and C. affinis, Horsf., of

the Malay countries, which last merely differs from C. monticolus in its

smaller size, and the greater admixture of black on the upper-parts,

more especially upon the crown. Length of wing six inches and a half,—

that of C. monticolus being an inch more,—and the rest in proportion.

The Scindian species (?) is figured in one of Sir A. Burnes’ drawings, as

mentioned in Vol. XIV, note to p. 547. It would appear to be still more

uniformly coloured in the drawing than C. monticolus, of a light fulves-

cent-grey or sandy hue, with dark pencillings, but no scapulary pale

streak nor white mark crossing the breast; tail closed, but its middle

feathers (which alone are seen in the drawing) have narrower cross

lines than in C. monticolus ; the lower parts are represented somewhat

paler than the upper, as is also the inner anterior margin of the wing

(towards the body). Length of wing six inches and a quarter (not

‘nine inches and a quarter,” as formerly misprinted). Should this be

verified as a distinct species, it might bear the name C. arenarius, in

allusion to the sandy soil which its colour would certainly denote that

it frequented, and which is a very prevalent hue of the birds and other

animals from Scinde, as M. Temminck has remarked of those from

Egypt.t

Cypselide. Macropteryx coronatus ; Hirundo coronata, Tickell, J.

A. §. I1, 580. This has hitherto been undistinguished from M. klecho

(Horsf.,) v. dongipennis, (Tem.,) of the Malay countries, which in India

is represented by the present species. The two are, however, obviously

* The true C. indicus extends its range to Malacca. It is not rare in the Calcutta

Botanic Garden.—C, monticolus L lately observed in a patch of open jungle, surrounded

by cultivated fields.—C, pulcher, A. Hay, Madr. Journ. No. XXXII, p, 161, = Lyn-

cornis Temminckii, Gould. The Society has specimens of this bird from Malacca and

Java.

t The Norwegian collection before referred to, contains a female of C. europaeus ;

and the resemblance of this to some specimens of C. indicus is extremely close: but

the latter may always be distinguished by having the tarsi wholly feathered; by the

abdominal region being much less rayed ; and the males by having a white spot on four

of the primaries, and upon the four outer tail-feathers on each side. The Society has

also a Tenasserim specimen of undoubted C. macrourus, which very much resembles

both C. indicus and C. europeus ; but may be distinguished from the latter by having

the tarse wholly feathered, and by the white basal portion of its rictal bristles.

22 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 169.

distinct upon comparison of specimens. M. coronatus has the tail

much more deeply forked, and its outermost feathers are much more

attenuated, being commonly prolonged two inches beyond the extremi-

ties of the next pair, and an inch and a half beyond the tips of the

wings; whereas in M. klecho, the tail does not reach to the tips of the

wings, and both alars and caudals are considerably broader than in the

Indian species. The colour of the upper-parts is also much greyer in

the latter, with but a faint tinge of green, instead of being brightly

glossed with green; and the chin and sides of the throat of the male,

besides the ear-coverts, are ferruginous. Colour greyish above, darker

in the male, and glossed with purplish-green ; the tertiaries more or less

pale, but never albescent-grey as in M. klecho: lower-parts ashy, with

a slight green gloss, and passing to white on the belly and lower tail-

coverts. Crest as in the other species, and structure in all respects

typical. Length eight inches, by thirteen in alar expanse ; of wing six

and a quarter; and of outermost tail-feather five and a quarter. Com-

mon in Central and Southern India, and most probably the only species

met with in the country.

We have accordingly now four species of this beautiful genus, which

appears to be peculiar to India and the Malay countries :—viz. M. coro-

natus,—M. klecho,—the very beautiful M. comatus, (Tem.,)—and M.

mystaceus, (Lesson,) of which last I have seen neither figure nor des-

cription : the three others are in the Society’s Museum.

Collocalia, G. R. Gray. Several specimens from the Nicobar Islands

differ a little from C. fuciphaga of Java, in having more white under-

neath, the crown and back darker and tinged with blue more than green,

and the wing somewhat longer, and straighter or less sickle-shaped.

These characters obtain, both in the old and young ; but separation of

them seems hardly justifiable. In specimens recent, or preserved in

spirit, the outer toe is as opposable as in other Swifts.*

* Since the first portion of the present paper was printed off, the Swciety has been

favoured by Capt. Lewis with numerous specimens, of various classes, collected in the

Nicobars, and comprising several interesting novelties. In the class of birds, the most

remarkable discovery is that of a species of Megapodius, having the same extraordinary

habits as Mr. Gould’s M. tumulus of Australia: there is also a new Macropygia,

more nearly resembling M. phasianella of Australia, than MJ. amboinensis of Java

and the Moluccas; specimens of a new Treron, previously however brought from thence;

also of a new Heron, which likewise inhabits Arracan; and some Jnsessores which I

shall describe in their respective places in the present paper : but the following species

can only be introduced here, instead of in p. 11, passim.

1846. | or Little Known Species of Birds. 23

Corvide. The Indian true Corvi, though so particularly numerous

in individuals, are referable to but three species (that I know of), and

of these the Raven (C. corar, Lin.) is confined to the north-western

Himalaya and its vicinity, being unknown at Darjeeling, and equally so

Todiramphus occipitalis nobis. Nearly allied to 7. collaris and T. sacer, but es-

pecially distinguished by its strongly marked rufescent supercilia, which are continued

quite round the occiput, forming a narrow band ; beneath this is a broader black band,

continued from the ear-coverts; and then a still broader fulvescent-white collar, as in

the allied species: immediately bordering the last, the back is more infuscated than

in the other, and the crown is likewise very dark, with some rufous lateral edges to

the frontal feathers : under-parts white, a little tinged with fulvescent, but less so than

in T. sacer; and the back, wings, and tail, are much, as in 7. collaris : bill black

above, and the tip of the lower mandible; the rest of the latter white: legs brownish.

Length of wing four inches and a quarter; tail three inches; and bill to gape two anda

quarter. Young rather smaller, with dusky margins to the pectoral feathers; and the

beak shorter, with a white and hooked extreme tip. It may be remarked that in 7.

collaris and 7. sacer, there is a much less developed white occipital band concealed

beneath the surface of the feathers, but which shews conspicuously when the coronal

plumes are a little raised.

The following two species of Palg@ornis appear also to be quite new.

P. caniceps, nobis. This is a very strongly marked species; but I can now

merely indicate rather than describe it, as but one specimen was obtained (alive, from

a native), which had lost its tail, and the wing-primaries were also mutilated. The

size approaches that of P. Alexandri, which at once distinguishes it from all other

known species of the group. General colour vivid yeilowish-green, with the winglet

and base of the secondaries indigo-blue, and the medial portion of the seconda-

ries inclining to emerald-green; primaries black, the longest of them tinged with

indigo towards their base: cap grey; a broad frontal band continued to the eyes,

(this mark corresponding with that of P. pondicerianus, but very much broader, )

and likewise a broad black moustache, with some black feathers also on the throat :

above this moustache, between it and the frontal band, the feathers are of the same

grey as those of the crown. The beak has-the upper mandible coral-red, with a white

tip; and the lower mandible black: the form of the bill is both narrower and less

deep than in P. Alexandri, and angulates above towards the base.

P. erythrogenys, nobis. Allied to P. malaccensis; but readily distinguished by

the blossom-red hue of the cheeks not being continued round the nape, and by its

Jarger size, and differently shaped tail. Length of wing seven inches and a quarter,

and of tail ten inches; the middle pair of tail-feathers exceeding the next by three

inches and three-quarters. General colour bright-green, more yellowish below,

and tinged in the male with hoary greyish-blue on the nape and back; winglet

and primaries blue, the latter margined and broadly tipped with green; middle tail-

feathers also blue, margined with green for the basal half, and the rest of the tail-

feathers chiefly or wholly green above, and all of them dull yellow below; the cap is

not of a distinct emerald-green, as in P. malaccensis, but uniformly coloured with the

back (save where the latter is tinged with grey inthe male); there is a well defined

narrowish black streak from the nostril to the eye, and the same black moustache as in

P. malaccensis ; and the lores, cheeks, and ear-coverts, (only, ) are blossom-red. Upper

mandible coral-red, with a white tip; the lower one black. The female merely differs

24 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 169.

throughout India generally.* The common Indian Black Crow (C. cul-

minatus, Sykes,t is often erroneously termed ‘Raven’ by Europeans,

and as often confounded with the European C. corone : it is eminently a

‘Carrion Crow” in its habits, and especially frequents the vicinity of the

great rivers, being less confined than the next species to the immediate

neighbourhood of human habitations. The common Indian Crow (C. splen-

dens, Vieillot,) has sometimes been mistaken for the Jackdaw (C. mone-

dula), and sometimes for the Hooded Crow (C. cornix), of Europe;

as in the ‘ Proceedings of the Zoological Society’ for 1839, p. 163,

where the specification of the ‘‘ Rook” and ‘Carrion Crow” both refer,

as I believe, to C. cudminatus, and the Raven is also there mentioned as

an inhabitant of Assam (a statement which it would be -satisfactory to

have verified). C. culminatus is the Common Crow of Arracan; the

C. splendens being only known in the northern part of that province, as

about Akyab, (according to Capt. Phayre,)—and to the southward, upon

the eastern side of the Bay of Bengal, I am told that it is the species of

the Tenasserim Provinces. Proceeding further southward, a very distinct

species of black Crow (C. macrorhynchos, Vieillot,) abounds towards

the Straits of Malacca, which is probably the Sumatran C. corar apud

Raffles; and the Javanese C. enca, (Horsf.), is distinct again, as I

am informed. I have also been told that C. macrorhynchos is a much

shyer bird than C. culminatus, with a very different caw; and the elon-

gation of the beak, remarkable in C. macrorhynchos, would seem to be

still further carried out in C. enca, insomuch that the latter species was

ranged by Dr. Horsfield as a Chough (Fregilus). Professor Temminck

states that the European Raven, Carrion Crow, Hooded Crow, and

in having the crown, nape, and back, quite uniform green, without the hoary-blue

tinge conspicuous in the male; and the upper mandible is more or less black, like the

lower one.

In P. pondicerianus, the upper mandible of the female is usually black, but often

more or less mingled with red; that of the male being always bright coral-red: and

the same is probably the case with both the foregoing new species, as well as with P.

malaccensis, The young female of P. pondicerianus has recently been described by

Mr. Fraser, by the name P. modesius. This latter species is common in Bengal,

Assam, and along the eastern side of the Bay to the Malay countries generally; but is

very doubtful as an inhabitant of Pondicherry, or any other part of the Indian

Peninsula.

* Itis common at Ferozepore, at least during the cold season.

¢ In the Dict. Class. d’ Hist. Nat., this bird is erroneously referred to C. major of

Levaillant.

1846. ] or Little Known Species of Birds. 25

Rook, occur in Japan* ; but Mr. Gould has distinguished the so called

“ Rook” of Chusan by the name C. pastinator (P. Z. S. 1845, p. 1);

and another species inhabiting China and Chinese Tartary, is the C.

dauricus, Pallas, which should be looked for by our trans-Himalayan

travellers. Mr. Gould has also recently distinguished the common Aus-

tralian black Crow by the name C. coronoides.

The Red-legged Chough (Fregilus graculus,) and Alpine Chocard

(Pyrrhocoraz alpinus,) are both well known tenants of the bare Hima-

layan crags, and appear to be identical in species with their European

brethren. Captain Hutton mentions the former as a winter visitant in

Afghanistan ; and also that the Raven (Corvus coraz,) and the Rook

(C. frugilegus,) occur in that country, the former in summer, the latter

in winter.t

Of the Nutcrackers (Nucifraga,) but three species have been ascer-

tained; N. hemispila of the Himalaya, N. caryocatactes of Europe,

and N. columbianus of North America (the Corvus columbianus, Wilson,

first properly classified by the Prince of Canino). These birds are

peculiar to the pine-forests, and the Himalayan species appears to be

particularly abundant.

Magpies. Pica, Ray. | The only species of true black and white

Magpie proper to Indian Zoology, is the P. bottanensis, Ad. Deless., v.

megaloptera, nobis, J. A. S., XI, 193. It is remarkable for its great

size, very large wings, and tail of moderate length. Inhabits the more

eastern Himalaya.

The other species of this genus, which I at present know of, are as

follow :—

2. P. media, nobis, J. A. S., XIII, 393. The next in point of size.

From the Chilian Andes. |

3. P. caudata, Ray. The common European Magpie. This appears

* Some of the Japanese birds referred by M. Temminck to European species, are

certainly quite distinct ; e. g., the Jay, which differs from Garrulus glandarius in

having the space between the eye and moustache filled up with black (I think the

same as in the Syrian Jay, G. atricapillus, Geoft., which has additionally a black cap) ;

also the Japanese Robin, which has a rufous tail; and the Bullfinch, of which the male

has a pale abdomen and lower breast, and both sexes are without the red mark on the

outer margin of the smallest tertiary, which is constant in the European species, and

in P, nipalensis becomes deep shining crimson; the female is also of a different shade

of colour from that of its European congener.

t Calcutta Journ, Nat. Hist. 1, 558.

26 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 169.

to be the species of Afghanistan, though I have never had the opportu-

nity of comparing an Afghan with an European specimen. One I

examined some time ago, from that country, had the wing seven inches

and three-quarters long ; tail eleven inches ; bill to frontal feathers an inch

and a quarter; and tarse an inch and three-quarters. Mr. Yarrell gives the

wing of the English bird as seven inches and a quarter, and Mr. Jenyns

as seven inches and eight lines: that of a British specimen in the

Society’s Museum (probably a female,) has it but seven inches. I fully

believe that the Afghan Magpie is identical with the British species.* It

has also been generally considered identical with that of China and

Japan, and with the ordinary species of Western North America.

Mr. Gould, however, has recently described the Chinese Magpie as

distinct ; but it would seem that the European is one of three species

inhabiting the North American continent, all different from P. media

of South America. For the identity of the North American species

found westward of the Rocky Mountains, with that of Europe, we

have the authority of Mr. Swainson; though he also regards the Chinese

Magpie as the same: remarking—‘ We have been able tocompare En-

glish and Arctic [American] specimens, with one from the interior of

China, and we cannot perceive the slightest difference whatever to build

even the character of a variety, much less of a species. The tails of the

Arctic specimens are very beautiful.” Fauna Americana-borealis, II,

292. Perhaps, therefore, there may be two species of Magpie in

China, one of them identical with that of Europe.

4. P. sericea, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1845, p. 2. From Amoy.

“« Closely allied to the common Magpie, but differs in the wings, being

blue instead of green, in the rather less extent of the white, and in hav-

ing a longer bill and much longer tarsus; the latter measuring two

inches and a quarter.”’

5. P. hudsonia, (Sabine), ‘ Appendix’ to the Narrative of Franklin’s

first Polar Expedition, p. 671. The Magpie of Hudson’s Bay. ‘“ Of

less size in all its parts than the European Magpie, except in its tail,

which exceeds that of its congener in length; but the most remarkable

and obvious difference consists in a loose tuft of greyish and white feathers

on the back: * * * tail from eleven and a half to twelve inches long.”

* A Norwegian specimen just arrived, has the wing fully eight inches, and the rest

as in the Afghan specimen above noticed.

1846. | or Little Known Species of Birds. 27

Most of the Magpies have more or less greyish over the rump, and the

absence of this is one distinguishing character of F’. bottanensis.

6. P. Nuttalli, Audubon, ‘ Ornithological Biography.’ This species

is at once known by its yellow bill, From Western North America.

7. P._————-? The small species noticed in J. A. S. XIII, 393,

which is considerably inferior in size to the European Magpie, and has

the tail glossed as in P. Nuttalli. I certainly do not think that it could

have been P. Audsonia, and am unaware of its habitat. The only spe-

cimen I have seen was an unmounted skin in the collection of the Zoolo-

gical Society.

Psilorhinus, Ruppell. The Blue Magpies. Mr. G. R. Gray, in his

recent enumeration of the species of this group, gives only four; three

of these being American, and the fourth Asiatic. I find, however, that

several nearly allied Asiatic species, as many as five apparently, require

to be discriminated. |

1. Ps. sinensis ; Cuculus sinensis, Lin., founded on the San-hia of Bap. ot.

Braffen: Corvus erythrorhynchos, Latham, founded on le Geat de la Chine

a& bec rouge of Buffon; also Coracitas melanocephala, Latham. This

Chinese bird, according to Levaillant’s figure and description, has

too much white upon its crown for the common Himalayan species,

figured as Pica erythrorhyncha in Gould’s ‘ Century’; and as the

other oriental species of this group differ especially in this particular, and

as Levaillant examined “at least six specimens” of his Pze Bleue, I think

we may confide in his accuracy as regards the marking in question. He

expressly states that the forehead, cheeks, throat, and the front and sides

of the neck, are of a decided black ; the whole top of the head is covered

with bluish-grey feathers, which are long and broad, and form a kind

of pendent crest: but he is doubtless wrong in correcting Buffon res-

pecting the colouring of the beak, the original bright coral-red of which

had faded in the specimens which he saw and drew from.

2. Ps. occipitalis, nobis: Pica erythrorhyncha, apud Vigors and Gould.

Bill coral-red; a large oval white patch confined to the occiput, and

pointed posteriorly, with terminal white spots on the hinder coronal

feathers immediately impending it. The common species of Nepal and

to the NW., as at Mussoorie, &c.

3. Ps, magnirostris, nobis. Resembles the last, but is still more richly

coloured, especially on the wings; the bill much larger than in the

28 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 169,

others; and a great naked space surrounding the eyes; the legs and

claws also are large and strong. Length of bill to gape, an inch and

three-quarters, that of Ps, occipitalis barely exceeding an inch and a

half; and its depth and strength also considerably greater. Inhabits the

Ya-ma-dong mountains, separating Arracan from Pegu.

4. Ps. albicapillus, nobis. This is evidently distinct, though I only

know it in its immature garb, which differs from that of Ps. occipitalis

in having the entire cap white; the extreme frontal feathers, and those

impending the nostrils, being alone black. From the neighbourhood of

Simla. The Chinese species would seem to be intermediate to this and

Ps. occipitalis.*

5. Ps. flavirostris, nobis. General plumage of a much duller colour

than in the others; the bill of the recent specimen bright yellow,

instead of deep coral-red; and the white of the occiput reduced to a

narrowish transverse band, with a broad collar of black below it, sur-

rounding the hind-neck, and never any white tips to the feathers imme-

diately above it; legs and toes small and slender. ‘This is the most

distinct from the rest of all the species here indicated; and it is the

first which I distinguished from Ps. occipitalis, though I waited to

obtain the young of the latter before attempting to describe it as a

separate race. It is the common species of Darjeeling, and the only

one I have seen from that locality; but I have now seen many speci-

mens from thence, all true to their distinctive characters. Upon shewing

the three Himalayan races to Mr. Hodgson, (Ps. albicapillus, Ps. occi-

pitalis, and Ps. flavirostris,) that gentleman informed me that he had

long ago distinguished them, and that he had exhibited coloured draw-

ings of the heads of each at a meeting of the Zoological Society in

London. It is probable that naturalists in Europe will not at once be

prepared to accept the distinctions that have been here indicated, but

I am content to await their future decree, when they shall have obtain-

ed the requisite data to judge from; as in the matter also of the

Hoonuman Monkeys, (XIII, 470,) concerning which Mr. Gray, I per-

ceive, regards as varieties merely of the same species, the very distinct

* Lord A. Hay writes me word, that he has recently obtained this white-capped

species at Simla: it being the only specimen of the genus which his lordship did there

meet with; though Ps. occipitalis abounds at Mussoorie, and as Capt. Hutton informs

me, is very terrene in its habits, feeding almost entirely on the ground.

1846. ] or Little Known Species of Birds. 29

races which I still insist upon are different species, if any meaning

is to be attached to the latter term. With sufficiently perfect speci-

mens to form an opinion upon, I own I cannot conceive how any other

conclusion can be arrived at, in the latter instance, than that upon which

Mr. Elliot and myself are agreed.

Cissa, Boie: Corapica, Lesson: Chlorisoma, Swainson. Here, again,

I think that three species require to be distinguished. 1, Cissa sinensis,

(Gm.), founded on Buffon’s plate, of which a copy has been obligingly

sent me by Mr. Jerdon. This would seem to be distinguished from C.

venatorius, (Gray,) of the Himalaya, Assam, Sylhet, and the Tenasserim

Provinces, by having much less black behind the eye; and it would

appear also to have the wing entirely blackish, except the tips of the

tertiaries which are white: and as the upper-parts are represented more

green than blue, the inference is, that the hue of Buffon’s specimen had

not faded.—2, C. venatorius, (Gray );—and 3, C. thalassina, (Tem.)—C.

venatorius, when newly moulted, is of a lovely green, with the wings

bright sanguine-red ; and the bill and legs deep coral: but whether alive,

(wild, or in confinement,) or mounted as a stuffed specimen and exposed

to the light, the green soon changes to verdigris-blue, and the red of

the wings to dull ashy: at this time of writing, a specimen in the

Museum which was of the finest green and red when set up, has com-

pletely faded on the side exposed to a moderate light, and retained its

pristine colours on the other side; and I am obliged to keep another

specimen protected from the light, to shew the great beauty of the

species in its unchanged verdure. I have had many of these birds alive,

which combine in their manners the traits of the Jay and Shrike; they

are very amusing birds, soon become tame and quite fearless, are very

imitative, sing lustily a loud and screeching strain of their own, with

much gesticulation, and are highly carnivorous in their appetite. The

Shrike-like habit, in confinement, of placing a bit of food in each interval

betwixt the bars of their prison, is in no species more strongly exempli-

fied then in Cissa venatorius.

The genera Psilorhinus and Cissa, with Cyanacorar of South Ame-

rica, form a little group by themselves*; and I consider that Mr.

Strickland was quite justified in separating from the last the blue Jays of

* Corvus cyanus, Pallas, exemplifies another form that should rank with them.

30 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 169.

North America, which constitute his Cyanocitta, An. and Mag. Nat. Hist.

1845, p. 260; but as Corvus cristatus, Lin., is the type of Mr. Swain-

son’s Cyanurus, | conceive that this must take precedence of Cyanocitta,

Strickland.

Crypsirina, Vieillot: Phrenotriz, Horsfield : Dendrocitia, Gould. Some

attempt was made at collating the Indian species of this group of Mag-

pies, in XII, 932. I now add another species, and shall endeavour to

assort the synonymes.

1. Cr. rufa ; Corvus rufus, Scopoli, Lath., founded on la Pie rousse

de la Chine of Sonnerat, badly figured by Levaillant: also Coracias vaga-

bunda, Latham; and perhaps Pica rufiventris, Vieillot, Shaw’s Zoology,

XIV, 73. India generally.

2. Cr. pallida, nobis. Distinguished from the last by its consider-

ably smaller size and paler colouring. Length about fifteen inches, of

which the middle tail-feathers measure eight and three-quarters, the

outermost four inches and five-eighths less; wing five inches and a half;

bill to gape nearly an inch and a quarter; tarse an inch and one-eighth.

Plumage as in Cr. rufa, but altogether much paler: the back and sca-

pularies isabelline with a shade of dusky, but devoid of any decided

rufous tinge ; rump paler, the belly and lower tail-coverts pure isabel-

line, or buffy cream-colour. The hue of the lower-parts approaches

that of the young of Cr. rufa; but the much firmer structure of the

plumage, indicative of maturity, at once distinguishes it from the latter.

Hab. Western Himalaya. This species, and the young of Psilor-—

hinus albicapillus, were obtained in a small collection from that part,

purchased in Calcutta by Prof. Behn, of Kiel University, who first

called my attention to the distinctness of each of them from its near

congener, and kindly permitted me to draw up descriptions for publica-

tion.* :

3. Cr. sinensis. —4. Cr. leucogastra.—5. Cr. rufigastra (non vidi),

vide XII, 933.—And 6. the Cr. altirostris will, I suspect, prove to be the

same as Cr. frontalis, from the description of which it deviates only in

* Both would seem to be rare. Capt. Hutton never met with Ps. albicapillus,

during the long time that he has collected in the W. Serta and Capt. Boys has

only once obtained Cr. pallida, many years ago.

¢ Very doubtful as an inhabitant of Southern India, Tee:

1846. } or Little Known Species of Birds. 31

having the verter black like the forehead, not grey like the occiput.*

Hab. Darjeeling, and the mountains of Assam. This last species has

the beak compressed so as to resemble that of a Cadleas, Forster (v.

Glaucopis, Gm.), to which genus M. Temminck has referred certain

other Crypsirine, as also the Temnorus leucopterus, (Tem.),.Lesson.

Of the two Himalayan species of Garrulus, or true Jay, Mr. G. R. Gray

arranges the synonymes as follow:—1, G. ornatus, Gray, Hardwicke’s

Til. Ind. Zool. ; G. bispecularis, Vigors and Gould.—2, G. gularis, Gray,

Hardw., Jil. Ind. Zool.; G. lanceolatus, Vigors and Gould; and G.

Vigorsit, Gray, Hardw., fll. Ind. Zool.—The G. striatus, Vigors and

Gould, though extremely Jay-like im form, pertains to a different series

of birds; and Mr. G. R. Gray ranges it under Turnagra of Lesson,

which he considers synonymous with his own Keropia. G. gularis is the

great Kemaon Shrike of M‘Clelland’s ‘ Geology, &c. of Kemaon,’ p. 244.

After the Corvide, might be arranged the Paradiseide; to which

family I suspect the curious Australian genera Piéilinorhynchus and

Chlamidera should be referred. ‘Then the great family of Sturnide, com-

mencing with an Australian sub-family, which comprises the genera

Strepera, Gymnorhina, Cracticus, Vanga, Neomorpha, and Grallina. Then

the great series of Old World Sturnide, forming the sub-family Sturnine ;

from which perhaps that of Lamprotornine might be separated, though

it is not easy to trace the line of demarcation of this group. I described

apart the two Indian Gracule in XII, 178 (bis) ; but Lord Arthur Hay

has since distinguished the Malayan Grackle from that of Bengal, &c.,

which necessitates a revision of the synonymes of all three species.

1. Gr. religiosa, Lin. (apud Lord A. Hay): Gr. indica, Cuvier ; Pas-

tor musicus, Tem. ; Mainatus javanus, Lesson, apud Jerdon, J. A. S. XII.

178 (bis); Lesser Mina of Edwards, quoted by Latham and Gmelin as

Gr. religiosa, L., var. A. (the Greater Mina of Edwards being quoted by

them as var. B.). Inhabits Southern India.

2. Gr. javanensis, Osbeck: Greater Mina of Edwards; and no

doubt Sturnus indicus Bontit of Ray and Willughby; probably also

Mainatus major, Brisson. This, the common Malayan Grackle, differs

* Dr. McClelland’s coloured drawing of Cr. frontalis accords with the description :

having the forehead broadly black, passing laterally over each eye to beneath the

vertex, as in Cr. sinensis, and leaving the vertex greyish-white, continuous with

that of the occiput and nape; whereas in Cr. altirostris, the black anterior portion

comprehends the vertex, as in C7. leucogastra.

32 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 169.

from that of Nepal, Bengal, Assam, Arracan, and the Tenasserim

Provinces, (the common Hill Mynah of the Calcutta dealers,) in its

rather larger size, as regards linear dimensions, but much more robust

conformation, with much larger occipital lappets, &c. The closed beak

measures eleven-sixteenths of an inch in vertical depth, whereas in the ©

Bengal species it does not commonly attain to half an inch; the feet

are also much thicker and stronger, with far more powerful toes and

claws, the tarse measuring an inch and three-eighths, and middle toe

and claw nearly one and seven-eighths; while in the Bengal species the

former measurement is one and a quarter, or less, and the latter about one

and five-eighths; wing respectively seven inches, and six and a half or

less ; and tail the same in both. All the specimens I have seen have

been from Malacca*: of a number received from the Tenasserim Province

of Yé, not one could be mistaken for this Malayan bird. Edwards’ state-

ment that his ‘Greater Minor, or Mina, for bigness, equals a Jackdaw

or Magpie,” is intelligible of the present species, but scarcely so of the

next,

3. Gr. intermedia, A. Hay, probably the Mainate of Buffon, and

perhaps Mainatus sumatranus, Lesson: Gr. religiosa, apud nos,

J. A. S. XII, 178 (bis). The range of this species has already been

indicated, It is always less robust, with a less powerful beak, and

smaller occipital lappets, than in Gr. javanensis.t+

Ampeliceps coronatus, nobis, J. A. S. XI, 194. In XII, 985, I

indicated a grand defect in the specimen originally described, and noticed

the near affinity of this genus to the preceding one. Our indefatigable

contributor Mr. Barbe has now supplied us with fine specimens of both

sexes, of which the beak essentially resembles that of Gracula, but is

smaller and shorter, and of a dark greenish colour with yellowish tip

and along the tomiz (in the scarcely dry specimens). There is a

tolerably large naked space surrounding the eye, which appears to have

been yellow; but the orbits are black; and there are no short velvety

feathers on the sinciput, or nude skin beneath and occipital lappets,

* It likewise inhabits the Nicobar Islands and Penang. In this species, the oc-

cipital lappets are generally united at base, but sometimes only approximated ; in Gr.

intermedia they are smaller and more distant apart.

¢ In the ‘Madras Journal’, No. XXXI, p. 154 et seg., Lord A. Hay terms these

three birds Gr. religiosa, javana, and indica (nec intermedia).

1846. ] or Little Known Species of Birds. ag

as in Gracula; though in other respects the form is barely separable.

The presumed female differs from the male in having less yellow on the

crown and throat : in the male, the whole crown, lores, throat, extending

laterally to the naked skin beneath the eyes, are bright yellow; where-

as in the females, the lores, and a considerable space both above and

below the nude orbital skin, are black. The rest of the plumage is

exactly as in the Gracule, with yellow instead of white barring the

primaries. Inhabits the Tenasserim Provinces. This is an exceedingly

pretty Mynah, and I doubt not would be much esteemed as a cage

favourite.

The other Mynahs were treated of in XIII, 361 et seg.: and the

common arboreal Bengal species there referred, and also by authors gene-

rally, to Acridotheres cristatellus, (L.), of China, proves to be distinct,

and apparently referable to Pastor griseus, Horsf., of Java, which that

naturalist imagined to be the same as the cristatellus. To Lord Arthur

Hay, I am indebted for the loan of a Chinese specimen of true Aer.

cristatellus, the young of which I described as Aer. fuliginosus in XIII,

362. I now supply descriptions of each, which will suffice to shew

their differences.

Acr. cristatellus, (Lin.); figured by Edwards, pl. XIX: Acr. fuligi-

nosus, nobis (the young). Length about eleven inches: of wing five

inches and a half; and tail three and three-eighths; bill to gape an inch

and three-eighths ; and tarsi an inch anda half. Colour throughout

greyish-black, with a bronzed gloss on the upper parts; tail-feathers,

except the middle pair, and the lower tail-coverts, tipped with white ;

base of the primaries, and greater portion of their coverts, also white,

forming a broad band on the under surface of the wing; erect frontal

feathers above three-quarters of an inch high, in the specimen under

examination: the bill appears to have been yellow, with the base of

the lower mandible carrot-red; and the legs are also yellow. The

young is browner, with the white patch at the base of the primaries

much more developed : but there is no white at the tip of the tail, or of

its under-coverts ; and the frontal erest is barely indicated.

Acr. griseus, (Horsfield) : Pastor cristalloides, Hodgson. Smaller

and paler, with the under-parts of a much lighter ash-colour, paling

and in some specimens passing to vinaceous-white on the abdomen, and

always to pure white on the lower tail-coverts: the tail-feathers are

34 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 169.

much more deeply tipped with white than in Acr. cristatellus ; there

is a similar white wing-patch ; and the frontal crest is commonly under

half an inch in height. Terminal half of the bill orange-yellow, the

remainder with the inside of the mouth deep black : legs orange-yellow :

irides bright yellow. Length nine inches and a half, by. fifteen inches ;

wing five inches ; and tail three inches : bill to gape an inch and a quar-

ter; and tarse one and three-eighths. The young are browner than

those of Acer. cristatellus, and are at once distinguished by having the

throat whitish, more or less pure, and the middle of the belly and

lower tail-coverts white. This bird takes much the same range as

Gracula intermedia, only that it is not confined like that species to

the hill country : it is common along the eastern coast of the Bay of

Bengal, to the Tenasserim Provinces at least; and it appears to be Dr.

Horsfield’s Javanese Pastor griseus.*

Also very closely allied to the latter, is the Acr. fuscus of thie Hidion

Peninsula, which is distinguished from Acr. griseus by its smaller size,

browner colouring, white abdominal region, and greyish-white irides.

Wing four inches and three-quarters.

The Acr. ginginianus, one of the commonest birds in the vicinity of the

great rivers of Upper India which have high banks, does not occur so

low down the Hoogly as Calcutta, but abounds as soon as the banks

of the Hoogly become of sufficient height for it to burrow in with

tolerable security; and on ascending the river makes its appearance

soon after the common Indian Bank Swallow (Hirundo sinensis, Gray).

Mr. Hodgson well named this species Pastor gregicolus, for it con--

stantly associates with the herds of cattle on open pastures ; and popu-

lous communities of them perforate deep holes in the perpendicular

banks of rivers, in which they repose and breed. This bird is the Tur-

dus suratensis, var. A, of Latham; his T. suratensis being no other

then Pastor roseus: it is also the Gung-Salik (‘ Ganges Mynah’) of the

Bengalees, and should be compared with the African Martin gris-de-fer

of Levaillant, upon which is founded Gracula grisea, Daudin, and

Cossyphus griseus of Dumeril.

Sturnia erythropygia, nobis, n. s. This beautiful species would seem to

be nearly allied to the Javanese St. tricolor, (Horsfield), v. melanoptera,

* I think that I have seen it from Malacca, but am not quite sure. A gentleman

from Java considered it to be, decidedly, the species common in that island.

1846. ] or Little Known Species of Birds. 35

(Wagler). ‘ Head, neck, and lower-parts, pure silky-white; the wings

wholly shining black ; the scapularies and interscapularies pale satiny-

brown ; the rump, vent, upper and lower tail-coverts, deep ferruginous ;

and the tail black, with more than half of its outermost feather ferru-

ginous, and the rest successively less deeply tipped with ferruginous to

the middle pair: .bill yellow, with the base of the lower mandible livid

blue ; and legs (apparently) orpiment-yellow. Length approaching to

nine inches; of wing four inches and a quarter to four and a half; and

tail three and a quarter to three and a half; bill to gape nearly an inch

and a quarter; and tarse an inch. From the Nicobar Islands.

To the same genus, Sturnia of Lesson, must be referred the Pastor

malayensis, Eyton, P. Z. §. 1839, p. 103; but as an aberrant species, with

the bill short, and approximating that of Calornis,—more slender, however,

than in that genus, and having the outline of its upper mandible less curv-

ed. Length about seven inches and a quarter, of wing four and one-eighth,

and tail two and a quarter; bill to gape seven-eighths, and tarse an

“inch. Head, neck, and under-parts, of a silky subdued whitish or drab-

white ; whiter on the belly and lower tail-coverts, and tinged with pur-

plish on the crown and nape : an occipital spot, the interscapularies, prox-

imate scapularies, shoulder of the wing, and rump, black with a rich

purple shine; outer scapularies, and the second range of wing-coverts,

subdued white; as also an elongated central terminal spot on some of

the greater wing-coverts, and more or less developed on the tips of the

tertiaries ; rest of the wing, and the tail, glossy green-black, with some

admixture of purple ; the secondaries shaped at tip and margined with

deep black, as in Sturnus vulgaris ; the outermost tail-feather having

a whitish-brown exterior web, and most of the upper tail-coverts are

of the same dull pale brown colour : bill dusky, whitish towards base of

lower mandible; and the legs apparently plumbeous. What appear to

be the females have a large triangular drab-coloured spot at the base

of the secondaries, and the exterior half of the outer webs of the pri-

maries are of the same hue; a trace of this appears also on the wings

of some (presumed) males. The young are brown above, paler be-

neath, passing to whitish on the belly and lower tail-coverts ; the back

and scapularies are darkest ; and there is a blackish occipital spot in

place of the shining black spot of the adult: the wings are marked

nearly as in the adult, but are much less bright ; the secondaries brown

36 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 169.

with pale outer margin; and the bill pale, with dusky on its terminal

half. Common at Malacca.*

Calornis affinis, A. Hay. This differs from the Malayan C. cantor in

its larger size. Wing four inches to four and a quarter, instead of

three and a half to three and five-eighths : and tail three inches to three

and a quarter, instead of two inches and a half; tarse seven-eighths,

instead of three-quarters of an inch; and bill about the same in both:

plumage of the two species absolutely similar at all ages, and glossed

as brightly in fine specimens of either. C. affinis inhabits Tipperah,

Arracan, Tenasserim (?), and the Nicobar Islands: while C. cantor is

common at Malacca.

Pastor temporalis, (Tem., noticed in Vol. XIII, note to p. 366,) proves

to be from China, and will rank in Sturnopastor, Hodgson. Lord Arthur

Hay has favoured the Society with a specimen from Hong Kong: and his

lordship first called my attention to the distinction of size between

Calornis cantor and C. affinis. Here, too, may be noticed that I no longer

regard Sturnus indicus, Hodg., as distinct from St. vulgaris.

Fringillide, sub-fam. Estreldine. In Vol. XIII, 949, I endeavoured

to give a list of the Indian Mooniahs, &c., which was partly corrected in

XIV, 554. I now offer a revised list of them.

1. A. malacca, (Lin.): Coccothraustes javensis, Brisson : White-breasted

Indian Sparrow of Edwards. Hab. Peninsular India.

2. A. sinensis: Coccothraustes sinensis, Brisson: Lowxia malacca, var.

A, Latham; Munia rubronigra, Hodgson; Lonchura melanocephala,

Horsfield : Chinese Sparrow of Edwards. Bengal, Nepal, Assam, Arracan.

3. A. maja: Lozia maja, (nec Fringilla maja,) Lin.: Loxia leucoce-

phala, Raffles. As arare Bengal species, this rests on the authority of a

most correct observer, Mr. Frith. It is common in the Malay countries.

4. A. pectoralis, Jerdon. South India.

5. A. molucca, (L.) : Munia acuticauda, Hodgson. Nepal, Malacca.

6. A. striata, (L.): Fringilla leuconota, Tem. South India, Arracan.

Such at least is the range of the Indian species, which Mr. Jerdon

thinks is distinct from its Malayan representative: the latter I have not

seen ; but, if different, it will retain the name and synonyme here applied

to the Indian bird.

* Pastor chinensis, (L.), as figured in the Pl. Enl., to judge from a copy of that

figure sent me by Mr. Jerdon, would seem to be an aberrant species of Sturnia,

having some aflinity for St. sericea and St. malayensis.

1846. | or Little Known Species of Birds. 37

7. A. undulata, (Lath.): also Lowia punctularia, var. A, Lath. .

Munia lineoventer, Hodgson. India generally. From the nearly allied

Malayan species—L. punctularia, (L.), v. nisoria, (Tem.),—this Indian

bird is distinguished by having its upper tail-coverts ochreous, and tail

tinged with the same; whereas A. punctularia (vera) has the tail ashy,

and its coverts barred dusky-ash and white. Mr. Jerdon first informed

me of their distinctness.

8. A. malabarica, (L.): Lonchura cheet, Sykes; Lowia bicolor, Tickell

(nec Latham). India generally ; common in Bengal. L. malabarica apud

Latham, is the young of A. sinensis; and his L. bicolor is evidently the

immature plumage of some other species.

The Estrelda formosa, (Lath,) as I am informed by Capt. Wrough-

ton, occurs in immense flocks in the high lands where the Nerbudda

takes its rise.

Fringillide.* Several of the species described in my ‘ Synopsis of Indian

Fringillide,’ J. A. S, XIII, 944 et seg. (1844), have since been described

by Mr. Hodgson in the ‘ Proceedings of the Zoological Society’ for April,

1845. Pyrrhuloides epauletta is there termed Pyrrhoplectes epauletta.

The generic name Propyrrhula is transferred to Pyrrhospiza of my

synopsis, and Pr. punicea described as Pr. rubeculoides. Carpodacus

(v. Erythrospiza, Bonap.) erythrinus, is designated Pyrrholinota rose-

ata; and C. rodochrous and C. rodopeplus are styled Propasser.—I

lately saw fine specimens of Pyrrhospiza punicea from the Boorendoo

Pass ; and with them a new species of restricted Fringilla, from Huttoo

mountain, near Simla, in the collection of Capt. Thomas, 39th Regiment

Bengal Native Infantry. Pyrrhospiza is but slightly removed from typi-

cal Fringilla, which group it connects with the various roseate Finches ;

and will most probably contain the Fr. sanguinea of Gould : and another

nearly allied form is Leucosticte, Swainson, figured in the Fauna Ame-

ricana-borealis, to which may seemingly be referred Mr. Hodgson’s

* It may be remarked here that Passer montanus is the common Sparrow of Java,

from which island it was long ago mentioned to have been received, in the Dict. Class.

‘I had before traced it to Arracan and Malacca, and suggested its being the Siamese

Sparrow of Crawfurd. It is common in China and Japan, also in the Himalaya, and

in Afghanistan, extending westward to the British Islands.

Of the common Indian Sparrow (P. indicus of Jardine and Selby, and ‘ Black-

breasted Finch’ of Latham), I find that some males, especially in breeding aspect of

plumage, are fully as rufous as represented, and the under-parts of both sexes are

always whitish: but the size accords with that of the ordinary European Sparrow, to

which it is so very closely allied.

38 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 169.

Fringillauda; and his Procarduelis is also not far removed. A new

species of Leucosticte has lately been figured by Mr. Gould, in the

‘Zoology of the Voyage of the Sulphur,’ by the hybrid name griseogenys,

under which it is described in P. Z. S. 1843, p. 104. The new Finch

may be thus described—

Fringilla erythrophrys, nobis. Length of male about seven inches ; wing

three and seven-eighths; and tail two and five-eighths ; bill to gape

above five-eighths, and tarse three-quarters of an inch. Female

rather smaller, Colour of male ruddy-brown above, darkest on the tail-

coverts ; below dull buffy-red, mingled with weak crimson on the chin

and throat, also on the forehead, and this red passing as a broad streak

over the eye, and becoming deeper crimson posteriorly : fine specimens

in summer dress have probably the whole under-parts, with the

forehead and eye-streak, crimson, and the back deeply tinged with

the same; the crown, ear-coverts, wings and tail, are black, not very

deep, with the three outer tail-feathers chiefly white towards the

tip, and with dark outer webs to near the end; and the other tail-

feathers are white-tipped, except the middle pair: wings marked with

white, the greater coverts of the primaries having their terminal half white,

those of the secondaries broadly tipped with the same, as are also

the outer webs of the tertiaries, and (successively more slightly) those of

the secondaries and primaries. Bill yellow, and legs light-coloured.

The female is plain brown, paler and tinged with yellowish below, darker

and a little tinged with yellowish on the crown, and having a bright

saffron eye-streak, and duller saffron-coloured or ochreous forehead ;

the wings and tail are marked as in the male, but the white is less

developed; and the back is yellowish-brown. This is a true restricted

Fringilla, of the form of Fr. montifringilla, &c.; but having obvious

affinities for the red Finches (Carpodacus, &c.), and shewing also a

marked relationship for Coccothraustes, and even for Carduelis.*

* Lord A. Hay informs me of what he suspects to be a new Finch, and terms

Fringilla rubrifrons, procured during his sojourn at Simla. ‘‘ Size very small ; and

colour olive-green, striate and mingled with dirty yellow: forehead red.” The parti-

cular subdivision of Finches is not stated.

There is also a very curious-looking, diminutive, Finch-like species, figured among

Dr. McClelland’s drawings of Assamese birds. The size and plumage are very Wren-

like ; with a bill approaching in form that of a Chaffinch: colouring deep isabelline or

buff, with dusky rays on the wings and tail, and the primaries edged with white. The

immediate affinities are by no means obvious.

1846. ] or Little Known Species of Birds. 39

Emberiza cia, Lin. (mentioned in Royle’s list): H. barbata, Scopoli ;

E. lotharingica, Gm. Length six inches and a half: of wing three inches ;

and tail two and three-quarters. Upper-parts rufescent-brown, brighter

on the tail-coverts, and marked, except on the latter, with a black central

streak to each feather: crown dusky, with some inconspicuous rufous

edges to the feathers, a pale medial coronal line, and a broad whitish

supercilium ; a black line passes beneath the latter through the eye, and

partly surrounds the pale ear-coverts, and another black streak proceeds

downward from the base of the lower mandible; the chin, throat, and

breast, are dingy grey, with slight dusky spots in front of the neck ;

and the rest of the lower-parts are uniform light ruddy-brown, with

traces of dark streaks on the flanks: wings dusky, the feathers mar-

gined with the rufescent-brown of the back ; and the two outermost tail-

feathers on each side are chiefly white, except on their narrow outer webs.

Bill pale plumbeous, and legs light-coloured. Also procured in the vici-

nity of Simla by Capt. Thomas, who has obligingly presented it to

the Society.* According to Messrs. Dickson and Ross, this bird is com-

mon in the vicinity of Erzeroum, being found near mill-streams, and in

burying grounds. P. Z. S. 1839, p. 132.

Mr. Hodgson, in Proc. Zool. Soc. 1845, p. 35, states that, in Nepal,—

** We have four species of Emberiza, three of which are the erythroptera,

chlorocephala, and aureola, of authors ; and the fourth,” he adds, ‘is, I

think, new,—Emberiza oinops, mihi,—a new subgenus, Ocyris, mihi.”

Of these four, the first now bears the name Lathami, Grayt ; the second

is, beyond doubt, my melanops, J. A. S. XIV, 554, which was recog-

nized by Mr. Hodgson when in Calcutta, as a species familiar to him,

and it is quite distinct from EH. hortulana (v. chlorocephala,) of Europe} ;

* [ have since been informed that it is there common. Lord A. Hay procured many

specimens; and mentions also another species ‘closely allied to it, but differing in

having a large liver-brown spot on the cheek, and in some other particulars.’” ‘The

liver-brown spot in question is possessed by #. fucata and by H. pusilla (?).

+ Lord A. Hay possesses this bird from Hong Kong; and Mr. Jerdon considers it to

~ be the Moineau de Macao of Buffon, ‘‘ and if so it will bear the prior, but certainly in-

appropriate, name of medanictera, Vieillot.”’

t Since the above was penned, the Norwegian collection has supplied us with a

specimen of the European Ortolan, #. hortulana : its upper-parts are nearly as in E.

melanops, but the face and abdominal region are wholly different; the latter is nearly

of the same rufous tintas in H. cia, but mingled with yellowish; while in #. melanops

the abdominal region is pure light yellow, with dusky streaks on the flanks.

40 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 169.

the third, HZ. aureola, is common also.in Tipperah and Arracan ; and the

fourth, I greatly suspect, is H. pusilla, Pallas, and certainly the same

as that described from a female specimen in XIII, 958, by the name £.

sordida, Hodgson. I add the description of a male, which I lately

saw from Darjeeling. |

E, pusilla (?), Pallas. Length about five inches and a half, wing

two inches and three-eighths, and outermost tail-feather two and a

quarter; the tail forked to the depth of five-sixteenths of an inch: bill

to forehead three-eighths, and tarse above five-eighths, of an inch.

Upper-parts streaky, the feathers black-centred, set off with rufous, and

this margined with greyish-brown ; the rufous colour more developed on

the scapularies and rump: crown, lores, and ear-coverts, rufous ; super-

cilium and chin pale rufescent, and above the supercilium is a broad

black streak, the feathers of which are slightly rufous-edged: wings

dusky, the feathers externally margined with ruddy-olive, and tipped

paler; tail having a broad oblique white streak on the outermost

feather, and a narrow one on the penultimate : lower-parts whitish, with

a dusky line on each side of the throat, and streaks of the same on the

breast and flanks. Bill horn-coloured, and legs pale. This species is

somewhat allied to H. fucata, Pallas.*

Alaudine. Alauda raytal, Buch. Ham., nobis, XIII, 962. This bird

abounds on the white sand-dunes of the Hooghly, where the stream, un-

checked by the tide, deposits only fine sand, and the alluvial country

round (from this cause) is everywhere light and arenaceous: this Sand

Lark being scarcely ever seen except on the flat deposits of white sand

within each bend of the stream; but there they are very numerous,

and (as usual) their colour approximates that of the surface. Fine

specimens measure five inches and five-eighths, by ten inches; wing

three and a quarter; and tail two inches: bill to gape five-eighths,

and tarse three-quarters of an inch; toes short, the hind-claw

* Loxia flavicans, var. A., Latham, =Zmb. icterica, Eversh.: his Emb. luteola is

perhaps the female of E. melanocephala, but agrees with that of E. aureola : his

‘Goura Finch’ is E. Lathami (v. melanictera?) : his Fringilia butyracea, L., is

Crithagra chrysopogon, Sw. (‘Birds of W. Africa’), which is occasionally brought

alive to India from the Mauritius, and kept as a caye-bird: Fringilla stulta, Ind.

var., is doubtless Gymnoris flavicollis : and his Loxia totta and madagascariensis of

India, —=Carpodacus erythrinus, as was long ago pointed out by Mr. Jerdon.

1846.1] or Little Known Species of Birds. 41

barely exceeding a quarter of an inch.* Irides very dark brown; bill

whitish, with a slight tinge of dusky above; and legs albescent-corne-

ous, the toes pale dusky-brown. The young have a very whitish ap-

pearance, from the downy character of their feathers; and all the usual

mottlings of young Larks are exhibited by them, though less conspi-

cuously than in most other Larks. A. raytal is not much of a mu-

sician; but often ventures on short snatches of song, frequently without

rising from the ground, and I never saw it mount high like its musical

neighbour, the 4. gulgula, whose habits and song closely resemble

those of A. arvensis: the haunts of these two species border, and

they may commonly be seen and heard at the same time; but this will

be on the confines of each others territory. Upon ascending the river

Hoogly, a considerable change both in the animal and vegetable pro-

ductions of its banks is soon perceptible, with the change of the face of

the country that has been alluded to. The White Vulture (Neophron

percnopterus) makes its appearance, which is never seen lower down

upon the argillaceous or mud soil; Buteo canescens is common; and

various little insessorial birds which I have never seen near Calcutta,

as Malacocercus caudatus, Chrysomma sinense, Cisticola cursitans,

the true British Curruca garrula, Amadina malabarica, &c., &c., abound

more or less; the fauna altogether more approximating that of Hin-

doostan Proper, and I have no doubt that it would soon yield various

novelties to a diligent collector.

Genus Certhilauda, XIII, 962. There are two closely allied species

of Indian Certhilauda, differing only in size: the larger of which, with

wing four inches long, must be the true C. chendoola, (Franklin,) des-

cribed to be of the size of the British Sky Lark; while the smaller,

referred to C. chendoola, loc. cit., has the wing but three inches and a

half, or less, and the rest in proportion: the latter may now rank,

is C. Boysii, nobis (the Society being indebted to Captain Boys for

a fine specimen of the former species, which has led to its descri-

mination). One of them is the ‘Crested Calandre Lark’ of Latham.t+

* The hind-claw of this Alauwda resembles that of the Certhilaud@ and Pyrrhulaude,

as does also its light sandy-coloured plumage; but its other characters are those of

restricted Alauda.

¢ Latham’s ‘ Aggia Lark’ is Alauda gulgula ; his ‘ Finch Lark’=Mirafra assa-

mica; his ‘ Baag-geyra Lark’==Calandrella brachydactyla ; his ‘ Slender Lark’=

Anthus malayensis ; his ‘ Yellow-headed Lark’ can only be Budytes citreola; and

his ‘ Wagtail Lark’ is the female common Budytes.

42 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 169.

In the ‘Madras Journal,’ No. XXXI, 136, Mr. Jerdon considers his

A. deva (A. malabarica apud nos,) to be an aberrant Certhilauda, nearly

allied to C. Boysi: but, if so, he must have sent the Society another

species as his A. deva; for the specimen referred to, is a true Alauda,

closely allied to A. gulgula, but with a pointed crest, and quite agreeing

with, Scopoli’s description upon which is founded A. malabarica,

Gmelin; whereas Mirafra affinis, Jerdon, which Mr. Strickland consi-

dered to be the malabarica, has too short a wing for that bird, and also

does not accord in other particulars.

Genus Accentor, Bechstein. This remarkable genus seems to come

in no where better than on the extreme verge of the Fringillide, which

I believe to be its natural location.* Mr. Hodgson has recently described

(in P. Z. S. 1845, p. 84), in addition to Acc. nipalensis and Ace.

strophiatus, J. A. S. XII, 958-9, an Ace. cacharensis and an Acc. im-

maculatus. Specimens, however, with which that gentleman favoured the

Society, having those names attached, I consider to be decidedly of

one and the same species in different states of plumage; and I have

described each of these phases in my notice of Acc. nipalensis. Refer-

ring now to Mr. Hodgson’s specimens which were so labelled, I

still consider his Acc. immaculatus to be the adult in worn plumage,

which I mentioned in my description of this bird to have been forwarded

as distinct; but I cannot equally well reconcile the description of Ace.

cacharensis with the only young specimen retained for the Museum,

though I still greatly doubt its distinctness. I know four well marked

Himalayan species of Accentor, all of which have been described by me

in the Society’s Journal, viz. Acc. nipalensis, Acc. variegatus, Ace.

strophiatus, and Acc. mollis, (vide XIV, 581).

The Fringillide pass to the softer-billed birds through the great

American series of the Tanagrine ; and from them I believe there is a

pretty complete gradation to the Cerebine, or South American Honey-

suckers. The latter are quite distinct from any of the nectar-feeding

genera of the Old World, which may nevertheless follow, and we com-

mence the series of them with the Nectariniade, (passing over the true

Promeropide, in which frrisor does not rank).

Genus Arachnothera, Temminck, treated of in XII, 981, and fur-

* When writing the above, I had not remarked Mr. Hodgson’s expressed opinion

to the same effect. P. Z. S. 1845, p. 34.

1846.) | or Little Known Species of Birds. 43

ther noticed in XIV, 557. The Society has now eight species of this

genus, a revision of which has become necessary.

1, A. magna, (Hodgson) : vide XII, 981. Hab. Nepal, Assam, and

Arracan.

2. A. flavigaster, (Eyton): vide XIV, 557. Malacca.

3. A. chrysogenys, Tem., vide XV, 981. Malay countries. ‘This and

the preceding species are allied, but differ much in size: and A. flavi-

gaster has a broad circle of yellow feathers surrounding the eye, in ad-

dition to the ear-tuft ; whereas 4. chrysogenys is naked under the eye,

and has a semi-circle of yellow feathers above it.

4. A. inornata, Tem. (nec apud nos, XII, 982): Cinnyris affnis,

Horsfield. Closely allied to the next, but larger, of a brighter and more

yellowish green above, the under-parts greyer, and marked more decid-

edly (especially on the breast) with a dark central streak to each fea-

ther. Inhabits Java.

5. A. modesta, (Eyton) : A. latirostris, nobis, vide XII, 982. Malacca,

Gr ZA. ? Temminck. Allied to the next, but much larger ;

the throat and breast dull albescent-green, with an obscure central dusky

streak to each feather ; belly and lower tail-coverts pale yellow ; and a tuft

of orange-yellow feathers on each side of the lower breast, ordinarily

concealed beneath the wing. Length of wing three inches and a quarter ;

of tail two and a quarter; and bill to forehead two inches. From Java.

7. A. longirostra, (Lath.) Smaller than the last, with the same pec-

toral tufts under each wing; but the throat and fore-neck are spotless

clear dull white, and the abdomen is much deeper yellow. Also from

Java.

8. A. affinis, nobis; A. inornata, apud nos. XII, 982. Very like the

last, but always smaller, and duller-coloured ; the abdomen of a weaker

and greener yellow, and rarely a trace (and at most a very slight one)

of the orange pectoral tufts. Inhabits the Eastern coast of the Bay of

Bengal, from Arracan to Malacca; and Mr. Jerdon obtained a single

specimen of it in the Mysore district, bordering the Neilgherries.

Respecting the other genera of this group, I have little now to add:

the Nectarinie are treated of in XII, 969, et seg., and XIV, 557 *; and

* Nectarinia malaccensis, (Scop.), /epida, {Lath.), and yavanica, Horsf., refer to

the same species.

44 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 169.

the Diceum group also on the latter occasion.* Mr. Gould has recently

figured a curious little Australian bird by the name Smikrornis flavescens,

the form and colouring of which approximate those of Piprisoma agile ;

and it seems to lead thence to the hitherto isolated Australian genus

Pardalotus. Should this affinity be real, a gradation would be here shewn

from the Malayan Prionochilus to the Australian Pardalotus ; and the

position of the latter genus be thus affirmed.

Fam. Meliphagide. The most decided Indian representative of this

Australian group, occurs in the genus Zoséerops, treated of in XIV, 562

et seqg.; and the sole Indian species is evidently the Sylvia palpebrosa,

Temminck, p. c. 292, f. 3, as described in Griffith’s ‘ Animal Kingdom,’

VI, 451; but whether this, or the name annulosus, (Swainson), should

hold precedence, I have not the means of determining. The Z. borbonicus

doubtfully referred to this genus in XIV, 564, is, I perceive, on more

minute inspection, a decided Zosterops, having the same circle of fea-

thers round the eye, only of a dusky hue, instead of the silky-white

which renders this circle so conspicuous in its congeners. It is the

Z. cinerea, Swainson, ‘ Menageries,’ p. 294.4 Perhaps the genus Jora

(treated of in XIII, 380, and XIV, 602,) may come within the

extreme confines of the Meliphagide: and though not much allied to

Tora (so far as I can perceive), I have less hesitation in bringing the

Orioles under the same group.{ An Australian species of true Oriole

(Gracula viridis of Shaw) has, indeed, been long regarded as a Melt-

. Us) flasurne’ p * Lord Arthur Hay has discovered a new Diceeum in the neighbourhood of Simla,

U LP, ote

pg S 1,

which he designates D. sanguinifrons. ‘‘ Forehead, occiput, and chin, a rich blood-

a Jorange red—more orange than red in dry skins; lower-parts golden-yellow : upper-parts

the same, mingled with olive.’’ Dr. Horsfield’s Javanese D. cruentatum, described in

XIV, note to p. 558, is D. rubrocanum, (Tem.)

t+ I named one Mauritius species, Z. curvirostris, in XLV, 563; but I find this

name has been anticipated by Mr. Swainson, for the ‘* Diceum chloronotus of the

Paris Museum’’ (vide ‘ Birds of W. Africa,’ Nat. Libr., Orn., VIII, 44). If, how-

ever, the latter had been described by the specific name chloronotus, Mr. Swainson

could have no right to change it, at least without assigning a sufficient reason for so

doing; and if undescribed before, it does not appear that Mr. Swainson has published

any description of it, that should establish his right of nomenclature.

My Z. nicobaricus, XLV, 563, would seem to be merely the young of Z. palpebro-

sus ; though I have never seen an Indian specimen in the same plumage. Examples

in the ordinary adult garb of Z. palpebrosus have now been received by the Society

from the Nicobars.

{ This is an opinion to which I have long been leaning; and I pointed out the affi-

nity of Plectrorhyncha lanceolata, Gould, to the Orioles, even to the form of its

nest, in XII, 180 (bis).

1846. ] or Little Known Species of Birds. 45

phagidous bird, and under the generic name Mimeta, has been classed

in the present family. Mr. Gould, in his great work on the birds of

Australia, has lately established its true generic position; which in-

deed had been previously indicated by various other systematists.

In XI, 797, I made some attempt to review the Asiatic Orioles, and

shall now (with much more extensive materials) resume the subject.

The species are as follow :—

1, O. Traillit; Pastor Trail, Vigors and Gould. Common in

the eastern Himalaya, and occurs in Assam, Arracan, and Burmah. This

bird has been placed in all sorts of genera, certain of which have been

established for its reception, as Psarophilus of Jardine and Selby ; Mr.

Hodgson long ago recorded his opinion that it is a true Oriole,

and in this I quite coincide. Mr. G. R. Gray refers it to Analcipus

of Swainson, founded on Ocypterus sanguinolentus of Temminck, p.

ce. 499; and another species which Mr. Swainson arranges with

it, is his An. hirundinaceus, (Nat. Libr., ‘ Menageries’, p. 284,) a

bird which he also assigns to India; but Mr. Strickland, who has

recently examined the originals (now at Cambridge) of many of Mr.

Swainson’s descriptions, writes me word that the species in question is

scarcely separable from Artamus (v. Ocypterus), and that it is labelled

from Madagascar. How, therefore, such a bird can have any near

affinity for an Oriole, and a most decided Oriole (in my opinion), is far

from being easy to understand. i

2. O. melanocephalus, Lin.: O. maderaspatanus, Franklin (the female) ; -

O. McCoshii, Tickell (young male). Very common in Bengal, also in

Nepal, Assam, Arracan, and southward to the Tenasserim Provinces ;

and in some parts of the Peninsula of India, whilst in other parts it is

rather scarce. Length of a male nine inches and a half, by sixteen

inches ; wing five and a quarter, and tail three and a half; of a female

nine and a quarter, by fifteen inches: bill to forehead an inch and

three-eighths ; to gape, one and five-eighths ; tarse seven-eighths of an

inch. The black-headed Oriole of South Africa, considered identical by

Sykes (P. Z. S. 1835, p. 62), is a conspicuously different species, with

no yellow on the wings: it is the Turdus monachus, Gm., termed

O. capensis by Swainson; who also names another black-headed Oriole,

more nearly allied to the Indian species, but from Sierra Leone, O.

brachyrhynchus, (‘ Birds of West Africa.’ Nat. Libr.)

46 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 169.

In his “Two centenaries and a quarter of new or little known birds,”’

appended to his volume on ‘ Menageries,’ in the ‘ Naturalists’ Library,’

Mr. Swainson has also described an Oriolus Hodgsoni, said to be from

Nepal; but of numerous Nepalese and other Himalayan specimens, I

have seen none that could be referred to it. It is stated to resemble

O. melanocephalus, except that it is “much smaller, and the tips of the

quills are white instead of yellow: middle feathers of the tail yellow,

with a black bar nearly across their centre. Total length about seven

inches: bill from gape, an inch; to front, eight-tenths: wings four

inches and eight-tenths ; tail beyond, seven-tenths : tarse seven-tenths.”’

This notice may perhaps lead to its recognition.

3. O. chinensis, Lin.: O. cochinchinensis, Brisson; O. acrorhynchos,

Vigors, P. Z. S. 1831, p. 97: Coulavan of Buffon. This bird, which

is not Indian, is remarkable for its very large and highly carinated beak,

which is particularly deep at base, and drawn out to a fine point.

Forehead yellow, not extending back beyond the hind-part of the eye:

lores, spreading above and below the eye, and forming an occipital patch

broader than the yellow of the forehead, deep black; this does not,

however, reach forward quite to the nares: posterior half of the wing,

comprising also the winglet and coverts of the primaries, black;

the rest of the wing, or anterior half, bright yellow: tail black, its

middle feathers tipped with yellow for three-eighths of an inch, the next

for an inch and a half on its outer web, and the outermost for two

inches on both webs. Length of wing six inches ; of bill to forehead an

inch and a half, or nearly so; and of tail four inches. Inhabits China

and Manilla.

4, O. macrourus, nobis. Closely allied to O. chinensis, from which

it is distinguished by its longer tail, rather smaller and less carinated

beak (which however is always conspicuously larger than in the next

species), and by the greater patch of yellow upon the forehead of

the male: another distinction consists in the disposition of the yellow

upon the tail, which has scarcely any of this colour at the tips of its

middle pair of feathers, while the outermost is in old males wholly

yellow, with merely the shaft black towards the base,—some specimens

shewing one or two insulated patches of yellow, chiefly at the extreme

base of the outer web,—and younger males having the tail coloured more

as in the adults of the Chinese species, but still with scarcely a trace

1846. | or Little Known Species of Birds. 47

of yellow at the tips of the middle pair of feathers. The wings have

their longest primaries slightly margined externally with whitish, and in

some specimens there is a slight yellow border to the secondaries and

tertiaries ; while younger males have the whole exterior portion of the

secondaries and tertiaries washed with yellowish-olive. ‘The coverts of

the primaries are always tipped with yellow, producing a slight spot of

this hue, which does not occur (at least in the adult male of) O. chinen-

sis. Younger males have, as usual, the back and wings tinged with dusky

greenish; and in females (and perhaps still younger males), the same

dull colour prevails on the head and neck, the broad black occipital

crescent is merely indicated, the feathers of the under-parts have

each a black central stripe, and the tail is wholly dusky yellowish above,

prevailing throughout the outer webs of all the feathers, while the inner

webs are successively more deeply terminated with yellow,—this colour

being alone seen underneath, in adults of both sexes. Length about

eleven inches, or rather more ; of wing six; and tail four and a half to

five inches: bill to gape an inch and a half, and tarse an inch. Inhabits

the Nicobar Islands.

5. O. indicus, Brisson, Jerdon, Jil. Ind. Orn. pl. XV: O. chinensis

et cochinchinensis of India, auctorum; le Loriot des Indes, Buffon. This

differs from the two preceding in its considerably smaller bill; in the

yellow of the forehead extending further back beyond the eye, reducing

the black occipital crescent, which latter is continued forward in adults,

through the ocular region, quite to the nares; in the greenish tinge of

the back, even of old males; and very conspicuously in the much

greater extent of the yellow upon its wings, while the tail has less than

in O. chinensis, and its middle feathers have rarely distinct yellow tips :

in O. chinensis, and some specimens of O. macrourus, the secondaries

and tertiaries are wholly deep black; whereas, in the present species,

the secondaries are broadly margined, and the tertiaries have their whole

outer web and part of the inner web, greenish-yellow ; the pri-

maries are tipped with the same; and a bright yellow wing-spot is

formed by the tips of the coverts of the primaries. Younger males

have much more of the green tinge above and on the wings, and the

under-parts are much weaker yellow, with black stems to the breast-

feathers, more or less developed. They evidently increase in bright-

ness of colouring for several years. Females are yellowish-green

48 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 169.

above, with little or no trace of the occipital crescent; whitish be-

neath, with dark central lines; bill infuscated, instead of pinkish-

white, as in the males; and the shape of the beak will always readily

distinguish them from the same sex of O. kundoo. Length of wing six

inches to six anda quarter in bright old males, often not more than

five inches and a half in younger males; bill to forehead an inch and

one-eighth, or a sixteenth more. Rather a rare bird in India generally,

and I have never seen it from the Himalaya. About Calcutta it is very

rare; but in the countries eastward of the Bay it is generally common,

as in the island of Ramree (Arracan), in the Tenasserim Provinces, and

Malay peninsula. ‘The Society also possess it from China.

6. QO. coronatus, Swainson; O. hippocrepis, Wagler. With this Ma-

layan species I am unacquainted, and shall merely cite the following

passage from Mr. Jerdon’s description of the last, in his ‘ Illustrations of

Indian Ornithology.’ ‘‘ Swainson’s O. coronatus from Java (as described,)

differs from our peninsular O. indicus, in its smaller size, shorter wings,

tail, and tarsus, and in the narrowness of the black nuchal band. Its

bill appears to be somewhat larger than in ours, but shorter than in

chinensis. Wagler’s description of O. hippocrepis (which he considers

the same as chinensis, auct.,) corresponds with it in the yellow tips

of the central tail-feathers, and with our peninsular bird in having the

black ocular band extending to the nares, and in other points. As,

however, his specimens were obtained chiefly from Java and Sumatra,

it is most probably Swainson’s coronatus, with which it indeed agrees

pretty nearly in dimensions. The latter are given as nine inches and

a half total length, wing five and three-tenths, tail three and a half, bill

to forehead an inch and two-tenths, and tarse eight-tenths.”

7. O. tenuirostris, nobis. An evident young male, resembles the corres-

ponding age of O. indicus, except in the shape and colour of its bill, in

the much greater extent of the yellow. on its forehead, and propor-

tionate contraction of the black occipital crescent, also in its rump having

much less yellow, relieving the greenish hue of the back and wings. As

in the young male O. indicus, and fully adult O. chinensis and O. macrou-

rus, the black of the lores is not continued forward to the nares; but the

separation of colours is abrupt and decided, probably indicating a simi-

larity of extent in the adults : the whole crown is yellow, the black of the

occiput not rising above the level of the eye. Wing mostly greenish, the

1846. ] or Little Known Species of Birds. 49

coverts which show externally not being tipped with yellow, as in the

corresponding age of O. indicus; but the tertiaries have narrow yellow

tips, which also are less developed on the secondaries, and upper-

most primaries. Bill longer and much more slender than in O. indicus,

and of a slightly arched form; its colour fleshy apparently at base, but

red for the remainder as in O. galbula. Length about ten inches, of

wing five and three-quarters, and tail three and a half; bill to forehead

an inch and a quarter, and tarse seven-eighths. I believe, but am not

sure, that the specimen here described is from Central India. There

can be no doubt of its distinctness as a species.

8. O. kundoo, Sykes (the female): O. galbula apud Sykes (the male),

and of Franklin’s catalogue: O. aureus, Jerdon’s Catal.: and doubtless

O. galbuloides of Gould, mentioned in P. Z. S. 1841, p. 6. This is

the Indian O. galbula, auctorum. It invariably differs from the Euro-

pean species in having a larger bill, and in the black streak from the

bill being continued backward beyond the eye in the males: from the

African O. auratus, Swainson, it differs in the colouring of its wings,

which resemble those of O. galbula. This bird, so very common in the

Indian peninsula, and which extends up to the N.W. Himalaya, occurs

also in the hilly parts of Bengal, as Rajmahl and Monghyr, and at

Midnapore ; these hills being off-shoots from the ranges of Central India,

and partaking of the fauna of the latter in numerous other instances ;

but in the vicinity of Calcutta I have never met with it, nor seen it

in any collection from the countries eastward : the Calcutta specimens

which, on a former occasion, I referred to O. galbula (and afterwards

termed aureus), proving to be females of O. indicus.

9. O. xanthonotus, Horsfield: O. leucogaster, Reinwardt: O. casta-

nopterus, nobis, J. A. S. XI, 795, (the young male). Peculiar to the

Malay countries.

Another very distinct group as a genus, which, though less allied to

other Meliphagide than I consider the Orioles to be, yet offers (in at

least the majority of its species) those adaptive characters which many

would term the essential features of the family, is that of Phyllornis

(vel Chloropsis), treated of in XIV, 364 et seg. ‘To what is said there,

and before, concerning this group, I shall now only add that the young

of Ph. Hardwickit may as well be described, in order perhaps to check

its being brought forward as a new species. The plumage is green,

more yellowish underneath, the throat pale yellowish, and there is a

50 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 169.

little blue mingled with the yellowish on the moustaches: a trace of

blue also on the shoulder of the wing, and upon the outer primaries

and outermost tail-feathers.*

The Phyllornis group conducts to the Bulbouls, treated of in XIV,

566 et seg.: and the affinity of this distinct family for that of the Meli-

phagide is, | think, undeniable. I have little now to add elucidative

of a group so lately under review; but may remark, that Lord A. Hay

considers the Pycnonotus hemorrhous of the Upper Provinces to be dis-

tinct from that of S. India, and proposes the name intermedius for the

former. There is this much difference, that it would be generally easy

to pronounce whether a specimen was from Northern or Southern

India, the former having the colours generally better defined, especially

the pale margins to the feathers of the upper-parts, and the tail also

is commonly longer : but looking to a series of these birds, from Goom-

soor, Agra, and Arracan, I donot see that they can be defined apart. Of

P. leucogenys, Capt. Boys informs me, that it is common down the Indus

from Buhawulpore ; and that he has lately obtained it near Ferozepore.

A P. rufocaudatus has recently been described by Mr. Eyton, An.

and Mag. N. H. 1845, p. 228, which must be put as a synonyme of

Criniger gularis (Horsf.), J. A. S., XIV, 571. Mr. Eyton also des-

cribes an Izos metallicus, which would seem to be allied, except in

size, to Brachypodius melanocephalus, XIV, 576. The Turdus indicus, Gm.,

as represented in Buffon’s figure, of which a copy has been obligingly

sent me by Mr. Jerdon, would certainly appear to be a very different

species from Criniger ? ictericus, Strickland, which Mr. Jerdon had re-

ferred to T. indicus (as noticed in XIV, 570). Lastly, the name Jzodia,

nobis, XIV, 577, has been forestalled in Botany ; as Jvodes (as I first had

it) had been previously applied to a genus of Spiders; so I shall now take

refuge in Izidia, which I trust has remained hitherto unattached.t

Among our late acquisitions from the Nicobars, I must not omit to

mention several specimens of Jzocincla virescens, nobis, XIV, 575 ; and

of all ages, from youth to maturity. The species is quite distinct from

* The ‘ Blue-chinned Thrush’ of Latham refers to Phyllornis Jerdoni ; and Chlo-

ropsis gampsorhynchus (mispelt cesmarhynchos), apud TYickell, should have been

assigned to the same: my originally mistaking this bird for the female of another spe-

cies, occasioned me to give it as a synonyme of the latter.

¢ Latham’s ‘ Hooded Thrush’ refers to Pycnonotus leucogenys ; his Turdus capen-

sis, Ind. var., probably to P. flavirictus ; his T. cafer, from India, to P. bengalensis ;

and his ‘ lufted Thrush’ to P. melanocephalus.

1846.] or Little Known Species of Birds. 51

Hypsipetes malaccensis, nobis, but can scarcely be placed in a different

sub-generic group; and I think it will rank best as an aberrant Hypsi-

petes, showing a marked affinity for Jole, The bill is rather shorter

than in H. malaccensis, and the coronal feathers tend less to assume

the pointed form: length about eight inches and a half, of wing from

three and a half to nearly four inches, and tail three inches and a half;

bill to gape an inch, in some an eighth more; tarse three-quarters

of an inch: the tail is a little graduated, but inclines to assume the true

Hypsipetes shape. Plumage of a uniform olive-green above, the crown

infuscated, or of a brownish-nigrescent hue: throat and breast dingy-

whitish, a little tinged with yellow; the rest of the lower-parts more

deeply and conspicuously tinged with yellow. Bill dusky, with yellow

tomie, and elsewhere an appearance of its becoming ultimately wholly

yellow: the tarsi plumbeous. The nestling tertiaries remaining on the

specimen formerly described, and the outer webs of the nestling prima-

ries, are of a dingy chesnut colour; and there is a shade of the same

upon the tail. The same appears to be the case with the young of

H. malaccensis ; and the two species considerably resemble at first sight,

but the present may readily be distinguished by its infuscated crown,

and its unstreaked throat and breast. B..B.

( To be continued. )

Postscript.—I have already to acknowledge another interesting col-

lection, partly from the Nicobars and partly from Penang, just received

from our esteemed contributor, the Rev. J. Barbe.

_ Among the birds, is a finer male of Palgornis erythrogenys (note to

p. 23, ante,) than that previously described ; having the nape and inter-

scapularies light yellowish, rather than tinged with hoary-grey, and

the under-parts also more yellowish than in the other.*

Of Todiramphus occipitalis (loc. cit.), it would seem that I described

females and young only ; for what I take to be the males are consider-

ably brighter, with the wings and tail much bluer, of a decided Prussian

blue, the black nuchal collar (continued from the ear-coverts) is much

narrower, and in some tinged with blue, and the white supercilia (carri-

ed round the occiput) have little or even no tinge of rufous.

* Dr. Cantor possesses a female of P. caniceps, nobis (loc. cit.), from the Malay

peninsula. It has the tail developed to the usual length in this genus; and green

above with some blue on its middle feathers, and dull golden-yellowish below; the

head less pure grey than in the male; and the bill wholly black, as | suggested it

would be in this sex.

52 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 169.

Picus moluccensis (verus, p. 16), identical with the Javanese species,

is sent from Penang; and I find that itis Mr. Eyton’s Tripsurus auritus,

An. and Mag. N. H., 1845, p. 229,—another synonyme to be added to

those reduced in p. 14: Mr. Eyton also describes (loc. cit.) a Picus

rubiginosus, which is a Gecinus most nearly allied to G. malaccensis,

and has been subsequently described by Lord A. Hay as P. melanogaster,

Madr. Journ. No. XXXI, p. 153: but Bucco quadricolor, Eyton, is dis-

tinct from both the species with which its identity is suggested at

p. 14 ante. .

The most interesting specimens, however, in this collection, are a pair

of adults of the Megapodius of the Nicobar Islands, and also two undoubt-

ed eggs of this bird, of which Captain Lewis prepared only a chick.

So remarkable a species may be at once described, however, out of its

place in the present series.

M. nicobariensis, nobis. Length about fifteen inches, and of wing

nine inches; tarse two inches and a half; middle toe an inch and five-

eighths, and its claw three-quarters of an inch-; hind-claw seven-eighths.

Foot rather small for a Megapodius, the middle toe and claw but little

exceeding the two lateral in length. General hue of the upper-parts deep

olive- brown with a tinge of ochreous, which becomes more decided on the

wings; lower-parts dingy greyish-brown, with a slight tinge of ochreous

on the breast, and which prevails throughout the under-parts of a presum-

ed female : crown slightly rufescent-brown, prolonged into a short crest,

and the occipital feathers impended by the coronal are light greyish:

lores, cheeks, and throat, almost naked: the primaries light ochreous on

their outer webs, and dusky internally: bill yellow: and legs and claws

dark horn-coloured. The chick is coloured nearly as in the adult, but is

mottled with faint russet on the wings, and the abdomen has a rufous

tinge ; the feathers of the head, neck, and breast, having a peculiar hair-

like structure. The presumed egg is of a true elliptical shape, or with the

small end just distinguishable, measuring three inches and a half in

length, and being of an uniform somewhat ruddy stone-colour. The habits

of this-bird would appear to resemble precisely those of M. tumulus des-

cribed by Mr. Gould. Captain Lewis had seen the mounds, and the

birds upon them; but was unaware that the latter had been the accu-

mulators of such huge heaps of material. Upon shewing him Mr.

Gould’s description of the habits of the Australian species, he remarked

that the same account would equally apply to the Nicobar bird, except

1846. ] or Little Known Species of birds. 53

that he had observed no heaps quite so large as some of those des-

cribed by Mr. Gould. The eggs were sent by Mr. Barbe, with merely

a notice that they had been “found in the sand.”

I have further to acknowledge a rich collection of New Holland

specimens, just received from the Australian Museum at Sydney. In

Vol. XIV, p. 546, I made a few remarks on Mr. Gould’s magnifi-

cent work on the birds of Australia, and therefore I shall further notice

here, that Mr. Gould’s Carpophaga leucomela is not a Carpophaga, but

a Dendrotreron apud Hodgson, ranking with C. Hodgsonii, C. arquatriz,

and C. guinea, auctorum, having but twelve tail-feathers, &c. &c. : and that

Mr. Gould’s distinctions of Eurystomus australis from Eu. orientalis are

very erroneous ; as these two species exactly agree in size and structure :

but the former is readily distinguished by having the black of the head

confined to the lores, and by the brownish hue of the crown and nape,

of which no trace occurs in the species of India and the Malay countries ;

which latter has the whole head and cheeks blackish, and the nape and

back concolorous with the scapularies, in addition to its blue being ofa

deeper tint. Lastly, the Anous melanops figured by Mr. Gould, is cer-

tainly identical with a species in the Society’s Museum, from the Bengal

Soonderbuns ; and which I can scarcely doubt will prove to be the Ster-

na tenuirostris, Tem., from the western shore of the Indian Ocean, or,

im other words, the eastern coast of Africa.

Chrysococcyx smaragdinus, nobis. In XI, 917, I considered certain

little Cuckoos to be specifically identical, which are respectively inhabi-

tants of India, the Malay countries, and Australia. <A better series of

specimens now convinces me that three species are here confounded.

That of India has already received a name, being the Trogon maculatus,

Gm., founded on the spotted Curucui of Brown’s Illustrations, which

certainly represents a variety, or incidental state of plumage, of this

species ; but the name is so very inapplicable to the species generally,

that it cannot justly be adopted. The presumed male and female des-

cribed, loc. cit., as C. lucidus refer to this species: another presumed

‘female, from Arracan, tends to the hepaticus, plumage common to many

~~ Cuckoos, having the head chesnut, the back still more cupreous than in

the supposed female formerly described, and the lower-parts closely

barred throughout with coppery-green upon a white ground, except the

lower tail-coverts which are chiefly banded with green and deep rufous:

54 Notices and Descriptions, &c.

the tail has its middle-feathers shining green, with a dusky purplish

band at tip,—the next pair similar, but with deep rufous broadly margin-

ing the basal half of their outer webs,—this rufous is successively more

developed on the two succeeding pairs,—and the outermost has its ex-

terior web and the contiguous portion of its inner web pure white,

banded with shining green, which extends also over the rufous portion

of the inner web: terminal third of the bill dusky, the rest translucent

pale straw-yellow in the dry specimen. Another supposed female is

throughout in the hepaticus plumage, or rufous above, white below,

with greenish-dusky bars throughout, the outermost tail-feather marked

with white chiefly on its exterior web, and the two next tail-feathers

slightly tipped with white: bill, with the basal half amber-colour-

ed, the remainder dusky. Another, again, is of a predominant dull

glossy green above, with the same rufous and white on the tail, but its

middle-feathers are also obscurely barred with rufous, and most of the

wing-feathers are margined with the same: bill wholly dusky. Lastly,

another is chiefly of a dusky hue above, scarcely glossed with greenish,

the feathers having slight rufous margins more developed on the wings ;

and tail as in the last. In all, however, the under-parts are much more

closely banded than in the Australian species; and the wing measures

generally four inches, or sometimes four and a quarter in adults. In-

habits the hilly parts of India, but seems to be everywhere rare. Brown

figures it from Ceylon ; and I have seen it from Central India, Rajmahl,

Arracan, &c.

Chr. basalis: Cuculus basalis, Horsfield: C. chalcites, Tem.: C.

malayanus, Raffles. This seems exactly to resemble the last, except in

its constantly smaller size; and it is equally variable. Wing three

inches and a half to three and three-quarters. It holds the same rela-

tionship to the Indian species, which C. lugubris, Horsfield, does to C.

dicruroides, Hodgson, and C. flavus does to C. tenuirostris. The speci-

men described in XII, 944, was not, I believe, from Macao (as I was

informed), but from Malacca. Specimens corresponding to the adult

male of Chr. smaragdinus, have not hitherto fallen under my observation.

Chr. lucidus (?), Gm.: C. metallicus, Vig. This is the Australian

species, corresponding in size to the first, but having constantly, so far

as I have seen, a black bill, the under-parts much more distantly banded,

and presenting various other distinctions.

Note on the Geological features of Zillah Behar. By Lieut. W. S.

SHERWILL, B.N.L., Revenue Surveyor.

The geological features of zillah Behar may be divided into four great

divisions, viz.—the granitic, the quartzose, the hornstone, and the sand-

stone. Commencing from the eastern boundary of the zillah, where it

abuts upon zillah Monghyr, the hills are in general composed of confused

masses of fatty quartz abounding with mica, which is generally found

adhering to the quartz. In many places fine veins of mica are worked

and the produce exported to Patna. The principal mines are to the

south of Rujowlee, both in the granite and quartz ranges. The country

at the foot of these hills is thickly strewn with minute particles of silvery

mica, brought down from the hills by the rains, and entering largely

into the composition of the soil: much of it is collected by the natives

and used for whitewashing their houses, ornamenting pottery, toys, &c.,

giving to the articles thus smeared, a lively sparkling appearance and an

unctuous feel; the roads and beds of Nullahs sparkle in every direction

from the abundance of this mineral. Immediately on the boundary of

zillah Monghyr the granite peak. named Kawa Kho rises, from out of

the quartz hills, to the height of 1,165 feet; another small patch of gra-

nite also appears about five miles to the S.W. from the peak. The quartz

hills are covered to their summits with forest trees, brushwood and

bamboos, but as they advance to the westward and become granite,

they rise into bold and lofty peaks, some upwards of a thousand feet in

height.

After leaving Rujowlee, the granite of these hills is found of every

hue and texture that it is possible granite can possess or be composed of.

In some places porphyritic granite is found, the individual component

parts of which are enormous; in others eurite, where the individual com-

ponent parts are undistinguishable from their minuteness, and in other

places syenite is found. Also occasional masses of ponderous black mica

are found scattered about in company with large masses of the gassy

and fatty quartz so common to granite formations.

At the spot where the Calcutta Trunk Road crosses these hills, large

blocks of gneiss are seen protruding from the fine black soil, and in

most of the ravines and deep water-courses the same mineral is found.

In the bed of the Mohunneh river, to the west of the Dunghye Ghat,

on the old Calcutta Road, and where it issues from the hills, the water

56 Geological features of Zillah Behar. [No. 169.

has laid bare a beautiful bed of gneiss several miles in extent, cross-

ing the Behar boundary and entering zillah Ramgurh: but from the

ereat depth of soil and from the dense forest on the banks of the

river, | was unable to trace how far it extends east and west. In the

Dunghye Pass, gneiss of peculiar beauty is scattered about in every

direction. The summit of this pass at the village of Tillee Tand I found

to be 1,800 feet above the level of the sea: it is covered with thick

forests, haunted by tigers, who destroyed some men of my establish-

ment whilst engaged surveying these hills. A spur of this granitic range

strikes off from the main body and suddenly terminates in the bold

mountain, known as the ‘‘ Muhair hill,” (vide map and vignette.) The

volcanic range of hornstone hills appear at this spot to overlay the granite,

which again appears on the other side of the hornstone, distant about

eight miles. This granite extends westward to ten miles beyond the

Koél river, or 120 miles from the mica mines at Rujowlee, varying in

height from a hundred to a thousand feet: some of the peaks are bold

and imposing, but much of this range is composed of alow, undulating and

broken plateau of table land, especially the great mass which forms a

spur from the Vindhya mountains and lies in pergunnah Sherghotty.

This irregular mass, averaging from five to eight miles in width, is com-

posed of coarse granite, covered with a dense jungle of underwood, in-

termixed with forest trees, affording an inexhaustible supply of the

coarser wood, for building, manufacture of ploughs, yokes, sugar mills,

&c. besides yielding a plentiful supply of bamboos, grass, a variety of

medicinal herbs, barks, roots, leaves and fruits which are collected at

various seasons, and used in the zillah or exported. The wild silk (tusser),

is also collected from the Asun trees (Terminalia alata tomentosa) and

exported. The principal tree is the Saloogunje or Sale, a tall hand-

some tree, with a smooth shining white bark, high clear stem, wide

spreading branches, and of a highly resinous nature, and from which

a gum or resin is collected and used as a varnish chiefly by the Palan-

quin makers. This tree answers to the description of the North-African

frankincense tree. The dhak tree, byre, kheir, mimosa and semul, are

the most common trees in these woods.

The Samba stag (Rusa), spotted axis, neelghaee, tigers, leopards,

and a variety of smaller animals inhabit the depth of these woods.

At Deoree, a series of low hills are detached from the body of the table

land, and are much impregnated with veins of serpentine. Near the

1846. | Geological features of Zillah Behar. 57

village a meagre bed of this mineral has been quarried for a few years

by natives, who manufacture cups, knife-handles, &c., from the best speci-

mens. Captain Richard Ouseley, Principal Assistant to the Governor

General’s Agent S.W. Frontier, had a shaft sunk, or rather a huge pit

opened, in the hopes of reaching a good bed, but without success; at

the depth of thirty feet only a coarse friable granite was found; nor did

I perceive in the sides of the pit any traces by which hopes could be

upheld of ever finding any at that spot. Perseverance may perchance

yet discouver a valuable bed of this handsome mineral. Several slabs,

‘three feet in length, were obtained by the Honourable E. Drummond,

Magistrate of Gya, but being from the surface and much decayed, were

good for nothing, although very handsome both in colour and texture.

To the north of this great plateau, numerous little granite hillocks are

dotted over the plain, extending for twenty-five miles north, amongst

which is the large Chirchanwan hill, five miles in length, but to the

N.E. they extend for forty miles as far as the Burabur hills, a range of

black sterile granite rocks, in which are some very curious groups,

peculiar to the granitic formation; particularly that of Kawa Dhole, a

conical peak, rising to 365 feet in height, on the summit of which

rests a conical block of granite of immense proportions. It is upwards of

forty feet in height, standing on its base, without flaw or crack, a land-

mark for miles around.

On the summit of this group, iron ore of a rich quality is scat-

tered about in profusion. This is the most northern point to which

granite can be traced in Zillah Behar.

Returning to the west, a group of very curiously formed peaks are

clustered together, six miles south of Kootoombeh. One in particular

from its appearance is styled the Kothila (vide Map and Vignette) or

granary. In these hills is found, in small quantities, the sulphate of

alumina adhering to some of the rocks; it is styled silajeet by the natives.

The granite range after crossing the Koél Nuddee suddenly ceases in

numerous small hillocks, and is here joined by the sandstone, an offset

from the Kymoor sand and limestone range. Eighteen miles further

up the Sone river, the granite again appears in one or two hillocks

piercing the sandstone. After crossing the Koél river from the east the

country undergoes a complete change. The Tar tree (palm) becomes

scarce and eventually ceases altogether, the surface of the country be-

58 Geological features of Zillah Behar. [No. 169.

comes covered with the Mimosa catechu, a few ebony trees and an

abundance of saloogunje trees. The hills are clothed with the fragrant

rhousa grass, from which a powerful spirit is extracted, so beneficial in

rheumatism, and known in Malwa as “Grass oil.” The surface of the

country is undulating, the soil tinged with bright yellow and red hues,

the effects of the oxide of iron, which ore is found in its soil. The hills

are low towards the north, and higher to the south; exceedingly steep

to the south, and sloping away gradually to the north. The long range of

hills skirting the Sone river, are so steep to the south that a stone may

be jerked from the summit to the base, but on the north the termination

of their base is a mile removed from the plumb-line of their crest. Ten

or fifteen miles south of the Sone river, on the table land of Oontaree,

iron ore is collected and smelted by the Aghurreeas. Immediately under

the ruined fort of Srinugger, the waters of the Sone have denuded a

series of nearly vertical strata of hornstone, arranged in narrow serpen-

tine ribbons; this hornstone again appears about half a mile down the

river, at Darehdeh, and has the appearance of: having been fused, being

of a dark pitchy hue, smooth, rounded, sonorous when struck, difficult

of fracture, and heavy. A belt of the same rock appears in the bed of

the Sone jutting out from the Shahabad or north side, about two miles

above Darehdeh: the rock at this spot has exactly the same burnt

appearance. Embedded in this hornstone are found masses of a hard

claystone of a bright red colour, also common amongst the pebbles of

the river, which pebbles generally consist of rounded pieces of agate,

hornstone or quartz, possessing but little beauty or variety. The rocks

at this spot, projecting more than half-way across the stream of the

Sone, create rapids of about six feet fall in a quarter of a mile. Ata

village named Phoolwurreea, about four miles inland from the Sone,

there is a spring of good water. At this spot a fair is held during the

months of Kartik and Chait. Ata spot (marked S.) in the sandstone a

small quantity of alum is manufactured from alum slate, but by what

process, I could not learn. Specimens of the slate were sent marked 359.

The natives call this sulphate of alumina, silajeet : it is the same sub-

stance as that brought from Nepal, and sold under the same name at

the enormous price of one rupee the tola. The sandstone, on the eastern

and western banks of the Koél river, is similar to that in which are

situated the Rajhurrah coal mines, eighteen miles from the Behar

1846. | Geological features of Zillah Behar. 59

boundary, and is of various textures, some exceedingly hard, others very

soft.

The stone from the Khyra peak, which rises to 1,086 feet, is much

used for hand-mills, curry-stones, and for other domestic purposes. The

whole of this sandstone is covered with a thin covering of forest trees,

underwood, and bamboos; the Saloogunge tree predominating every

where. The valleys are filled with the Mimosa catechu, many hundreds

of which trees are yearly destroyed in the manufacture of the catechu.

The next group is that of the hornstone, or Rajgheer range of hills,

which although slightly mixed with quartz and jasper, must nevertheless

be considered as a hornstone range. The hornstone is of both kinds,

conchoidal and woody: the former is found of endless varieties, bright-

red, purple-blue and other lively colours, uniting to render this an elegant

stone: the latter is universally of a greyish-green colour. This double

range of hills presents a series of ragged peaks, offering views of great

beauty : their extent is about forty miles from S.W. to N.E. A small hill,

evidently a portion of the range appears at Behar; another small hill,

about eighteen miles due east of Gireenk, and another again twelve miles

to the south, uniting with the quartz range and granite peak of Kawa Kho.

In this range are numerous hot and cold springs, especially at Rajgheer,

where there are nineteen hot wells and four cold: on the southern face

of the hills, there are a few hot springs similar in character to those of

Rajgheer. Half way between the Rajgheer and Burabar hills is situated

a collection of hillocks, from which is quarried hornblend of a beautiful

texture; the crystals are large and glossy : also a quantity of potstone,

which is much used at Gya by the natives in the manufacture of dishes,

plates, mortars and pestles, likewise by the image cutters, who are fa-

mous for the elegance of their carvings. A small quantity of potstone,

but of an inferior quality, is quarried from the Bruhmjoonee hill, over-

hanging the city of Gya. A small hill, west of the station of Gya, yields

an indurated reddle used for dyeing clothes of an orange colour, also for

metalling the roads in the station; this mineral is either of an orange,

purple, light-red or yellow colour.

These few notes, combined with the accurate and minute details by

Dr. Buchanan, will I hope, render the accompanying Map intelligible.

A Note on some Hill Tribes on the Kuladyne River ;—Arracan. By Lieut.

T. Larrer (67th N. I), of the Arracan Local Battalion.

od iad A ¢ , bd) , ys a 9 \ ,

OlTa yao uTeo ayolayv voay, AVA T avToa Kal weToac.

There are few facts more remarkable in India, than the vast number

of tribes which occupy its mountain fastnesses, and which roam through

its interminable forests; all speaking distinct dialects. In many in-

stances such tribes are, as far as distance is concerned, near neighbours ;

though in reality almost perfect strangers ; a state of alienation, in a great

measure arising from the dense and impervious vegetation, always occu-

pying the lower mountainous ranges of this country. And in no part

perhaps is this peculiarity more strikingly exemplified than in the

Yooma range of hills, which separate the province of Arracan from the

Empire of Burmah. On the banks of the Kuladyne river, which runs

down the 93° parallel of longitude, and within a space over which a

bird might speed in a summer’s day, may be found the following clans—

the Khimis, the Mrius (of which there are two tribes, speaking distinct

dialects), the Anoos, the Kyaus, the Khéns, the Shentoos, and finally

the Khyoungthas. Although the languages of all these may have

originated from the same stock, yet there is quite as much difference

between them as between French and English. The most powerful

among them are the Shentoos, who being beyond our frontier, are known

to us only by their devastations on those tribes which pay us tribute ;

the suddenness, secrecy, and never-failing nature of these attacks, cause

them to be held, by the rest, in a dread of which it would be impossible

to give an idea. The Khéns, who are likewise beyond our frontier, are

employed by the Shentoos as guides and spies, and are on that account

obnoxious to the vengeance of those clans, who may owe a blood feud

to the Shentoos. ‘They reside during the night in huts built on high

trees, and return with the day to their regular habitations below. The

remaining tribes are all more or less under our rule, and have conse-

quently given up their feuds. With the exception of the Khyoungthas

or ‘‘ Sons of the Stream,” all the rest of the tribes, above enumerated,

go under the general term of Toungthas, or “‘ Sons of the Hill.” I shall

proceed to give a slight sketch in the following order of the Khyoung-

thas, the Khimis, and the Kyaus, which three clans fell under my

observation during a short trip up the Kuladyne.

Sta

Tu-o- th

ds the natura é

1846. | A Note on some Hill Tribes, &c. 61

KHYOUNGTHAS.

The Khyoungthas are only found on the banks of the Kuladyne river,

and their livelihood is principally gained from plantations on its banks.

They may be viewed as the type of the Arracan race; they speak the

Burmese language, but with all the harsh provincialisms of the Arra-

canese. There are many terms in the Arracanese dialect totally distinct

from Burmese : as shay, “little, small ;” ara, ‘‘ more ;” shdn, “ thing,” and

many others, just in the same way as words are found peculiar to certain

counties in England. The Khyoungthas appear to have been a portion

of the original inhabitants of Arracan, driven up the river at the time of

the invasion and occupation of the province by the Burmese. Their

religion is a simple type of Boodhism, but mixed up strangely with the

Nd or “spirit” worship of the hills; which appears in some instances

almost to have absorbed their original faith. Their parent stream is

looked upon with a holy love, not only as affording them sustenance, but

likewise a ready passage by which to flee from the attacks of their foes.

At the northern outskirts of each village from which quarter alone they

dread the advent of any danger (all to the south being in possession of

the English), in the direction of the forest, and under the shade of the

comeliest tree may be seen the shrine of their two Ndts, the one male;

the other female. They are represented by two pebbles picked from the

banks of the river. The female is considered the most powerful, and is

meant to represent the Mayoo Ndt, or spirit which presides over the

mouth of the Mayoo river: she is believed to be a most powerful spirit,

the guardian of Arracan from all the dangers from the sea. The road

from Akyab to Chittagong crosses the mouth of the Mayoo river ; here

all natives, whatever may be their faith, invariably make their offering

to this powerful spirit by letting loose fowls, &c. The other or male

spirit is styled Rwdtsaung Ndt or “ the village guardian,” to whom,

as his name implies, is intrusted the care of the village. They believe,

to use their identical words, that ‘should he withdraw his favour,

the evil eye would glare upon their children; sickness would de-

vastate their hearths; the floods would sweep away the foundations

of their homes; and their most favourite haunts would become the

prowl of the tiger, and wild cat o’mount.” Whenever a new shrine

is to -be erected, fresh stones are chosen, the village is tabooed for

62 A Note on some Hill Tribes [No. 169.

seven days, sentinels are placed on all the surrounding heights to

prevent the ingress or egress of any person, and sacrifices of fowls,

and pigs are made. Around each stone is wound some cotton thread,

coloured yellow with turmeric.* These objects however are still further

curious, for it will be perceived by inspecting the plate that they are

rough representations of the dingum, and yoni. The colouring with

turmeric is Boodhistic, for yellow is the sacred and royal colour of

Boodhism. In the simpler types of Boodhism which have come under

my observation, whenever the worship of the powers of nature has been

introduced, it has been invariably that of the united male and female;

of which the latter has been the most powerful. This is the true ex-

planation of those monuments which abound in the Cossyah hills,

figured in a very interesting paper from the pen of Lieut. Yule, in a

volume of the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta. Another inter-

esting fact illustrated by these objects, is the invariable predilection of

the human mind to identify the object of its worship with the realities

of ‘its every-day life. This circumstance might be exemplified by

instances throughout the whole history of man; whether we take the

objects of worship themselves, as that god, ‘‘ downwards fish, and

upwards man,” worshipped in the fish coasts of Azotus; or their conse-

crated residences from the dark cave temples of the Troglodyte, to the

spired fanes of the dweller in tents. And, as we shall see, whilst the

Toungtha, or ‘‘ Son of the Hill,” looks for sustenance to the clearings

of the forest patch, or the scant verdure of his rock-bound hills, and

conformably represents the idea of his adoration; so here we find the

‘Child of the Stream” fitly choosing from the rolled pebbles of his

parent flood a simple fetich, wherewith to identify the object of his

worship, and his love.

THE KHUMIS.

The Khimis, as I have already remarked, are a member of the general

family of the Toungthas, or ‘‘Sons of the Hill.” ‘They are a numer-

ous tribe, having several villages, each under a distinct Toungmeng,

or ‘“‘mountain chief.’’ This authority appears originally to have been

* These stones are represented two-thirds their real size in Plate I, fig. a being the

female, and fig. b the male. They are shewn erect for the sake of giving their forms ;

they are in reality however placed lying down in a flat position; each having a sort of

baby house erected to receive it; they are in the Plate shewn in their relative positions

with one another.

1846. | on the Kuladyne River :— Arracan. 63

hereditary ; whilst in those villages within the British territory, it being

necessary that the village chief should be acquainted with the Burmese

language for the purpose of transacting Government business, an indi-

vidual on account of such qualification is often raised to that dignity;

and thus in some villages there exist two Toungmengs, the one hereditary,

the other elected. The religious system of the Khiimis appears to be

very vague; it consists of the worship of numerous Ndts, or spirits, and

indeed of every thing that strikes their fancy. They worship the earth

as the author and giver of all they possess; the sun also, in its noon-

day height, as the pledge of safety from their foes—for the attacks of

these mountain tribes are never made except during the night; no

single night passes over their head that is not replete with terror. They

reverence also the spirits of the dead; these, they say, at times flit over

their ancient haunts, at others wing their way like birds over mountain

and vale. The spirits of the good they think ever happy, those of the

wicked miserable. Each house likewise has suspended from its walls the

skulls of the animals it may have killed for food; to these likewise they

pay a simple adoration, by placing before each individual a handful of its

wonted food, as an acknowledgement of the sustenance it has afforded

them in its time. The skulls also of the animals slaughtered by their

fathers are in like manner preserved as much in remembrance of those

deceased relatives as a monument of their wealth; frequently will a

chief point to them with pride, and tell you how many mountain

bulls his father could spear for a marriage feast. Their religion may be

said to consist of nothing but the worship of spirits ; to every object that

strikes their fancy, they accord a spirit of its own. Each peak in their

native hills, they hold to be the mountain watch-tower of a god. No-

thing could illustrate this better than the accompanying translation of

part of a Khimis’ prayer. Previous to an undertaking or expedition he

lets loose a fowl as an offering to the spirits, and utters the following:

“Oh! spirit of the day-sun; Oh! spirit of the rock-ledged gate* ; Oh!

* These are two very singular wall-like ridges of sandstone, running across the

Kuladyne, about twenty miles the one above the other. They are not rocks like those

of Colgong on the Ganges; but ridges perpendicular on each side, and only a few feet

in width; the river has forced itself a passage through the centre. ‘The tradition is that

when the spirits found their domains invaded by a new faith from the plains, they en-

deavoured to raise a barrier; this was forced: a second attempt in like manner failed,

and in despair they have given up the idea of a third.

64 A Note on some Hill Tribes [No. 169.

spirit of the streams of the Hoosalong*; Oh! spirit of the surges of

the Kolakt; Oh! lords of the mountain peaks{t; One, two, three,

four, five, six, seven, eight times ; take ye this my offering.”

Every object which is in motion they conceive to be so, in virtue of

a spirit, and a motion of its own: in fact to be animate. This is a

belief which has been shared by all primitive and savage tribes; and

is one that will at once appear to be most natural. The simple savage,

judging from the movements of his own person, gives a spirit and a will,

as inherently the cause of movement in all things. It is the predi-

lection of the modern mind to count all as phcenomena ; the cold results

of causal agencies beyond. And when in this its last stage the mind

carries itself back to the first; when it spiritualizes the dull realities of

this every-day world ; and writes down every sensuous object in nature

as impelled by a spirit and motion like its own; then, having achieved

a communion with all existing things, it becomes seized of the highest

poetry, and purest ideality. This is the simple reason why the poetry of a

rude age is to us, as rich in its ideality as is that of the most polished

epoch. In this respect the human mind may be conveniently classed into

three stages—The lst and savage, where it believes all objects whatever to

have life and spirit. ‘The 2nd, where it has so far advanced as to accord

a separate individuality to the spirit, and to hold that, like a guardian, it

presides and watches over the inanimate. And finally, the 3rd and last,

that which we have above described. Those peculiarities which are the

source of poetry in the last, are unideal, mere common place matters of

belief in the first. And even in poetry, such as that of Homer, which we

may look upon as the annals of the mind in what we have described as its

second stage, many of those wondrous figures which appear to us, the

living transcripts of mysterious portraitures traced upon the secret wall

of the chambers of the poet’s imagery, may in reality be but the simple

and unimaginative record of the beliefs of his every day existence.

The Khamis have no religious superiors, although they pay a certain

respect to some who, profess to have converse with familiar spirits.

* The name of a stream among the Hills.

+ The original is vém of the Kolak, the latter being the name of a stream ; vdm,

in their dialect is a place partaking of a character of both, a waterfall and arapid: at

the mouth of the Kolak, the river rattles its way over a shallow rapid, and being im-

peded in its course by a great number of ridges of rock, it has the appearance of a

huge seething chaldron.

t Here they generally enumerate the most remarkable peaks.

1846. ] on the Kuladyne River :—Arracan. 65

When a man marries, he gives what he can to the parents of his bride,

feasts his native village, and the ceremony is concluded. The dress of

the Khim female, in common with that of the Toungthas, is a parody on

Eve’s apron ; the men have a small cloth over the loins but are still next

to naked; the women wear a petticoat about a cubit in length, which is

kept on in a most indescribable manner by heavy strings of brass rings.

They have a singular tradition accounting for the scantiness of their

costume. In former ages, say they, all the world was of one tongue,

and of one kind; there was then a god upon the earth—his name they

do not know,—when he was about to depart from among men, he

divided them into nations and tongues, and gave to each the peculiar

costume by which it was to be distinguished. The poor Toungthas,

however, were at the time wandering over their native mountains, and

engaged in their plantations in the hills, so that they came last. The god

told them he had given away all that he had, except one small piece of

cloth, a cubit broad, which their women were to wear; the men to shift

as they could. The only visible objects of worship of the Khuimis, are the

trunks of three or four trees, which have been cut down in clearing a

space for the village ; also the same number of pillar-like stones. These are

fixed in the earth together, in the middle of a large shed, which is also

employed as the place of reunion and festivity of the village.

The cultivation of the Toungthas is styled Jhoom. A hill, the best

covered with vegetation, is cleared, the rubbish burnt to fertilize it, and

the space sown with an indigenous species called hill or red rice. As

the soil on these steep hills is necessarily scanty, and becomes more

liable to be washed away by the periodical rains when denuded of its

forest covering, a piece of ground rarely yields more than one crop; in

each successive year other spots are in like manner chosen, till all those

around the village are exhausted: a move is then made to another loca-

lity, fresh habitations are erected, and the same process gone through.

These migrations occur about every third year, and they are the means

by which long periods of time are calculated; thus a Toungtha will tell

you that such and such an event occurred so many migrations since.

In forcing one’s way through the forest, one often comes suddenly on a

deserted village, which presents a peculiarly melancholy appearance ; a

dense vegetation rapidly reclaims it as a domain of ancient wood ; the very

bamboos long since decayed and old, the materials of a once merry home,

become covered with luxuriant creepers, and appear mockingly to vegetate

66 A Note on some Hill Tribes [No. 169.

with a new-born life at the absence of man. Compelled thus to wear

away an errant life, and in continual dread of being massacred by their

foes, the poor Toungthas know not what comfort or secureness is; all

their valuables are secreted in some hidden cave, known only to them-

selves. Should the maiden weave for herself a choice petticoat, or the

young man fashion a favourite bow, it is forthwith taken and stowed

away : and yet, in spite of all, they are a merry and laughter-loving race,

fond to a passion of beads, with which they profusely decorate every

thing that belongs to them: one little Khim? damsel showed me her pet

pipe so ornamented.

Having thus endeavoured to give a general sketch of the Khiumis,

I will proceed to a few remarks on their language.

The Khtimis, in common with all the Toungthas, have no written

characters. Their dialect is evidently cognate to the Burmese, that is,

the pure and original Burmese, but it presents itself under the harsh

type of the Arracanese, not softening down any of its sounds in the

usual manner of the Burmese language. It is monosyllabic, and ex-

presses the relations of its parts of speech by means of affixes ; of these

some seem to be merely euphonic, as md, gd, vd, td, &c., these gener-

ally occur between the root and its affixes. In like manner, for the sake

of euphony, some of its roots are slightly inflected, as tchau, “ to eat,”

when preceding the past affix bau, or bauk, is changed into tcha. It is

moreover necessary to premise that all final consonants such as the k

in the above word bauk, are invariably mute, that is, not pronounced,

but formed in the mouth. Indeed by a person whose ear was not ren-

dered sensible to the value of these finals by an acquaintance with the

Burmese language, of which they are a marked characteristic, the above

word bauk, would be written bau. As we might expect in a rude, and

unformed tongue, the affixes, above alluded to, are omitted whenever

the sense can be conveyed without them; as kai, Ist pers. pron. and

pe, “give,” form kai pe, “give me,” or it might equally convey

“T give ;” kai, ‘as above,’ and yu, “ wife,” kai yu, “my wife ;” bok

“food,” and tchau, ‘‘ eat,” bok tchau, ‘‘ eat food.”

NOUNS.

as um mau, ‘‘in the house.” Hloyd, ‘ under ;”

as um hloyd, “under the house.” Hé loungé, ‘on the top of;” um he

Mau signifies ‘in;

loungo, ‘on the top of the house.” Téé, “near; as wm té, “ near the

1846. ] on the Kuladyne River :—Arracan. 67

house.” Bdo, ‘‘from;” as um bdo, ‘‘ from the house.” Bran, “ outside ;”

as um bran, “ outside the house.” W’d, “by or by means of.” The final

6, in all these, implies ‘‘ to, towards,” which sometimes for the sake of

euphony, is pronounced vd.

Tchee is the affix of the plural number with nouns, but it is not made

use of when numerals are employed, they being sufficient to express

plurality ; as wm, ‘‘a house,” and ni, ‘‘ two ;” um ni, ‘two houses.”

Like the Burmese, the Khiimis have only one afhx to express the

female, whilst several affixes express the ma/e of animals.

Tchidu is a male affix for human beings. Tchad isa female affix for

human beings. Nz is the general female affix. Poh is a male affix; as

ichi poh “‘ason;” tcht n%, “a daughter.”

P’ting, is a male affix for large animals ; as tchie p’ling, “a bull;” tchie

nt, “acow. Painoh p'ting, ‘a male buffalo;” painoh nu, ‘‘a female

ditto.” Kounggnau p’ting, ‘a stallion ;” kounggnau ni, <a mare.” K’sai

p ting, ‘‘a male elephant ;” ’sai nv, ‘‘a female elephant.”

Loh is a male affix for smaller animals; as wz oh, ‘‘adog;” ut ni,

“a bitch.” Miyaung loh, ‘‘a male cat ;” miyaung ni, ‘‘a female cat.”

A'uk loh, ‘‘a male hog;” duk ni “a female hog.’’

Luhi is a male affix for birds; as da luhi, “a cock; da nu, ‘‘a hen.”

Tawo luhi, ‘‘a male bird;” tawo ni, ‘‘a female bird.”

Hi is a superlative affix ; as haut hdi, “ very beautiful.”

VERBS.

The relations of verbs are expressed by affixes.

Au is the substantive verb; as kai au, “I am.”

The present tense has properly no affixes; as yé, “to fear ;” kat yé, “1

fear.”

The future tense and present tense are often used synonymously.

There is an affix ¢dn, implying present time, used with some roots

signifying “ quality ;” as khaéimdi tdn, ‘‘is cold,” roch tan, ‘is dear ;” but

it is very irregular in its application.

The future is formed by the addition of the affix ndk, which, when the

roots end with a mute consonant, often has the euphonic vocal gd in-

tervening ; kai tdi nak, ‘I speak, or will speak ;” kai tchék ga ndk, ‘I

go, or will go.”

68 A Note on some Hill Tribes [No. 169.

The past tense is expressed by the affix bauk; as kai tchék bauk, “I

have gone.” +

The imperative is expressed by the simple root, and is distinguished

from the present tense by having no nominative case.

Mon, or maun, are interrogative particles.

With reference to the negation of sentences, there appear to be vari-

ous negative particles. B’ is used to negative the substantive verb :

as kai bau, ‘1am not.” Mok, mauk, auk, au, dmén, are all variously

used as particles of negation, the first two are prohibitive. .

They do not appear to have an affix of number for verbs; the noun

which is the nominative being sufficient to shew the time of the verb ;

as kai tchék ga nak, “1 go, or will go;” kat tchee tchék ga nak, “ we

go, or will go.”

In the formation of sentences, the nominative comes first, the objective

next, and the verb last. ‘There are however some cases in which this

order appears varied.

NUMBERS.

We now come to the mode of numeration, and in this dialect it pre-

sents some interesting peculiarities. The numeral system of the Khimis

ig emphatically decimal ; of the ten fingers. It is moreover so intricate

as to be somewhat difficult of explanation. This fact admits us into

a very peculiar phase of ‘‘savagery.”” We are apt to consider the mode

of reasoning and every thing appertaining to an uncivilized race, as

necessarily bearing the impress of simplicity : and this may be said to be

generally the case, but at times the savage mind seems to take to itself

flights of intricate and almost obfuscated reasoning.

The first peculiarity which we shall notice is, that the decades, or

multiples of ten, up to hundreds have two names ; thus as they count

on their fingers when they get to ‘“‘ twenty,” they call it first horé lack

horé, which means literally ‘‘ ten and ten,” and then throwing their fin-

gers on an imaginary heap they exclaim apéng ré, ‘‘a score,” and so

on. Ré is an affix used with numbers, and implies ‘ full.”

The next circumstance to be noticed is, the number of different

terms used to convey the idea of ‘‘ and, more.”’

1, hndk. 2, nu, (u, like the simple French wu). 3, ?’hoon, 4, p’lu. 5, pang.

6, ru. 7, sru. 8, téya. 9, Ukhau. 10, ho, or horé. 11, horé latk hndak.

1846. ] on the Kuladyne River :—Arracan. 69

(from here Jaik implies “‘ and, more’). 19, horé laik ?khau, 20, horé lack

horé, or apéng ré. 21, apdng p’hat hndk, (here p’hat commences to con-

vey “and, more”). 29, apdng p’hait’khau. 30, apdng p’hai horé, or p’hairé.

31, p’hairé p’lu hndk, (here p’lu conveys ‘“‘ and, more”). 34, p’hairé p’lu

plu. 39, phairé plu tkhau. 40, p’hairé p'lu horé, or wi p’lu ré. 41, wt

plu péng no hndk, (here pang no represents ‘‘ and, more”). 44, wi plu

pdng no plu. 45, wi p’lu pdng no pang. 50, wi p’lu pdng no horé, or wi

pang ré. 51, wi pang t’ru hndk, (here t’ru expresses “‘ and, more’). 55, wi

pdngt’ru pang. 56, wi pangt’rut’ru. 60, wit pdng t’ru horé, or wi tru ré.

61, wi t’ru s’ru hnak, (here s’ru expresses ‘‘and, more”). 66, wt tru s’ru

tru. 67,witrusrus’ru. 70, wi Uru s’ru horé, or wi s’ruré. 71, wt s’ru

téya hnék, (here téya represents ‘and, more”). 77, wé s’ru téya s’ru.

78, wi s’rv téya téya. 80, we s’ru téya horé, or we téya ré. 81, we téya Ukhau

hndk, (here t’khau conveys ‘“‘ and, more’). 88, wt téya tkhau téya. 89,

wi téya tkhau tkhau. 90, wi téya tkhau horé, or wi ?khau ré. 91, we

t’khau ho hndk, (here ho expresses ‘‘ and, more”). 99, wi ?khau ho tkhau.

100, wi t’khau ho horé, or tchoon wairé. 101, tchoon wairé aikhiék hndak,

(here aikhlok signifies “‘and’’). 110, tchoon wairé aikhick horé. 120,

tchoon wairé aikhiék apéngré. 200, tchoon wai nuré. 202, tchoon wai nuré

aikhiék nu. 303, tchoon wai t’hoon ré aikhlok thoon. 1000, tchdngré.

2000, tehdngnuré.

1845 would be thus written—ichdngré aikhiok tchoon wai téya ré

aikhiék wt p’lu ré pang no pang.

It will be remarked in the above, that not only for 31 do they

say ‘thirty and one,” or ‘‘ thirty more one ;” and for 45 “forty and

five,” or ‘‘ forty more five ;”” but that moreover they have several differ-

ent terms to express this increment “and, more.” We will recapitu-

late them. Between 10 and 20, the term is lazk; between 20 and

30, it is p’hai, which it will be seen is likewise the term for “ thirty ;”

and from ‘‘ thirty” upwards each decade has the unit next above its

own to represent the increment ‘and, more.” Thus the third decade,

that of “thirties,” has “four;” and for ‘‘ thirty more one,” they say

“thirty four one,” &c. The fourth decade, or “ forties,” has “ five,”

and for ‘‘ forty more five,” they say ‘‘ forty five five ;” and so on with the

rest. Above a hundred, aikhidk represents the same term.

It would not be easy to give a reason for this peculiarity, unless

perhaps that the true ‘‘ more” of a number is the one immediately

70 A Note on some Hill Tribes [No. 169.

above it; and that therefore the ‘‘ more” of the third decade is aptly

‘four,’ and so on. It will be remarked, that from 40 to 90, the

term wé represents ‘‘ten;” thus w7, “ten,” and p’lu, “ four,” make

wt plu “forty.” It will be moreover perceived, that between 40

and 50, the term pangno, is used instead of pang. It is probable that the

first is the correct term, and that the latter is merely an abbreviation.

The name ?’hoon, ‘‘ three,’ is the same as in the Burmese language,

only that in the latter it is pronounced softly thoon. ‘The term pang or

pangno, ‘‘ five,” is evidently derived from the same root pagnya, ‘ wis-

dom,” as is the Pali term pégntsa, ‘“‘ five.”

A peculiarity which so remarkably characterizes the Indo-Chinese

languages does not exist in this dialect; and that is, that there are no

numeral generic afhxes; thus wm, ‘‘a house,” and zu “‘ two,” are suffi-

cient to express “‘ two houses.” In the case however of human beings

there is a kind of adjunct used either with or without numerals; as

tchépau, “a child ;”

khimt, ‘a man;” khvimt laungnu, “two men;

tchipau laung t’hoon ‘ three children.”

THE KYAUS.

There is only one village of this tribe in existence; it is situated on

the banks of the Kuladyne, and in the midst of the large clan of the

Khimis. The Kyaus relate that their tribe was originally numerous,

but that now this single village is all that has been spared from the

attacks of the Shentoos and other powerful neighbours. The Kyaus

are viewed by the rest of the Toungthas, with a kind of estrangement ;

few among these latter being able to master their dialects. The first

thing that strikes one on entering the village of the Kyaus is their

marked difference in physiognomy from that of all the other hill

tribes. Indeed the general physiognomy of the Toungtha is a Tar-

tar-like family face, but the Kyaus in feature, dress, and appear-

ance could scarcely be distinguished from the lower class of the

Bengali peasantry of Chittagong. The Khdmés are fair, with small

features: the Kyaus are dark, with large features. The Khimis

invariably wear a cotton head-dress, and their hair tied upon the crown,

and shave no portion of their head: the Kyaus on the other hand

shave a few inches of hair from the forehead, tie it low down on the

1846. ] on the Kuladyne River :— Arracan. 71

neck, and wear no head-dress. On first seeing them I felt convinced

that I had fallen in with the original type ; the etymon, as it were, of the

Bengali. Though repeatedly asked whether they had any tradition

of having come from Chittagong, they invariably replied they had none.

On this however much stress could not be laid, as from the wandering

and miserable life they lead, no tradition could well extend among them

above a couple of hundred years. I consequently turned to their lan-

guage, and found it presenting the marked characteristics of the dialects

of Trans-Gangetic India, being monosyllabic, and having affixes to express

the various relations of its parts of speech, and even not possessing the

euphonic inflexions which sometimes occur in the Khum7. If the Kyaus

are an archaic type of the Bengali, as their extraordinary physiognomi-

cal similarity and their marked estrangement from the tribes around

renders to my mind most probable, it goes far to prove that the original

dialect of Bengal was monosyllabic and consequently rude; and that its

nature and structure has been entirely revolutionized by the polished

polysyllabic languages of Hindoostan. The Kyaus’ ideas of worship

are very rude and simple like that of the rest of the hill tribes. ‘They

erect upright stones in different portions of their village, which they

consecrate to the Ndts, or spirits of the hills.

With reference to the dialect of the Kyaus, not having had the same

time at my disposal, or the same means of making enquiries into it, as

I had for that of the Khzimés, my remarks are necessarily more scanty.

The Kyaus dialect, as has been already remarked, is monosyllabic, and

possesses affixes.

Ka is the nominative affix, chiefly used with a noun, in construction

with a verb in the present tense; in which case the verb dispenses with

its own affix of time. This idiom is singular, as it shows that the time

of the nominative case, and that of the present tense are the same.

T’kté, or tk’tau are future and present affixes. The two finals ¢é and

tau, I suspect to be nothing more than expletive. In this dialect as well

as in that of the Khimés, the future and present tenses are the same.

Mau, affix of the interrogative mood, occurs last in a sentence after all

others. It may also be applied directly to a noun without the inter-

vention of the substantive verb, as s¢pa “ child,” and maz interrogative

from s¢pa mau “ child ?” i, e. “‘ Have you any children ?”’ This is one of

abundant instances of how crudely ideas are expressed among a rude

people.

72 A Note on some Hill Tribes [No. 169.

Rau and ?’rau ; imperative termination: as tshé “ to go,” tshé t’rau,

“oo.” Mé is a negative affix, and always occurs after the root;

as tshé m’rau, “‘ dont go.” In this it differs from most dialects, the parti-

cle of negation, generally and correctly, preceding the statement of

the act which it is meant to cancel. In asking however a negative

question, the order is somewhat varied. The interrogative pronominal

occurs first, the negative next, then the personal pronoun, and finally

the verb; thus arong, ‘‘ why—” ma, ‘“‘not—” na, “ you—” and houng,

“come,” make aroung ma nahoung, “‘ Why don’t you come ?”’ In this case

itis peculiar that the interrogative model-afhx is not used, the interroga-

tive pronominal being sufficient to mark the clause to be a question.

Ak is an auxiliary affix of negation used only with the substantive

verb dm, ‘‘ to be,” in which case the true negative md is united with it,

into one word m’ak; m’tshdl “‘ husband,” am “ is,” mak “not.”

Ten is likewise an auxiliary afix of negation, similar to the Burmese

bhoo; as tshé m’ien “ (1) won't go.”

NUMBERS.

The numeral system of the Kyaus is not intricate like that of the

Khumis. It is decimal.

1, Khét.—2, niek.—3, thoom.—4, m’lt.—5, nga.—6, brook.—7,

s’ree.—8, ruiet.—9, k6.—10, tchiiom.—11, s’mré khdt.—12, s’mré niek.

—13, s'mré thoom.—20, tchiiom niek.—21, tchuom niek lé khat.—

22, tchuom niek lé niek.—30, tchaiom tchoom.—33, t’chuiom t’hoom lé

t’hoom.—40, t’chaiiom m’lt.—50, tchuiom nga.—60, tchiiom drook.—70,

tchiiom s’ree.—80, tchuom ruet.—90, tchuom ké.—100, r’za.—101.—

vr zalé khaét.—200, r’za niek.—222, r’za niek lé tchtiom niek lé niek.—

1000, sankha.— 2000, sankha niek.—1846, sankha lé r’za rvet lé tchiiom

m’lé lé érook.

It is to be noticed that one very peculiar and characteristic idiom of

the Indo-Chinese languages, such as the Burmese, Siamese, Malay, is

entirely wanting, as far as I could make out, in these two dialects above

described. I allude to numeral generic affixes. The numeral, as in

English, is placed in immediate relation with the noun, whereas in the

others it is placed in relation to a generic affix; as where the Burmese

say “dog,” two animals; the Kyaus and Khiimés say merely “ dogs two.”

But still as these hill dialects are so evidently cognate to the Burmese,

it is singular if they do in reality lack so characteristic a trait; and

1846. ] on the Kuladyne River :—Arracan. 73

therefore I cannot but suspect, that a better acquaintance with these

dialects would reveal them; and that I was unable to make myself un-

derstood in that part of my enquiries.

None of the tribes to which we have referred in the above pages are

in possession of any alphabetical system. Unless indeed we except the

Khyoungthas, who being in reality pure Arracanese, have consequently

the Arracanese or Burmese characters. With reference to the remain-

der, it is as yet a matter of doubt, among those who have turned their

attention to the subject, whether, for the purposes of education, their

dialects should be adapted to the Roman, or the Burman alphabet.

With reference to the first, the only thing that can be said in its favour is,

that it will save their European instructors the trouble of learning the

Burmese alphabet. With reference to the second, a crowd of arguments

appeal in its favour. In the first place all these dialects are evidently

cognate to the Burmese language, not only so in sound, but also in

structural peculiarities ; all their finals are exactly similar to those of the

Burmese language, being required to be formed in the mouth but not

uttered; this single peculiarity, which in Burmese is represented by a

mark called that, would require some outlandish configuration to be

conveyed in an European alphabet. Secondly, the instruction which

these people could possibly receive directly from European instructors

must be comparatively small; as with the exception of a few short

months, their mountain-fastnesses are inaccessible to an European con-

_ stitution ; and therefore native teachers formed in the plains, where Bur-

mese is vernacular, would necessarily become the principal instruments.

Thirdly, the Burmese language is used as the medium of communication

with the English Government, and therefore there are always a number of

persons in every village familiar with it. Fourthly, there are fewer sounds

foreign to the Burmese than to the English language. I remarked but

two, viz. the v in “ van,” and the uw in the French “plume,” ‘a feather ;”

these could easily be supplied by characters conformable to the general

type of those of the Burmese alphabet; as has been done by the Ame-

rican Missionaries at Tavoy in the case of the Karen language.

In the following list the coronna as in the word p’laung, represents

the a considered by the Burmese as inherent in every consonant, similar

in sound to the first a in “‘ papa :” the wu with a dot under it represents

the uw in the French word plume, ‘‘a pen.” The other accentuated

letters will explain themselves.

English. Burmese.

aur lé li

ant parwottshiet pardttshiet

arrow hmya mra

bird onhét enhak

blood thwé thwi

boat hlé or tham- hli

bhan

bone ayé or yé ard

buffalo = kywai kywai

cat kyoung kroung

cow nwama nwama

bull nwahpé nwaboh

crow kyéé tchagin

day né rat

to-day khoné goni

sun né nin

to-morrow néthpin _—ihnapran

yesterday ydmané yaminé

dog khwé khwi

ear na na

earth myé tamin

egg 00 400

elephant tsheng tshan

eye myéttsie myatsie

father ahpa ahpa

fire méé meen

fish nga nga

flower pan pan

foot khyé khripoa

goat tshiet tshiet

hair tshan tshan

hand lét lat

head ookkhoung oogoung

hog wet wat

horn gyd 276

horse myéng mran

house ieng ieng

iron than than

leaf arwet paroa

plaintai nghét py- ngha pyau-

leaf aurwét roa

plaintain nghét pyau ngha pyau

fruit thee thee

dawn light leng lan

mankind loo loo

monkey myouk myouk

A Note on some Hill Tribes

Arracanese. Khiunt.

ali

paleng

tai

taw6

thi

p laung

ahok

painoh

miyaung

tehi-ni

tchip’ ting

bak

kK ni

kondam

yandoo

kannada

k’1-léng

k’ dil

k’ sai

amik

ng’-a-i

mat

ngau

k’tshén

ak6k

meé

tcham

aki

ali

auk

tki

kaungenati

agnam

tchaung

enam

kutti

kittiatait

kawang

khimi

h’ lait

Kyau.

khli

m’rtshi

thar

thi

m laung

chalawé

meng

charrap’ nt

charra tsal

w-a

niding ta

arr-nu

kiluen na

kiluen

amra

kawata

m’tshi

yj Gang

[No. 169.

Bengali.

boiy’r

hpin yré

tir

thordi

16h

naoén

hanr

monhis

bilé-i

gal

aru

qaooa

din

ajiya

thooru}

kulya

koonr

kan

bhooin.

bauda

hati

thokh

baba

agun

mans

fooll

t héeng

saghul

thil

hat

mat ha

hoorr

thing

gora

ghorr

léar

phatha

kéla ka

phatha

kélé

kéla p’hol

bhor

manoos

bandur

1846. ]

English. Burmese.

moon 1a

mother amie

hill toung

mouth khandwéng

musquito khyéng

name amee

night gnyee

oil tshéé

river myeet

road lam

‘skin aré

sky koungkeng

snake mywé

star kyay

bracelet létgouk

stone kyouk

tiger kya

tooth athwa

tree theetpéng

fruit athéé

village ywa

water yé

yam myouk6o

wife maya

husband léng

white hpyoo

black mee

red néé

’ blue pya

good koung

bad tshd

beautiful hla

ugly mahla

I nga

thou théng or

néng

he and she thio

to go thwa

to fear kyouk

to be shie or hie

to give pé

to speak pyau

tocome /a or youk

here theehma

Arracanese. Khim.

amie

toung

patsa

khran

namee

enyee

tshee

mriet

lan

aré

goungkan

mrwi

kray

lagoék

kyouk

kya

thwa

theetpan

athéé

la rouk

dichma

on the Kuladyne River :— Arracan. 75

Kyau. Bengali.

lat khya chan

gna-au-i noo man

maii-i kh’ lang phar

Pbaung m kha moonkh

chang-rang tcheen- monsha

tchamp

a-mvin nrming nam

wum kulloh rait

atauk tchirut téil

yangpang _ tipd-e dordjea

lam lamm p hont

apik avin sam

kni mitsh6m athman

uwi mrti han

k’tshi arshi tara

k’tshi karoo

longtchaung ling shil

t kai kati bakh

haw ha dant

dingkaung ting gaas

atait p hdl

awang k6 p hara

tui ti p hani

ahd bal aloo

ayu napoi boh

yu-wo6 m7 tshal khushum

k’loong agnoung dhdph

p noong avaum kala

p ling atshen lall

k’ dap arait mashyeh

ahaui atsha edmm

haui-auk tshamak khrab

ahaui amenhl& § shoondur

akoochi tsha mak gémm noi

kai keema amie

nan nama-té — t’ hoomi

ni nengmagata Oi

tshék tshé jana

yé-e tchi dérr ash

aun am ashie

pe pé déna

toi tchong khota

khau

youk houng al

hee td eenyiit

English.

year

milk

child

offspring

male

(man)

female

(woman)

a boy

a girl

The following is a list of Khimt words.

they have in that dialect.

Burmese.

ahneet.

miemma

loogalé

miemma ga- miemma

lé

A Note on some Hill Tribes [No. 169.

Arracanese. Khimi. Kyau. Bengali.

ahneet — khim busr

nd : tchok dhoot

ashay doungdi hpooa

tha tchipau sipa hpooa

youkya noungboo wm’tshi morod.

tchiaii

miemma noungboo n’pang maiyunla

tcha

kolay shay noungboo wm’tshal morod

tchiat hpooa

doungdi

noungboo noukté maiyunla,

shay tcha doung- hpooa

The English is the meaning

The Burman is the term that comes nearest

to them ; although often the Burman term dee not express all the mean-

ings of the KA one.

Burman.

hluot

shie or hie

hnoing

hpooat or khyé

hpooat

hta

shé

apau

tho

nouk

tshairé

pyoo or look

ienghtoung

théthwa

shéng

yey

2nd

shdikshoo

go00-yakhoo

ké kékway

hoh-hma

Khiuni.

p th’lau

aun

pyak

ahdp

t?mooi

khat

mon

hiloung

wau

ningthon

angyok

pan

pong

neng

dé6k

ahing

panoo

awoh

ataho

wal

aul

hoéh

p lop

English.

to abandon, leave, let go

to be, remain, abide dwell in

to be able, can

to bathe, wash

to rub

to put, or place

front

above

to, in direction of

behind

to abuse, insult

to do, act, work

marry a husband

marry a wife

to die

to live

to laugh

to cry, weep

to breathe, pant

now, soon

to worship

there

cotton

1846. ] on the Kuladyne River :—Arracan. 77

Burman. Khimt. English.

hneet thét gnaing to love, to want

kya kla to fall

mégh ywa k’ni naik to rain

atoo wan ré alike, similar

aaloon pepe all

tsiet tshd p lu nai angry

khya-t’ khya taka or kra another

iet a-i to sleep

nd anlau to wake

iet tcha khén a bag

htoung htoung a basket

wa uivv a bamboo

kha akhé bitter

khwai khéi to break, snap

yoo youhai to bring

yoo 16h to take

meeloung p tau ‘to burn

thenggyéh 66 to bury

khaa hain to call

hpan kding p too to catch, hold, seize

ahpd-nee atien cheap

ahpomya roik dear in price

khyam khiimdi cold

atsiet amal a bead

tsiet padie laing a necklace of beads

kyét aa a fowl

hleé htoo baik to cut, carve

tsootswot tchooi wet, damp

thé thwa d’wi to die

nét hték deep, as water, also to drag,

thouk na-i to drink [pull, draw

thwé p hoot dry

pyee khéi - full

alat k’ khok empty

thee | hi this

daiyay thamén tchoo tchook a deer

oodoung touk dai a peacock

atoung imé-i a feather

toungpan p khi a wing

nwé poo bhi warm

ya na to find, get, obtain

twé a-wom to meet with, find

khyoung tawoé a stream, a bird

pyan ankhan to fly as a bird

kaza amak to play, jest, amuse

phora kK’ ni y long God

78 A Note on some Hill Tribes, &c. [No. 169.

Burman. Khimt. English.

gel of pauk | pauk “tube”

death”’

bhayhneet ayé ré how many

htaméng bok dinner

“the an- mai f mai “ fire’ a musket

thé nat

The Bengali terms given in the first part of the above are those of

the dialect of Chittagong. With reference to the Khimi and Kyau,

there are some that are interesting, as presenting instances for that pre-

dilection to onomatopeeia so characteristic of archaic dialects. The first

we will notice is the term tawd, a sound which may be heard echoing

through the still forest, and emitted by many of its winged denizens.

The next odk, and w’-d, especially the first, admirably represent

“acrow.” The term # ‘a dog” is uttered with a strong and sudden

intonation on the first syllable ; it is a sound constantly in their mouths

employed to frighten those animals from their never-varying occupation

of pulling every thing about in search of food. It is probable also that

the Burman term Ahwé, had the same origin. The terms m’-é “ any

thing of the goat species,” and ak ‘‘a hog,” mi-yaung “a cat,” are like-

wise instances of the same kind. It will be remarked, that in the Khim?

dialect the term for ‘‘Sun” enters into composition for that of

“God ;” as also that in Burmese, Khimi, and Kyau, the term for ‘‘Sun”

conveys also the idea of ‘‘ day,” in contradistinction to “ night.”

JOURNAL

OF THE

ASIATIC SOCIETY.

Diary of an Excursion to the Shatool and Boorun Passes over the Hima-

laya, in September, 1845. By Captain Mavven, Bengal Artillery.

The writer of the following notes has been induced to commit them

to paper, in the hope of their proving interesting, from the fact that

a portion of the route traversed is comparatively little known, and so far

as published information is concerned, is nearly new ground in botany ;

though of ornithological and entomological tours, several have appeared

from the pens of Captains Hay, Hutton, &c. The tract in question is

scarcely ever quoted for plants in ‘ Royle’s Illustrations,’ and the writer is

therefore induced to believe that the new habitats here given, may not be

without their use to some of the many travellers, who now annually

cross the Himalaya, from Simla to Kunawur. To those amongst them

who are novices in the mountains, he would recommend attention to the

following particulars, as tending considerably to remove the difficulties,

and enhance the pleasures of the trip.

ist. Avoid forming a party of more than three, in consequence of the

difficulty, increasing in a geometrical ratio, of obtaining supplies and

porters for a greater number.

2nd. Change the latter daily ; one may thus halt at pleasure without

expense, when desirable; the rate of payment is only three annas per

diem instead of four, as near Simla, and the difficulty, often a serious

one near the snowy range, is obviated of procuring large supplies, and

of adjusting the fair rate to be paid for them; a frequent source of angry

No, 170. No. 86, New Serius. M

80 Diary of an Excursion to the Shatool [No. 170.

and interminable discussion. It is also advisable to secure the coolies

from fraudulent deductions by paying or seeing them paid in person.

A heavy bag of pice is useful in many villages, where the inhabitants

cannot often produce change for a rupee. )

3rd. Encumber yourself with the least possible number of servants ;

but let these be able-bodied, in sound health, and warmly clothed ; their

falling sick will cause much delay and inconvenience: and on no account

start without a small tent for their use.

4th. Let this tent (and your own) be only of such a weight that one

strong man can carry it well, even when soaked with rain; and to

effect this the better, let each of the party have his own tent.

5th. As the heat in the low vallies is very great, take some light cloth-

ing, and a copious sola-feather hat. If inclined to hepatitis, a doubly-

lined umbrella is indispensable; and a green gauze veil or pair of gog-

gles to protect the eyes from the glare of the snow, especially in spring :

many have been temporarily blinded from this ‘ cause defective.’ The

traveller should avoid the vallies as much as possible; many of them are

infested by flies of which the bites are exceedingly poisonous, and when

irritated, terminate in dangerous sores. A double wax-cloth, to keep

one’s bedding dry, is essential, and five times as many pairs of shoes

as you would expend at Simla in an equal period. The country-made

articles sold in the shops there, will not, particularly during wet wea-

ther, stand more than a hard day’s work on the rugged paths of the

interior; and in the end, the purchase of European shoes will be found

to economize cash, space, and skin.

6th. Let your cups, jugs, plates and dishes be of metal; with these

only may you defy fate and falls; and as for provender to adorn them,

an ample supply of tea, sugar, Carr’s biscuits, hermetically sealed soup

and bouilli, fowls, sliced bread re-baked into everlasting rusks, with a

liberal allowance of beer, wine, and brandy, the latter precious article

insured against damage by being decanted into curagoa or other stone

bottles. Nor lastly, must a liberal proportion of tobacco be excluded

from the category ; be assured Moliére was not far wrong when he said

‘Quoique puisse dire Aristote et toute la Philosophie, il n’y a rien

d’égal au tabac’—at all events when jaded by a severe walk, and all other

creature-comforts out of sight. Amidst the fulness and listlessness of

Simla, one may dispense very stoically with many of these things, but

1846. ] and Boorun Passes over the Himalaya. 81

after the hard exercise and keen air of the mountain tops, nature asserts

her rights, and speaks through the stomach, in tones which can be

neither mistaken nor denied. The direction of the journey being deter-

mined before-hand, much trouble and expense will be saved by the esta-

blishment of a depét at some convenient spot on the return route.

7th and last. Some quarter of a century since, Stalker, Welsh, and

other out-fitters used to furnish the innocent Cadet with certain pounds

of tobacco to be given to the sailors “‘ for doing little jobs ;” such, as well

as presents of coarse powder and small shot—will be found really ser-

viceable in the Himalaya, where they are all scarce and bad. A judi-

cious exhibition of» these coveted articles will often secure a cheerful

endurance of cold, wet, danger, and fatigue ; the fumes of the tobacco

stimulating the sensorium of the mountaineer, as those of loyalty and

chivalry do, or did, that of the Frenchman. It is needless to add that

the contrary method of abuse, blows, and violence, irrespective of its im-

morality in contravening the expressed will and orders of our honourable

and honoured masters, is almost sure to defeat its intention, and to lead

to the desertion of those subjected to it.

September 3rd.—Left Simla with Lieutenant Bourchier, of the Artil-

lery, and walked to Fagoo, distant eleven or twelve miles, in four hours

and forty minutes. The rocks at Simla are chiefly clay and mica slate,

with quartzose sandstone towards the west, and a crystallized lime-

stone at Jutog ; the road lies along the northern face of Jaka mountain,

which is here composed of a deep-blue clay slate, and not of limestone,

as erroneously stated by Captain A. Gerard. The forest is here chiefly

formed by the Ban oak (Quercus incana) ; and in the steep precipitous

ravines to the right, grows abundantly the Deutzia Brunoniana, which

bears a considerable resemblance to the common Syringa. Quitting this,

the road gradually ascends the south or bare side of the ridge which

connects Jaka with Muhasoo: the north side is covered with a forest

of Mohroo oak (Quercus dilatata): and at 8 or 9 miles from Simla, the

summit of Muhasoo is attained, upwards of 9,000 feet above the sea;

the route is latterly through a fine forest of cedar, Rai (Abies Smithi-

ana), and the Kreoo or Kurshoo oak (Quercus semicarpifolia), and des-

cends to Fagoo, 700 feet below, through beautiful hanging woods of

maple, pindrow, or Jhunera pine (Picea pindrow), horse chestnut (Pavia

82 Diary of an Excursion to the Shatool [No. 170.

indica), below the road, and a multitude of shrubs, Viburnums, Leyces-

teria formosa, Limonia laureola, black currant, &c., under which in May

- and June, the large pure white ladies’ slipper (Cypripedium cornigerum)

flowers in abundance. The Putees (Aconitum heterophyllum), Circea

cordata, and the blue-flowering chereyata (Halenia elliptica) are also

both common on Muhasoo and at Fagoo. On the pleasant downs behind

this latter, the Primula denticulata, the sundew (Drosera muscipula),

Viola ccespitosa, and the pretty little eye-bright (Euphrasia officinalis),

are all common, though less so than in the interior.

To the resident of Cawnpore or Ferozepoor, nothing can be more

delicious than the freshness of the Fagoo woods in»spring. The lofty

stems of the pines are enveloped by the huge ivy and Ampelopsis climb-

ers; and in the autumn, when the leaves of this last turn bright red

and copper, the effect is very rich, and is said to resemble that produced

in the North American woods by species of oak, maple, and sumach.

All our oaks here are evergreens. The Tree-Rhododendron and Andro-

meda, which cover whole mountains of the outer ranges, become rare

at Fagoo, and are seldom met with in the interior : so very limited in

width is their favourite belt. They are however abundant on the Sutlej

between Seran and Tiranda. The boiling point of water is 198° at

Fagoo.

September 4th.—Detained for coolies ; all those available being se-

cured for Prince Waldemar and suite proceeding to Simla, and Colonel

Fullarton and his party bound for the Roopin Pass.

September 5th.—To Puralee, ten miles, in four hours; the first seven

miles, as far as Synj, are for the most part a steep and uninteresting des-

cent to the Girree; the Morina wallichiana, which flowers in May and

June, and the Scutellaria angustifolia are common. The glen of the

Girree is so warm for most months of the year, that it is advisable, if

practicable, to descend in the afternoon and merely pass the night in it ;

but fishermen will run all risks, and there is said to be good fishing ten

miles lower down. Puralee is about two and a half miles up the valley

from Synj on the same bank of the river, which, between these villages,

forces its way through a deep rocky defile on the brink of which the

road is carried for half a mile. There is a good breadth of arable

land in this part of the valley, and the climate being very warm,

the products are nearly those of the plains—barley, wheat, kodah

1846. ] and Boorun Passes over the Himalaya. 83

(Elensine coracana), cheena (Panicum miliaceum), till (Sesamum ori-

entale), and various species of Phaseolus. Puralee boasts a small bungalow

of one room, which is cooler than a tent, but by no means so clean, being

infested with almost all the insect plagues of Egypt.

September 6th.—To Kotkhaee, twelve miles, which we walked in

five hours ten minutes. The road lies for three miles or so, up the

right bank of the Girree, and then crosses by a good Sanga to the left

bank, along which it continues for the rest of the route in a constant

and rather wearisome series of ascents, descents, and sinuosities.

Kotkhaee, ‘‘ the Fort of the Fosse,”’ is a picturesque spot at the junction

of several streams from the east and north, which first here give the

Girree the character of a small reach, about the same size as the Hosilla

in Kemaon, and like it rising short of the snowy range. The thermo-

meter boils here at 202°, which gives about 6,000 feet elevation, about

500 more than is generally allowed to Kotkhaee. An excellent bunga-

low of two rooms had just been finished by Mr. Erskine, 150 or 200

feet above the left bank ofthe river. Across the stream, on a precipitous

rock at the angle formed by the Girree, and a stream from Huttoo, is

‘the palace” of the Kotgooroo chief ; it is an emblem of his own mind,

being a ruin, which only shines under the brush of the painter. Conse-

quent on the imbecility of the chief, the district has long been under

British management. A clump of cypress (Cupressus torulosa) grows

in the vicinity of the palace; the other trees are chiefly Kail pine

(Pinus excelsa.) On the route to-day I noticed in the corn fields abun-

dance of the pretty Hibiscus trionum, for which Dr. Royle goes as far

as China. A species of Vicia, resembling V. cracca, is common amongst

the thickets. Considerable quantities of iron are smelted at and around

Kotkhaee, and conveyed on mules to Simla and the plains.

September 7th.—To Deorah or Dehrah, about twelve miles, in five and

three-quarter hours. Three miles from Kotkhaee the road crosses to the

right bank of the Girree, and then leaves the glen to ascend the Shunkun

Ghatee, over the high neck joining the Koopur mountain on the SE.., with

Toombroo and Huttoo on the left. The Pass is probably from 9,000 to

9,500 feet above the sea, and on the ascent occur Abies smithiana, Picea

pindrow, and in considerable numbers, Populus ciliata: this I find, the

natives of the plains invariably mistake for the peepul. If the word

populus comes from peepul, it would go to prove that the separation of

84 Diary of an Excursion to the Shatcol [No. 170.

the Latin nations from the Hindoos took place after the establishment

of the latter in India; the peepul not being known in the high countries

to the north, whence the Hindoos are supposed to have emigrated.

The converse may indeed be true, that the northern tree is the original

peepul. On the grassy summit of the Pass, the Morina longifolia, the

Sibbaldia procumbens, &c. are in abundance. From this point the

source of the Girree may be seen to the right, at about 10,000 feet

elevation on the Koopur mountain, below which the stream penetrates

by a deep rocky and wooded chasm, a spur from Koopur which would

otherwise turn it down by Deorah to the Pabur. The locality is well

worth a visit, especially following the Chumba range from Bulsun

and Puthernulla. A little beyond Koopur, and connected with it by

the Puthernullah Pass of the map, is the still loftier three-peaked range

in the Tiroch territory, called Kunchooa; the Urrukta ridge of Royle

and Fraser, an appellation apparently taken from a fort now dismantled,

and scarcely known to the present inhabitants. From the presence of

birch, silver-fir, Anagyris barbata, &c. the Kunchooa summits are pro-

bably little under 12,000 feet elevation ; there is a difficult route over

them from Deorah to Choupahl vid the Puthernullah Pass of the map.

The view is fine from the Shunkun Pass, including the Jumnootree

peaks to the east, the Choor, Shallee, Huttoo, Fagoo, &c. The Koopur

mountain is composed of gneiss rock, like Huttoo; but the Shunkun

Pass is of a decomposing micaceous shale, down which the road, some

times steep and rocky, proceeds for four or five miles to Deorah, which

is seen directly beneath. Deorah, often called simply Durbar, is the resi-

dence of the Rana of Joobul. The last Chief, Poorun Chund, was drug-

ged to imbecility by his Wuzeers, in order to ensure the management

of the country remaining in their own hands ; this policy failed, as our

Government assumed and still retains the management; but the legiti-

mate claimant, an intelligent boy of eight or ten, is promised the restoration

of the Raj when he attains his majority. His palace is an extensive

and lofty square pile, surmounted by turrets, slated in the concave

Chinese style, not uncommon in the Himalaya; it is picturesque and has

often furnished a subject for the tourist’s sketch book; the best view

is from the Saree road. It stands from 6,000 to 6,400 feet above the

sea, the thermometer boiling at 2015°, and being surrounded by high

mountains, is rather a warm spot. But the traveller has the advantage

1846. | and Boorun Passes over the Himalaya. 85

of a small bungalow, the last on the route to the snowy range. Here

commences the rice cultivation so general in the valley of the Pabur.

Bathoo (Amaranthus anardana), kodah, cheena, and tobacco, are also

cultivated. The country is fertile and populous; the neighbouring

mountains, especially to the south, where a long and lofty spur from

Koopur extends to the Pabur—are beautifully diversified with fields,

thriving villages, and pine forests, chiefly of Kail, the only species at

Deorah. )

September 8ih.—To Rooroo Kothee in four and three-quarter hours,

called fourteen miles in the route book, but perhaps not above twelve.

Soon after leaving Deorah, the road enters the domain of the Ranee of

Syree, leading down over gneiss rock, along the left bank of the Beeskool

river, which rises from the Koopur mountain. Its banks are regularly

fringed with elder trees (Alnus obtusifolia) here called Koonch, the New

of Kunawur. Saree is about half-way to Rooroo, and is the lair of an

old Ranee, once famed for her beauty, and now for litigation with her

neighbours, and oppression of her people. The old lady visited Cal-

cutta about 1822, where I saw her on a visit to the late Sir Robert

Stevenson. From near Saree, which is a poor hamlet, the Pabur river is

first seen, with the Beeskool flowing into it, through some flat alluvial

ground by Goonsa village. Across the Pabur, on a nearly isolated hill

perhaps 500 feet above it, stands the fort or castellated mansion of

Raeengudh or Raeengurh, once a Ghoorka, then a British post, and

since ceded to the Rana of Kyoonthul in exchange for Simla. Far

above the fort, from amidst a group of minor mountains of very pic-

turesque outline, spring the richly wooded peaks of Boorhun and

Godar Deotah, to the height of nearly 9,000 feet above sea level,

a branch of the Changsheel—or as it is here softened, Chaheel range.

The road descends by easy gradations to the level of the Pabur, and

crossing the Nye, Noye, Pursrar or Dogra, a tributary from Thana

Keeshain, continues along or near its right bank to Rooroo, a few hun-

dred yards short of which, it crosses by a Sanga, or wooden bridge, a

rocky narrow chasm, ninety-nine feet deep, through which flows the

Shikree Nuddee. The Pabur is here a fine, strong, and perfectly clear river,

occasionally forming formidable rapids. A species of trout is abundant

in it and in the Shikree, but is said to be prevented by the snow water

from ascending more than ten or twelve miles higher up. The cliff

86 Diary of an Excursion to the Shatool [No. 170.

section of the Shikree exhibits strata of a micaceous sandstone, but

Rooroo, Chergaon, and several other villages on the Pabur, stand on

elevated plateau of gravel and boulders, from 100 to 150 feet above

the present level of the river. These are chiefly devoted to rice culti-

vation, , for which this valley, here and upwards, known as Chooara, is

celebrated ; the fields are abundantly, and to the traveller often incon-

veniently, irrigated by rills skilfully led along artificial cuts from the

Pabur, originating at a sufficient distance above to admit of the highest

levels being watered. |

Rooroo Kothee is 5,200 feet above the sea, and is rather a hot place.

The barley ripens in the latter half of May, the wheat in the first half of

June; the heat is then excessive. It is not a very large village, and

has a kind of square in the centre, which, were it a little cleaner, would

remind one of a substantial farm-yard in England. The Muhunt or

Chief Gooroo of Busehur resides here, and has large endowments in

land. Owing to the neglect of the smooth-tongued Mookheea of Deorah,

who promised everything and performed nothing, our baggage did not

arrive till sunset, so that our breakfast and dinner merged into one, at

3 past 7 Pp. M., thirteen hours after leaving Deorah ; a place which econo-

mizes cash better than temper. During the day, a general assembly of

the mountaineers took place under the Gooroo’s auspices, for the purpose

of dancing round the gods. These, however well-gilt, appear to be

aired and ventilated but once a year, and were deposited in litters

beneath the trysting tree in the village square, round which the people

formed themselves, men and women apart, into seven squares, single

rank of eight or ten each, holding each other’s hands, extended behind

their backs : then by a curious and by no means inelegant step, or set of

steps, in excellent time, they gradually completed the circuit, the move-

ment being combined with others to the front and rear, with repeated

bowings in concert to the deities ; this continued the best part of the

day to the music of pipe and drum, the performers being occasionally

relieved from the surrounding crowd, all seeming equally adepts. Con-

siderable practice must have preceded so creditable an execution of this

dance, and once or twice the gods even joined in the fun, which then

grew more fast and furious than ever; and from the exceeding elasticity

of the ash-poles on which they were carried, ‘‘ their worships” got such

a shaking as gods in the plains can never hope to enjoy.

1846. ] and Boorun Passes over the Himalaya. 87

The mountaineers of the Himalaya, like those of Gilead, invariably

convert the letter s into sh: so that the Shibboleth test must be revers-

ed to detect a Paharee ; they have also retained in common use a great

number of Hindooee words, which are seldom heard in the plains.

Rooroo Kothee is situated about 150 feet above the right bank of the

Pabur, which, at this season is fordable here with difficulty. In com-

mon with similar valley sites in the mountains, the village is infested

with a small species of fly, which, without giving any notice, inflicts a

bite that is frequently attended with much irritation. The higher

mountains have also in the spring, their pest, in the shape of a large

gad-fly, a pitiless enemy of man and beast.

The low glen of the Pabur, while it boasts abundance of the Rosa

brunonis, Indigofera dosua, Hypericum cernuum, Deutzia staminea, and

other flowering shrubs, possesses few or none of the beautiful her-

baceous plants of the Alpine rocks and pastures. The Marvel of Peru

(Mirabilis jalapa) however, grows in the greatest abundance and

luxuriance about Rooroo and several other villages, as well as about Kot-

khaee on the Girree, and on the outer range about Barh and Kalka;

the climate of the Himalaya between 4,000 and 7,000 feet elevation,

brings it to such perfection that in all these places it is so completely

naturalized as to appear wild. Another American plant, the Martynia

diandra, is equally abundant near villages in the Turaee of Kemaon

towards Bhumouree. The Hypericum perforatum is a common shrub

in the cornfields of the Pabur and Girree vallies ; and on the rocks near

Rooroo and Deorah, I noticed the Linaria incana, resembling in habit

the L. cymbalaria of Europe. Desmodium tomentosum is also a com-

mon shrub on the rocks in the Pabur valley hereabouts, and on the

Sutluj above Wangtoo bridge, preferring the warmest exposures.

There is an interesting route of three marches, from Rooroo Kothee vid

_ the Shikree Nudee, and over the Moraul ka Dunda, to Rampore on the

Sutluj, halting at Samurkot and Neura (or Neheree.) The country is

well peopled, and beautifully varied with forest and cultivation. In

May and June nothing can exceed the beauty of the wild roses,

| (R. Brunonis) climbing up the dark pines and alders, and falling down

in splendid festoons of the most fragrant blossoms. Snow will be

found early in June on this route, when the heat at Rampore, imme-

diately below is almost intolerable.

88 Diary of an Excursion to the Shatool _ [No. 170.

September 9th.—To Chergaon, an easy stage of ten miles up the right

bank of the Pabur, which we walked in three and a half hours. The cur-

rent of the river becomes more and more furious as we approach its source

in the Boorhun Ghatee; and in several places, dashes along with the

greatest noise and violence amongst the granitic and other boulders,

which lie in its bed. ,

‘*Vexed Scylla and the sea that parts

Calabria from the hoarse Trinacrian shore,’’

are smooth water compared with it even in poetry; for it must be

acknowledged that in reality these classic rapids are wonderfully calm

and gentle. After a few miles, the road passes under a high range

of slaty mountains of a curious formation, presenting an appearance

more like a series of gigantic pine-apples or cheeses, than any thing else

I know of. This is owing to the inclination and interruption of the

strata, which on one side present steep faces of shattered rock, while

the reverse side of the hummocks, though steep, is covered with grass.

There are no trees on these mountains, exposed as they are to the

withering influence of the southern sun; the Desmodium tomentosum

is, however, abundant, and the Capparis nepalensis creeps in patches

along the face of the sunny cliffs. About eight miles from Rooroo, we

passed the village of Mundlee, held in free gift by Brahmans, but also

inhabited by a colony of Moosulmans, whose ancestors emigrated here

from Jounpoor, three or four generations ago. They still possess the

true faith and a supply of fowls and eggs. ‘This is properly the first

village of Chooara. The land is here almost wholly devoted to rice,

which will be ripe in October: till, koolthee, mash, &c. are still sown,

but not in any quantity ; and in spring, the poppy is rather largely cul-

tivated. Across the river on a spur from the mountains stands the |

romantic fort of Butolee, near a large village called Musoola; above

these rise the densely wooded flanks of the Changsheel range, facing the

north, and in full contrast to the mountains on the right bank, covered

with forests of pine (Pinus excelsa, Abies smithiana,) &c. Should the

traveller prefer it, he may, if bound from Simla to the Roopin Pass,

strike up from the glen of the Pabur at Raeengurh, and follow the

summit of the Changsheel range to Doodoo. This route is much cooler

and more interesting than that by Rooroo; but there are no villages, and

two or three days supplies, a good map, pocket compass, and guides from

1846. ] and Boorun Passes over the Himalaya. 89

Mandil village, are indispensable. A little above Butalee, the Pabur

receives on the right bank the Mutretee river, from the Moral ke

Dhar, consisting of lofty, broken, glacis-like ridges, the strata lying

over towards the Sutluj, and probably rising to 13,000 feet. . It is the

continuation of the Shatool range, and divides Chooara from Dusao.

By fording the Mutretee at a mill in the line of the Pabur, a considerable

detour to the bridge up to its glen and a subsequent ascent of several

hundred feet may be avoided ; the short cut keeps close to the Pabur,

but it requires a steady head to pass in safety some narrow ledges

of rock, against which when the water is high, the current sets

strongly, and none should then attempt it, who cannot depend on

their nerves. On our return, the Pabur had fallen considerably, and

we effected the passage without further inconvenience than what arose

from the chilly waters of the Mutretee, which must be forded. About two

miles on is Chergaon, a small and poor hamlet, about 6,000 feet above the

sea, in the angle formed by the junction of the Undretee or Indravutee

river with the Pabur. This impetuous torrent which is about equal in size

to the Pabur, pours down south from the Shatool Pass; the bridge

having been carried away, we were forced to cross its angry waters by

a single tree, which my companion did unaided, while I was glad to ac-

cept the assistance of a neighbouring miller, Al-sirat itself could scarce be

more narrow, or destruction more certain in the event of a slip. Cher-

gaon is well supplied with apricot and other fruit trees, and the brink of

the Pabur is shaded by alder, &c. The Toombroo peak, north of the

Shunkun Ghatee, erroneously written Toongroo in the maps, is a con-

spicuous point from Chergaon down the glen of the Pabur.

September 10th.—To Moojwar village in Rol, twelve miles, a fatigu-

ing march, during which we accompanied our coolies, who halted

liberally to rest and smoke, so that we were eight hours on the road.

For three miles the path lies through rice cultivation and brush-wood,

up the left bank of the Undretee; then crosses and ascends about 500

feet to Dugol, a Brahman village of eight or ten families on the right.

bank, but in the map erroneously placed on the left. It is reckoned

6,800 feet above the sea, but the warm clothing of the inhabitants in-

dicates a much colder climate than would be due to such an eleva-

tion nearer the plains. The holy fathers are small, well made, well clad

men, but being afflicted with the itch, accompanied us to Rol for medi-

90 Diary of an Excursion to the Shatool [No. 170.

cine, of which, by the way, every traveller should carry a small supply

to meet the demands, which will be almost daily made by patients suf-

fering from liver, spleen, dysentery, and in short all the ills that flesh is

heir to, save blue cholera; and if unflinching faith in the skill of the phy-

sician be conducive to a cure, the practitioner here should be successful

indeed, for not A®sculapius himself was invested by the Greeks with

more certain healing powers than is every European—however modest

his pretensions in this department—by the mountaineers. From Dugol,

the path again descends to the river, and for two or three miles keeps

near its bank through beautiful English-like woods of elm, poplar,

alder, cornel, (Cornus macrophylla) and birch (Betula cylindrostachya,)

with Abies smithiana on the heights. A little beyond Dugol, I found

by a stream a species of Eupatorium in flower, much resembling E.

cannabinum. We next recrossed to the left bank and followed it for

several miles by a path often bad and rocky, and impracticable to

ponies; the scenery is very wild and beautiful, the Undretee forming

here, and indeed throughout the march, a series of foaming rapids: it is

quite unfordable. We now once more recrossed to the right bank, and

in a mile or two reached the junction of the two streams which form

the Undretee—viz., the Byansoo from the left, the Sheear from the right,

both flowing down from bare russet-coloured ridges, far above the re-

gion of forest, and evidently buried in snow for three-fourths of the

year, The Byansoo, | believe, originates in the Jalsoo Pass, about

13,000 feet high, which affords a passage to Seran on the Sutluj. We

finally gained the left bank of the Byansoo by a fallen spruce, and as-

cended the fork between the streams by a long and steep ascent to

Cheechwar, one of the Rol group of villages, 8,600 feet above the sea,

a pretty large and well-built place, one and a half or two miles above

which, by an easy acclivity, we reached Moojwar. A blue aster, quite

similar to the Swiss A. alpina; a large and handsome Inula by rivulets,

(I. royleana?) the Parochetus oxalidifolia, the large-leaved elm (Ulmus

erosa ?) much like the Wych elm, here called Mored and Paboona, afford-

ing much fodder to the cattle, with the walnut, peach, and oak, (Q.

semicarpifolia), are common in this district. Across the Sheear to the

east, the mountains present a lofty precipitous front to the west, clothed

with spruce and cedar. Across the Byansoo to the west are more bare,

brown, and very rugged mountains. On the north, the Shatool is con-

1846. ] and Boorun Passes over the Himalaya. 91

cealed by rising land, but so far as one can see, the great range here 1s

deficient in the magnificent cliffs and crags of the Roopin and other

Passes to the eastward, but one is not yet high enough to judge fairly.

Moojwar is about 9,000 feet above the sea; the houses large, of two

stories, very substantially constructed of stone and timber. The culti-

vation is chiefly Bathoo (Amaranthus anerdana,) and Phaphur or Buck-

wheat, with a little tobacco. The climate is severe and capricious,

and the people seem to consider the passage of the Shatool by no means

a trifle, and, as we afterwards found, endeavoured to intimidate our

people by the threat that not one of them would ever return; nor was

a storm of rain and thunder in the afternoon, much calculated to en-

courage them. The villagers have, however, agreed to accompany us,

and promised to have supplies for three days all ready in the morning.

They are said to have been recently implicated in a foray on their

neighbours beyond the next ridge whose sheep to the number of 1,500

they carried off after the manner of Rob Roy and his Caterans. There

is no king in the land, and every man does that which is right in his own

eyes.

September 11th.—To Kala Koondar, ten or eleven miles, which took

us eight hours, being much delayed by the constant halts of the coolies,

by my own rests and search for plants, and, after quitting the forest,

by a very difficult path. The distances indeed are but approximations,

and are perhaps exaggerated; experience has shown that to the direct

map-distance about one-third must be added for the road-distance,

instead of one-seventh as in the plains; but Kala Koondar, and the

next two stages, being “ vox et preterea nihil’ are not inserted on the

maps. Soon after leaving Moojwar, we passed the hamlet Jutwar,

the last and highest (9,200 feet,) on the route. Brush-wood and meadows

succeed, the first formed by Rosa sericea (a 4-petalled white species, )

Berberis brachybotrys (with bright red fruit,) and abundance of the

beautiful yellow Potentilla dubia; while the pastures abound with the

sessile flowered Iris kemaonensis; all these plants are equally charac-

teristic of the corresponding sites above Junglig and Jaka near the

Boorun and Roopin Passes. The late Dr. Hoffmeister shewed me

specimens of the above Potentilla, if they were not varieties of P. atro-

Sanguinea, gathered at and above Chitkool on the Buspa, in which

some of the petals were yellow and some carmine. On quitting the

92 Diary of an Excursion to the Shatool [No. 170.

meadows, the route enters and ascends steeply through a forest of

Abies smithiana, Pinus excelsa, Picea pindrow and P. webbiana, Quercus

semicarpifolia, Taxus baccata, Ribes acuminatum (red currant) the

lemon-scented Laurustinus (Viburnum nervosa,) Rosa sericea, &c., none

of the trees remarkable for size. The Picea pindrow and P. webbiana are

here and at Jaka, confounded under the name of Kulrai, perhaps the

Chilrow of Royle, and these unconscious disciples of Lamark insist, that

the difference in the size and colour of their leaves is solely owing to the

inclemency of the wind and weather, on the exposed sites where the

Webbian species is found. We emerged from the forest at a spot called

Bhoojkal, 11,700 feet above the sea, and about three miles from Moojwar ;

the rest of the day’s journey lies along the east or SE. exposure of the

mountains, destitute of trees, but covered with a new and rich series

of Alpine plants. A little beyond Bhoojkal and on the same level,

Reoonee, sometimes used as a halting place but a very bad one, occurs ;

and hereabouts much ground is lost by several steep descents to torrents

by rather dangerous paths. Above, to the left, the mountains exhibit

bare, but not precipitous shelves of gneiss rock, inclined from the route ;

to the right are deep glens, woods, torrents, and a few beds of snow,

all wild, lonely, and sublime. Kala Koondar is an open but steep spot in

a grassy, flowery glen, facing south, about 300 feet above the forest, and

12,000 above the sea, on a level with the Choor summit, which is

visible to SSW. We encamped amidst heavy rain and hail from the

north, which rendered the grass very cold and wet for our people and

ourselves too, having been compelled for want of hands, to leave our

charpaees on the road to-day. In these difficult tracts a good tarpaulin

under one’s bedding is much more conveniently carried than a bed-stead,

and excludes the damp almost equally well; where both are absent,

a very excellent substitute is a thick layer of pine or yew branches.

The creeping juniper, here called Theloo but in Upper Kunawur

Pama (Juniperus squamosa), commences from 800 to 1,000 feet below

Kala Koondar. The open pastures are covered with a profusion of

alpine flowers among which are the Cyananthus lobata (called Kheeree),

the Dolomicea macrocephala (Dhoop or Googul), Saxifraga parnassie-

folia (or a'species very like it, also found on the Choor), and (on rocks)

Saxifraga mucronulata, Sieversia elata, Swertia coerulea and several

other species, (one, a large plant with pale blue blossoms is probably

1846.] and Boorun Passes over the Himalaya. 93

Royle’s S. perfoliata), the Sphelia latifolia of Don, Polygonum molle (or

polystachyum), brunonis, and vacciniifolium, (the last on rocks, a beau-

tiful species), Lonicera obovata, Senecio nigricans, Achillcea millifolia,

a yellow Tanacetum, Oxyria elatior, Sibbaldia procumbens, Spircea

kamschatkika, (very like meadow-sweet), several Sedums ; Morina lon-

gifolia, Caltha himalensis, Delphinium vestitum, Aconitum heterophyl-

lum, Phlomis bracteosa, Corydalis govaniana, Geranium wallichianum,

Picrorhiza kurrooa, and many’more. Rhododendron campanulatum, is

common in the region of birch, and is called Chumreesh, Simreesh,

Simrat, Simbur, &c.; and above it is the much smaller Rhododendron

lepidotum or anthopogon with aromatic leaves, smelling when bruised

like those of walnut; it is called Talsur. The capsules are in dense ter-

minal clusters, and the flowers are said to be red. Gualtheria tricho-

phylla with its beautiful azure fleshy calyx abounds on the sunny banks.

The above are so general in all the region above the forest on the

Snowy range, that it will be needless to specify them on every occasion.

The Cyananthus lobata covers extensive tracts with its blue (occasion-

ally white) periwinkle-like flowers; at and above Nooroo Bassa on the

north side of the Roopin Pass, I found the seed ripe on the 20th of

September, while lower down, the plant was still in full bloom. In the

same way, on the Changsheel Range, Morina longifolia was all ripe on the

25th September, while on the 30th, it was still in full flower on Huttoo.

Rhododendron arboreum flowers in February and March at 7,000 feet,

and is not ripe till Christmas; but R. campanulatum and anthopogon

(Talsur) which flower in May, June, and July, at 12,000 feet, are ripe

by the end of October. A strange alchymy of nature this, to ripen her

products first in the colder sites, but perhaps necessary to the existence

of plants in these elevated spots, where but for this provision, the early

winter would prevent their ever coming to maturity. ‘‘ Il est demontré

(says the brilliant Frenchman,) que les choses ne peuvent étre autre-

ment: car, tout étant fait pour une fin, tout est nécessairement pour la

meilleure fin. Remarquez bien que les nez ont été faits pour porter

des lunettes, aussi avons nous des lunettes. Les jambes sont visiblement

instituées pour étre chaussées, et nous avous des chausses. Les pierres

ont été formées pour étre taillées, et pour en faire des chateaux, aussi

monseigneur a un trés-beau chateau; et les cochons étant faits pour étre

mangés, nous mangeons du porc toute l’année.”

94 Diary of an Excursion to the Shatool [No. 170.

The Dolomicea macrocephala is a very common plant in all the upper

Himalaya: Royle’s plate, perhaps for want of space, represents the leaves

erect, which are naturally quite procumbent; the root is highly valued

as incense, and as such, is presented to gods and rajas. The Picrorhiza

kurrooa grows abundantly on dry rubble from Kala Koondar to a great

height on each side of the Shatool Pass, but I did not notice it else-

where; the root is excessively bitter, and is sold under the name of

Kurrooa in the Simla Bazar ; it is the Kutkee of Kemaon.

September 12th.—To Doodach, eight or nine miles, which our

coolies performed in four and a half hours. The route is much better

and more easy than yesterday’s, gradually rising over slopes, for the

most part gentle, and crossing many rivulets from the left, some of them

chalybeate. The banks of these exhibit in some places great walls

of gneiss rock. The forest is now entirely lost sight of, and fuel

must be brought in from Kala Koondar. Doodach is an open and

level spot, well adapted for an encampment; it must be fully 13,000

feet above the sea, and is probably identical with the Kuneejan, of

Gerard. We had hard frost at night. The Undretee, a mere rivulet,

rises in a bed of snow, a little higher up, and flows about 200 feet

below us. Immediately above it, the opposite bank rises to a very

great height, in a magnificent facade of bare gneiss cliffs, the ledges

supporting deep beds of snow, and terminating to the north in a steep

conical peak, called the Dhuneer ka Thood. From these crags several

avalanches of rock fell down at night, with the noise of thunder,

Between our camp and the base of the Pass (about a mile,) the rock is

quartz, in immense coulées of shapeless masses, heaped together without

order and very difficult to climb over. They have fallen from a huge

and very curious rectangular mass, which forms the western side of the

Pass. Several interesting plants abound here; the Saussurea or Aplo-

taxis gossypina, clothed in dense wool, raises its conical form every

where on the rocky rubble to the top of the Pass, resembling a vegeta-

ble spectre. It is called Kusbul, Munna Kuswal, and Bhoot-pesh, and

is offered to the gods, who have evinced their care and favour by cloth-

ing it so warmly, exactly as they have protected the yak and alpine

goat with a thick waistcoat of pushmeena. Another Aplotaxis is defended

by a different contrivance; the leaves are gradually converted into large

yellowish transparent bracts, enclosing the colts-foot-like blossoms as

1846. | and Boorun Passes over the Himalaya. 95

if in a head of cabbage. This plant is common amongst the large rocks

from Doodach nearly to the summit of the Pass, and is also’sacred. It is

called ‘‘ Birm (or Brem) Kounl (or Kouwul),” i. e. “ Brahma’s Lotus ;”

a similar species on the high mountains behind Cheenee, has a strong

odour of musk. ,

Fraser found the ‘‘ Birmah Counla” on the Bumsooroo Pass, between

Sookhee and Jumnootree, and describes it thus—Stalk covered with

large and long leaves, somewhat like those of a primrose, ending in a

cup like that of a tulip, appearing merely the continuation of these

leaves, closing and forming the petals of a very noble flower, in the

centre of which the stamina and pistil are seen. Petals greenish to-

wards the base, but the middle and higher parts are black and yellow,

as is the centre of the cup, but more vivid. ‘The latter part of the des-

cription appears derived from a Fritillaria, and very possibly from the same

plant which, ‘‘ Pilgrim” (pp. 66, 67) says is so beautiful at Kadarnath in

April: and though growing on the hard ground and out of the melting

snow, is called “‘ Lotus.” In Kemaon, the Iris nepalensis is known as the

Neela Kumul, or blue Lotus ; and is a favourite plant with fukeers, &c.

Amongst the other plants found at Doodach and on to-day’s route were

two species of Aconitum. One, which seems to be known as A. dissectum

(Hamiltonii or Speciosum) abounds at this elevation, and has the leaves

cut into five segments, with light blue blossoms. It is called here

Doodhiya Moura, but in Kunawur, Tilia Kachung. The other species,

Aconitum ferox, is called Moura-bikh, or simply ‘“ Mora” (from mri, to

die,) and is reckoned extremely poisonous. It only occurred in one spot,

a mile or two above Kala Koondar, growing in an extensive patch, the

stems from four to six feet high, with long dense racemes of splendid

deep blue flowers : the follicles three. The mountaineers were shocked

when I told them that an equally deadly species was a favourite flower

in our English cottage gardens, where they concluded it could only be

planted in the view of occasionally getting rid of a superfluous boy or girl.

The handsome Ligularia arnicoides (figured by Royle,) was in full bloom

every where about and above Doodach, and in similar situations all over

the Snowy and Changsheel ranges. On the south side of the Roopin

Pass there is another species, with reniform leaves. By the rivulets

on the route, and high upon the Pass, the Primula stuartii and

P. purpurea are abundant, and now with ripe seed. They are both

96 Diary of an Excursion to the Shatool [No. 170.

called ‘‘ Jy-be-Jy” or “ Jyan,” and are very ornamental in May,

June, and July. With these occurs a very handsome species of

Dracocephalum or Lamium, called Gurounta, with a strong camo-

mile odour when bruised. On bare rocky ground from 12,800 feet up-

wards is found the Centaurea (Aplotaxis) taraxicifolia, the “ Dhoopree,”’

with heads of purple blossom and a delicious fragrance like that of the

sweet colt’s foot. The showy musk-scented Delphinium (brunonia-

num?) grows near the foot of the Pass, and is called ‘‘Soopaloo,”

“ Ruskur,” ‘‘ Ruskachung:’ it is, I believe, the ‘‘ Liokpo,”’ of Upper

Kunawur, and is a curious illustration of the association in these lofty

regions of musk in the vegetable as well as the animal kingdom. The

Hymenolena Govaniana, and several similar Umbelliferee, with bracts

greatly developed and beautifully fringed with white, are common, some

of them attaining the crest of the Pass; among those lower down is

one with decompound leaves, of a strong aromatic parsley-like fra-

grance, here called Nesir, and mentioned by Fraser as occurring near

Jumnootree, under the name of Mahee. All this lofty region (from

12,000 to 13,000 feet) abounds with the Kanda, a species of prickly

Meconopsis, probably M. nepalensis, in form like Royle’s M. aculeata

(which in his plate seems too deeply coloured,) except that the flowers

are of the most lovely azure. Amongst the Doodach rocks grows the

Sedum himalensis, very like the Rhodiola rosea of England, and

amongst the rocks and snow at the source of the Undretee I found the

Saxifraga granulata of England, and a Ranunculus (choorensis ?) much

like the R. glacialis of Switzerland. Such are a few of the plants

which ‘ blush unseen” on these desolate wilds ; a more leisurely exa-

mination would easily double the number. Nature, where she cannot —

be useful, seems determined to be ornamental, and converts these tracts

where grain will not ripen, into pastures and flower gardens, where

thousands of butterflies and insects enjoy their brief existence. The

utility of nature must not indeed be limited to man, for there is scarcely

one of these plants, the seeds of which do not support myriads of in-

sects as well as many birds; and the highly successful experiment at

Muhasoo is a sufficient proof that many of the forest tracts at least,

and perhaps even the pasture lands above them might, by a moderate

expenditure of industry and enterprise, be rendered available for the pro-

duction of excellent potatoes, and thus enable the Himalaya to support

1846. ] and Boorun Passes over the Himalaya. o¢

double or treble its actual population. Judging by the produce of the

flocks and herds which now partly graze on these pastures, the soil and

grass must be faultless; every traveller is struck with the quality of

the milk—as rich as cream—at Rol, Jangleeg, and Jaka, placed at

the lower limit of the belt where cultivation now ceases.

September 13th.—From Doodach over the Shatool Pass to Ateeng

Wodar, twelve to fourteen miles, in somewhat under seven hours. An

experienced native of Rol had earnestly advised us not to attempt the Pass

unless the day were fine, and we were so far fortunate as to have a cloud-

less morning, and reached the summit, perhaps four miles, in three hours,

mounting at a very easy pace; the ascent, indeed, is less fatiguing

than that of the Choor from Seran; and on its completion we expe-

rienced none of those feelings of headache, giddiness, distress in breath-

ing, &c., described by many travellers, and very sensibly felt by myself

on a former occasion on the Roopin Pass. The route lies up over the

frozen snow bed of the Undretee, and then up one steep continuous

tract of broken, angular, masses of gneiss rock, of which there is a steep

escarpment to the right, capped by a thick bed of the purest snow.

The col, or semicircular summit of the Pass, is in its whole extent fur-

nished with numerous piles of stones called Shoogars or Thooas—the

“‘Ebenezers” of grateful and successful passengers; in number and

height far exceeding those on the Roopin and Boorun Ghatees ; the pil-

lars being apparently in a direct ratio to the piety and the fear of the

passengers, and the difficulty and danger overcome. Our men had

provided themselves with stores of flowers, chiefly the Kounl and Munna-

kuswal saussurea, and the musk Jarkspur, which they tied in long

garlands, and with which they decorated, first the pillars, and then, on the

Hindoo principle of ‘‘ Purmeshwur-hai,” ourselves. They clearly fancy

their gods to be as fond of musk as they are. On so cold a site, a few

faggots of wood would be a more rational offering; but as their evil

genii and demons are lodged in eternal fire, it is quite logical to locate

the gods in eternal cold and snow, and it is remarkable that he who

was prophet at Medina, and impostor at Mecca, also patronized this

notion, for he affirmed that, when touched by the hand of Allah, the

sensation was that of intense cold. On our return by the Roopin Pass,

the garland ceremony was dispensed with, each man merely tearing a

small portion of his clothes, and suspending it on the pillars,.a custom

98 Diary of an Excursion to the Shatool [No. 170.

universal in these mountains, where we observe a bush or tree on each

more eminent pass, ornamented with votive rags of all colours, precisely

similar to those about holy wells, &c., in Ireland. With respect to

vegetation, the Primula purpurea and Sibbaldia purpurea grow very

high upon the south side of the Pass; the two Saussureas, a large

Sedum (probably S. asiaticum,) a Rumex, and a pretty pink Corydalis

(either hamiltonii or meifolia) reach the crest; and above that of the

Roopin, I found patches of Potentilla inglesii; so far are these elevated

ridges from being entirely forsaken by Flora!

The right or eastern portal of the Shatool Pass is formed by the pin-

nacle of rock, 1,500 feet high, and 17,000 above the sea, visible from

Doodach; it is called Dhuneer ka Thooa (the Dunerko of Gerard,) from

the Mookheea of Rol, who bribed a bold adventurer with a hundred

rupees to scale it, and erect a pile of stones in honour of the Deotahs and

himself. Moore tells us, that the schoolmen used to debate how many

angels could dance on the point of a needle without jostling each other ;

and some of these Himalayan needles are so sharp, that the same ques-

tion naturally suggests itself with respect to the thirty million of gods

which the Hindoo Mythology has peopled them with. The Dhuneer

ka Thooa sends down to the north a broken serrated spur, which falls

to the west in a lofty and most superb escarpment of naked rock, which

lay on our right as we descended. Looking down to the north, through

the long vista of the glen, we had a glorious though somewhat limited

view of the lofty peaks of the snowy range beyond the Sutluj, separating

the Busehur district of Wangpo, north of the Wangtoo bridge, from the

districts of Manes and Dunkur, in Speetee, and crossed by the Taree

Pass, 16,400 feet above the sea. In some of our maps this range, or its

outliers behind Kanum and Cheenee, is called the Damak Shoo, proba-

bly from the prevalence of the Damak, or various species of Astragalus,

Caragana, &c. which grow there, and which our travellers in Upper

Kunawur call Furze.

The Shatool Pass is 15,550 feet above the sea level, nearly 100 feet

below the top of Mont Blanc: and was first crossed in June 1816 by

General Hodgson. It is distinctly visible about E. 24° north from the

top of Jaka at Simla, a degree or two to the left of Colonel Chadwick’s

house on the Muhasoo ridge, lying between two of those conspicuous

inclined peaks of which the rocky planes slope down to the east and

1846.] and Boorun Passes over the Himalaya. oo

ESE. at angles of from 10° to 20°, considerably to the right of the

three-grouped and similarly inclined peaks, often but erroneously

pointed out as the Boorun Pass. It is owing to this conformation of

the strata that the routes up the vallies near this portion of the Snowy

range invariably keep to their western and SW. sides; on the opposite

ones, the strata “‘crop out’ in inaccessible crags.

Beautiful are the ‘‘ balancings of the clouds” at this and the past

season in the Himalaya, and the endless variety of light and shade,

which they cause on mountain, forest, field, rock, and meadow. No

sooner has a shower fallen, and the sun shone out, than the process of

evaporation commences in the heated vallies ; the rising vapours are con-

densed at a given elevation into clouds, which, with a snail-like move-

ment, creep up the mountain sides, and invest the summit or languidly

tumble over the ridge into the next valley; ‘‘even in their very motion

there is rest.”” Occasionally an entire valley or large tract of the moun-

tain is covered with one fleecy mass, on which the spectator looks down

as on a sea, a lofty peak here and there jutting up like an island. It

must be confessed, however, that they are best at a distance and in

poetry. Disagreeable at Simla, they are dangerous on the Shatool,

where we had not been above half an hour, on the narrow crest, when

from the south, clouds

‘* Rose curling fast beneath us, white and sulphury,

Like foam from the roused ocean of deep hell,

Whose every wave breaks on a living shore,

Eleaped with the damned like pebbles! ! !’’

The wind also being very keen, and our only seat the snow, we effected

a speedy retreat down the great northern snow-bed, of which we only

reached the termination in an hour and three-quarters. The upper por-

tion had been covered to the depth of two or three inches by a recent

fall. To this succeeded a wearisome and, in many places, very steep and

difficult moraine composed of enormous sharp, shapeless, fragments of

gneiss piled on each other in wild confusion, the lowest ones resting on

frozen snow. ‘These would indeed prove ‘destruction’s splinters” to

the unfortunate, overtaken here by a snow storm, which would paralyse

his hands and feet, and blind his eyes—all most essential accessories now ;

and accordingly this was the scene where Dr. Gerard in September

1820, had two of his people frozen to death at midday, and escaped

100 Diary of an Excursion to the Shatool [No. 170.

himself with great difficulty and the loss of all his baggage. In no

month is the passage perfectly secure. It is effected with least difficulty

early in spring, as the snow then covers all the rocks which so much

impede one’s progress ; but I am not aware that the natives ever attempt

the Shatool till the rains have set in; and even on the other Passes

clear and perfectly calm weather is indispensable to safety.

The scenery on the northern declivity is wild and savage indeed: to

the right are the magnificent black cliffs before mentioned, which, from

the summit, slope back gently in great fields of snow, of the most

dazzling whiteness ; deep beds also lie at their base. To the left the

mountains are more bluff and rounded but still greatly shivered. The

Moraine ends to the north in a steep escarpment, and latterly our

route over it, lay on the ridge of a very curious bund of snow, rubble,

and rocks, about sixty feet high, and very steep on both sides, and

apparently artificial as any railway embankment. Except that frozen

snow is substituted for ice, the whole scene greatly resembles the Mer

de Glace, and other glaciers of Savoy and Switzerland. A turbid stream

issues from the base of the great snow-bed, and is joined by several

torrents from the left; the combined stream a little below flows placidly

for a while over a nearly level dale. During the day time the powerful

rays of the sun melt the whole surface of the snow beds, and these tor-

rents become unfordable: but at night, when all is re-frozen, they

are dwindled to mere rivulets, only supplied from the bottom of the

snow-beds being melted by the heat of the earth, and hence they are

easily crossed in the morning. Below the moraine, the mountains rise

steeply on each side, covered, especially on the left, with grass and

herbage, now of a rich raw-sienna tint forming a strong contrast with ©

the great beds of white-quartz masses, which on this side extend down

to the valley, reflecting a most intolerable glare. The path, a very narrow

and bad one, finally keeps close to the left bank of the stream, and so

continues to Ateeng Wodar, a summer station for shepherds, equivalent

to the chalets of the Alps, except that the Himalayan mountaineer is

generally content with the shelter of a cave in the rocks, sometimes a

little improved by a rude wall in front. Ateeng is nearly in the latitude

of Rampoor, a short distance above the birch forest, about 12,000 feet

above the sea, and perhaps nine miles from the crest of the Pass. The

valley is narrow, and destitute of the savage features it possesses above,

1846. | and Boorun Passes over the Himalaya. 101

but across the torrent to the east, the mountains are still very steep,

bold and lofty, with many deep ravines filled with snow.

The vegetation consists here of Delphinium vestitum, Dolomicea ma-

crocephala, Cyananthus lobata, Onosma bracteata, aromatic rhododen-

dron, and Cassiope fastigiata (‘‘ Talsiree”) the ‘‘ heather’’ of Fraser ; with

it grew a shrub with all the appearance of a Vaccinium, but with neither

flowers nor fraochans to enable one to decide. Between Ateeng and

the moraine, the Salix lindleyana creeps abundantly on the ground,

and Royle’s Arenaria festucoides is not uncommon; on the moraine

itself was a plant very like his Saxifraga imbricata, abundance of Ra-

nunculus choorensis, and one or two Gentians, in flower. These

mountains no where exhibit the carpet of blue Gentians and Campa-

nulas so lovely in the Alps. On the gravel beds and banks of the

stream, the Epilobium speciosum, perhaps the finest species of the

genus, grows in abundance.

The chief reasons for the Shatool Pass being sc much dreaded are

first—the intrinsic difficulty of the northern moraine, as well as the

descent from Ateeng to Panwee, where the path is so narrow that even

laden sheep pass with some risk: and secondly, the remoteness of sup-

plies, fuel, and places of refuge. The Roopin and Boorun Ghatees

have each a village within one stage of their southern base, and on the

north, the valley of the Buspa is easily gained in one day by tolerable

paths. Laden men cannot reach the Shatool from Rol in less than two

days; and at Ateeng Woodar, on its north side, they are still distant a

very hard day’s journey, by an execrable path, from the valley of the

Sutluj.

September 14th.—From Ateeng Wodar to Panwee, near the Sutluj

above Wangtoo bridge, a distance which we estimated to be sixteen

or seventeen miles, with a descent of 6,000 feet ; a very fatiguing march,

which we walked in eight hours, inclusive of several halts. In the

contrary direction, it would indeed be a tremendous journey, and should

be divided by all who travel for pleasure or profit. The route, by a

bad pathway, gradually rises along the Alpine pastures, occasionally

traversing a dense coppice of Rhododendron campanulatum, R. anthopo-

gon (or lepidotum, the aromatic species) and mountain ash (Pyrus foliolosa

or ursina,) the latter in full fruit, the berries occasionally of a beau-

tiful waxy white, a variety probably of the usual red-fruited species,

102 Diary of an Excursion to the Shatool — [No. 170.

which I have also received from the Harung Pass above Sungla. It

forms a favourite food of the bears which are numerous hereabouts.

Mingled with and below the Rhododendron and mountain ash to

the right, are extensive shaggy woods of large white-barked birch

(Betula Bhojpatra,) recalling many a romantic spot in the Trosachs, Glen-

gariff, and Capel Carrig. The bark consists of as many as twenty layers,

and is much employed in Kunawur in the flat roofs of the houses, where

it is laid under a stratum of clay. Supposing the Himalaya to have

emerged gradually from the ocean, this ‘‘ tree of knowledge” may be held

the last best gift of heaven to man in the vegetable way, for it could not

exist till the mountain had attained an elevation of 9,000 or 10,000

feet; the silver fir, (Picea webbiana) must be nearly of the same

age, and thus we may form a comparative chronology of the dates

at which the various trees were successively produced. Quitting the

birch braes, we encountered a steep ascent under fine gneiss crags

and pinnacles, with tremendous declivities on the right hand, which

brought us to the crest of the Ootulmai Ghatee, (called Gongrunch

or Shaling by Alex. Gerard,) where the path turns to the left, and

leaves the Shatool glen. Hence to Panwee is one almost uninter-

mitted and generally extremely steep descent for a few hundred feet,

over loose rugged rocks, covered with the large and now scarlet leaves

of Saxifraga ligulata, and then through a superb forest of Picea web-

biana and Quercus semicarpifolia, both streaming with long white

lichens, also birch, and a dense underwood of mountain ash, Rhododen-

dron campanulatum, Rosa webbiana, Syringa emodi (Lilac,) black and

red currants, yew, &c. At the bottom of this glen, perhaps a mile

down, we reached a small romantic dell, through which flows the

Skooling or Shaling stream, and here the scenery is of a Titanic gran-

deur and wildness. On all sides, feathered with the dark silver fir, vast

precipices spring up perpendicularly, and seem utterly to preclude

further progress; it seems as if one had reached the gates of Hades. On

the brink of the stream the Greek Valerian (Polemonium ceruleum,)

and the lovely azure blue hound’s tongue (Cynoglossum uncinatum,)

were flowering in abundance. God might have made a more beautiful

flower than this last, but he never did, as some one has justly observed

of the strawberry as a fruit. Exit from this spot seems as impracticable

as from the happy valley of Rasselas, and is only obtained by a short

1846.] and Boorun Passes over the Himalaya. 103

sharp clamber, which introduces the wayfarer to the Panwee Dhunka,

a distance of three miles, the most dangerous I ever traversed ; the path

so called, being excessively narrow, and carried along vast ledges of

rock, inclined at a high angle to a bottomless pit on the right, from

which they rise at an equally steep angle on the opposite side. I cannot

recollect such enormous shelves of rock elsewhere, nor, except the Via

Mala on the Spliigen road, and the gorge of Gondo on the Simplon Pass,

an abyss more profound. Neither of these, however, can compare with

the Panwee ka Dhunka in the extent and luxuriance of forest, which here

clothes the mountains above and below, to the right and to the left.

The Skooling falls in a fine cascade down to the right at such a depth,

that one can scarce bear to glance at it, save from such ‘“ coigne of

vantage” as a tree growing from the cliffs. “The least obliquity is

fatal here,’ and no one should attempt the passage who is not well

assured of his nerves, or weary of his life. Bossuet has a passage so

eloquent, and so apt to such a situation, that my readers, if any, will

be pleased at its insertion here.

«‘ La vie humaine est semblable 4 un chemin dont l’issue est un préci-

pice affreux. On nous en avertit dés le premier pas: mais la loi est

portée, il faut avancer toujours. Je voudrais retourner en arriére :

Marche! marche! un poids invincible, une force irrésistible nous en-

trainent; il faut sans cesse avancer vers le précipice. Mille traverses,

mille peines nous fatiguent et nous inquietent dans la route. Encore si

je pouvais éviter ce précipice affreux! Non, non; il faut marcher, il

faut courir; telle est la rapidité des années. On se console pourtant,

parce que de temps en temps on rencontre des objets qui nous divertis-

sent, des eaux courantes, des fleurs qui passent! On voudrait s’arréter :

Marche! marche! Et cependant on voit tomber derriére soi tout ce

quon avait passé: fracas effroyable! inévitable ruine! On se console,

parce qu’on emporte quelques fleurs cueillies en passant, qu’on voit se

faner entre ses mains du matin au soir, et quelques fruits, qu’on perd en

les gotitant: enchantement! illusion! Toujours entrainé, tu approches

du gouffre affreux: déja tout commence 4 s’effacer, les jardins moins

fleuris, les fleurs moins brillantes, leurs couleurs moins vives, les prairies

moins riantes, les eaux moins claires; tout se ternit, tout s’efface. L’

ombre de la mort se présente ; on commence 4 sentir l’approache du

gouffre fatal. Mais il faut aller sur le bord. Encore un pas: déja

104 Diary of an Excursion to the Shatool [No. 170.

Vhorreur trouble les sens, la téte tourne, les yeux s’egarent. II faut

marcher : on voudrait retourner en arriére; plus de moyens: tout

est tombé, tout est évanoui, tout est échappé!” and it was our fate to

escape these very literal precipices by an abrupt descent to Panwee, all

through a dense and lofty forest, excepting the last 500 feet, which

lead to the village through terraced cultivation. ‘he forest trees occur in

the following descending order—Picea webbiana, first alone, and then

mixed with P. pindrow and Quercus semicarpifolia ; then Abies smithiana

and Pinus excelsa, many of the latter fully 150 feet high. Lastly, the

cedar feathers all the bold crags about the village, which across the

Skooling torrent to the east rise precipitously into a lofty peak, arguing

no easy marches ahead.

We encamped by a temple where our people found excellent shelter

from the brisk showers which fell in the afternoon. A thick bush of

sacred juniper grows in the enclosure, and the vicinity is well shaded

by horse chestnut (Pavia indica), elm, peach, apricot, walnut, and mul-

berry trees. Panwee is a middling-sized village, above the left bank of

the Skooling river, two or three miles from Wangtoo bridge, and from

1,300 to 1,500 feet above it. From several points above the village, the

Sutluj, with the road to Chegaon, is visible; as well as the wild glen of

the Wungur, which joins at the bridge in one succession of cataracts.

By visiting Panwee, we have enjoyed some of the sublimest scenery in

the world, at the expense of a stage on our way to Sungla, for the

direct route follows the Shatool stream to Melum, but our guides were,

or pretended to be, unacquainted with it, and on enquiry here, we

found that it is really impracticable to men with loads; and have every

reason to believe it must be extremely difficult without that encum-

brance.

September 15th.—To Melum or Ramné (the Melung of the map),

about ten miles in seven hours, by a difficult route, the path being for

the most part as rocky, and in some places as dangerous as any we

have traversed. At one almost impassable ledge, one of our dogs fell

and had a narrow escape. (By the bye, dogs should not be brought

into these parts—being perpetually in the way, to the risk of their own

and their master’s necks.) In several places jutting crags are only passed

by the aid of the ladders, scaffoldings, and steps, so familiar to the tra-

veller in Kunawur. On leaving Panwee, there isa steep declivity to

1846.] and Boorun Passes over ihe Himalaya. 105

the torrent, which’here forms a pretty cascade, as does that under

Melum, about a mile short of the village. The vegetation here consists

of rank grass, reeds, &e. Hence there is a considerable ascent to a

point affording an interesting view of the Sutluj, and its picturesque

rocky gorge where spanned by the Wangtoo bridge. Our path then led

us down to the left bank of that river, now rolling along an impetuous

torrent of milky water. A long ascent succeeds, with the river from

300 to 1,500 feet right below; and above us to the right hand long

craggy facades, bristling with cedar which abounds hereabout. The

road to Cheenee lies down on the opposite bank of the river. From the

brow of the last ascent our path turned to the right up the glen of Me-

lum, and met the Shatool Pass torrent in about two miles, where it has

deposited an immense accumulation of drift timber, the spoils of the

forests above. The trees on its banks here are chiefly Alnus obtusifolia,

Rhus buckiamela, and Spirza lindleyana. A gentle ascent of about a

mile and a half brought us to Melum, also called Ramné, a small but

well built village, about 7,000 feet above the sea, standing on a plateau,

closely backed by steep woody mountains. By avoiding the last steep

ascent to-day, and keeping direct on to the mouth of the Melum river,

we might perhaps have reached Keelba; but the gentlemen and ladies

who carried our baggage assured us, we should repent if we tried the

very bad ascent from that stream.

September 16th.—To Keelba, about nine miles, which from the

excessive ruggedness and difficulty of the worst path in the world, and

its manifold steep dips and rises, we only accomplished in five and a half

hours. First we descended to, and crossed a torrent below Melum,

and then mounted by Yana or Janee village, till we came abreast of

Chegaon or Toling, and on a level with it, 7,225 feet above the sea. It

consists of a group of villages, with several large temples and extensive

cultivation. On the crags at this point, I noticed the Incarvillea diffusa

of Royle, an elegant plant which is also found on the Wangtoo rocks.

Hence the path falls to the Sutluj, and leaving Poonung above to the

right, continues along its brink for a few miles over boulders, gravel,

and sand, overrun by a shrubby, silvery, and very aromatic Artemisia ;

the river is fringed by the ‘‘ Wee,” a species of olive, probably Olea

ferruginea, The toom or ash, Fraxinus xanthoxylloides, is common,

but of no great size. It is frequently met with in the higher parts of

106 Diary of an Excursion to the Shatool [No. 170.

Kunawur, and is known about Rampoor, as the Gaha or Ungah. The

very jaw-breaking specific name is very justly applied. The Daphne

mucronata of Royle here becomes a common shrub, called jeekoo ;

and near Yana, I first met a species of Celtis, called koo, of which the

drupe, now ripening, of the size of a small cherry, is sweet and edible.

There are two species or varieties; one a large tree called Ro-koo, with

black or dark purple fruit; the other, Cho-koo, smaller, has yellow or

orange fruit. This, and not Elzagnus, as surmised by Royle, I take to

be the “‘red and mawkishly sweet berry,” produced on a shrub in

Hungrung, as mentioned by Herbert (Asiatic Researches, XV. 392.):

as his ‘‘ yellow and acid berry about the size of a currant,” is no doubt

the fruit of the Soorch (Hippophe salicifolia). The Koo is pretty

common nearly up to Brooang, at Meeroo, &c. It has been mention-

ed to me by a friend as occurring under the name “ Kaksi’ near Jungee,

where, however, a subsequent enquirer could hear nothing of it: in all

likelihood because the first had been misinformed as to the name;

‘‘ Kagshee” being the Cornus macrophylla, which has a deaf like the

Celtis. Both the Celtis and the Zizyphus have been identified with the

famous lotus of the Lotophagi; but assuredly one may devour any

quantity of Koos or Bers, without risk of forgetting one’s home and

friends. A little below Panwee, and generally up the left banks of the

Sutluj and Buspa to Brooang, at an average of 6,000 feet, there is abun-

dance of a species of oak, which I have not met elsewhere, though it

seems to be the Quercus cassura, of Don’s Prodromus. The leaves are

exceedingly waved and spinous, tomentose below (as are the cups of the

acorns, which are produced by six to eight) or solitary, on spikes or

peduncles of five or six inches. They are now nearly ripe. The tree

is called ‘‘ Bré,’ but this seems to denote the genus only. Pinus

gerardiana is pretty common, but not very large on the crags, during

this day’s journey :—and in the coppice, Abelia triflora occurs abundant-

ly, here called ‘‘ Spung :” the ‘‘ Takla” of Bulsun and Bhujee.

From the river-bank, the path now ascends for two miles or so, to a

few hundred feet above its level: another rainy season will, to all

appearance, render it impassable, and it is now as dangerous as

can well be imagined, crossing a vast landslip with a most precarious

footing on loose sand and rocks, highly inclined, where each step

receiyes and requires more deliberation than an act of Parliament.

1846. | and Boorun Passes over the Himalaya. 107

What has been done once may be done again, but no reasonable man

would attempt this a second time. ‘The reward consists in the view

of the river, here not above ten yards over, ‘‘a hell of waters” rushing

on, like Pyriphlegethon, in perfect cataract, boiling, foaming, and tossed

up vertically in one continuous mass of spray in its ungovernable career,

amidst immense boulders, and under the tremendous precipices of

the right bank, which it seems bent on undermining. What an anti-

thesis between its recent quiescent state and gentle fall as ice and snow,

and this unruly turbulence, and then its almost stagnant course onward

to the ocean, where it enters on its final probation as vapor, realizing

the hell imagined by Shakespeare :—

‘* To reside

In thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice;

To be imprisoned in the viewless winds,

And blown with restless violence about

The pendent world.”’

Above this, the river receives an affluent from Meeroo, and on

an isolated rock, just above the junction, stands the Raja’s Castle

of Choling, the Chalgee of the map: still higher up, the Channel

widens, and the river flows with a strong uniform current, bounded by

a broad bed of shingle on its right bank. The Sutluj may here be said

to effect its passage through the great range, and, generally, the travel-

ler cannot fail to be surprised at the manner, almost resembling instinct,

in which the river finds its way through such a labyrinth of mountains.

It has here indeed followed the natural line of a vast echellon formed

by the Shatool ranges to the south, and those of Speetee and Koolloo to

the north: and from the Thibet frontier at Shipkee to Rampoor has an

average fall of sixty feet per mile. The absence of lakes, and the ex-

istence of so general and efficient a system of natural drainage seems

to argue the vast antiquity of the Himalaya, and may also serve to

establish Lyell’s theory of a gradual upheavement of mountain chains,

which afforded time for the water to adjust their levels ; and to fill up

the basins with those deep deposits of gravel and boulders, through

which they are so often found to excavate their beds. The planes are

indeed still far from uniformity ; and the roar of the torrent and the cas-

cade, the sound of many waters, is rarely out of our ears as we approach

the higher mountains. ,

108 Diary of an Excursion to the Shatool [No. 170.

From the rapids of the Sutluj an abrupt ascent of several hundred

feet leads to the cultivation, chiefly buck wheat, and finally under

vineyards, to the romantic village of Keelba, situated immediately above

the river, surrounded by great numbers of fine peach, apricot, walnut

and elm trees; while some superb weeping willows flourish by the

beautifully clear rivulets which gush down on every hand from the

lofty mountains to the south. These are densely wooded, and shew a

front of splendid precipices to the north or north-west, ending in

a high bluff of rock, which seems the ‘“ Yana Bul” of the map. Seen

from near Meeroo across the river, the appearance is as if a great tract

of ground had here subsided, having a high wall of rock on one side,

reaching up to the Snowy range near the Boorun Ghatee. Meeroo

itself is hidden from Keelba, but the neighbouring village and cul-

tivated slopes of Oorinnee, 400 to 500 feet above us, are visible to

the north-west ; and to the east, the snowy peaks of the Ruldung just

come into view. The grapes here and at Brooang, &c. have totally

failed this year, probably from the prevalence of unseasonable rain,

which fell in drizzling showers to-day and yesterday, but cleared up

this afternoon. At Melum, a good room was placed at our disposal,

with a second for our people: and we have the same advantage at

Keelba.

September 17th.—To Brooung, Booroo, or Brood, eight or nine miles.

We marched at 20 minutes to 8 a.m. and descended to the Sutluj,

which here flows in a broad and comparatively calm stream: the path

generally bad, lying up and down the crags, which are finally wooded

with ash, olive, and neoza pine (P. gerardiana.) At half past nine we

reached the confluence of the Buspa, which flows into the Sutluj like a

mill-race, and is equally muddy, marking its source in a granitic tract.

‘“‘ Pilgrim” attributes the turbid waters of the Neelung to its source

amongst mountains of slate clay (p. 33.) but on inspection of the Rul-

dung cluster, which may be called the cradle of the Buspa, with its great

scars and flaws of whitish granite, induces me to conclude that the dis-

coloration is due to the decomposition of this rock: it is exactly the

same with the Arveron at Chamouni. The bluff crags and cliffs,

feathered with cedar, and the twisted neoza, are very grand where the

rivers unite: the Sutluj comes down through a narrow rocky gorge,

a little above the point of confluence ; a good Sanga, 5,968 feet above the

BS46;f and Boorun Passes over the Himalaya. 109

sea, is thrown across the Buspa, for the Pooaree and Cheena road; but

our route lay up the rough, stony path on the left bank—the river a per-

fect torrent, in a very deep confined gully, where the channel is

choked by huge boulders. At the fifth or sixth mile, we should have

quitted the gorge, and ascended to Brooung: but we had loitered

behind the coolies, and proceeding to the Brooung stream, were in full

route to Sungla, when we fortunately met its Mookheea on his way to

Ralee, who shewed us our mistake, and directed us back up a steep

ascent of about 800 feet, where we lost our way again in a wilderness

of fruit trees, and got at least 500 feet above the village, which, after

two hours’ wandering in complete uncertainty, we at length hit on quite

accidentally. It is a poor scattered place, just above the left bank of

the stream from the Boorun Ghatee, the snows and peaks of which

are seen above: the inhabitants are a meagre, sickly race. It seems

to be the place called Soorung, in the trigonometrical map—one

of its manifold errors in typography. The elevation is generally given

7,411 feet, but in a German map, published at Berlin, itis stated to be

-8,820 feet, (Paris) or 9,400 English, which is certainly too much.

On rivulets flowing into the Buspa, I noticed to-day a species of

Tussilago (colts-foot) with the habit of T. petasites; it is said in May

and June to produce fragrant yellowish flowers. With it grew the

Polygonum runcinatum of Don’s Prodromus.

September 18th.—From Brooung to Sungla, about twelve miles, in

seven hours. For half this distance the path rises and falls along the

left bank of the Buspa through beautiful scenery, the precipitous rocks

feathered with the neoza pine, here generally called Shungtee and Ree.

The course by the river then becomes impracticable; and a steep ascent

of 2,000 feet succeeds nearly up to Chansoo, with a line of stupendous

precipices to the right, the pents and ledges of which are clothed with

splendid cedar and kail (Pinus excelsa,) many of the latter not under

150 feet in height. To the left, the Buspa rages in a series of cataracts

through a tremendous abyss, which succeeds its comparatively level

course over the Sungla valley. Boisterous indeed is the career of this

aquatic Richard: its average fall being 250 feet per mile. The brink and

face of the steep on this side is frmged with many superb old tabular-

headed cedars, their gigantic boughs thrown about in wild disorder, like

Lear, with outstretched arms, appealing in vain to the unpitying heavens.

110 Diary of an Excursion to the Shatool [No. 170.

The tree constantly prefers the steepest acclivities, a peculiarity which

must be respected by those now trying to naturalize it at home: it

will infallibly perish if planted in any ground approaching a swamp, a

condition unknown to the Himalaya. Near the foot of this ascent there

is a dogra or hamlet, belonging to Chansoo, with orchards of apricot,

walnut, and peach trees, of which last the very abundant fruit was

sweet and juicy. The people and the bears divide the prize; the former

securing their share by day, which is dried in the sun for winter con-

sumption. The bears, who are said to be very numerous, devour their

portion by night. Chansoo is 9,174 feet above the sea, and is a most

lovely and picturesque spot ; the continuation of the cliffs before men-

tioned, extending behind it in a lofty amphitheatre, the brow of which

is clothed with birch, now falling into the sere and yellow leaf of winter.

The fields of Chansoo are shaded by very large walnut and cedar trees:

we measured an elm twenty-nine feet round, at five from the ground.

From Chansoo there is a route via Soang or Sheong, (9,000 feet), over

the Sheoo Ghatee, (13,350 feet), to Paneemor and the Boorun Ghatee.

It is very interesting from its carrying the traveller amongst the most

splendid cliff-scenery: and from the summit of the Sheoo Ghatee seve-

ral shadowy ranges, covered with snow, are seen to occupy the horizon

from north to north-east—the far away mountains of Ladakh and Thibet.

Our descent towards Sungla was amongst huge detached masses of

gneiss, and at about one-third the height ascended, we again reached the

Buspa, no longer roving like a maniac in a strait waistcoat, but flowing

rapidly, and frequently in three or four streams, along the open valley

of Sungla: Kumroo, the old capital of Busehur, is seen across the river,

and elevated several hundred feet above it: it is about a mile from

Sungla; the intervening tract being a high plateau, a forest of fruit

trees. The rajas found themselves Tartar up here, and determining to

become Hindoo, removed to Rampoor, as—parvis componere magnis—

Peter the Great left Asia and Moscow for Europe and Petersburg.

The banks of the Buspa are here fringed with the willow and “ Soorch,”

(Hippophee salicifolia); and in three or four miles from Chansoo, we

crossed to the right bank by a good Sanga, immediately under the

village of Sungla, close to which we encamped, by a temple adorned as

usual in these parts, with many heads and horns of wild sheep, deer, &c.

Some of them belonging to an animal called kin, skin, or sikeeng, are of

1846. ] and Boorun Passes over the Himalaya. lil

monstrous dimensions. The very general practice of decorating the

temples (not of the men but) of the gods, with horns, which prevails

even amongst the Mohammedans of the Hindoo Koosh, reminds us of

the expression—‘“‘ horns of the altar” —among the Jews, as well as of the

altar of Apollo at Delos, which is reported to have been wholly formed

of them. There is perhaps a reference to the rays of the sun, which are

denoted in Hebrew by the word Kiran, which also expresses horns ;

hence, when it is said ‘‘ Moses’ face shone,” the Vulgate chooses to render

it—‘< was horned ;” and the Italian painters have ever since represented

the prophet with horns just as Alexander the Great (‘‘ Dhul,’”’ Karnein)

wears them in right of his father Jupiter Ammon. The sun would

naturally play a prominent ré/e in the primeval worship of the Himalaya,

and I remember once at Paikha, on the upper Pabur, when marking out

a short vocabulary, having ‘‘ Purmeshwur” given me as the name for

the sun: a significant commentary on the Gayatri!

Sungla is rather a large village, built on a slope facing the south-

east, about 150 feet above the Buspa, and 8,600 above the sea. There

seems no medium in the looks of the inhabitants, who are either very

handsome or very ugly. Of the extreme beauty of the valley there can

be but one opinion : the river flows swiftly down the centre over gravel

and stones ; above this, on plateau of various levels, is an abundant ter-

raced cultivation of cheena, bathoo, tobacco, kodah, and the beautiful

buckwheat, diversified by occasional woods of cedar, poplar, and the

usual fruit trees, irrigated ad libitum without labour ; the difficulty in the

hills being to level the ground, and in the plains to water it. To the

south the base of the outer Himalaya is sloping and verdant, with

woods of cedar and koil firs: and immediately above the valley to the

north-east, rise the enormous bare, grey, rocky scarps and pinnacles of

the Ruldung group, with considerable snow beds wherever the slope

allows, and still resisting the force of the southern sun. This magni-

ficent group extends far up the Buspa towards and beyond Rukchum,

above which a single pyramid of rock springs up nearly to the height

of the loftiest peaks behind Sungla, 21,500 feet : but to see the valley

and its setting in all its perfection of pinnacle, crag, and fields of the

purest snow, one must mount to the highest hamlet towards the Roopin

Pass. The scene strongly recalled Chamouni to my mind: the Buspa-

enacts the Arve well, and in each situation the mountains actually rise

112 Diary of an Excursion to the Shatool [No. 170.

about 13,000 feet right above the spectator. Seen laterally from Cheenee :

at only seven miles distance, the Ruldung presents the additional

feature of dark and extensive forests, and the sharp needles are there

mingled with long dome-shaped ridges, all invested in perpetual snow,

from which, in June and July, is heard the frequent crash of the ava-

lanche. ‘‘Ruldung” is the Kunawuree name for Muhadeo, who resides

here, as Jove

‘On the snowy top

Of cold Olympus ruled the middle air, .

His highest heaven.’

The legend is, that Ruldung is a chip of the true Rylas near Mansoro-

wur, brought here at the desire of an ancient king and penitent: and

it is considered meritorious to perambulate the mountain, keeping it

always to the right hand, exactly as the cairns, &c., are circled in Scot-

land and Ireland, and for the same reason, i. e. because the, sun goes

round the earth in this direction.* Amidst all this superstition, the

sublimity and immaculate purity of the Ch’hota Kylas render it no

mean emblem of ‘the high and holy one that inhabiteth eternity ;” and

we may quote with admiration, if we do not adopt with conviction, the

lines of the poet, written under the inspiration of similar scenery—

‘Mighty Mont Blanc! thou wert to me

That moment with thy brow in heaven,

As sure a sign of Deity

As ere to mortal gaze was given, &c.’

There does, indeed, appear to be both benevolence and design in the

existence of these great mountain chains, and we may consider the

Himalaya as nature’s vast reservoir for the irrigation of empires; opened —

every spring by Phcebus Apollo, when like Amram’s son, he ascends from

the south and causes the waters to gush from the flinty rock. It is

probable, that a portion of the Hindoo veneration for the range is owing

to its containing the springs of so many of the rivers which fertilize their

country.

When at Sungla, the traveller should not fail to ascend the Harung

Ghatee, over a brown sterile spur of the Ruldung, on the route to Me-

* I have seen a Sikh soldier go through exactly the same ceremony at a shrine near

Makhowal Anundpoor. From how much superstition would a knowledge of the solar

system have rescued the world!

ee ee

1846. ] and Boorun Passes over the Himalaya. 113

bur and Cheenee, for the view of the snowy range and Passes to the

south. ‘The scenery on the Buspa at Rukchum is said to be of the

finest description : want of time prevented our seeing them. At Sungla is

first met the petit shrine called Chastun by the Buddhists; in one of the

four sides a small cylinder revolves on an axis, which the passenger

puts in motion. Such a cylinder on a great scale may be seen in the

temple at Soongnum, inscribed all over with ‘om mane pudme hom,’

which Klaproth interprets ‘oh! the Jewel is in the lotus :” of which the

esoteric meaning is very deep. The prayer is considered as good as said

by each revolution; an idea which could never have originated but in

the mechanical and material mind of the Mongolian race.

This day, the 18th, was cloudy, and snow fell on the Passes to the

southward, but the afternoon was fine. We halted on the 19th.

September 20th.—From Sungla to Nooroo Bassa, about ten miles,

in six hours, generally up an easy ascent by a path which is perfection,

compared with any between this and the Shatool: traversing first some

woods of cedar and koil, and then over the cultivated slopes of one or

two small hamlets, where the wheat and barley were being cut, and sent

down to Sungla. Above this, the path lies over grassy mountains,

with wooded crags across the torrent to the left-hand; the whole

somewhat tame after what we have seen, but for the Ruldung. The

Chough abounds amidst the cliffs in all this and the upper portion

of Kunawur. On the way to-day, we met a herd of the Yak, which

supplies the Chownree. In Thibet, or the neighbouring districts of

Toorkistan, we have the origin of the Pashas of one, two, three, or many

tails, who once carried terror over Europe. About 1,000 feet below

Nooroo, the path turns to the right, the glen of the Nulgoon Pass being

straight ahead. About here large beds of Ligularia arnicoides were in

seed fully ripe, while on the south side of the range, it is still in full

blossom: 700 feet higher, the declivities are covered with Anagyris

barbata; the seed nearly ripe, but much injured by grubs. The roots

are much branched, and extend several feet under ground. The plant

is here called Bhaloo ka buroot; it flowers in May and June, and

resembles a lupine of the deepest purple. Nooroo Bassa is an extensive

open piece of grassy land, 12,985 feet above the sea, and a few hundred

feet above the highest birches, which afford abundance of fuel. A

stream flows about 100 feet below to the south amongst beds of

114 Diary of an Excursion to the Shatool [No. 170.

snow; its right bank is rugged and craggy; the left sloping and

covered with Cyananthus, &c., the general prospect limited and rather

uninteresting. A bitterly cold storm of sleet came down from the Pass,

just as our tents arrived, and we had hard frost all night, fully a

month before it is thought of at Simla.

September 21st.—Over the Roopin Pass to Rasur or Rasrung, called

also Surra Peechoo, distance eleven or twelve miles. We left Nooroo

at twenty minute past six a. m., and by an easy ascent reached the

crest of the Pass at a quarter past nine, including, as elsewhere, several

stoppages to collect seeds, &c. Heavy and suspicious masses of clouds

accelerated our departure, but the sun soon dispelled them, and re-

vealed the gigantic forms which surrounded us—the embodied frost—

giants of the Edda, and very unlike the guardian angels seen by

Gehazi to encompass the prophet. The northern declivity of the Pass

is quite a trifle in comparison with that of the Shatool. On the 20th

of September 1833, it was an unbroken and extensive sheet of snow, but

to-day we only met two beds of it near the summit; nor is there any

Moraine, so terrible at the Shatool from its chaos of sharp gneiss

masses. Here the rock is chiefly flat micaceous slate, sometimes ap-

proaching to sandstone, and therefore of easy passage, though not

macadamized. The grand cliffs of the Shatool are also wanting here,

but on the left or east, there are some fine shivered pinnacles of rock,

plentifully strewed with snow-beds and sufficiently high

‘To shew,

That earth may reach to heaven,

Yet leave vain man below.’

And nowhere does he appear vainer and more insignificant than ~

here, if we regard only his physical strength and size; at the same

time, the mind of a Shakspeare or a Newton is more truly wonderful

and sublime than all the Ossas heaped on all the Pelions in the world.

The glory of the Roopin Pass consists in the cascades on its south side,

in its lovely valley, and in the views of the Buspa Dell and the Ruldung

pinnacles, which from this point are seen from NE. to E, rising from

great fields of the purest snow, untrodden by man, and probably by any

living thing. On the 21st September 1833, the thermometer boiled on

the summit of the Roopin at 186°: the elevation is reckoned to be

15,460 feet: and on that day about noon it stood in the shade at 49°,

1846. | and Boorun Passes over the Himalaya. 115

and in the sun at 68°. It is the Pass marked Goonas in the map,

which is another error, the Goonas being more to the west. “ Pilgrim”

refuses to all this range the honour of being the veritable Himalaya, and

Captain Herbert considered, that the true continuation of this latter

was in the Ruldung group, penetrated by the Sutluj near Murung: it

is however merely a question of more or less ; and there is, at all events,

no denying that from the Shatool Pass eastward, there is a snowy

range, inasmuch as even on its south exposure, the snow never dis-

appears ; nor can the fact of its gradually declining below the zone of

perpetual snow in the Moral ka Kanda, between the Sutluj and the

Pabur, detract from its claim ; though it must be allowed, that the moun-

tains and Passes are inferior in altitude to those of Kemaon; nor can the

north-western mountains, any more than the whole world, furnish the

prospect of overwhelming sublimity which the spectator enjoys from

the Gagur, Binsur, and many more points near Almorah. Still the

easternmost Pass into Kemaon from Thibet, the Byans, is under

16,000 feet elevation, and of so gentle ascent, that it is crossed on horse-

back: and the Chinese invasion of Nepal proves that, still more to the

east, the Passes can scarcely be so difficult as the Shatool.

Like Dean Swift, the mountains die at top first, and except a small

white Helichrysum and the fragrant Centaurea, the vegetation on and

near the Pass is now being rapidly burnt up by the frost: two or three

Gentians, the Aconitum dissectum, and the Delphinium vestitum, seem

alone to defy its power : but few flowers remain of Saxifraga varnassiz-

folia (orglandulosa ?), Sieversia elata, Ligularia arnicoides, the yellow

Tanacetum, common Senecio, and a Polygonum like the bistort of the

Alps. On the crest of the Pass grow the Aplotaxis gossypina, Poten-

tilla inglesii, Hymenolena govaniana, Corydalis meifolia, and Saxi-

fraga imbricata; the last two in flower.

We quitted the crest at quarter past 10 a. m., the wind being bitterly

cold, and descended 800 feet or so, over loose stones and frozen snow,

by a steep rocky kloof to a kind of oval basin, extending in length

from NNW. to SSE. from six to eight miles, by two or three across,

enclosed by a barrier of black broken crags, debris, and snow beds; the

surface covered with snow and mica slabs, thrown about in great con-

fusion ; a scene of utter silence and desolation. Here and there, there isa

pool of water, and a multitude of tiny rills trickled under the stones, the

116 Diary of an Excursion to the Shatool [No. 170.

sources of the Roopin river, of which the glen below this valley, is

found, after a long and steep descent, to be completely blocked across

by a precipitous wall of black rock, from 250 to 300 feet high. Over

this the accumulated streams leap down by two falls, which, to the best of

my memory, surpass in beauty the finest in Switzerland: the water

perfectly clear, and reduced to white mist like the Staubbach, falls in

the softest wreaths over succesive tiers of ledges, and about a mile lower

down, where the two falls are brought into one line, the effect is exceed-

ingly fine. The path has hitherto kept on the right bank of the stream,

but crosses between the falls, where in 1833, a deep snow-bed supplied a

bridge; but this year, it is much melted here, though at the base of

the lower fall, the river passes under an enormous mass of it. Here the

path improves, following the narrow glen alongside the river, now

flowing gently for a few miles as if to rest after its great leap. The

mountain-cataract, which, having leaped from its more dazzling height,

‘Even in the foaming strength of its abyss,

(Which casts up misty columns that become

Clouds raining from the re-ascended skies, )

Lies low but mighty still.’

The lateral cliffs all down to Rasrung are continuous on each side of the

valley, and so whitened with cascades, that the scene considerably

resembles Lauterbrunnen, in the Canton Bern, and fully deserves that

name—“‘ nothing but springs.” There is here indeed no wood, the whole

being quite above the region of forest; but the grassy or rocky talus at

the base of the crags, as well as the small levels by the water, are richly

enamelled with flowers :—such as Primula stuartii, purpurea, and glabra:

Sieversia elata, Aconitum dissectum, Ligularia arnicoides and another,

Polemonium cexruleum, Scrophularia urticzefolia, the blue Meconopsis,

and a host of Composite and Labiate, especially near the falls; the

Greek valerian is very common, and in full bloom, as is a very pretty

species of Forget-me-not; these, and the Lotus corniculatus are amongst

the many examples which in these mountains frequently replace us for

a moment or two in our native land :

‘ And, as in forts to which beleaguerers win

Unhoped-for entrance through some friend within,

One clear idea wakened in the breast,

By Memory’s magic, lets in all the rest,’

1846. ] and Boorun Passes over the Himalaya. 117

Many of our Himalayan tourists, especially the earlier ones, have allow-

ed their imaginations to run away with their judgments, and have

dressed up their descriptions more in the style of Macpherson or of

Harris than of sober prose: but it must be admitted in extenuation,

that the reality of the scenery, and the champagne atmosphere, able to

drive all sadness but despair, have an inevitable tendency to exalt the

spirit to the etherial regions, which there, Chameleon-like, naturally

assumes the tint of their deep native blue. Even in the physical de-

partment of the man, a greatly diminished dose of alcohol will suffice to

produce intoxication. The daily repetition, however, of the sublime

and beautiful, is very apt to create a revulsion of feeling, till at length,

to get rid of the perilous stuff which preys upon the heart, we take

refuge in apathy, and perhaps fall so low as to adopt the Frenchman’s

panegyric, “‘ Grande, magnifique, superbe—pretty well!” or at least to

swear with Akenside—

‘Mind, mind alone, bear witness heaven and earth,

The proper fountains in itself contains ;

Of beauteous and sublime.’

After many delays from seed and plant-collecting, and a heavy storm

of rain and hail at the falls, we reached Rasrung at half-past 3 Pp. M.; a

small sloping plot, covered with grass and flowers, just below the highest

birches on the right bank of the Roopin, which is here crossed by a

natural bridge of snow, still from twenty to twenty-five feet thick.

The usual encampment is a little lower down and on the opposite (or

left) side of the river, under a high cliff called Jeyral, where water

boils at 194°, which gives an elevation of 10,800 feet. Rasrung is about

11,000. ‘The sward here, and at Seetee, is much cut up by an animal

like “‘a rat without a tail,” which is figured in Royle’s Illustrations,

and is also found on the choor. It takes two hours to reach the upper

water-fall from Jeyral, and four, the crest of the Pass. We had frost

all night at Rasrung.

September 22nd.—To Jaka, ten miles, in six and a quarter hours. A

a cloudless morning, but we only reached our tents at 2 P. M. in time

to escape a heavy rain, which fell in snow on the Passes. The climate

up here is as ‘‘ perfidious” as that of England: a sky without a speck

at six A. M. is overcast by noon: at 2 or 3 p. m. we havea storm, and all

is blue again : often however—and the phenomenon seems hitherto unex-

118 Diary of an Excursion to the Shatool [No. 170.

plained—no rain falls, but heavy clouds rest on all the mountains, which,

notwithstanding the increase of cold, altogether disappear during the

night. In Kemaon, when all else is perfectly serene, a fine thin wreath

of cloud may be seen to issue from the summits of Nunda Devee (No. |

XIV. of the great map) and the Panch Choola (No. XIX.) which has

led Europeans to the conclusion that a volcano exists there: while the

natives solve the appearance by the supposition that culinary operations

are going on amongst the immortals.

The route to-day was by a very rocky and often tree-encumbered

path, but never difficult to a footman, following for some miles the

right bank of the river, which is then crossed by a snow-bridge. It

continues for a greater distance on the opposite bank, and finally re-

turns to the right side by another snow bed, which must be perma-

nent, being entered in the Trigonometrical Survey map, made about

twenty-five years ago. For the first half or better, the glen, about 200

yards wide, is bounded on each side by noble-bastioned crags, in several

places rising vertically from the river full 1,500 feet, and terminating

in picturesque shattered pinnacles. The vegetation though luxuriant is

still herbaceous, only consisting of Aplctaxis aurita, Polygonum molle,

Aconitum heterophyllum, Cynoglossum uncinatum, Sedum purpureum,

Spircea kamtchatkica (Meadow-sweet), Polemonium cceruleum, Gera-

nium wallichianum, Potentilla atrosanguinea, Corydalis govaniana,

Scabiosa candolleana, Achillcea millefolia, a straggling Cerastium with

flowers like Stellaria holosteum, called Gundeeal, and used as a vege-

table. But the birch soon clothes the cliffs, and then fine clumps of the

dark silver fir (Picea webbiana) like so many gigantic cypresses,

appear and become the predominant tree, with maple, and a rich under-

wood of lilac or ‘‘ Shapree” (Syringa Emodi), the Jemon-scented Lau-

rustinus, “‘ Tealain’” or ‘ Thelain” (Viburnum nervosum of Royle), Rho-

dodendron campanulatum, Lonicera obovata and bracteata, Rosa seri-

cea, Ribes glaciale and acuminata, several Salices, &c. Amongst the

shady rocks here and on the eastern side of the Changsheel, &c. grows

a large tall composite plant of the Corymbifere, with a very strong

smell of raw carrots; and on the cliffs of the right bank I found large

tufts of a very elegant Dianthus, in full bloom, of a pink colour.

The levels on the river banks are delightfully wooded with birch,

pine, maple, &c.: the scenery is so exquisitely beautiful, combined with

1846. ] and Boorun Passes over the Himalaya. 119

the grandeur of the rocks, that one is tempted to reverse the Persian

proverb and ask what was the purpose of creating heaven while this

valley existed? The Roopin, occasionally bridged and banked by snow-

beds, and clear as crystal, dashes on from rock to rock, augmented every

half mile by rivulets from the lateral cliffs and glens. These are gene-

rally constituted of mica-slate, but at the lowest snow-bed, the rock

alters to quartzose strata, with a corresponding change in the scenery.

Crossing to the right bank, the path ascends a steep of 800 to 1,000 feet,

and the silver fir gives place to a dense, and lofty forest of koil and

pindrow pines, yew, hazel, Rosa webbiana, &c. The glen narrows toa

gorge, the left bank presenting a wall of magnificent cliffs, perhaps

2,000 feet high, facing WSW., the brow splendidly wooded with pine.

These cliffs soften down opposite Jaka into steep declivities, covered

with forest and spacious grassy glades. The river raves below, and

is no more approached in this stage. On leaving the forest, we

reached Jaka by about a mile of more open country, interspersed

with thickets of Rosa sericea, Berberis brachybotrys, &c. The pasture

is covered with Iris kemaonensis, Inula royleana, the scarlet and orange

varieties of Potentilla atrosanguinea, &c. Jaka is but a small village,

overhanging some huge crags, and surrounded by great horse-chesnuts,

walnuts, peaches, &c. under which we pitched, but found their shade

much too chilly. Water boiled at 198, which gives under 8,000

feet: but the place is probably higher. We found the people very

civil; a frank, rough, good-humoured set, the Mookheea especially,

being a pattern of these excellent adjectives, and like Democritus, meet-

ing every difficulty with a laugh or a loud whistle, the Lillibullero of

the Himalaya. The people are of small stature and dark complexion,

negroes almost compared with the fair faces of the vallies below Simla,

which proves, if proof be wanted, that the colour is not entirely depen-

dent on climate. ;

September 23rd.—To Kooar, nine miles, in four and a quarter hours,

an easy stage in this direction. For about a mile and a half the path

is execrably bad, rocky, and steep, descending about 1,500 feet to the

river, and reaching its bed by a short but rather difficult ledge of rock,

known as the Tunkoor Ghat, which reminded us in a small way of the

Panwee ka Dhunka. The Roopin seems here to have several names,

Sheelwanee, Gosung, Tous, &c, We soon quitted its bed, and re-ascend-

120 Diary of an Excursion to the Shatool [No. 170.

ed some 800 or 1,000 feet, through forests of pindrow, large hazel

trees (Corylus lacera), Grewia (or Celtis), Rhus buckiamela, Milling-

tonia dillenifolia, Staphylea emodi (nagdoun, the snake-subduer), Sym-

plocos paniculata, Betula cylindrostachya, elm, and maple; the vege-

tation of Nagkunda. The opposite bank is one series of huge crags

and cliffs, falling sheer down to the river, with a “ boundless conti-

guity” of pine above. A large tributary here joins the Roopin from the

wild shattered glen of the Nulgoon Pass. Open, grassy, and rather

warm mountains succeeded, on which the path gradually declines to

the river, where we reached the left bank by the sanga—called in the

map, Wodar—from an impending rock, used as a sheep-fold. From

this an easy ascent of two miles, shaded by elm, Horn-beam (Carpinus

viminea), horse-chesnut, Cornus macrophylla, rhus, Alder birch,

maple, and Mohroo oak—brought us to Poojalee, a very well-built

village, one of the group of four or five collectively, called Kooar, situat-

ed on the sunny slope of the mountains, amidst a profusion of the usual

fruit trees, and with a spacious tract of terraced cultivation, now one

rich glow of the splendid carmine, orange, and yellow hues of the

Bathoo, and the more delicate pink of the Phuphur or Buck-wheat. A

fine stream rattles past the village from the mountains above, which

extend from NE. to SE. covered with forest, and reaching the region of

birch. They slope up easily, but from .N. to NE. several bold peaks

and bluff rocky promontories stand out in all the ‘“ wild pomp of

mountain majesty.”

Though now uncommonly low, the Roopin is here quite unfordable ;

its general temperature from Rasrung down to Kooar, is in the day-time

from 46° to 50° at this season; from the clearness of its water and the

beauty of its banks is most likely derived its name, which I think

signifies ‘‘ beautiful,” as ‘‘ Pabur’” means “clear’—Tous (or Tamasa)

“‘dark blue,” &c. All the advantages indeed, of this valley, Paradise are

counterbalanced by some serious drawbacks, one of which, the goitre,

deforms rather than afflicts almost every inhabitant of Kooar; for while

it shortens the breath, it does not, they say, shorten life or cause pain.

In so far as it disables its subject from climbing the mountains, nature

may seem to fail in adapting man’s organization to his circumstances:

but I could not learn that with his breath she takes away his mind too,

as in those shocking samples of humanity, the cretins of the Valais, &c.

1846.] and Boorun Passes over the Himalaya. 121

Water boils here at 198, which would give about 8,000 feet elevation.

The villagers are of dark complexion. ‘They keep numerous bee-hives,

as usual located in the walls of the houses, which are very substantial,

of stone and timber, roofed with thick slabs of mica-slate,

September 24th.—To Kala Panee, ten miles or perhaps more, in five

hours and fifty minutes, of which the minutes were spent at Doodoo.

The path falls in about 600 feet to the Roopin, passes it by a sanga, and

continues for about a mile on the right bank through grass ; then crosses

a torrent from the Changsheel Pass, and finally quits the Roopin river

and glen by an ascent of 1,200 feet up the steep grassy mountain to

Doodoo or Doodrah, a considerable village, reckoned 8,732 feet above

the sea, and the chief place of the district called Ruwain in NW.

Gurhwal; the locality of which, Prinsep in his account of the Ghoor-

ka war declared himself unable to assign. The Iris nepalensis is

plentiful here on the damp shady ground, as Iris decora is on the

sunny meadows below. The Mohroo oak (Quercus dilatata) grows at

Doodoo in great beauty and perfection: one specimen by the wayside

measured nineteen feet round at five from the ground, and possesses so

superb and verdant a head, that it would have been deified in the time

of the Druids. It does not appear that any superstition attaches in

these mountains to the oak similar to those which made the Greeks

people it with dryads and oracular demons, and the Celts to regard it as

the habitation of Darnaway, their Jupiter Tonans, as apostrophized in

masonic strains by one Vettius Valens Antiochenus ;

‘ By the bright circle of the golden sun,

By the bright courses of the errant moon,

By the dread potency of every star,

In the mysterious Zodiac’s burning girth—

By each and all of these supernal signs,

We do adjure thee, with this trusty blade,

To guard yon central oak, whose holy stem

Involves the spirit of high Taranis :—

Be this thy charge.’

Our mountaineers are too much accustomed to lop oak branches and

leaves for their cattle to believe there can be any thing very sacred

about it.

At Doodoo, the path turns to the right, and after rising for a mile or

more through an open cultivated country, enters the forest, in which it

122 Diary of an Excursion to the Shatool [No. 170.

continues generally ascending, for three miles more to Kala Panee,

which is a very damp confined spot, so closely hemmed in by the

trees as scarcely to afford space for a tent. This forest, covering the

north side of a spur from the Changsheel, is very dense and chilly,

consisting for the most part of tall pindrow firs, yew, maple, hazel,

cherry (Cerasus cornuta), white-beam (Pyrus lanata), with a very rank

undergrowth of Nepeta govaniana (a very aromatic plant), Adenostem-

ma, and a tall shrubby species of Strobilanthes, which also abounds on

Huttoo and Muhasoo, and which the hillmen fancifully assert to flow-

er only onthe year of the Muha-koomb at Hurdwar. The truth is, that

the plant is greedily eaten by sheep, and that perhaps not one in a

myriad escapes being browsed too low to admit its flowering, which

this season occurred from August till October.

Water boils here at 197°, and the elevation is probably about 9,000

feet. There is no village nearer than Doodoo, from which supplies

must be brought on. Heavy storms of rain, hail, and thunder all the

afternoon from 2 p. m. made this uncomfortable spot doubly wretched.

September 25th.—Over the Changsheel Pass to Looloot or Lourrot,

about eleven or twelve miles, which took us eight hours, including

many stops and a long rest on the Pass: the march may be easily

performed in six hours. The route continues up the forest, which

abounds in streams; path rather rocky, and blocked up by fallen trees.

The black bear is common and dangerous: we saw a man at Doodoo

who had been terribly torn by one without any provocation; the white

or yellow species is also said to abound, but frequents the crags on the

heights above the forest. Emerging at length from its chilling shade,

we reached an alpine glade, like all the higher parts of the Changsheel,

a perfect carpet of flowers of all forms and colours ; the Botanic Garden

of Asia. Amongst them were conspicuous the Anagyris barbata, Morina

longifolia, and Codonopsis rotundifolia; and now the Picea webbiana, Rosa

webbiana, lilac, currant, &c., appear, followed, as we rose, by Dolomiza

macrocephala, Cassiope fastigiata, Ligularia arnicoides, sweet Centaurea,

Polygonum vacciniifolium, tansy, and other plants of the snowy range.

On the western side, the Caltha govaniana (or Himalensis), the marsh

marigold of England, the azure Meconopsis, and a large Cynoglossum

(grandiflorum) resembling the common English hounds-tongue, are

abundant, as the Cyananthus lobata is on both sides. The crest

1846. ] and Boorun Passes over the Himalaya. 123

of the Pass, 12,871 feet above the sea line, is attained after a consider-

able ascent in the region above the forest, with lofty grey crags and

spires of gneiss and mica slate above on the right hand; and is conside-

red high enough to be worthy of the stone cairns which mark the fear

and the gratitude of the mountaineer. Being fortunate in a cloudless

day, we rested a considerable time on the summit to inoculate our.

minds with the most extensive and magnificent panorama around us.

The snowy range, that embodied eternity, “shining like truth” or

rather considerably more brilliant, is seen to perfection, and not looking

the worse for a good sprinkling of snow yesterday; the Changsheel

itself is perceived in this direction emanating from the parent mass in a

ridge of shattered crags and pinnacles, on which summer may be fancied

to have been just impaled by the frost-giants; and the range from the

Boorun to the Shatool Pass, with its lofty, shelving, and now russet-

tinged continuation towards Rampoor and Huttoo. It is interesting to

observe how regularly the forest all round ceases at a regular level, or

at best creeps beyond the line of demarcation a little in the ravines, to

be succeeded by the zone of grass and flowers. Kooar is seen below

to the east, and on the west the view reaches down the vale of the

Pabur to Chergaon and Rooroo, To the SW. is a great reach of the

Changsheel, the rounded and almost tabular summits rising consider-

ably above the luxuriant forest which clothes their lower declivities, and

presenting a gently sloping surface of the finest yellow autumnal tints ;

a most inviting though rather remote site for a settlement. The supply

of wood for fuel and timber is inexhaustible; and the rice of Chooara

would supply abundance of one important element of food :—at all events,

it would furnish a most eligible spot for the head-quarters of a summer

party from Simla. The circle of vision is completed on the south by

a dreamy, mystic, ‘‘ multitudinous sea,” with the snowy range for the

bounding surf, the swelling outlines melting into each other, and the

whole seeming as if it reposed to all eternity after the enormous efforts

by which it was upheaved. The Himalaya is seen to the best advantage,

not at noon, but a little before sun-set, when, especially in the cold

season, its whole extent is at once, and most gloriously lit up to a rose

or copper colour, “‘ one living sheet of burnished gold.” Gradually the

“sober livery of grey twilight” creeps up towards the loftiest peaks,

extinguishes all their “ bright lights” and replaces them with the deadly

124 Diary of an Excursion to the Shatool [No. 170,

pale hue of a corpse; the soul of the mountains has departed; and if

the spectator be contemplating the ranges north of Simla, he says or

‘sings its requiem with the pun—“ Sic transit gloria Mundi /

The descent from the Changsheel Pass to Looloot is by the south side

of a great spur of the mountain, and is so gradual and winding that the

forest is not reached for above two miles; the first trees met are the

birch, the horned cherry, the mountain ash, the Kurshoo oak, the silver

fir, and most abundant coppice of Rhododendron campanulatum and

Rosa webbiana. The oak and fir soon predominate; lower down the

forest is almost exclusively pindrow, with koil, rai, cedar and the sweet

Viburnum: and lastly, the usual thickets of Rosa sericea, Berberis, and

Indigofera, lead to the arable tracts. Except in the pindrow forest,

where it is steep and slippery, the path is generally very good this

stage. Water boils here at 198°, indicating an elevation of from 8,000

to 8,500 feet: but the thermometer had not been verified, nor the water

distilled, both very necessary to the accuracy of the process. Looloot

is an insignificant place, and the inhabitants seem a poor, filthy and

rather ill-looking race. They have had however, the spirit to introduce

the cultivation of the potato, of which we obtained a small but wel-

come supply. This is the only site beyond Muhasoo where we observed

any. A stream flows towards the Pabur below Looloot; the opposite

side of the glen, to the SW., is thickly peopled, and beautifully cultivated,

the Bathoo as usual in the greatest proportion. With all its brilliancy,

the bread made from its flour seems bitter and unwholesome.

September 26th.—To Chergaon, eight or nine miles, in three hours:

the first part of the route is a descent of from 1,500 to 2,000 feet down

grassy mountains to the Pabur, which we crossed by a sanga of two ~

spars opposite Tikree. The path then keeps the right bank to Chergaon,

and is good, except in one place where it passes for a few hundred

yards on a narrow rocky ledge, about 200 feet above the river. Here,

in 1833, a friend of mine lost his ghoont by the fall of a small bridge,

and in general, it is not advisable to take ponies beyond Chergaon.

In May and June, when the glen of the Pabur is excessively warm,

the traveller to the Shatool and Boorun Passes may avoid it by keeping

the heights above the right bank by a route from Huttoo, given by

Captain Hutton, in one of the volumes of the Journal of the Asiatic

Society of Bengal. Even at this season we found the temperature

1846. ] and Boorun Passes over the Himalaya. 125

disagreeably warm, till the sunny forenoon was succeeded by a cool

cloudy day. On the 27th we walked to Rooroo Kothee in two and a

half hours.

September 28th.—To Thana Kushain, ten and a half miles, in four

hours and forty minutes: the road is good, chiefly through cultivation ;

quits the valley of the Pabur about three miles below Rooroo, and in

two more, by an ascent of 1,000 feet, reaches Krassa, an exceedingly

well-built and comfortable looking village ; the Kunaits, or descendants

of the Rajpoots and aborigines occupying one department, and the

Kholees, or Helots, a separate one. These poor outcasts are held in

great contempt, and are never allowed to mix in society with their liege

lords, the Kunaits. In a pine-wood here, the downward traveller should

breakfast and pass the heat of the day. Hence the road undulates up

the left bank of the alder-fringed Pursrar or Dogra Nuddee, formed

by two branches which unite below Kuskain. We ascended the fork

for 600 or 800 feet, and encamped a little above the village in a very

airy spot, shaded by seme fine cedars, with the twin-village Thana

a little below to the west. The elevation is probably 7,000 or 7,200

feet, which ensures a delicious climate after Rooroo. About 500 feet

higher, and a mile distant on the ridge above to NW., is the small but

rather inaccessible fort of Tikhur, formed by two square-roofed bas-

tions, connected by curtains, all of good masonry, and held by a garrison

of one man, who refused to surrender till my companion climbed over

the wall and opened the gate. The walls command an interesting

view of spacious and well-cultured mountain slopes, with several large

villages, above which the koil pine abounds, crowned by the lofty

Chumba ridge and Suraroo Pass. This is the Nawur District, rich in

iron ore, which is found disseminated in grains like iron-filings in a

erey, friable micaceous sandstone, which is quarried from mines a little

below the village, pulverized, and then washed in running water, which

carries off the earthy matter; the ore is then smelted, and as much as

a thousand maunds are said to be made in favourable years: most of

which is carried on mules to Simla and the plains. The shafts or mines

dip at all angles, and are very like the dens of wild beasts; they are

more or less inundated during the rains, and the work can consequently

only be carried on during the cold and dry seasons. Some of the ore

is sent to Shyl to be smelted, probably to economize wood. The usual

126 Diary of an Excursion to the Shatool [No. 170.

rock here is a silvery grey mica slate, containing a very large proportion

of quartz. There is also a blue clayslate, with which the houses are

roofed in the concave style.

September 29th.—To Shyl or Hurrela, ten miles, in six hours; we

had considerable difficulty in getting coolees; Kushain brought up its

quota punctually, but on applying to Thana, we found that the

Mookheea, having forgotten or disregarded, if he had ever heard, the

precept of the Temperance Societies—

‘¢There’s not a joy this world can give like that it takes away,

When the glow of slight excitement yields to drunkenness the sway,’’

lay gloriously or hopelessly drunk—‘ o’er all the ills of life victorious ;’—

so that we were compelled to assume his official functions, and use a

little gentle coercion. The route lies up the mountain a little to the left

of Tikhur, and on reaching the crest of the Chumbee range, continues

along it to the right, gradually ascending. The mountain, hitherto

smooth and grassy, with a mica slate basis here changes to gneiss,

which occurs in a labyrinth of great blocks and crags, with a coppice of

Kurshoo oak, Viburnum nervosum, cotoneaster, &c. The more common

plants are Nepeta govaniana, Impatiens (glandulosa ?), Potentilla atro-

sanguinea, Polygonum molle, Delphinium vestitum, several umbelliferz,

and the Anemone discolor, ‘“‘ Kukra,” which in May covers the moun-

tains with its white and blue. The acrid leaves are used by the moun-

taineers to raise blisters; but they are said to produce bad sores, leaving

a permanent scar. The “ Chitra’ or Drosera muscipula— Sundew”—

a curious little plant which abounds between Kotgurh and Simla is

applied in the same way. The elevation of the Suraroo Pass is 9,875

feet, commanding a glorious and extensive view, which includes the ~

Koopur and Kunchooa ranges, the Moral and Changsheel up to the

snows, with a long segment of the great range itself, in which the posi-

tions of the Shatool and Boorun Passes are well fixed by their pyramids.

On the other side the huge wooded and grassy range of Huttoo is the

most prominent object, its base watered by the Chugountee Nuddee, the

opposite or western bank of which presents one of the most beautiful and

extensive sheets of cultivation in these mountains. Chumba, Chumbee, or

Chamee is a term very generally used in the Himalaya to express a moun-

tain range. The road to the summit of this Chumbee is good, and we

reached it in three hours very quiet walking ; but the descent to Shylis the

1846. ] and Boorun Passes over the Himalaya. 127

very reverse, the path being very steep, bad, and rocky, over a most daz-

zling decomposing micaceous shale near the top, and with some awkward

steps near the bottom, where several streams are passed—the head waters

of the Chugountee, one of the main feeders of the Girree. Shyl is a

considerable village, or rather group of villages between two of these,

and possesses a good share of arable land. It belongs to Busehur, and

is about 8,000 feet above the sea. Passing the villages we descended

by a rough flight of stone steps to a stream, and then re-ascended the

opposite or Huttoo side, till about 100 feet above Shyl, where we

pitched our tents by a Bowlee amidst woods of young cedar. Supplies

are got with difficulty from Rutnaree, a village about one mile south,

which shares alternately with Shyl, the charge of hospitality, and which

would apparently transfer to it willingly the whole honor and merit of

entertaining strangers, perhaps from having hitherto been so unlucky

as to chance on few or no angels amongst them.

September 30th.—To Nagkunda, eight or nine miles, over Huttoo

mountain, of which we reached the summit, 10,670 feet, (water boiling

at 190°) in 1h. 50 m. by the Pugdundee route, which keeps to the left of

and below the made road, and, which from precipitous rocks, is impractica-

ble for ponies. The made road passes under a ruined fort called Kurena,

and then over the north shoulder of Huttoo, within 400 feet of the

summit, on which we passed some hours. Huttoo or Whartoo, may be

called the Righi of the Himalaya; but it must be confessed, that we are

here totally deficient in three main constituents to the attractions of the

Alps: first, their exquisite lakes; second, their equally exquisite hotels

and markets; and third, their historical or legendary associations, such

as those of William Tell, and the confederates of Griitli. In Hindooism

the gods interpose so constantly, that man is nothing. But so far as

natural scenery is concerned, I do not know a more delightful walk than

that along the rounded swelling knolls of the Huttoo range, with its edg-

ing of “castled crags’ of gneiss rock to the north-west, its alternate

coppices of Kurshoo oak, and meadows enamelled with flowers, and its

spacious views. Those of the snowy range are inferior to few, extending

from (probably) the Peer Punjal of Kashmeer by the Chumba, Koolloo,

and Shatool ranges, to and beyond Jumnootree, which rises over the high

slopes of the Changsheel like a double-poled tent. Choor, Koopur, Kun-

chooa, Moral, are all conspicuous features ; Huttoo itself being protract-

128 Diary of an Excursion to the Shatool [No. 170.

ed towards the last in the darkly wooded summit of Kot, below which to

the right is Nowagurh, once a garrison of the Ghoorkas, who had also

several posts, now dilapidated, on Huttoo, and who indeed, Kenite-like,

made their nests on the rocks of every commanding height in these pro-

vinces. Half way between the Choor and Kunchooa range in Tiroch (the

Ootroj of the map,) appears an isolated summit, probably Deobun, on the

Mussooree road, between the Tons and the Jumna. On the W. and SW.

are the Shallee and Muhasoo mountains, and on a clear day the houses

of Simla may be discovered on the distant and hummock-like Jaka,

which, after the grander features of the interior, looks small indeed. All

around is the same ocean of summits and ranges which render the

Himalaya rather one vast mountain of 1,500 or 2,000 miles in length,

than a series of mountains; for no where do we find the comparatively

broad vallies of other systems, and this character may be best expressed

by a different reading of one of Campbell’s lines, “‘ its peaks are a thou-

sand, their bases are one.’’ In the absence of lakes it is apparently

parallel to the Andes. Including the charming walk from the summit

of Huttoo down to Kotgurh, and the ascent thence to Nagkunda, the

botanist will enjoy a rich treat on Huttoo and its great buttresses. The

summit pastures are alive with Fritillaria verticillata, Morina longifolia,

Aster alpina, Anemone discolor, Corydalis govaniana, Potentilla atrosan-

guinea, Viola reniformis, Hemiphragma heterophylla, Veronica, &c. &c. ;

and the crags with Lloydia Himalensis, Saxifraga ligulata and parnas-

sizfolia, the shrubby Potentilla rigida or arbuscula, Anemone villosa

(which is very common on the rocky banks of rivulets above the forest

belt of the great range), two species of Lonicera, one of which greatly

resembles L. alpigena, Ribes acuminata, Pyrus foliolosa and lanata,

and a few very stunted specimens of Rhododendron lepidotum. The

Roscoea alpina is found up to 9,500 feet. The declivities of the moun-

tain are clothed by a magnificent forest of Abies smithiana, Picea pin-

drow, Quercus semicarpifolia, maple, yew, and towards Nagkunda,

sweet scented Viburnum (Thelain), Kadsura grandiflora, Deutzia corym-

bosa, Philadelphus tomentosa, Symplocos paniculata (Lodh, Loj—a sheet

of white bloom in May), the scanitent Hydrangea, (H. altissima), Rhus

buckiamela, Jasminum revolutum, and many species of Desmodium,

Indigofera, Berberis, Clematis, &c. form a dense brushwood or coppice ;

while the mossy rocks and shady banks are covered with Wulfenia am-

1846. | and Boorun Passes over the Himalaya. 129

herstiana, Primula denticulata, Pedicularis megalantha, Gy psophila ceras-

tioides, ‘‘ Bhatlee,” several beautiful species of Impatiens ; and in the

deepest recesses of the woods Actza acuminata, Aconitum palmatum,

Angelica glauca, Adenostemma, Strobilanthes, Lilium giganteum, called

‘“‘ Book,’ and Arum speciosum, ‘‘ Gangsh or Jungoosh,” a curious plant,

the spathe of which beautifully striated with green, and ending in a long

thread, bears an alarming resemblance to the hood of the cobra di capello.

In autumn the bushes towards Kotgurh are matted with the leafless and

sweet-scented Dodder (Cuscuta grandiflora), which, having no root, the

natives may safely promise boundless wealth to the lucky man who finds

it. The Akash-bel, or heavenly twiner of the plains, Cuscuta reflexa,

may be considered the Mistletoe of the Brahmans.

Huttoo only requires a deep lake and a slide of Alpnach to be a mine

of wealth in its timber; at present it lives, dies, and rots uselessly. In

several places large tracts of pine have been killed, perhaps by lightning,

and remind us of Milton :—

‘* Xs when heaven’s fire

Hath scathed the forest oaks or mountain pines,

With singed top, their stately growth, though bare,

Stands on the blasted heath.’’

The Berbery at Nagkunda, &c. is a distinct species, which is now

covered with the most profuse crop of fruit, of a fine blue, with a bloom

of a pink or lilac colour. It makes excellent jam, and I have had the

pleasure of seeing young plants raised in Dublin from seeds which had

undergone that fiery ordeal unscathed. }

The descent to Nagkunda occupied us one hour and twenty-five

minutes; there is a good bungalow, and two or three buneeas, As is

frequently the case in this direction, the waters flow on one side to the

Bay of Bengal, and on the other to the Arabian sea. The elevation of

the bungalow is 9,000 feet. In one of the shady glens to the north,

and about 1,000 feet below, there is a most copious chalybeate spring,

| known as the Lal-panee.

The Polygonum molle or polystachyium is very luxuriant about

| Nagkunda.

;

October kst.—From Nagkunda to Muteeana, by the Pugdundee route,

| over the back of the Kumuloree or Sheerkot mountain, about ten miles,

which we walked in three and three-quarter hours. ‘The path rises

130 Diary of an Excursion to the Shatool [No. 170.

through brushwood immediately behind the bungalow for about 4,000

feet, or 10,000 above the sea, and in about two miles enters the

forest of pindrow, yew, maple, white-beam, Cerasus cornuta, Co-

toneaster affinis (Rous) and acuminata, with occasional glades covered

with the richest beds of flowers, Potentilla atrosanguinea, Anemone dis-

color, Geranium wallichianum, Aplotaxis aurita, Spirea kamtchatkica,

Campanula latifolia, Ranunculus, &c. In the forest we find Erysimum

alliaria, Strobilanthes wallichii, Nepeta govaniana, Aconitum palma-

tum, Callimeris flexuosa, and a species of Diplopappus resembling it,

Senecio canescens, and a very elegant species, perhaps asplenifolius, also

common on the north side of Huttoo: on the rocks, Mulgedium macror-

hiza, Saxifraga ligulata, mucronulata, and another: and under the

shadiest crags, the may-apple of N. America, Podophyllum emodi,

and the enchanter’s night-shade, Circzea intermedia, whose only connec-

tion with the black art seems to be the fact of its loving the absence of

the sun. The views of the Chumba and Koolloo snowy ranges are

magnificent, seen over and through the primeval forest, with the great

range of Mundee to the right or north, the base covered with villages

and cultivation, and the crest reaching up to about 11,000 feet, reported

to afford cedar of the first dimensions. Huttoo lies on the left hand,

and, latterly, Shallee, Muhasoo, and Simla, in front. At an abrupt

turn, a path strikes down to the right towards the Sutluj and Koolloo,

which must be carefully avoided, as well as another a little further on

to the left, which will equally, though not so fatally, mislead the way-

farer, and beguile him of his summum-bonum, which, under present

circumstances, is probably -his breakfast. A convenient and most

romantic spot for this is on some crags about half way, where there is

a small spring just below the path to the north. So far the difficulties

of this route have consisted mainly in the fallen trees ; but beyond this,

both in and out of the forest, it becomes so rocky in several places, as

to be totally inaccessible to ponies, and very difficult to jumpans. On

leaving the forest, there is a rapid descent of about 600 feet to some

crags, under which a multitude of sheep are tended, and on which will

be found a very pretty white Sedum or Sempervivum, and the shrubby

Polygonum graminifolium: after this four miles of pleasant walking

along and down the southern and grassy face of the mountains, latterly

through cultivation, lead to Muteeana bungalow, 7,900 feet, which

ee ee Ee

1846.] © and Boorun Passes over the Himalaya. 131

having neither doors nor window-frames, offers but a cold welcome,

with a roof, too, resembling the sieve of the Danaides: they manage

these things better in the plains and in Kemaon; but a decree has

I believe gone forth for the erection of a new bungalow in a more con-

venient site than the present, which is more suited to the herald Mer-

cury than to the mortal, weary, and thirsty traveller. It was the full

intention of the late Major Broadfoot, C. B., to open the Pugdundee

route, so greatly superior in scenery and shade to the made road,

which, besides being nearly two miles longer, dips deeply into the hot

glen below Muteeana, and is uninteresting till within a few miles

of Nagkunda. It will always, nevertheless, be necessary as the winter

medium of communication with Kotgurh, when the northern exposure

of the mountain is buried in snow. In this warm glen, and in that of

the Girree, grows the shirsha, a species of Acacia, perhaps A. smithiana,

with flowers in May of the size of A. speciosa or Lebekh, the Siris of

the plains, except that its long tassels of stamens are rose-coloured, and

that it has not the delightful lemon fragrance of the latter. The

shirsha greatly resembles A. julibrissiu (i. e. gul-i-reshm or silk-flower),

a Persian species, which is naturalized about Como. In the same glen

will be found the pretty little Parochetus oxalidifolia or communis, the

Cedrela serrata, Populus ciliata; and in the cornfields on the way side,

the Nepal wall-flower (Erysimum robustum), Silene inflata, Carduus

nutans (the fine purple thistle), &c.

October 2nd.—To Fagoo, fifteen miles in five hours: the road rises

to the Punta Ghatee, 8,500 feet, 100 feet above which to the right,

stands a ruined post of the Ghoorkalees, who near this inflicted a

decisive defeat on the mountaineers. Hence it descends and makes a

great circuit to, and up the Kunag Ghatee, 8,400 feet, with the Teeba,

300 feet higher to the right; it then passes a little under Theog, and

reaches Fagoo by a long but gentle ascent. Except some koil and

oak woods below Theog, and the forest of Mohroo oak on the Kunag

mountain, there is but little wood in this stage ; the Mohroo oak (Quercus

dilatata) considerably resembles the beautiful evergreen oak of Nynee

Tal, and the Binsur and Gagur ranges in Kemaon, where it is known

as the Tilonj, Kilonj, or Timsha: it is the Quercus kamroopii of Don’s

prodromus : this botanist was afterwards inclined to identify the two

trees, but they differ considerably in several particulars. A few specimens

132 Diary of an Excursion to the Shatool [No. 170.

of Quercus kamroopii may be seen on a south aspect at Simla on the

lower bazar road, near Lord Combermere’s bridge: and far down in the

vallies grows the ‘‘ Banee,” (the Funiyat of Kemaon), or Quercus annu-

lata, which Don calls Quercus phullata. The handsome globe-thistle, the

Kchinops cornigera, is very abundant on the sunny rocks of the Punta and

Kunag ghats, and Morina longifolia flourishes on the Kunag Teeba: nei-

ther of these plants occurs nearer Simla, though Muhasoo would at first

sight promise them: but the neighbourhood of the plains seems

inimical to many Himalayan plants: just as thyme is plentiful at

Almorah, but unknown at Nynee Tal and the Gagur, with a much

more favourable elevation. The Iris decora is common on the grassy

slopes of the Kunag mountain, and towards Fagoo, the Spirza cunei-

folia, ‘‘ 'Takoo,’’ in May and June, whitens as the roadside-like haw-

thorn. The red Potentilla (P. nepalensis) and the deep-blue Cynoglossum

furcatura abound at Theog, and tufts of the delicate little Androsace

sarmentosa hung, as at Simla, from the sunny rocks.

This stage is generally decried as the most uninteresting near Simla,

and it is assuredly rather bare: yet the views are fine; the bold bare

precipitous peak and ridge of Shallee, like a lion couchant, are no

where seen to such advantage, and are novel features in the more

usual scenery of Simla. On the left hand are the snowy range, Jum-

mootree, and the Choor:; and latterly in the same direction the great

northern spur of this last ‘‘ cloud compeller’” with its seamed and

scarped flanks, pleasant meadows, and beautiful woods, reminds the

traveller towards Mussooree, of one of the most picturesque excursions

short of the snows; and the botanist, of Trillium govanianum, Actza

acuminata, Paris polyphyllum, Podophyllum emodi, and several Poly-

gonatums and Smilacinas, which Fraser, by a pardonable deviation from

botanical orthodoxy, calls the lily of the valley.’ The mountaineers

commonly distinguish the Choor as the “ Choor-chandnee” or “ crest of

silver,” the original having no reference to any abstraction of silver

spoons, as some, impelled thereto by Indian experience, have supposed.

The summit exhibits the only granite hitherto discovered amongst the

outer ranges of the NW. mountains, and is apparently a continuation

of the line of granitic out-breaks traced by Mr. Batten in Kemaon,

inside of the Gagur, which, in all likelihood, owes its superior altitude to

the vicinity of this great natural lever. The granite of the Choor is,

1846.) and Boorun Passes over the Himalaya. 133

however, somewhat different from that of Kemaon and the snowy

range; and it is a remarkable fact, that this last (I speak from specimens

of the vast precipices of Sookhee, near Gungootree) is identical in its

abundance of felspar and black schorl crystals, with the granite of the

Ajmeer hills; where, by the way, is an example never yet, I think, pub-

lished, fully as conclusive on the igneous origin of this rock as the more

celebrated Glentilt in Perthshire. The exact locality is three or four

miles west of Nusseerabad, on the way to Rajgurh, where the granite is

seen penetrating the stratified rocks in a complete and very extensive

network of veins, and in several places imbedding large masses of them,

in a manner that must satisfy the most sceptical, it was once in a state

of fusion. The Choor also, which like another Briareus, with a hun-

dred arms, domineers over the outer Himalaya, is the nearest point to

Simla, where we meet with the silver fir; and separated as it is by com-

paratively low ridges from the great ranges which form the natural

habitat of the tree, the fact necessarily gives rise to speculations on its

origin, and as in the similar case of the Alpaca and Llama of the isolated

Cordilleras of the Andes, and its own Lagomys or tailless rat, induces

the question whether nature does not necessarily and independently

give birth ‘‘ automate” to like forms of organization under similar cir-

cumstances. Every traveller in the colder tracts of the Himalaya must

remark the resemblance of the genera to those of Europe: while, with

very few exceptions, the species are different ; so much so, that as Mr.

Batten observes, though our oaks have acorns all right, the absence of

the sinuous leaf of the English tree is enough almost to excommuni-

cate our spinous brethren. The only exception to the above rule appears

to be in New Holland, as compared with a like soil and climate in South

Africa, where her productions, animal and vegetable, are so dissimilar

in plan from those of all the world besides.

The homeward route from Muteeana to Simla may be agreeably

varied by a diversion to the Shallee mountain. From Muteeana to

Bhogra, 1,500 to 2,000 feet below its summit, is a walk of six or seven

hours by a path scarcely practicable for ponies. Back to Fagoo, via

Kiarree, is about the same distance, including a long and tiresome ascent

from the Nawul Khud: or one may return to Simla direct by Deotee in

the Kotar state. Bhogra is the most southern of the cluster of five

villages visible from Fagoo, on the east face of Shallee, the property of

134 Diary of an Excursion to the Shatool [No. 170.

the Thakoor of Kiaree Mudhan. Though very steep and rocky, there is no

difficulty in the ascent to the summit, (9,623 feet above sea level,) where .

Bheema Kalee or Devee ‘towers in her pride of place’, in a small octa-

gonal temple, and as nature personified, enjoys, when she pleases to

look out, an exceedingly extensive and impressive view of her own

works and votaries. Her character and attributes seem as severe as

those of the Taurian Diana; and the mountaineers, who scarcely acknow-

ledge any other god or goddess, hold her in such awe, that I have known

one of them positively refuse to approach nearer than 300 or 400 yards to

her fane, though it was our only shelter from a cutting blast. Hence,

no doubt, she is said in Hindoo mythology to be the daughter of Hima-

laya. ‘The entire northern face of Shallee is covered with dense forest,

amongst which the Cupresseus torulosa is found in considerable quantity,

being the only site in these Provinces where it appears to be truly indige-

nous. The day-lily, Hemerocallis disticha, is common by the water-

courses, as is the Abelia triflora on the warmer exposures. On the sum-

mit grow Ephedra saxatilis—‘‘syr’’—and a silvery Artemisia, very like |

the A. rupestris of the Rhine.

« All things are full of error” said one of the ancients ; and it is at best

but a quixotic procedure to wander out of one’s way to refute it, at the

imminent risk of encountering controversial wind-mills, Biscayans, or

Crowderos ; and truth when found, may, like Mademoiselle Cunégonde,

prove less attractive than had been anticipated. All that can be done

discreetly is to knock an error on the head when met privately; and it

may be accomplished with the less scruple on this occasion, as the

present is, so far as I know, the only one into which the late Captain

Herbert has fallen. I allude to his Geological Map of our Himalayan ©

Provinces, where Shallee is included in the micaceous slate district ;

whereas it is in fact, one great mass of very compact, splintery, light-blue

limestone, apparently very pure, with the exception of a small proportion —

of magnesia. Several plants will be found, which are, I think, peculiar

to limestone, as Cytisus flaccidus. The mountain is very deficient in

springs, and in the warm season is dependent for water on the pits

called ‘‘ Jors,” which is of so vile a quality, that all Hudor-men-ariston

men should carry up a supply from the Nawul stream.

October 3rd.—To Simla. The distant view of the hospitable homes

of our countrymen identifies our feelings with those of the Mesopo-

1846. ] and Boorun Passes over the Himalaya. 135 —

tamian soothsayer, and we adopt afar off his exclamation—‘ How goodly

are thy tents, O Jacob, &c.’ but the nearer and beatific vision of the

bazaar and its brimful stores, exalts our enthusiasm to the pitch of the

wizard of the north, and we end our pilgrimage by a gastronomic ap-

plication of his famous lines.—‘ Breathes there the man, &c.’ Those

_ heaps of flour and Shajehanpoor sugar are worth more than the purest

cones of snow in the frosty Caucasus ; those gram-fed fleeces than its

shaggiest woods; those cases of aqua-vitz, more soul-satisfying than its

loudest water-falls. Rapt into future dinners, the Deotahs of the un-

friendly rocks and snows of Emaus descend to insipid nonentities in

comparison of Messrs. Barrett and Company, who are confessed the true

dispensers of the good things of this life to all who can pay for them

and to some who cannot.

Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar and the neighbouring Districts.

By Captain Tuomas Hutton, of the Invalids, Mussoori ; with Notes

by Ev. Buytu, Curator of the Asiatic Society’s Museum.

(Continued from Vol. XIV, p. 354.)

No, 20. The Wild Hog. These are plentiful among the high rushes

at the lower extremity of the Bolan Pass, where they conceal themselves

during the day, but issuing forth at night, they proceed to ravage the

cultivation around Dadur. They are also numerous in similar covers

on the Helmund and in Seistan around the lake.

They are hunted but not eaten. They do not appear to differ from

the common wild hog of the Upper Provinces of India.”

22. In Mr. Gray’s catalogue of the specimens of mammalia in the British Museum,

the ‘‘Indian wild boar’? is styled Sus indicus: and Mr. Elliot had previously

pointed out the following differences between it and the European one. ‘The

Indian wild hog,” remarks the latter naturalist, ‘‘ differs considerably from the Ger-

man. ‘The head of the former is longer and more pointed, and the plane of the fore-

head straight, while it is concave inthe European. The ears of the former are small

and pointed, in the latter large, and not so erect. ‘he Indian is altogéther a more

active-looking animal; the German has a stronger heavier appearance. The same

differences are perceptible in the domesticated individuals of the two countries.’’

(Madr, Journ. No. XXV, 219.) Vide Cuvier’s ‘Ossemens Fossiles’, pl. 1xi, for figures

of the skull of the European boar, but which would seem to have been taken from a

domestic individual.

In the Society’s Museum are two very different forms of Indian wild boar skulls,

especially characterized apart by the contour of the vertex and occiput. In a particu-

136 Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. (No. 170.

I heard of an animal, however, which had been killed near Washer,

on the frontier towards Herat, and at the death of which my informant

was present, which leads me to suppose (if the story be true,) that the

‘“‘ Babaroussa” (Sus babaroussa, Linn.), or some allied species, is an in-

habitant of those parts. My informant was one of the party who ac-

companied the Candahar Sirdars as far as Washer, on their disastrous

expedition against Herat in the years 1838-9. He described the animal

as like a hog, with tusks and two horns on the nose ; now the Babaroussa,

according to Fred. Cuvier, has four tusks, two of which, by piercing

through the skin of the muzzle, give the animal the appearance des-

cribed by my informant. He declared, that it charged the party of

hunters and overthrew a horse, but was shot and speared before it could

do further injury. I have seen no spoils of the animal, and merely give

the story as I heard it, from one who, by the way, was found in other

respects, like most of his countrymen, to be an unblushing fabulist.23

Wild hogs are plentiful in Scindh, and especially around Shikarpore.

No. 21. Hystrix cristata. Common Porcupine.

This animal is very abundant around Candahar and in the neigh-

bouring districts; it hides in the deep fissures and caves which abound

in the limestone ranges that divide the valleys, and issuing forth at

night-fall, they commit sad havoc in the grain-fields and gardens. They

are entrapped in pit-falls, and likewise shot. I once asked an Afghan if

he would eat one, and he replied with a start of astonishment—“ toda,

larly fine specimen, from Cuttack, measuring fourteen inches and a half above, along

the mesial line to tip of nasal, and the lower tusks of which (withdrawn from their

sockets) measure seven inches and a half long following their curvature, the vertex

narrows posteriorly to an inch and three-eighths; whereas, in another skull of the

same length, or a trifle longer, with lower tusks measuring six inches anda quarter,

the vertex is two and a quarter across where narrowest, and the whole vertical aspect

of the cranium is broader and more convex. Where the latter specimen was obtained

I cannot learn; but I have seen others like it from Bengal and Arracan.

Wild hogs are very generally diffused throughout India, and they occur in the

Himalaya at all altitudes. Mr. Hodgson informs us that there are not any in Thibet;

but in the country of the Usbegs they would appear to be very numerous. Thus, Lieut.

Wood, in his ‘ Journey to the Source of the Oxus,’ mentions that—‘‘ Descending the

eastern side of Junas Durrah, our march was rendered less fatiguing by following

hog-tracks in the snow. So numerous are these animals, that they had trodden down

the snow as if a large flock of sheep had been driven over it.” They are also common

in Persia, and in the countries eastward of the Bay of Bengal.—Cur. As. Soc.

23. Possibly a species of Phachocheres.—Cur. As. Soc.

Se oe ee

—- “"'

1846.] Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. 137

toba, look at the animal’s feet ; do you not perceive the similitude to

your own?” And he then proceeded seriously to inform me, that once

upon a time, there lived a race of men so exceedingly wicked, that

God at length laid his curse upon them and changed their forms to that

of the porcupine, obliterating all trace of the human form divine, except

the feet, which were left to mark the accursed and fallen race, and to

serve as a warning to other evil doers. The hollow quills which form

a tuft on the tail, are said, by the marvel-loving vulgar, to be used for the

purpose of carrying a supply of water, but how the animal is to make

use of the same is not stated; their true use, however, appears to be to

give warning of approaching danger, and to alarm an assailant, as they

emit a loud rattling noise when shaken.—* Sahee” of India.”4

No. 22. [Alactaga acontium, (Pallas): A. indica,2> Gray, An. and

Mag. Nat. Hist. Vol. X, 262]. The Jerboa. This beautiful little animal

is abundant over all the stony plains throughout the country, burrowing

deeply, and when unearthed, bounding away with most surprising agility

after the manner of the Kangaroo. It was known throughout the

army by the name of the Kangaroo-rat. They are easily tamed, and

live happily enough in confinement if furnished with plenty of room to

leap about. They sleep all day, and so soundly, that they may be taken

from their cage and examined without awaking them, or at most they

will half-open one eye in a drowsy manner for an instant, and immedi-

ately close it again in sleep. The Afghans call it ‘‘ Khanee.” It retires

to its burrow about the end of October, and remains dormant till the ~

following April when it throws off its lethargy and again comes forth.

It is doubtless the “‘ desert rat,’ mentioned by my friend the late Cap-

tain Arthur Conolly, in his Overland Journey to India, (page 54, Vol. 1.)

No. 23. Gerbillus Indicus. The Indian Gerbil.26

24. The species of Hystrix, as the genus is now limited, are greatly in need of eluci-

dation; I am of opinion, that several are at present confounded under H. cristata

and H. leucura, and 1 have been endeavouring for some time past to collect more

extensive data for determining those of India. The Afghanistan species, as figured by

Burnes, has a black crest, and a much longer tail than the true cristata, or than either

of the Indian species with which I am at present acquainted, which latter are at least

two, if not three, in number.—Cur, As. Soc.

25. It certainly does not occur in *‘ India.””—Cur, As. Soc.

26. Two species of Indian Gerbils have been indicated, but their distinctions are by no

means satisfactorily made out. Mr. Waterhouse, in Proc. Zool. Soc. 1838, p. 56, has

endeavoured to characterize a G. Cuvieri, with tarse an inch and three-quarters long,

though smaller than a specimen of G. indicus, in which the tarse measured but one

138 Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. [No. 170.

These beautiful field rats abound at Neemuch and about Muttra; as

likewise in the sandy tracts north of the city of Bhawulpore, where the

country is absolutely riddled with their burrows. I think I have some-

where read that they live singly, i. e. that each pair is found separately

and widely scattered over the plains; but this is incorrect, for they

form large colonies like rabbits, and live in regular warrens wherever

they are located; these colonies are usually situated in the neigh-

bourhood of cultivation, which suffers much injury from their depreda-

tions. It has also been said that they do not venture out in the day-

and a half. He remarks, also, that ‘‘in the specimen of G. indicus, and that of

G. Cuvieri, belonging to the Zoological Society’s Museum, there is a considerable

difference in the colouring, the latter being paler, and of a much brighter hue than

the former; but whether this difference is constant,’’ he adds, ‘‘ 1 am not aware.’’

Mr. J. E. Gray, in his ‘ Catalogue of the Mammalia in the British Museum,’ identifies

Mr. Elliot’s G. indicus of S. India (Madr. Journ. No. XXV, p. 211), with the G.

indicus of Waterhouse, but applies to it the name Hardwickii ; reserving the appellation

indicus for some Bengal specimens presented by the late Major Gen. Hardwicke,

while he makes no allusion to G. Cuvieri of Waterhouse, as if regarding this as a third

Indian species, not in the British Museum collection. Specimens from S. India, how-

ever, presented to this Society by Mr. Walter Elliot, of the Madras C. S., (whoalso sup-

plied the British Museum, ) differ in not the slightest respect from at least one Gerbil

of Lower Bengal. Of two.specimens of the latter, from the vicinity of Berhampore,

(for which the Society is indebted to the obliging exertions of my friends Capt.

Thomas, 39th N.I., and Dr. Young,) and which accord in their general dimensions,

one has the tarse to end of claws fully an inch and three-quarters, the other but —

an inch and five-eighths; though the former is the more usual admeasurement in the

full grown animal.

It would seem, however, that we have a second species in Lower Bengal, which I

take to be G. Cuvieri of Waterhouse, and the skull of which corresponds exactly with

that of Capt. Hutton’s species, No. 24: having the auditory bud/@ considerably more

voluminous than in G. indicus, and the incisive tusks larger and longer, and fronted

with much paler enamel. Longago, as mentioned in Jour. As. Soc. XI. 890, I found

the remains of one of these animals in a paddy-field, half devoured by some carnivore:

of this I preserved the skull, and what I could of the skin, with the tail and limbs; but.

I unluckily gave the fragment afterwards tosome shikarree who was to have endeavoured

to procure others, but of whom I never heard again. At that time I had no suspicion

of the existence of a second species of Bengal Gerbil, and it is only very recently that

I have succeeded in procuring Bengal specimens of the other.

Captain Hutton’s species, No. 24, agrees so very nearly with the common Indian

Gerbil, that I can perceive no very satisfactory external distinctions. The tarse,

however, to end of claws, of an adult male, barely exceeds an inch and a half long;

the general colour is also much paler, both of young and adults; and the fur generally

is longer, especially that growing on the tail: the anterior limbs are either white, or

have but a faint tinge of colour; whereas the hue of the back is, I think, always toler-

ably deep on the fore-limbs of G. indicus. The surface hue of the upper parts is of

that light arenaceous, so very prevalent among the animals of Scinde and Afghanistan,

as among those of Egypt and other sandy and stony countries.—Cur. As. Soc.

1846. | Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. 139

time, but this too is incorrect, for they may be seen the whole day

through, popping out of their holes, nibbling the long grasses, and

bounding off from hole to hole. This is the desert rat of Elphinstone’s

Cabul. (See Introduction.)

No. 24. Gerbillus [Cuvieri (?), Waterhouse.]2” ‘This species is plen-

tifully scattered over the arid and stony plains of Afghanistan, but they

do not form colonies like the last named. The Afghans call it ‘‘ Juwee.”

A full grown male specimen measured nine inches, and the tail seven

inches and a half, equal to sixteen inches and a half over all. This, like

the last, although perhaps strictly speaking nocturnal, is nevertheless ac-

tive during the day, popping occasionally out of its hole to feed. They

form no colony, but are numerously scattered in pairs over the plains.

No. 25. Gerbillus [erythroura, Gray, An. and Mag. Nat. Hist. Vol.

X. 266]. This likewise is abundant over the same tracts as the last,

and goes by the same name; it is more abundant around Quettah, while

the former affects the tracts around Candahar. All burrow in the

ground, and are seen during the day at times. The nails of the feet in

this last are black, but in the former (No. 24) they are white or colour-

less in living specimens.

N. B.—You will see one specimen of Gerbillus distinguished by a X

on the enveloping papers, No. 25}. It is, I consider, the same as No. 25,

the black colour of the nails being, however, the consequence of death,

for in the living specimen they were colourless. Found in wide stony

plains with the habit of the last.28

No. 26. Arvicola [Mus Huttoni, Blyth.}22 I am doubtful whether

27. Vide preceding note, No. 26.—Cur. As. Soc.

28. I do not think that it differs from No. 25.—Cur. As. Soc.

29. This belongs to a particular and very separable division of Mus, having much

the appearance and also the habits of Arvicola. Among Indian species, it comprises

the M. giganteus of Hardwicke, or great Bandicoot-rat, and the presumed M. indi-

cus, Geoff. (v- Arvicola indica, Hardw., M. kok of Gray, and M. ( Neotoma) providens

of Mr. Elliot’s catalogue.) ‘he latter naturalist having expressed to me his intention

of applying a particular name to this group, I shall not forestall him in so doing; but

I entirely agree with him in the propriety of the separation. Mr. Gray (in M. N. H.

1837, p- 585,) regards it as the typical form of Mus.

In size and proportions the present species bears a near resemblance to M. indicus

(v. kok), but the tail is shorter, and the general colour much lighter, resembling that

of the Gerbils. On comparison of the skulls, the zygomatic arch is seen to be conspi-

cuously broader anteriorly; and the palate is much narrower, and contracts to the

front: but the most obvious distinction consists in all the teeth, both incisive tusks

and grinders, being considerably broader and stronger. In other respects the skulls of

140 Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. [No. 170.

this is A. indica of Hardwicke or not. It occurs south of Bhawulpore,

and is abundant in Afghanistan from Quettah to Girishk, throwing up

the mould after the manner of the mole. It feeds on herbs and seed,

and burrows in the ground beneath hedge-rows and bushes, as well as

along the banks of ditches. Its nest is deep-seated, and it constructs so

many false galleries immediately below the surface, that it is diffi-

cult to find the true passage to its retreat, which dips down suddenly

from about the middle of the labyrinth above. In the gardens and along

the sides of water-courses in the fields at Candahar, their earth-heaps

are abundant.

No. 27. Mus [bactrianus, Blyth, n. s.]°° This is the common house

mouse of Candahar, but the house rat is I believe unknown there; at

least so all my informants agreed in stating, and I certainly never saw

one, although for two years I was in charge of extensive grain godowns,

which would naturally have attracted them had any existed.

No. 28. Lagomys [rufescens, Gray, An. and Mag. Nat. Hist. X,

266. ]34

these two species bear a very close resemblance. Length, minus the tail, about six

inches: the tail (vertebra) four: tarsus, with toes and claws, an inch and three-

eighths: ears posteriorly half an inch; to anteal base three-quarters of an inch.

Fur soft and fine, blackish for the larger basal half of the piles, the surface pale ru-

fescent-brown, deepest along the crown and back, pale below, and whitish on the

throat: whiskers small and fine, and chiefly black: tail naked: feet light brown:

incisive tusks buff-coloured, the enamel of this hue partially worn away on those of the

upper jaw.—Cur. As. Soc.

30. This little animal presents a very close approximation to M. musculus in size,

proportions, and structure, inclusive of the conformation of the skull; but the fur is

much denser and longer, and its colouring absolutely resembles that of a pale specimen

of Gerbillus indicus, except that there is no whitish about the eyes, nor is the crown of

a deeper hue, and the tail is thinly clad with short pale hairs to the end. Comparison

of recent specimens would probably elicit some further distinctions from M. musculus,

especially in the larger eye, and somewhat more produced muzzle; but I cannot ven-

ture upon describing such differences from a single skin. The entire under-parts and

feet are white; and the upper parts light isabelline, with dusky extreme tips to the

hairs, and their basal two-thirds deep ashy.—Cur. As. Soc.

31. Length about six inches: tarsus to end of claws an inch and three-eighths. The

skull exhibits good specifical differences from that of Z. Hodgsoni, nobis, J. A. S.

X, 816; being in particular much narrower between the orbits. Mr. Gray, in his

«Catalogue of Mammalia in the British Museum,’ refers Z. Hodgsoni to L. Roylei

with a mark of doubt; and afterwards seems to identify it with LZ. nipalensis, Hodgson

—a very different species; but the plates to accompany the descriptions of Z. Hodg-

soni and L. nipalensis were unfortunately transposed. L. rufescens exhibits the same

sandy colouring so prevalent among the animals of Scinde and Afghanistan, and also

those of Egypt.—Cur. As. Soc.

1846.] Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. 141

This species inhabits the rocks of Afghanistan from the Bolan Pass,

where they were first seen, to Girishk and elsewhere northerly. They

shelter beneath ledges of rock, and make their nests in the fissures,

where it is next to impossible to get at them; and although I paid high

for all specimens, and kept two men purposely to bring me the produc-

tions of the country, I only succeeded in procuring two examples of this

animal, one of which escaped during the night; the other I send for

inspection. It is probably the ‘‘ Coney” of Scripture.”

No. 29. [Myospalax fuscocapillus ; Georychus fuscocapillus, Blyth,

J. A. 8S. XI, 887.]*3 The Quettah Mole, as it was commonly called, is

I think, a species of Aspalax; it burrows like the mole, throwing out

heaps of earth. It is difficult to dig out, and is said to make long

horizontal galleries, with earth-heaps thrown up at intervals. It pro-

bably feeds upon bulbous roots with which the plains around Quettah

abound, such as red and yellow tulips, &c. I never saw or heard of the

animal except around Quettah in the valley of Shawl, about 5,500 feet

above the sea level, and I am indebted to the kindness of Lieutenant

Holroyd, 43rd Light Infantry, for the specimens which are sent for in-

spection.

No. 30. Lepus—————- ?__ Hares are common all over the plains,

and I kept several tame ones at Candahar. I have, however, unfortunately

lost my notes, and have preserved no specimen. It is said by several

who have written upon Afghanistan, that there are two species, a large

and a small one, the latter somewhat like a rabbit. I cannot positively

deny the correctness of this assertion, although I have strong doubts on

the subject ; the small hares that I saw both at Quettah and Candahar,

being nothing more than immature specimens or leverets of the same

species, and I suspect that observers have mistaken the Lagomys for a

small hare, an error by no means of infrequent occurrence. They are

said to be remarkably strong and swift in some parts of the country,

and the dog that can catch one single-handed, is reckoned a good one.

Having neither notes nor specimens to refer to, I cannot pronounce upon

| the species, though it appears from memory to correspond with the

32. The ‘‘Coney’’ of our English version is, beyond doubt, the Hyraz syriacus,

Schreber.—Cur. As. Soc.

33. This type differs from Wyodes, or the Lemming genus, in the much greater size

and strength of the feet, in the elongation and protrusion of its upper incisive tusks,

&ec. I will describe it more particularly with some other new rodents.—Cur. As. Soc.

142 Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. [No. 170.

common hare of the Deyra Dhoon. [L. ruficaudatus, Is. Geoff.] This,

however, is conjecture. ‘‘ Khur-gosh,” i. e. Ass-eared.34

No. 31.—Bos bubalus.—The Buffalo is scarce and does not occur

wild ; the few that are kept are evidently from the east of the Indus, and

are precisely the same as the domestic buffalo of the Bhawulpore coun-

try, where they occur in immense herds along the banks of the Garra.

There they are kept for the sake of the milk and ghee, and during the

heat of the day they forsake the jungles and repair to the river, where

they immerse themselves in the water, leaving only the head on the sur-

face. I know not if it be the same as the Mysore buffalo, but it differs

greatly in its horns from those commonly met with in our Provinces.

They are of large size, chiefly black, sometimes with a white forehead

and white tip to the tail, which reaches to the fetlock, hairy on the

neck and shoulders ; withers not raised above the rump. Some are dun-

coloured, and among these, also, the white forehead is occasionally seen.

Irides often white; forehead prominent; the horns in all curving up

strongly and closely from the base, and forming a curl at the side of the

head instead of lying back along the neck, as in those of the Provinces.

The only domestic buffaloes that I saw in Afghanistan were a few kept

at Candahar, for the sake of the milk and ghee.®°

34. From the skull of an immature specimen of the Afghan Hare in Capt. Hutton’s

collection, it is easy to perceive that the species differs from the northern Indian one:

as is especially shewn by the greatly diminished horizontal elongation of the descend-

ing angle of the lower jaw, by the difference of the condyle, &c. It is only within

a comparatively recent period that the common hare of Bengal and of the Upper Pro-

vinces has been recognised as a peculiar species by Zoologists. According to the ob-

servation of Mr. Vigne, it is remarkable that there are no hares in Kashmir. ‘‘One

of the most singular facts connected with the natural history of the valley,’’ writes

that gentleman, ‘‘ is that of there being no hares there. As a sportsman, I could not

have believed it to be the case, as | have nowhere seen more likely ground. I am

assured that they do not exist there, and I have never seen one myself, although I

have traversed every quarter of the valley. It is probably too cold for the Indian

hare; and that of the valleys of Thibet is an Alpine hare [Z. oistolus, Hodgson,

v. tibetanus, Waterhouse, | that has its dwelling amongst rocks, sand, and Tartarian

furze. I should think that the European hare would thrive very well there.’’—Cur.

As. Soc.

35. The above description applies better to the tame buffaloes of Italy and Hun-

gary, than to those ordinarily met with in India; the former having besides a longer

tail, and they are very commonly more or less marked and splashed with white. A

skull of this race is figured in the ‘ Ossemens Fossiles.’ An Egyptian cow-buffalo

which I saw in London approached more to the degenerate tame Indian breed, and had

small, but elongated horns, similarly directed ; and the late Mr. John Stanislaus Bell,

(of ‘Vixen’ celebrity,) who favoured me with some interesting particulars respecting

oe Se Se ee

1846. ] Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. 143

No. 32. 8B. taurus.—The Cow is a handsome animal, and generally

a good milcher ; this is doubtless owing in a great measure to the rich

artificial pastures on which they feed; the hump is generally reduced to

an almost imperceptible rise at the withers, and in many it is not at all

present. They are short-legged, and have good barrels, being altoge-

ther a far more European-looking breed than any native cattle on this

side of the Indus. They do not appear to give the same quantity of

milk in India, unless well fed.

No. 33. B. péephagus.—The Yak is seen to occur wild in the

Huzara ranges, but for this I cannot vouch;** it has been said, by

more than one traveller, also to occur wild in the higher parts of

Kunawur and Tartary, and Lieut. Smith is quoted by Mr. Ogilby as

having seen them wild on the confines of Bhootan; but these herds,

I suspect, were nothing more than the tame yaks turned adrift, ac-

cording to the custom during the summer, and left to roam at large

until the winter sets in, when they are reclaimed and housed. The

same custom may probably prevail among the Huzarrahs, and so have

given rise to the tale of wild herds.” (Perhaps this is the “‘ Gow-cohi”

many of the animals of Circassia, informed me, that the Circassian buffaloes ‘‘ agree

with the Italian in their bombed forehead, massive and ponderous conformation, and

also in the abundance of excellent milk afforded by the female, often for two years ;

but the horns, especially those of the female, are very large, inclined backwards, much

curved, annulated and serrated. The common attitude is that of the Indian buffalo,

with the head horizontally held out; and the tail, with its terminal tuft, does not reach

much more than half way to the ground. The young are of a dusky-brown colour;

but the full grown are almost invariably black, without a spot of white. Their stature

exceeds considerably that of the largest British cattle.

It should have been premised, that I furnished Mr. Bell with sketches from life of

the Italian and common domestic Indian buffaloes, the principal distinctions of which

races 1 pointed out to him, and this drew his attention to the minutie which he has

particularized. Certainly, the Italian tame buffalo is a very different looking animal

from that of Bengal, and the buffalo of Afghanistan is evidently the same; but the

Circassian would seem identical with the ordinary (and wild) Indian race.—Cur. As.

Soc.

36. My friend the late Sir A. Burnes replied to my inquiries on this subject. ‘‘ The

Yak is, I hear, wild in Pamir, or some animal very like it.’—T. H,

37. Various authors have mentioned wild Yaks, though some at least of them have

been doubtless misled by the circumstance mentioned by Captain Hutton, of the tame

herds being turned loose in summer upon the mountains. According to Lieut. Irwin,

“* Yaks are found in a wild state on the Pamir, and on the upper parts of Budukhshun.”’

Mr. Vigne also informs us, that there are wild Yaks on the northern slope of the moun-

tains towards Yarkund :”’ and Timkowski mentions, that this species ‘‘ is found, both

wild and tame, in the western frontiers of China, in all Tangout and Thibet.’? So

Captain Broome assured me, that he heard of wild Yaks being seen about Kodok, said

to be in herds, and exceedingly savage and dangerous to travellers in the passes.

144 Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. [No. 170.

of the Persian physicians, also Gowzen; vide Cuvier’s ‘Synopsis Mam-

malium.’)

No. 34. To the Horses I paid no attention, but believe there is no

good breed proper to Afghanistan, or at least not in the neighbourhood

of Candahar ; all coming from other countries, as Herat, Toorkistan, &c.

No. 35. Asses are as common at Candahar as elsewhere, and do not

differ from their brethren of other more civilised countries; they are

used as beasts of burthen, and have no more mercy shown to them than

elsewhere.

Of the many notices I have seen of the habits of this animal, one of the most

interesting is that given by Lieut. Wood. ‘The Yak,’’ he remarks, ‘is to the inha-

bitants of Thibet, and Pamir, what the Rein-deer is to the Laplander of Northern

Europe. Like the Elephant, he possesses a wonderful knowledge of what will bear

his weight. If travellers are at fault, one of these animals is driven before them,

and it is said, that he avoids the hidden depths and chasms with admirable sagacity.

His footing is sure. Should a fall of snow close a mountain pass to man and horse, a

score of yaks driven ahead answer the purpose of pioneers, and make, as my informant

expressed it, a‘ king’s highway.’ In this case, however, the snow must have recent-

ly fallen, for when its surface is frozen over and its depth considerable, no animal can

force its way through it. Other cattle require the provident care of man to subsist

them through the winter; but the Kash-gow is left entirely to itself. He frequents

the mountain slopes and their level summits. Wherever the mercury does not rise

above zero, is a climate for the yak. If the snow on the elevated flats lies too deep

for him to cross the herbage, he rolls himself down the slopes, and eats his way up |

again. When arrived at the top he performs a second somerset, and completes his

meal as he displays another groove of snow in his second ascent. The heat of summer

sends this animal to what is termed the old ice, that is to the regions of eternal snow ;

the calf being retained below as a pledge for the mother returning, in which she never

fails.* * * The Kash-gows are gregarious, and set the wolves, which here abound,

at defiance. Their hair is clipt once a year in the spring. The tail is the well

known chowry of Hindoostan ; but in this country, its strong, wiry, and pliant hair,

is made into ropes, which, for strength, do not yield to those manufactured from hemp. ~

The hair of the body is woven into mats, and also into a strong fabric, which makes

excellent riding trowsers. The milk of the yak is richer than that of the common cow,

though the quantity it yields is less.””

It is a very prevalent opinion, that the Yak has never yet been taken alive to Europe.

But Captain Turner long ago stated,—‘‘I had the satisfaction to send two of this

species to Mr. Warren Hastings, after he left India, and to hear that one reached

England alive. This, which was a bull, remained for some time after he landed ina

torpid and languid state, till his constitution had in some degree assimilated to the

climate, [or had got over the effects of the long voyage, | when he recovered at once,

both in health and vigour: he afterwards became the sire of many calves, which all

died without reproducing, except one,—a cow, which bore a calf by an Indian bull.

Though naturally not intractable in temper, yet soured by the impatient and inju-

dicious treatment of his attendants, during a long voyage, it soon became dangerous to

suffer this bull to range at liberty abroad, for which reason, after destroying a valuable

horse, he was finally secured alone,’’—Cur, As. Soc.

1846. ] Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. 145

Dozens of these animals are driven into Candahar every morning dur-

ing the fruit season, each carrying a pair of panniers loaded with grapes,

figs, pears, peaches, apricots, nectarines, plums, cherries, green-gages,

and melons. Latterly, also, from the difficulty and expense of procuring

camels for commissariat purposes, we used to hire asses, and found

them to be quick travellers, under loads of two puckah maunds each,

(160ibs). The Bokhara breed is very large and often white. These

animals are subject to swellings or tumours in the throat, from which

secretions of lime are extracted, often as large as a pigeon’s egg, and

formed similar to the gravel stones in the human bladder. I send one

for analysis.?8

No. 36. Mules are good, and often high-priced, especially riding

mules, which sometimes sell from 250 to 300 Co’s. Rs. each. I do not

think any are bred in Afghanistan, but suspect they come from Mooltan

and the Punjab.

No. 37. Equus hemionus. The Gorkhur, or wild Ass, I never saw, but

it occurs in the southern deserts, and in Gurmsail ; also in the neighbour-

hood of Herat and in Persia. It is difficult to capture alive. They occur

also in Cutchee and in Guzerat. I heard a Bombay Engineer Officer

state as a fact, which he backed moreover by the authority of Capt.

Harris, of the same Presidency, (Author of ‘ African wild Sports’) that

stallions of the wild ass were very seldom met with, and the reason

assigned was, that as soon as the young one was born, the old stallion

immediately castrated it with his teeth!! This very marvellous story

was evidently believed by the gentleman from whom I heard it, but I

strongly suspect that if it really originated with Captain Harris, that

Officer must have been quizzing. One very simple reason against the

38. Of this, Mr. Laidlay has favoured me with the following report :—

‘*The calculus submitted for examination weighed 237 grains, and had a specific

gravity of 1.81. Exactly in its centre was found what appears to be the husk of some

grain, (paddy?) which served as a nucleus around which the chalky deposit accreted

in concentric layers. Its composition is

Carbonate of lime, .. oe oe ae) Oa

Carbonate of magnesia, .. ob ee 1:9

Phosphate of lime, .. ee ee ee 1-6

Animal matter (mucus and albumen,) .. 75

Corresponding with the ordinary composition of salivary concretions.”’-—Cur. As. Soc.

146 Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. [No. 170.

truth of the story arises from the fact, that in newly born animals, the

testicles are not apparent, nor do they drop for some time after their

birth; nor is it at all likely that the stallion is in attendance as accou-

cheur, for the female knowing the propensity of the male to attack her

offspring, would assuredly take the necessary precaution to prevent it.

Besides, if this be the rule, the continuance of the race of wild asses,

must be altogether fortuitous! The story speaks for itself; but I men-

tion it as illustrative of what people, and clever people too, will swallow

from the mouth of one supposed to be an oracle.*® “ Ghorkhur,” quere

from ‘‘ Ghora,” a horse, and “ Khur,” an ass, literally ‘‘ Equus Asinus.”’

No. 38. Cervide. Of the true Deer there are none in the lower tracts

of Afghanistan around Candahar, nor is there any cover for animals of

this tribe, the whole country being a succession of bare hills and arid

stony plains, with scarce a shrub of any kind larger than the camel-

thorn. I was once informed, that the Fallow deer occurred near Herat,

but acting on the hint and making every enquiry from competent

authorities, I failed to get the least confirmation of the report, and

believe my informant had never seen the fallow deer even in Europe.‘0

It may not be amiss to say a word here regarding the Hippelaphus

of Aristotle, which Mr. Ogilby has applied to the Nylghau (Portar

picta). I should not have ventured on the subject had not that gentle-

man pointed to the modern Punjab, as Arachosia, which Aristotle gives

as the habitat of Hippelaphus. Finding no other animal in the Punjab,

to which the description will apply, Mr. Ogilby decided that the Nylghau

39. Aristotle, as quoted by Colonel Hamilton Smith, remarks of the common Ass,

that the more powerful males thus attack the weaker, “ Tandiu illum persequuntur

donec assecuti ore inter posteriora crura inserto testiculos ejus evellant.’? And for this

reason, observes Colonel Smith, it is held dangerous to allow a male ass to pasture in

the same field where there is a stallion. With the Ghorkhur, as with the Ass, the males

fight with the teeth rather than with their hoofs; nor are they the only animals which

evince a propensity for gelding their antagonist. Dr. Bachman relates the same of

certain of the American Squirrels; and 1 have observed it in Shrews. There is an

interesting notice somewhere in the ‘ Asiatic Review,’ of a number of Ghorkhurs taken

in pit-falls in Scinde or Guzerat; among which, I think it is remarked that not a single

entire male occurred. Ina note to Vol. XI, p. 286, I expressed doubt respecting the

alleged identity of the ‘‘ Kyang’’ of Tibet with the Ghorkhur; but the Society has

recently received (from G. T. Lushington, Esq., of Almorah, ) a nearly perfect skin of

a Kyang, which completely settles the question in the affirmativee—Cur. As. Soc,

40. There is a magnificent true Elaphoid stag in Persia, known as the Maral, of

which a pair were taken to England by Sir John McNeill, and deposited in the

Zoological Gardens.—Cur. As. Soc.

1846. ] Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. 147

must be the species alluded to. To this view of the case, I have to

offer the following objections and suggestions ;

Ist.—As regards the country called ‘‘ Arachosia,” it would appear

from various sources, and among others from Professor Lassen,*! that

Arachosia was part of the country called ‘“ Ariana,” and situated in

that part of Afghanistan of which Candahar is the capital. Such being

the case, it is at once evident, that the animal alluded to by Aris-

totle under the name of Hippelaphus, could not have been the Nyl-

ghau, inasmuch as that animal does not anywhere occur within the

limits of Afghanistan, and in all probability it does not even cross

the Indus. The same remark will equally apply to the Saumer

‘deer of India, and indeed to all the deer tribe, as none of them, as

far as I could learn after two years’ inquiry, are found in that part of

the country.42 It would seem proved, therefore, that neither the Saumer

nor the Nylghau can be the Hippelaphus of Aristotle. Mr. Ogilby says,

the name Hippelaphus is now applied to the Saumer, but in the English

‘ Régne Animal,’ the specific title of ‘‘ Aristotelis” is given to that animal.

It is as yet undetermined, I believe, whether the Saumer and Jurrow are

the same species or not, and until such is proved, the name of “ Aristotelis”

must apply to the latter deer.*

4], Journal As. Soc. Bengal, Nos. 86 and 101 passim.

42. The ‘ Arachosian Ox’ of Aristotle is, beyond doubt, the Buffalo.—Cu7. As.

Soc.

43. Vide Journ. As. Soc. XI, 449, for some remarks on this subject, which further

observation has confirmed, as regards the distinctness of the ‘ Jurrow’ (C. Aristotelis ),

the ‘Saumer’ (C. hippelaphus, Cuv.), and the Malayan Rusa (C. equinus. Cuv.)

The Jurrow is peculiar to the Himalaya, and its antlers are always much larger, and

more divergent than in the others; and the prongs composing their terminal fork are

generally about equal in length ; sometimes the inner and sometimes the outer, being

the longer. In the Saumer, which inhabits Bengal, Arracan, and the hill forests of

Peninsular India (it being doubtless also the Cingalese species), the antlers very

rarely, if ever, exceed two feet anda half in length, and are much less massive than

those of the Jurrow ; of the prongs of their terminal fork, the outer is usually the

longer. In the Malayan Rusa, inhabiting the Malay Peninsula and Java, the con-

trary obtains; the inner prong being usually much the longer, and the reverse of this

is observable in a still greater degree in the common Axis or spotted deer. In addition

to series of each of the above in the Society’s museum, are three pairs of antlers of a

Rusa, now common in the Mauritius, and which nearly resemble those of the Malayan

C. equinus, but are remarkable for a strong sigmoid flexuosity of the beam. There

are also two frontlets from Assam, which seem to be referrible to the Sawmer, having

the antlers unusually robust but short, agd (as in ordinary Sawmer) much less diverg-

ent than those of the Jurrow.—Cur. As. Soc.

148 Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. [No. 170.

2nd.—From Aristotle’s description of the animal, and the habit

furnished by him, as well as from Mr. Ogilby’s remarks thereon, I

would beg to suggest, that the Hippelaphus is nothing more than the

‘“‘ Capra egagrus.”

I found this opinion on the following facts, namely :—

lst.—Hippelaphus inhabits the country of Arachosia, in which the

C. egagrus abounds, but where neither the Nylghau nor the Saumer

occurs.

2nd.—‘ The Hippelaphus,” says the Greek philosopher, ‘has a mane

(like a horse) above the shoulders, but from this to the head, along the

top of the neck, it is very thin; it has likewise a beard on the larynz ;

it is about the size of a stag—the female has no horns—those of the

male resemble the horns of the Dorcas (Gazella dorcas) :—it inhabits

Arachosia.”’ (Royle’s Him. Bot., Mamm., p. 74.) Now a reference

to the figure of C. egagrus given in the ‘ Calcutta Journal of Natural

History,’ No. 8, will show the mane and beard alluded to by Aristotle ;

in the figure, however, the hair on the shoulders or withers is not repre-

sented long enough, nor so thick as in the living animal. This animal

therefore possesses precisely such a mane as Aristotle describes, it being

longest on the shoulder and growing thinner and shorter towards the

head: it has likewise a long and bushy beard depending from the throat.

Mr. Ogilby, after declaring that it can be easily proved, that the

Dorcas is the Gazelle of Egypt, goes on to say that—‘‘ Theodore Gaza,

himself a Greek, and the first translator of Aristotle, very properly ren-

ders the word by Capra.” Here then is a corroboration of my opinion,

for according to Aristotle and his first translator, the Hippelaphus inha-

bited Arachosia, i. e. Candahar; it had a mane and beard; so has C.

egagrus: it has horns like the Dorcas or goat; C. @gagrus is a

horned goat. ‘The only dissimilitude is in the female having zo horns,

whereas all the specimens I have seen of the female e@gagrus were

horned. Even this, however, is in a measure nullified by the statement

in the English Régne Animal, that the female has ‘‘ short or no horns.”

If, therefore, the horns are sometimes wanting, it may have been from a

hornless specimen that Aristotle’s description was drawn up.

The Capra egagrus will consequently be found in every respect to

answer the description of Hippelaphus, both as to its appearance and

habitat ; while in the latter respect at least, neither the Portas picta nor

| 1846. } Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. 149

any of the Rusa tribe, can possibly agree, for none of them occur across

the Indus or in Arachosia. The only wild ruminants that I could hear

of in the country, were C. @gagrus, C. megaceros (nobis), Ovis Vignei

(Blyth), Gazella subgutturosa, and in Cutchee and Upper Scindh, west

of the Indus, the Cervus porcinus, Gazella Bennettii, and G. Christit.

To none of these, with the exception of the first, can the description above

quoted apply; and if it be rejected, then there remains no animal in

Arachosia to which we can refer that notice. In the ‘ Penny Cyclope-

dia,’ art. Ariana, we are informed that ‘‘ Ariana was the general appel-

lation given by ancient authors, subsequent to the age of Alexander the

Great, to the eastern portion of those countries which form the high-

land of Persia. According to Eratosthenes, Ariana was bounded on the

north by the Paroparmisus mountains, and their western continuation

as far as the Caspiz Pyle; on the south by the great sea (the Indian

Ocean) ; on the east by the river Indus ; and on the west by the chain of

hills which separate Parthyene from Media, and Karmania from Parai-

takene and Persis. Its shape is by Strabo compared to that of a paral-

lelogram, the dimensions of which, reckoned from the mouths of the

Indus to the Paroparmisus, he estimates at 12,000 or 13,000 stadia;

and in a straight line from the upper Indus to the Caspiz Pyle, on the

authority of Eratosthenes, at 14,000 stadia; the length of the southern

sea coast from the mouths of the Indus to the entrance of the Persian

Gulf is stated at 12,900 stadia. The countries properly belonging to

Ariana are, according to Strabo, in the east, the Paroparmisade, the

Arachoti, and Gedroseni, along the Indus proceeding from north to

south; the Drangz towards the west of the Arachoti and Gedroseni ;

the Arii towards the west of the Paroparmisad, but extending consi-

derably to the west and south, so as nearly to encompass the Drange,

the Parthyzei west of the Arii, towards the Caspiz Pyle; and Karmania

to the south of the Parthyzi.”

From this it becomes abundantly evident, that Mr. Ogilby is altoge-

ther wrong in placing the modern Punjab within the ancient Arachosia,

and consequently that his views with regard to the identity of Hippela-

phus and Portaz picta or Nylghau, are wholly inadmissible.

If therefore we reject the Capra egagrus as Aristotle’s Hippelaphus,

the matter is left in more doubt than ever, for there is now no other

150 Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. (No. 170.

ruminant inhabiting Arachosia to which his description can possibly

apply.

No. 39. Cervus porcinus, Hog deer—Parah. This species occurs

abundantly in the preserves at Shikarpore, and is also found in the jungles

of the Bhawulpore territory. While returning to Ferozepore by water

from Sukkur, I saw a hog deer some miles below Ooch, suddenly spring

off the bank into the river, and strike out for the opposite shore ; short-

ly afterwards, the reason for this was apparent, as a common village dog

took the water at the same place in pursuit of the deer. ‘The river was

here very broad, and must have been close upon two miles across as the

animals were steering; the deer made good way, and kept well up

against the current, which was running strong ; the dog seemed tired

and was carried far down the stream, and while he was still struggling

in the middle of the river, the deer had gained the shore and galloped

off to the jungle. JI did not see whether the dog gotacross or not, as a

turn in the river shut him out from view.

This animal does not occur in Afghanistan.

No. 40. The Nylghau—Portar picta. This is said to be found

in the northern portion of the Bhawulpore country. It is not found in

Afghanistan.

No. 41. Antilope cervicapra—Sarsinee, or Indian Antelope. It is

said to occur in the northern portion of the Bhawulpore country, but

does not appear to cross the Indus, and none are found in Afghanistan.

It is common in the Upper Provinces of India and also at Neemuch. I

do not think that this species is an inhabitant of the countries west of

the Indus, and in Cutchee it appears to be replaced by the Gazella

Bennettii and G. Christii, while again these two do not cross the moun-

tain barrier into Afghanistan, but are there represented by G. sub-

gutturosa, which extends into Persia. If this conjecture be true, it is

probable that A. cora and arabica are distinct from A. Bennettii ?

This is hazarded however as a mere surmise.

No. 42. Gazella Bennettii—Ravine deer. Goat-antelope of Euro-

peans ; ‘‘ Chikara” of Neemuch ; Kalseepee of Mahrattas. Gazella Co-

ra? Antilope Arabica ?

This species is abundant at Neemuch, where it roams over the wide

and sterile plains in small groups of five and six. The natives there call

1846.] Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. 151

it ‘‘ Chikara” or ‘‘ Shikara,’’ a name which is elsewhere applied to the

Four-horned Antelope. The female has horns, but these are very short

and slender, and invariably crooked in growth; they are blackish and

smooth, with slight indications of wrinkles at the base. The same spe-

cies likewise occurs in Cutchee, but does not pass the mountains into

Afghanistan.

No. 43. Gazella Christii, Gray.—This species approaches very nearly

to the last named, and occurs in Cutchee also, but not in Afghanistan.

A fine specimen was brought to me at Dadur, and the skull was carefully

preserved and brought to this country with my other collections; but

since my arrival at Mussoorie it has most unaccountably disappeared. ‘4

No. 44. Gazella subgutturosa.—The Ahu. (N. B. The word “ ahu,”

though applied to this species by the Afghans, is used only as a generic

term ; the specific name I cannot now remember, and my note is mislaid.)

Although I have referred the Afghan Gazelle to G. subgutturosa, still

I do so with diffidence, on account of the remarkable difference between

the horns of my specimens and the figure of a skull given in the English

‘Régne animal.’ In that work the horns bend outwards at the tip, and

it is said in the text that such is their direction in the Persian Antilope

subgutturosa. I am strongly inclined to think, that the horns on the skull

figured in the ‘ Régne animal’ have been transposed, namely, the right

horn on the left core, for if they were again changed they would exactly

represent the horns of the Afghan species. In my largest specimen the

horns are fourteen inches long measured over the curve; they have

twenty annulations, and are seven inches and a quarter apart at the tips,

which turn inwards and almost form a hook; indeed, with the exception

of the above difference in the direction of the horns, the two animals

precisely correspond.** The Ahu of the Afghans is found from Quettah

to Candahar and Girishk, and it probably extends thence vid Herat into

Persia ; they are found, in small flocks of six or seven, and roam over

the wide and sterile plains of Afghanistan, occasionally committing great

havoc in the grain-fields.

I do not know whether it extends upwards to Cabool, though such is

probably the case, as I heard of its occurrence near Ghuznee. In the

44, For some notice of this species, vide XI, 452.—Cur. As. Soc.

45. The horns are those of a typical Gazeld/a, rather stout, and abruptly hooked in

at the tip.—Cur. As, Soc.

152 Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. [No. 170.

winter time they travel further south, and skirt the sandy desert which

stretches along from the Sooliman ranges into Persia.*¢

In the young males, the horns nearly touch at the apex in consequence

of their inward turn, but they afterwards separate and diverge as the

animal advances to maturity.

As regards the female, however, if mine be in reality the Persian

Gazelle, there is still greater difference between the Afghan species and

the published description in the English edition of Cuvier’s ‘ Régne

Animal ;’ for it is there stated, that ‘‘ the females have smaller horns,

and are destitute of lachrymary sinus and of tufts on the knees ;”

In the Afghan Gazelle, on the contrary, the female is hornless ; she has

a lachrymary sinus as well as the male, and she has tufts at the knee,

although they are perhaps smaller than in the male. In all other res-

pects of marking, colour, &c. the description of Cuvier corresponds with

my specimens, which I can regard as none other than G. subgutturosa,

and I conclude that some mistake must have led to the erroneous

account in the English ‘Régne Animal.’ I am the more inclined to

believe this, since I find an equally glaring error regarding the ‘‘ Goral’”’

(Kemas goral), it being stated that the female is hornless and possessed

of only two mamme, whereas she has horns (generally), and four mamme !

The Afghans have a mode of catching or destroying these animals

when they repair to a river to drink; a net is erected along the bank of

the stream, and a single opening is left for the antelope to enter at ;

after satisfying their thirst the animals proceed to wander along the

stream, and the ambushed hunters springing up and securing the open-

ing or door way of the net, capture or kill the whole batch. The car-

case was often brought into the market at Candahar and sold.

No. 45. Ovis Vignei. ‘‘ Koh-i-doomba” of the Afghans—O. cy-

cloceros, Hutton. ;

When I named this species, I was not aware that it had passed

through abler hands, but of course my trivial name must give place

to yours. I have nothing to add to my former account in the ‘ Calcutta

46. M. Menetries remarks, that this animal ‘‘ is very common in winter on the vast

Steppes which border the Caspian sea, from Bakou to Koo; living in small troops,

which once a hundred and fifty paces from the hunter, remain tranquil and fearless.

It is easily tamed, so that it may be suffered to run at large without danger of losing

it,’—Cur. As. Soc.

= ne

1846. | Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. 153

Journal of Nat. Hist.’ The animal is abundant throughout the

higher mountains of Afghanistan and is said to extend into Persia.‘

No. 46. OQvis steatopyga—Var.—‘: Doomba,” or broad-tailed sheep.

The domestic sheep of the Afghans are all Dooméas or “ broad-tails,

but the development of this singular feature is dependent apparently

upon climate and perhaps pasture, although certainly not to such an

extent as some have supposed: for instance, Pallas ascribes it to the

prevalence of wormwood in the pastures, but if such be the cause the

feature should become larger or smaller according as such pasture

abounded or decreased; why then have the sheep around Shawl and

among the tribes which frequent the mountains of the Soolemaun range

a less development of fat than those sheep which are found around

Candahar, for wormwood and saline soils abound there? why again

have the sheep of the Khyber Pass and Peshawur the broad tail, for

wormwood I am told does not occur there ? why have not the sheep of

Upper Kunawur and Hungrung in the Himalaya, the broad tail, for

wormwood abounds there, and forms one of the chief plants in the

pasture of those elevated tracts ?

The ‘ Broad-tailed Sheep,” which is but a variety of the “Fat-

rumped” species, or “‘ Ovis steatopyga,” occurs throughout hill and vale,

extending into Bokhara, Persia and Palestine ; it occurs also with some

modification in Africa and elsewhere. If the prevalence of wormwood

and saline pastures had the effect of producing the broad fat tail of this

breed, so ought they to have enlarged the tail of the wild race (Ovis

Vignei), and the Camels and other cattle which feed upon the same

pastures; yet such is not the case.*® Again, if the fat is engendered

by such causes, it should disappear gradually when the exciting cause

had ceased to operate, and by removing the OQ. steatopyga to pastures

where neither wormwood nor saline plants prevail, the singular enlarge-

47. There is a brief notice and very passable figure of this species, taken from

an animal killed in the vicinity of Persepolis, in Lieut. Alexander’s ‘ Travels from

India to England,’ &c., p. 136 (1827): and I may take the present opportunity to

remark, that the Society is indebted to the obliging exertions of G. T. Lushington

Esq., of Almorah, for a noble specimen of the true Ovis ammon of Pallas, which is

quite distinct from O. montana of N. America, and to which must be referred my

O. Hodgsonii, founded on Mr. Hodgson’s figure and description of the head and

horns of a young ram, since called by him O. ammonoides.—Cur. As. Soc.

48. The fighting rams of India seem to me to be of a race descended from O.Vignez,

of which they preserve the crescent-horns and short tail.—Cur. As. Soc.

154 Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. [No. 170.

ment of its tail should disappear and become as in other breeds. This

however is also not the case, for the doomba has long been tended in dif-

ferent parts of India and other countries without a reduction in the size

of the tail, which still continues enlarged as in the original stock. This

fact, therefore, goes directly to establish the O. steatopyga as a distinct

and original species, which has descended from none of the living stock,

whether domesticated or in a state of nature.49 Let us examine the

grounds on which this opinion can be maintained. First, we find that

sheep taken to the pastures of the broad-tails, do not gain an accession

of fat on the rump and tail, but remain precisely as they have always

been. Secondly, the broad-tails, when removed from their own pastures,

do not lose the singular feature from which they take their name.

Pasture, therefore, is clearly not the cause of this enlargement. Thirdly,

proofs may be given that the O. steatopyga is the original breed con-

fided to the care of men even from the dawning of his abode on earth.

It is however contended, that all our domestic stock has sprung from

some one of the existing wild races, and as regards the Sheep, the

Musmon (O. musimon) is supposed to be the origin of our flocks.59—

Now, if we are to attend strictly to the generic characters assigned by

naturalists to the Musmon and our Sheep, we shall at once perceive the

absurdity of assigning such an origin to the latter species,—for while all

accounts agree that the true Sheep possess “‘ no lachrymal sinus,” and

that they have an interdigital hole or sac ;’’ the Musmon has actually

been removed from the genus and ranked as a Goat by no less authority

than C. L. Bonaparte, the present prince of Canino, because that animal

does possess a lachrymal opening,°' and because it possesses no inter-

digital hole !

If the absence of a lachrymary sinus in the domestic sheep were

true, which it is not, the want of it would prove that none of the wild

49. Certainly not an aboriginal race, but one highly altered by domestication.—

Cur. As. Soc.

50. Whether any long-tailed sheep, with horns describing more than aspiral circle,

could have descended from the crescent-horned and short-tailed O. musimon (which is

closely allied to O. Vignei), is extremely doubtful.—Cur. As. Soc.

51. The presence of a lachrymary opening proves, however, that it is not a Goat,

because that genus does not possess it. T. H.—If I mistake not, (writing from

memory,) the Prince of Canino states, that the dachrymary sinus is wanting in the

Moufflon, as it is certainly is in O. tragelaphus and O. nahoor ; whereas I believe all

sheep possess the interdigital sinus (an easy mode, by the way, of distinguishing a leg

of goat-mutton =om one of mouton proprement dit).— Cur. As. Soc.

1846. ] Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. 155

sheep known to us could have furnished the original stock, for all of

them possess that character ;—the assertion, however, that the genus

Ovis does not possess the lachrymal sinus is erroneous, for both the

broad-tails and every other domestic variety that I have seen, decidedly

possess it ; it varies in size in different breeds, but I will venture to

assert that it will always be present. Still, notwithstanding the occur-

rence of a sinus both in the musmon and domestic sheep, the latter

must nevertheless be a distinct species, because it possesses a character

common to all sheep, but which in the musmon is wanting, namely, the

interdigital opening sac.

Having given proof therefore that our domestic flocks have not been

derived from the musmon, | shall now endeavour to establish my third

position, by proving that that the Ovis steatopyga is a remnant of the ori-

ginal breed confided to man in the infancy of the world. I have already

said, that I am inclined to think the Ovis steatopyga, with its varieties,

as altogether distinct from the races now living in a state of freedom,

and in this opinion I shall now attempt to trace back its origin from

the earliest to the present time, leaving it to others to form their own

conclusions from the facts here brought to their notice.

The earliest mention made of man’s possessing flocks is in the 4th

Chapter of the Book of Genesis, where, at the 4th verse we are informed,

that Abel ‘‘ brought of the firstlings of his flock,” as an offering to the

Lord.

Since then, at this early period, a sufficient number of animals were

domesticated to enable man to offer up the daily sacrifices which it

appears was then the custom, and since, moreover, we know that the

animals were created especially for man’s use and comfort, it is evident

that some of the more useful races must have been placed from begin-

ning under his controul as domestic stock, for it is clearly impossible

that he could, by any exertions of his own, have captured and subdued

a sufficient number of the wild mountain breeds, at the period alluded

to, to enable him to offer up such sacrifices.

In this case, such cattle would necessarily have descended from gene-

ration to generation, even to the period when God commanded Noah to

build the Ark, and they consequently formed part of the stock preserved

alive with him, and became the foundation of his domestic flocks after

the flood, and were diffused again with his descendants from the coun-

156 Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. [No. 170.

try where the Ark rested. They were therefore part of the stock which

Abraham and Lot possessed, and which, after them, Jacob tended while

serving Laban for his daughter Rachel. ‘This opinion seems moreover

to be well supported by the fact, that the general colour of the breed is

the same now as in that early period; for we read that Jacob’s hire was

to consist of all the ring-straked, speckled, and spotted among the goats,

and of all the brown among the sheep; and it is easy therefore, without

the aid of a miracle, to see how his flocks increased while those of

Laban diminished ; since to this day, there are few domestic goats with-

out some speck or spot of white, and since the prevailing colour of the

Tymunnee broad-tailed sheep is brown of various shades!

It was indeed an arrangement well calculated then, as it would be

still, to enrich the one party and impoverish the other, and if we only

allow that Jacob was an observing shepherd, and had learned by expe-

rience that ‘like breed like,” the secret of his great success is at once

made manifest.

With Jacob therefore and his sons, they were taken up into Egypt in

the time of the famine under Pharaoh’s reign, when the land of Goshen

was allotted for a residence to the Israelites ; and of course, from thence

they accompanied that people throughout their wanderings into the

promised land, after the Exodus from Egypt, and from thence again they

became diffused through all the neighbouring states and kingdoms :

unless, indeed, as is most probably the case, they occurred there already,

as the nations which were then in the land had equally with the Israelites

descended from the Ark.*?

Now, that the sheep known to the Jews was the Ovis steatopyga,

would seem to be amply proved from the 29th Chap. of Exodus, where,

at the 22d verse, in describing the manner of a certain sacrifice tu be

offered up, it is written, ‘‘ thou shall take of the ram the fat and the

rump, and the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul above the liver,

and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and the right should-

er; for it is a ram of consecration.”

Here there is evidently a marked difference made between the fat of

the tail and the fat of the inwards and kidneys, for the words ‘the fat

02. So, Captain Hutton might also argue, are the aborigines of both Americas,

of Australia, Polynesia, and the countries generally to the E. and SE. of the Bay of

Bengal, in which latter Sheep have only recently been introduced, and are as yet pos-

sessed wholly by the European residents. —Cur. As, Soc.

1846.] Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. 157

and the rump,” clearly show that they were distinct parts of the animal,

otherwise it would have been written, ‘‘ the fat of the rump.”

It is likewise held distinct from the fat of the other parts, as “the fat

of the inwards” and ‘‘the fat of the kidneys.” Now it is a notorious

fact, that the fat here mentioned is literally all that the animal possesses,

unless kept up and fed with grain, which Asiatics never do ; so that the

passage reads “ the fat tail and the rump,” &c. We have consequently

a true description given us of the ‘‘ Ovis steatopyga,” in which there is

‘‘ a solid mass of fat on the rump, which falls over in the place of a tail,

- divided into two hemispheres, which take the form of hips with a little

button of a tail in the middle.’

Again, all doubt upon the subject appears to be removed by a passage

in the 3d Chap. of Leviticus, where, at the 7th and following verses, in

explaining the method to be adopted in ‘‘ offering up a sacrifice for a

peace offering,” it is written—‘‘If he offer a lamb for his offering

then shall he offer it before the Lord. And he shall offer of the peace

offering an offering made by fire unto the Lord; the fat thereof and

the whole rump, it shall he take off hard by the backbone; and the fat

that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards, and

the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, which is by the flanks,

and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away.”

Here then it will be observed, that not only is the distinction between

the fat of the hinder parts, and of the inwards again repeated, but

we are instructed more particularly that the tail was the part alluded to,

since ‘‘ the fat thereof and the whole rump,” were to be taken “‘ off hard

by the backbone,” thus clearly pointing out the part where the fat allud-

ed to was situated, namely, in the rump and tail, which takes its origin

from, or is a continuation of, the end of the backbone.

It must farther be remarked, that the word “ and,” written in italics

in the Bible, does not occur in the original Hebrew, but has been add-

ed in the English translation in order to show the connection of the

words ‘“‘ the fat thereof,” with those of “‘ the whole rump.” Therefore,

in the original, the passage would stand thus—‘ the fat thereof, the

whole rump, it shall he take off hard by the backbone ;” and that the fat

rump of the sheep is the part alluded to is clearly proved by the word

53, Nat. Library.

158 Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. (No. 170..

«it ;’ otherwise if “the fat thereof,” and ‘‘ the whole rump,” had been

separate parts, they would not have been specified in the singular num-

ber, by ‘‘ 7 shall he take off,” but by “‘zhem shall he take off.” We

thus at once perceive, that the allusion is made to the peculiar formation

of the hinder parts of the ‘‘Ovis steatopyga,” in which the fat of the ramp

actually descends in two lobes on either side of the tail, which it so

completely envelopes as to leave only the tip of it apparent, and thus

while it contributes to form the broad tail which characterises the spe-

cies, it still remains likewise a part of the rump, commencing at the

end of, or ‘hard by the backbone,’ as correctly alluded to in the above ©

passage of Leviticus.

Further evidence, if such were necessary, may be probably gathered

from other passages, such as that of the 15th Chapter of Samuel, where

the prophet in reproving Saul, declares to him, ‘ behold, to obey is

better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.’”’ Now, since

the Asiatic sheep are notoriously devoid of fat, unless kept up and fed,

the repeated mention in the Scriptures of the fat of rams, would seem to

point most particularly and plainly to the species under consideration,

which thus becomes doubly interesting, as being not only an Ante-

diluvian species, but a descendant from the original stock bestowed upon

mankind by the Almighty in the earliest ages of man’s existence upon

the earth, and as being moreover the animal which was used in the

ancient sacrifices of the Jewish people.

Thus we perceive, that so far from this animal having sprung from

any living wild breed, it is in all probability the most ancient of all

our sheep, and the stock from which the numberless domestic varieties

which now contribute to the comfort of mankind, have themselves ~

descended.**

In the same manner it might be urged, that as from the earliest

periods after the flood, we read in Scripture of camels, asses, oxen,

sheep, goats, pigeons and doves, being in a state of domestication,

a strong probability would seem to rise that all these species had been

reserved to himself by man from the period of the descent from the

54. Capt. Hutton has, at least, here shewn satisfactorily, the great historical anti-

quity of the Doomba race of domestic sheep, by proving it to be the variety (and it

would seem the only {variety, as to this day in Afghanistan, ) tended by the Hebrew

Patriarchs, and familiarly referred to in the Mosaic writings. —Cur. As, Soc.

| 1846. | Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. 159

_ Ark, and therefore that none of them have now, in a state of freedom,

_ the original stock from which they sprung.

It should also be remembered, that if the animals at present distri-

buted over the earth, are all to be considered as having descended from

the Ark, (which I deny,) we ought rather to seek among our domestic

_ breeds for the original stock from whence they have become diffused,

than that the converse should be the case; for it can scarcely be sup-

posed with any show of reason, that man, who had once held every

species in captivity under his immediate controul, would have suffered

them to escape and roam over various quarters of the earth, until they

had become wild and difficult of approach, and that then he should have

turned his attention to the means of recapturing and reducing them

again to subjection.—If, therefore, any of the existing wild breeds of

oxen, sheep, or goats are identical with our domestic species, (which is

not proved,) it should rather be supposed that the former had descended

from the Jatter, and that they gained their freedom after the flood, when

the then existing families of men had selected from among them a suf-

ficient number to serve as the foundation of their domestic flocks and

herds.*> But as the Scriptures declare, that only seven pairs of each of

these animals-were preserved alive, and as we read that some of each

kind were sacrificed by Noah on his descent from the Ark, it becomes

very improbable that any of them regained their freedom, and conse-

quently the domestic breeds of camels, goats, asses, oxen, sheep, and

some others have descended from stock which lived before the flood,

either wild or in a state of domestication. Therefore, we perceive that

neither can our domestic breeds be traced to any of the wild stock of

the present day, nor can the latter be traced from them ; and the wild

races are consequently distinct as species, and have been created since

the flood ;—of this however more will be said elsewhere.

The treatment of the flocks in Afghanistan appears in many respects

very similar to European methods. One ram is reckoned sufficient for

a flock of a hundred ewes. At the rutting season the ewes are kept

in an enclosure and passed to the rams until all ate served, the shep-

herd assisting in the operation by holding up the tail, without which it

55. The writer of the article ‘Sheep,’ in the ‘ Penny Cyclopeedia,’ alludes only to

the Moufflon and Argali (O. musimon and O.ammon, ) among wild races; absolutely

stating of them, that ‘‘ They are descendants of those which have escaped from the do-

minion of man, and are retreating from desert to desert in proportion as the population

of the country increases.’’ ! ! !—Cur. As. Soc.

160 Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. [No. 170.

is asserted the animals cannot consummate. When all have been passed

to the male in succession, the rams are turned in with them, and should

any ewe have been passed over or not served, the ram detects her by

the scent. The rams selected to serve are fed up with barley and

melon-rinds, and in the autumn, which is the rutting season, they are

rendered furious with lust. Another mode of treating them is, to turn

the rams out with the flocks in the autumn time, when those ewes ©

which are ready for the male will leave their food and follow him about,

upon observing which, the shepherd separates them and puts them to

the serving ram.

In the spring months, the young are yeaned at the very season when

the grass is again springing up. Some females come in heat after

yeaning, but they are never served then, because the young would be —

dropped at the end of the year when the grass is fading : when the lambs

are born, the mother is milked to prevent the lamb from tasting the

first milk, which the Afghans reckon to be injurious;°° after this

the lambs are allowed to suck sparingly in the morning and evening,

and after the third day, they are all flocked together during the day,

and only allowed access to the mothers at sucking-time; the surplus

milk is manufactured into croot and ghee, as cows’ milk is not much

esteemed by the Afghans. If the rains of winter have been plentiful

and the spring grass is in consequence abundant and rich, the lambs

are allowed to suck for four months, as the milk is good; but if the con-

trary has been the case, the lambs are taken up at three months old,

in order that they may not weaken the mother. |

I was informed by a person who possessed large flocks, and who had

no reason to deceive me, that sometimes the tail of the Tymunnee_

doombas increased to such a size, that a cart or small truck on

wheels was necessary to support the weight, and that without it the

animal could not wander about; he also declared that he had produced

tails in his flock which weighed twelve Tabreez-i-munds or forty-eight

seers puckah, equal to about 9616s. ‘ It has been remarked by Fred.

Cuvier, that the fat of these tails, when melted, does not return on cool-

ing to the state of fat, and this assertion is a fact well known to the

Afghans, who sell and use it mixed with the ghee formed from milk.

Some objections were on this account offered to the ghee by our

sepahees, but their scruples soon vanished.

26. The reverse is the opinion in Europe.—T. H.

1846. ] Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. 161

For particulars regarding the wool of these sheep, I must refer the

reader to a former paper, published in the Journal of the Asiatic

Society of Bengal, No. 99, and likewise to some very pertinent re-

marks by Dr. Griffith, in the 120th No. of the same Journal.5”

No. 47. Capra megaceros, (mihi. For remarks on this species, see

McClelland’s ‘ Journal Nat, Hist.’) This I consider to be a true wild spe-

cies, and not an accidental race as you suppose. It is the ‘‘ Markhore,”

or snake-killer of the Afghans.*®

No. 48. Capra egagrus: ‘‘ Booz,” of the Afghans: Ibex, of writers

on Afghanistan. |

I have nothing to add to my former notice of this animal in

McClelland’s ‘ Journal Nat. Hist.:’ the experiments, however, which I

was making on the cross between it and the domestic goat, have all failed

hitherto, in so far as the production of offspring, infer se, is concerned.

I brought from Candahar a half-bred female, the produce of a wild

female by a domestic male; this female was again crossed by a tame

goat, and brought forth two fine male animals, by one of which she

subsequently had kids which lived and grew up; none of her offspring

however, have as yet bred inter se, and most of them, together with

the half-bred mother, are now dead; I have still a few of the young

ones left, and shall notice any produce that may occur from them. As

yet, however, we have gained nothing in regard to the opinion that the

@gagrus is the original stock from which our domestic breeds have

57. They are sometimes four or five-horned, but this is only an exception, not a

general rule, as some accounts would have us believe.—T. H.

58. In my description of the spiral horns of this animal, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1840, p. 80,

I made a grand mistake in stating the spirature to be inwardly directed, as in all spiral-

horned domestic goats ; the fact being, that in the Markhore, as in every other species

I know of, which has spiral horns in its natural wild state, (e. g. the Indian Antelope,

the Addax, Koodoo, and Caffrarian Impoof,) the twirl is in the opposite direction. Capt.

Hutton mistook my meaning in his remarks, (Cal. Journ. N. H. II, 541,) upon the

‘inward tendency, at least at the tips,’’ which I mentioned as being almost invariably

observable in the endlessly diversified races of domestic goats; supposing that I intend-

ed the convergence generally observable towards the tips of the long arched horns of

the thajority of wild Capre,—a character of very trifling importance, even if constant,

which it isnot. And I may here also remark on the subject of the Himalayan lbex

(Capra sakeen, nobis), of which my notice was briefly commented upon by Capt. Hutton,

that, in addition to the differences which I indicated as distinguishing its horns from

those of the Swiss Ibex, the existence of a well developed beard (four inches long, in

the head of a young male in the Society’s Museum,) affords a conspicuous differential

feature ; for the beard of the Swiss lbex is constantly reduced to the merest rudimentary

tuft, such as would remain unnoticed if not specially looked for.—Cur, As. Soc.

162 Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. [No. 170.

sprung, but as far as experiments have been carried, strong doubts arise

in my mind as to the correctness of such a doctrine.°?

No. 49. Domestic goats. The domestic Goats of the Afghans are

chiefly long-haired, with an under-coat of fine soft down. They very

much resemble the Goats of the lower Himalaya and Kooloo, and ap-

pear to be a degenerate breed or perhaps variety of the true Shawl

Goat. The prevailing colour is black, or parti-coloured.

No. 50. Camelus dromedarius. ‘The Dromedary or Arabian Camel.

“« Shootur,” of Persians, &c.69

59. Capra egagrus is stated by Menetries to be ‘‘ not uncommon on the Caucasian

Alps, seldom if ever descending below an elevation of 1000 feet, and then not in conse-

quence of severe weather.’ It appears to be generally diffused over the mountains of

Persia and Asia Minor, and the adjoining regions of Western Tartary. The London

Zoological Society possess a fine specimen of it from the vicinity of Erzeroum. The

finest pair of horns of this species which I have seen, is inthe British Museum. They

measure four feet and a quarter over the curvature, and diverge to sixteen inches

apart where widest, not very far from the extremity, the tips returning to fourteen

inches of each other: basal circumference nine inches; and depth inside three and

three-quarters: they number ten years of growth. It is not usual, however, for this

species to exceed three feet and a half in the length of its horns, though these are not

unfrequently four inches, or even more, deep at the base.— Cur. As. Soc.

60. The two species of Camel are better denominated the one-humped and the two-

humped Camels, and the name ‘ Dromedary’ (from dpopac) should be restricted to

the swift-running breeds which occur of both of them. Hitherto, the Camel and Dro-

medary have been continually spoken of as distinct animals, sometimes the one, and

sometimes the other, bearing either name. Thus Burkhardt refers to the two- humped

species by the name dromedary, when he affirms that ‘‘the Armenian or Caramanian

camel is produced by a he-dromedary and ashe Arab camel. ‘The people of Anato-

lia,’’ he adds, ‘‘ keep their male dromedaries to breed with the females of the smaller

Arab race, which the Turkomans yearly bring to market. If left to breed among

themselves, the Caramanian camels produce a puny race, of little value.’’ (‘ Travels

in Nubia,’ p. 232.) By the French writers more particularly, the one-humped species

(having indeed been termed C. Dromedarius by Linnzus,) is commonly styled the

Dromedary, as Capt. Hutton also designates it. he mixed race was long ago describ-

ed by Oleareus, as ‘‘a hybrid between the male two-humped and female one-humped ~

camels. ‘hey are the most esteemed of all, so much so, that some sell (in Turkey) at

1,000 crowns a piece. They carry 900 or 1,000 weight, and are in a manner indefati-

gable. They are muzzled. The camels which come of these degenerate very much, and

are heavy and slow, being not worth more than 80 or 140 crowns.”’ At Aleppo, the usual

price of one of these hybrids is double that of an Arab camel: they are extensively

employed in Turkey and Persia; and Sonnini observed a few in Eygpt, where they

are still rare. ‘hese hybrids are, I believe, always of the dark colour of the male, or

two-humped parent. ‘he common Indian race, which is diffused hence westward to

Senegambia, appears to be constantly of a pale colour in this country ; and it is perhaps

only the Dromedary, or fleet race of it, which is occasionally variable in hue. Thus, in

Arabia, we are informed that a lady of Nadjaconsiders it a degradation to mount any

other than a black camel, while an Ozanian beauty prefers one that is grey or white. In -

the continuation of Clapperton’s Journey by Lander, we are told of the arrival of 500

1846. | Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. 163

The Camel with one hump is in use throughout Afghanistan, but is

of a much more robust and compact form than our Indian variety, and

well suited to the hilly regions it often has to traverse.

Nothing can be more erroneous, however, than the common belief

that the Camel is a hardy animal; so opposed to this is the Afghan opi-

nion, that they used to exclaim with astonishment at the indifference

generally shown by us to the comfort of this useful creature. They

were often heard to say, ‘‘ you take immense trouble, and incur great

expense in pampering your men and horses, but the camel is altogether

neglected, although if you wish him to thrive and do his work, you

must both feed him well, and clothe and house him too, in winter and in

wet weather.” In every case where practicable, they acted up to this

advice themselves, and no sooner does an Afghan cafilah come to its

ground after a march, than the camels are seated round a heap of leaves,

straw or grain. With us, on the contrary, our poor brutes after wander-

ing along from four o’clock in the morning till two or three o'clock in

the afternoon, with heavy loads badly fixed upon their backs, no sooner

arrived in camp than they were turned out to pick up a morsel around

the tents over stoney plains, which produced scarcely any plants of suf-

ficient size to furnish a bite even for sheep, and after a couple of hours

passed in an ineffectual search for food, the starving brutes were driven

back to camp, and tethered for the night, in most instances without a

particle of grain or other food. What wonder then that dozens could

not rise beneath a load on the following morning, and were left to be

the prey of ravens or the prize of the almost as ravenous Afghan! Let

those who prized their cattle, and made some efforts to clothe and feed

camels laden with salt from the borders of the great desert, which ‘‘ were preceded by

a party of Tuarick merchants, whose appearance was grand and imposing. They en-

tered all full trot, riding on handsome camels, some of them red and white, and others

black and white.’’ (‘Clapperton’s’ 2nd ‘ Expedition,’ p. 266.) These parti-coloured

individuals remind us of the Peruvian Alpaca. In Arabia, and in all northern Africa,

much attention is bestowed upon regulating the propagation of the best sort of camels,

but especially of the lighter kinds or dromedaries,—termed Asharry and Mahairy,

in Barbary. ‘‘ Those of Oman,’’ writes the late Lieut. Wellsted, ‘“‘ enjoy a deserved

celebrity for strength and swiftness. Nejd is equally the nursery of the camel as of

the horse; but the Omary, in all ages, is celebrated in the songs of the Arabs as

producing the fleetest; their legs are more slender and straight; their eyes more pro-

minent and sparkling; and their whole appearance denotes them to be of higher line-

age than the ordinary breed of the animal.’’ (‘Travels in Arabia,’ II, 291.) The

smallness of the head is a conspicuous and characteristic feature of a true dromedary. —

Cur. As, Soc.

164 Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. LNo. 170.

them on the march, speak as to the benefit they derived from their hu-

manity ; camels thus cared for, were brought in safety and in health

from India, and again returned to it after marching through the coun-

try, and passing through the first campaign.

Numbers of camels that were abandoned on the line of march every

morning, from their inability to carry a load, were afterwards hawked

about for sale by the country people who had housed, fed, and recovered

them. This I know to be a fact, for being in the Shah’s commissariat at

Candahar, I purchased several of them. That the animal is patient un-

der privations, and will endure to the death, is quite true; but his con-

stitution is tender, and his power of endurance, unless well fed and

cared for, is not equal to that of the horse. Rest, food, and warmth, in

a word—com/fort, is more necessary to the camel than to his cruel lord

and master.

The Dromedary of Central Asia differs much in its external characters

from the animal domesticated in India. In the former we perceive a

shortness and a strength of limb, and bulk of carcase, which form a

marked contrast to the tall and stately ‘‘ desert sheep” of India ; the one

is a short, thick-set, powerfully-made animal, well clothed with a thick

close curly hair, to protect it against the cold of winter; the fore-arm

often enormously thick and muscular; the hump rounded and compact,

and on a level with which the crown of the head is almost invariably car-

ried.

The other is a tall, long-limbed, long-necked animal, which placed

beside its congener of Korassan, reduces the latter to a mere athletic

dwarf ;—the thick coat of hair is wanting or considerably reduced, and

the head is carried high above the hump. Yet notwithstanding the

marked dissimilarity in their general configuration, the two animals can

only be regarded as varieties of the same species, the differences observ-

able being, I think, solely attributable to climate, domestication, and

the different circumstances under which both individuals are placed. I

am aware, that in advocating the agency of climate and food, as the great

causes which have served to modify the species, I am in a measure re-

viving an exploded doctrine, yet I am not sure that absolute rejection of

the doctrine is altogether warranted or wise ; for Cuvier himself declares,

‘that the wild herbivorous animals feel the influence of climate some-

what more extensively (than the carnivora), because there is added to it

in their case, the influence of the food, which may happen to differ both

1846. | Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. 165

as to quantity and quality. Thus, the Elephants of one forest are often

larger than those of another; and their tusks are somewhat longer in

places where their food may happen to be more favourable for the pro-

duction of ivory.’”’®!

Now, precisely the same remarks will apply to the camel, and while,

in a country deficient in woody productions, the animal is of small

stature, the very reverse is found to be the case in India, where the camel

browses entirely on leaves and woody branches favourable to his growth.

Every consideration tends to point out to us, that the Indian dromedary

is not in its original country, and that adapted as it is by nature for

existence in the dry and sandy plains of an arid region like Arabia, its

occurrence at all within the influence of the monsoons, is entirely to be

attributed to the agency of man, who has brought it with him in a state

of domestication from the Postdiluvian focus of diffusion, across moun-

tains and broad rapid rivers, which in its natural state of freedom would

have formed insuperable barriers to its further progress eastward, than

the long range of mountains extending downwards from the great

northern chain through Beloochistan even to the sea, forming a well-

worked natural boundary between India and the states of Central Asia.

The camel of Korassan is formed for grazing in a country where its

food is gathered from the ground, and where it has to perform long

journeys through mountain passes and defiles ; its shortness and strength

of limb are therefore well adapted to its mode of life, and the severity of

its climate; while on the other hand, the Indian variety having a range

of long and almost interminable level country to travel over, where its chief

food consists of the leaves and tender branches of trees, has become mo-

dified by domestication to meet the circumstances of its present condi-

tion, and thus its limbs are less powerfully built, its body less clothed

with hair, and its proportions adapted to reach the food by which the

change has been effected, and in which it delights.

Much has been said regarding the existence or non-existence of this

_ animal in a state of freedom, and as yet all tends to prove that neither

the camel nor the dromedary have been known wild since the present

historical era commenced. It can scarcely be thought possible, that

animals of such magnitude as these, can be still living wild in herds

upon any country of the known earth, and yet that they should have elud-

ed the researches of naturalists; for although it has been stated by

61. Cuvier’s ‘ Theory of the earth.’

166 Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. [No. 170.

some of the older writers, that in their times the camel was found in the

regions of Tartary, yet as their accounts have been corroborated by no

later travellers, and as I feel assured, from information carefully collect-

ed during a two years’ residence at Candahar, from traders to Bokhara

and other neighbouring states, that none are found wild in our days, it

is most probable that the herds described as once existing in a state of

freedom within the modern era, were either as Cuvier has suggested,

individuals let loose from religious motives by the Calmucks, or that

they were troops of young or even fold animals, turned out to graze to-

gether in the breeding districts, as is the custom where pasture is

plentiful and the animal not required for immediate labour. This con-

jecture would more particularly apply to the two-humped or Bactrian

camel, which, from its constitution being suited more especially to the

cold regions of the northern Steppes, is unable to perform long journeys

southward during the heats of summer, and they may therefore be left

at that season to roam and feed in herds upon the plains of the Khuzzak

country to the north of Bokhara, which appears to be the proper habitat

of the species, until the winter setting in again enables them to travel with

kafilahs of merchandise, into Russia and other states. It is very certain,

however, that if the camel seen by the old authors, or even by Mr. Trebeck,

in his tour to Ludak,®? was on the Steppes of Tartary, it could have

been no other than the Bactrian species, for the Arabian camel would be

wholly unable to endure the rigours of the climate in those northern

latitudes. Balkh and Bokhara, appearing by all accounts to be the most

northern limit in which it can live, and even there it requires the great-

est care and the comfort of warm clothing and shelter, to enable it to

survive the cold of the winter months. Thus, after all, even if the

Bactrian camel could be proved to have been wild within the historical

era, we should still require proof that the dromedary had been so found,

and as all the arguments hitherto have had reference to this last species,

we are still authorised in believing that it at least has never been

known to man ina state of natural freedom since the present order

of things commenced.

From strict and careful inquiries instituted during a two years’ resi- —

dence in Afghanistan, through traders of all classes who were in the

constant habit of travelling into the Tartar countries, as well as through

some Khuzzak camel drivers, | am unhesitatingly inclined to adopt the

62. Vide Editor’s Note.—Journal As. Soc., No. F.

)

1846. ] Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. 167

é belief, that neither the one nor the other camel exists wild at present,

or has done so since the flood of Noah. The late Sir A. Burnes, with

whom I corresponded on such subjects, replied to one of my last letters

as follows : ‘‘Caubul, 25th May, 1841. I have never seen or heard of

the camel being wild, nor do I credit the report if from Moorcroft ; but

that the animal, at some time or other, must have been, like all other ani-

mals, in a state of nature is clear, though certainly not in the historical

era: the natives all say the same.” This was written in answer to

repeated inquiries from me regarding the existence of wild camels in

the northern Steppes ; and Sir A. Burnes, after a careful examination of

all who were likely to throw any light upon the subject, came to the

only conclusion that any one can arrive at, namely, that neither species

has been known to Postdiluvian man, in a state of freedom.

This species (C. dromedarius) is not only useful as a beast of burthen

- to travel with merchandise, but yields a soft and durable wool, which is

converted into cloth. In the valley of Pisheen, I have likewise seen them

yoked together in the plough, and compelled to till the ground.

No. 51. Camelus bactrianus.—Two-humped camel. ‘ Bagdad-i,” of

Afghans.

This animal is too impatient of heat to undergo even the climate of

Candahar for more than a year or two. His true habitat is in the

Khuzzak country; he is found in cafilahs which journey to the south,

but is not kept in Afghanistan. While this two-humped species cannot

undergo the heats of the south, the dromedary on the other hand can-

not endure the rigours of the north. To obviate the inconvenience which

might arise from this circumstance, the Afghans, or rather the tribes of

the northern Steppes, have produced a crossed breed between the two

animals, which is enormously powerful and of large stature. Its gene-

ral appearance varies according as the dam has been a camel or a dro-

medary, and it is asserted, that if the hybrid animal is Jorn in the

northern Steppes its constitution unfits it for a continued residence in a

hot country, while on the other hand, if born in a warm climate, it cannot

endure a great degree of cold. This circumstance is worth attending

to, since I heard of several persons, who were anxious to introduce the

hybrid into India, in order to strengthen our dromedaries. The cross

however, should be obtained from the camel and female dromedary,

and the produce be born in our own provinces, if the assertion of the

Afghans is to be relied on. I do not think, however, that any good

168 Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. [No. 170.

would result from crossing our breed, which is admirably adapted to

the Indian climate and the work it has to perform, and we may perhaps

in this case, follow with advantage, the old adage of ‘‘ Let well alone.”

The species said to exist among the Kirguise, and supposed to be

distinct from the two forementioned species, is, in all probability, nothing

more than the hybrid obtained from the camel and dromedary. I heard

of no instance of the hybrids breeding inter se, but at the same time I

do not consider the point decided, or even of consequence, either one

way or the other; as the fact of hybrids breeding inter se cannot prove

identity of species in the original parent stock, since I have more than once

obtained and reared offspring from hybrid birds, which offspring more-

over again bred inter se. Yet, notwithstanding this, the original species

were distinct, being the one a female canary, and the other a common

linnet. Such being the case, it must be evident that if the offspring of

the domestic goat and the wild egagrus were proved capable of breed- .

ing inter se, it would not show that the wild and domestic breeds were

identical !

In respect to the stock from which the camels originally descended, I

hold the same opinions as those set forth in regard to the domestic

sheep and goats, namely, that they never had, during the historical era,

any wild representatives, the whole having been retained by man after

the exit from the Ark. The camels, therefore, like most others of our

domestic cattle, I hold to be species whose original stock perished in the

waters of the Noarchian deluge. These opinions will elsewhere lead me

to remark upon the habitats of the modern camels, with a view to as-

certain whether both could have spread from the focus of Postdiluvian

diffusion, or whether the country of Armenia be in reality the true resting

place of the Ark, a point on which I am inclined to be sceptical.

No. 52. Sciurus palmarum.—The Palm Squirrel.

This little animal is found in the Bhawulpore country, and extends

into the jungles of Cutchee as far as the borders of the ‘‘ Putt,” or de-

sert between Poojaun and Burshore. It does not appear to cross that

desert, and is not found in Afghanistan.

P. S.—I think I may venture to say, that very few wild mammalia

occur below Ghuznee, which have not been here noticed, and those will |

probably be small species.

In the northerly mountains of Cabul, &c. doubtless many are found,

but as my personal observations were confined to the neighbourhood of

1846. } Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar 169

Candahar and the route to that city, I shall not venture further on the

subject. I do not think, however, that any large ruminants will be

found even there.

I will send you a notice of the birds collected also.

These notes are not arranged in order, but that you can easily rectify.

I have been obliged to write them for you as I could lay my hands on

my old memoranda, which have become confused. You are at liberty

to describe, and name any species that may appear new.

Tuomas Hutton.

Additions and corrections to former Notes, Vol. XIV, p. 340 et seq.

Nore 2, p. 341.—With reference to the range of the Tiger on the Himalaya, I

should have quoted the Rev. R. Everest’s paper ‘On the power of enduring cold in

the mammalia of hot countries,’ published in An. and Mag. Nat. Hist., VILL, 325.

‘« The Tiger,’’ remarks that gentleman, ‘‘is very scarce in the Himalaya, even in sum-

mer time, being too large and unwieldy an animal to follow the caprine races over the

precipitous ground. I, however, met with their tracks on the snow near my house;

and while shooting in the oak-forest, from 5,000 to 6,000 feet above the sea, had one

of my people carried away by one. They can go wherever the [Jerrow (Cervus Aris-

totelis,) | can obtain a footing, and remain on a mountain north of Mussoorie, (Nagtiba,

near 10,000 feet in height,) all the year round. They live principally on stags and

also bears.”’

Nore 6, p. 342.—Prof. Behn, of Kiel University, and now with the Danish expedi-

tion on board the Galathea, pronounces this to be distinct from the European Felis

sylvestris. The state of the skin does not permit of a satisfactory description being

taken from it; but it may be briefly characterized as of a light fulvous colour, mottled

or varied with blackish on the back, which colour forms somewhat large, transverse,

ill-defined stripes on the sides and limbs, and more distant spots on the under-parts:

the tail tapering, with five or six rings of black, and a black tip; and the fur mode-

rately long and dense. Length about two feet, the tail a foot more. If new, F.

Hutioni, nobis.

Nore 8, p. 343.—‘‘ The Afghan pointer,’ remarks the late Major Brown, ‘ has

been long known, having occasionally been brought down for sale by the fruit-mer-

chants ; but they have never been considered equal to the English dog. In Afghanis-

tan they are called Boders, and are used for shooting pretty generally throughout that

country, including Cashmere. ‘They have rather a coarse heavy appearance, and

the one now described resembles a Beagle a good deal; otherwise it has much the

appearance of an India-bred English pointer. ‘The hair is smooth, of a red and white

colour: it stands short on the legs, with a large double dew-claw on each hind-leg,

which has a very ugly appearance. Its ears are well hung but short; the breadth

at the forehead is great, but the muzzle small, and it has great natural courage. Ap-

parently it has never been broken in, and some large scars about the head testify that

it has fought some hard battles in its day.” ‘Gunga,’ in Bengal Sporting Magazine.

Norte 15, p. 346. Mangusta pallipes. Since the note referred to was written, the

Society has received specimens of M. Edwardsi (apud Ogilby) from Agra, which

render it extremely doubtful whether the Afghan species can be considered more than

a variety of the same: upon comparison of the skulls, however, the first false molar of

both jaws is much smaller in Afghan than in Bengal specimens. The last appear

170 Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. [No. 170.

always to be of a much darker and browner colour, resembling those from N epal—

M. auropunctata of Hodgson, which name will, I believe, stand.

Nores 19 and 20, p. 352 e¢ seg. Hedgehogs. The Indian species of this genus

are still much in need of investigation. Four have received names, as follow :—

1. Z. collaris, Gray : founded upon Gen. Hardwicke’s figure of a specimen obtained

in the ‘Dooab.’ This is represented to have uniformly blackish spines, rather

large ears, which are greatly emarginated posteriorly, a blackish face, more rufous

chest, and a narrow band of pure white on the throat, commencing from the ear. In

Mr. Gray’s recent catalogue of the mammalia in the British Museum, three specimens

referred to this animal are enumerated, one of them from Madras, presented by

Walter Elliot, Esq.

2. E. spaiangus, Bennet, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1832, p. 123.

3. E. Grayi, Bennet, ibid. p. 124. Both from the Himalaya, and referred “ to that

extra sees form of the genus EZrinaceus, which is distinguished by the possession

of large ears.”’

4. EH. mentalis, Gray; ‘‘ Black-chinned Hedgehog,”’ from the Eicken Beaty.

ingly undescribed, being merely enumerated with the preceding three in Mr. Gray’s

catalogue of the British Museum mammalia.

Capt. Hutton’s No. 19, from Afghanistan, to which I gave the provisional name

megalotis, would seem to approximate the #. spatangus ; but the difference of size is

too great to admit of the probability of their being young and adult of the same, the

advanced dentition of Mr. Bennet’s specimen leading him to suppose it ‘‘ probably

not fully adult, there being only two false molars on each side of the upper jaw.’ The

head and body of Z. spatangus are given as but three inches and a quarter, tail a

quarter of an inch, ears three inches and a quarter, and tarse to end of claws an

inch. Capt. Hutton’s recent Afghan specimen is described as about a foot in length,

minus the tail, the latter measuring an inch and a half. (?) The example of it sent, is

about the size of a moderately large European Hedgehog, with great ovate ears, an

inch and a quarter long, and seven-eighths in extreme breadth: tarse to end of claws

an inch and a half, tail but five-eighths ; entire length of skull, with projecting upper

incisors, two inches and a quarter.

Of Capt. Hutton’s No. 18, the first and second specimens mentioned by him are, I

suspect, rightly referred to #. collaris: but his third specimen seems, from the des-

cription, identical with one in the Society’s museum, the locality of which is unknown,

and also with others from S. India, obligingly sent me on loan by Mr. Elliot, and to

which I suspect that Mr. Gray’s ‘ Madras’ specimen (presented by Mr. Elliot,) and

probably the two others referred by him to &. codlaris, likewise appertain. The

crania and dentition of an adult sent by Mr. Elliot, and that of the Society’s specimen,

correspond exactly: but Capt. Hutton’s skull of the Bhawulpore Hedgehog presents

some differences; the general form is rather shorter and broader, it is more constricted

between the orbits; and the zygome are considerably more projecting; the small

upper pre-molar anterior to the scissor-tooth is less minute ; and in the lower jaw, the

second lateral pair of incisors from the front are much stuadlen) as indeed are also the

next or last pair of the true incisors. If new, I propose to call this species EZ. micro-

pus.

Another Asiatic hedgehog, additional also to E. auritus of Siberia, and nearly

allied to the European species, is H. concolor, Martin. P. Z. S. 1837, p. 103, des«

cribed from a specimen received from Trebizond.—Cur. As. Soc.

JOURNAL

OF THE

ASIATIC SOCIETY.

CATALOGUE OF MAMMALIA.

Inhabiting the MatayAan PENINSULA AND ISLANDS.

Collected or observed by Turopvore CanTor, M. D., Bengal

Medical Service.

{> Localities printed in Italics signify those from whence the animals of the Cata-

logue were obtained; in ordinary type those previously given by authors.

QUADRUMANA.

SIMIADE.

Gen.—Piruecus, Geoffroy.

Prruscus SatyRus, Geoffroy.

Syn.—Simia Satyrus, Linné.

Simia Agrias, Schreber.

Singe de Wurmb, Audebert.

Papio Wurmbii, Latreille.

Pithecus Satyrus, Desmarest.

Simia Wurmbi, Kuhl.

Orang Pandak, Raffles.

Simia Satyrus,

Simia Abelii, apud Fisher.

Simia Wurmbii,

No. 171. No. 87, New SeErlizs. Qa

172 Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting [No 171.

Simia Satyrus, apud Ogilby.

Satyrus rufus, Lesson.

Pithecus Satyrus, apud Martin.

Simia Satyrus, apud Schinz.

“ O’rang U'tan” of the Malays.

Has.—Borneo, Sumatra.

The physiognomy and the colour of the face exhibit a marked dif-

ference in living individuals from the two localities.*

Gen.—Hytosates, Illiger.

Hyzosares Lar, Ogilby.

Syn.—Grand Gibbon, Buffon.

Homo Lar, Linné, Mantiss.

Simia longimana, Schreber.

Simia longimana, Grand, et Petit Gibbon, Erxleb.

Simia Lar, Linné Syst.

Le Gibbon, Audebert.

Pithecus Lar, Desmarest.

Simia albimana, Vigors and Horsfield.

Simia Lar, apud Fischer.

Hylobates Lar, Lesson, apud Martin.

Hylobates albimanus, apud Schinz.

““Ungka étam” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula.

Siam, Burmah, Tenasserim.

LigHt-coLouRED VaR. |

Syn.—Petit Gibbon, Buffon.

Simia Lar, 3, Linné. ¥

Pithecus variegatus, Geoff.

Pithecus variegatus, apud Kuhl.

Pithecus variegatus, apud Desmarest.

Hylobates variegatus, Ogilby.

Hylobates leuciscus, apud Cantor. Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist.

‘Ungka puti” and ‘‘ Wow-wow’’ of the Malays of the Peninsula.

* An excellent likeness of a young male Bornean Orang Utan, living in my posses-

sion upwards of two years, has lately been taken by Mr. Thornam, one of the artists

of the scientific expedition on His Danish Majesty’s Ship ‘ Galathea.’

1846. ] the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 173

The colour varies from blackish-brown to light-brown, yellowish or

dirty-white, sometimes uniform, sometimes mottled. The index and

middle toes, of both or of one foot, are in some individuals, of whatever

sex or shade of colour, united by a broad web throughout the whole of

the first phalanx; in some partially so, and in others not. The ribs

vary from twelve (74-5) to thirteen pairs (7+6,) as observed by Mr.

Blyth, (Journal Asiatic Society 1841, Vol. X. p. 839.)

Hytozares aciuis, F. Cuvier.

Var. Unexa EtTAM, Martin.

Syn.—Ungka etam, Rafiles.

Oungka, Hylobates Lar, F. Cuv.

_ Simia Lar, Vigors and Horsfield.

Hylobates Rafflesii, Geoff. apud Ogilby.

Hylobates variegatus, Miiller apud Schinz*.

* Ungka etam” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Hazs.—Malayan Peninsula, (Malacca, Purlis, Kéddah, Pungah.)

Sumatra.

The first phalanges of the index and middle toe are in some individu-

als of either sex, partially or entirely united by a web. Sometimes the

first phalanx of the middle toe is partially united to the fourth.

An adult male examined, had thirteen pair of ribs (647), an adult

female fourteen, (7-+7), a young male on the left side thirteen (7+6),

on the right twelve (7+5). In these three individuals the stomach

was constricted at the fundus and the pyloric part, which characters, when

compared with specimens of Hylobates agilis from Sumatra, will go far

to decide the identity of that species and H. Rafflesii. On the Malayan

Peninsula, the latter appears to be less numerous than H. Lar. The

light-coloured Var. of H. agdlis I have not seen.

Hy opatss tevciscus, Kuhl.

Syn.—‘‘ Wou-wou,” Camper.

Simia leucisca, Schreber.

Simia moloch, Audebert.

Pithecus cinereus, Latreille.

Pithecus leuciscus, Geoffroy.

Pithecus leuciscus, apud Desmarest.

* Schinz gives as asynonyme: Pithecus variegatus, Geoff. which, however, is Hy-

lobates Lar, Var.

174 Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting [No. 171.

Simia leucisca, apud Fisher.

Hylobates leuciscus, apud Ogilby.

Hylobates leuciscus, apud Schinz.*

Hazs.—Borneo, ?

Java.

Gren.—Semnorituecus, F. Cuv.

SEMNOPITHECUS oBscURUS, Reid.

Syn.—Simia maura? Lin. Lotong, apud Raffles.

Semnopithecus leucomystax, Temm. in MSS.

Semnopithecus obscurus, apud Martin.

Presbytes obscura, Gray, List of Mamm. B. M.

Semnopithecus sumatranus, Miiller, apud Schinz.}

Semnopithecus halonifer, Cantor, Proceed. Linn. Soc.

‘‘Létong” or “ Létong étam,” of the Malays of the Peninsula,

Has.—Malayan Peninsula, Pinang, Singapore.

District adjacent to Singapore, in the Malayan Peninsula.

SEMNOPITHECUS ALBOCINEREUS, Schinz.

Syn.—Cercopithecus albocinereus, Desmarest.

Simia albocinerea, Fisher.

Semnopithecus dorsatus, (young) Waterhouse MSS:§ apud

Presbytes cinerea, Gray, List. [ Martin.

Semnopithecus albimanus, Is. Geoff. ?

‘ Ka-ka” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula.

* Among the Syn. occurs Ungka puti, Raffles, which is Hylobates agilis.

+ The Hab. Pinang and Singapore, in neither of which islands Semnopithecus fe-

moralis appears to occur, tends to prove, that Sir S. Raffles did not, as it has been sup-

posed, refer to that species. His short description indicates S. obscurus (Lotong,) the

most common species in both islands. Sir S. Raffles evidently did not describe the

living animal, or he would not have omitted one of the most striking characters, viz.

the white marks of the face, which, in preserved specimens, become obliterated, so that

the face appears uniformly black. ‘The omission of this character by Sir S. Raffles,

and subsequently by later describers of this species, has given rise to confusion.

t Schinz repeats S. femoralis, Martin, as a Syn. for S. sumatranus, and says ina

note, that Miiller in his monograph of Semnopithecus refers that species to his S.

sumatranus (Schinz Syn. Mam. I. p. 39, note.) Were even the two identical, the

species should not have been renamed, as S. femoralis, Horsfield, not Martin, would

take precedence, being the denomination under which Dr. Horsfield described it in

the Appendix to the Life of Sir T. Stamford Raffles, 1830.

§ Martin, p. 481, refers the young S. dorsatus to S. femoralis, but the description |

_ is that of the young of the present species. ,

1846.] the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 175

The young of this species, described by Martin, p. 481, is from the pecu-

liar distribution of the colours, as easily distinguished from the young of

S. obscurus, as it is difficult to distinguish the adults of these two species.

Both attain to the same size, have in common the shape of the body,

the white marks of the face, and the general distribution of colours. In

the adult of the present species the prevailing colours are clear ashy-

grey above, and white below. On either parietal bone, the hairs forma

whorl, and the anterior are directed forward, projecting beyond the eye-

brows. The two whorls are distinct in the young, though the hairs of

the head are too short to mingle with the long, erect, divergent, black

hairs of the eyebrows. Just below the spot where the two whorls come

in contact, the skull is naked, thus forming a rather broad, triangular

forehead. The general colour of S. obscurus, both in the young and

adult state, is considerably darker. On the upper parts a blackish,

or brownish ash colour prevails, lighter below, which acquires in some

individuals a whitish appearance, from the white skin of the stomach,

which is but scantily covered with hairs. Of parietal whorls there is no

trace; the hairs of the head, directed backwards, originate in a peak as

far down as the glabella, and are smoothed down on the top of the head

- from the occipital crest backward.

SEMNOPITHECUS cRisTaTus, Horsfield.

Syn.—Simia cristata, Chingkau, Raffles.

Semnopithecus pruinosus, Desmarest.

Semnopithecus pruinosus, apud Lesson.

Semnopithecus cristatus, apud Martin.

Presbytes cristata, Gray :* List.

Semnopithecus cristatus, apud Schinz.*

Has.—Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.

Sumatra, Borneo, Banka.

The whitish colour round the eyes and the mouth is present, though

less distinct in this than in the preceding two species.

SEMNOPITHECUS FEMORALIS, Horsfield.

Syn.—Semnopithecus chrysomelas, Muller, apud Martin and Schinz.

* Gray quotes S. maurus, Horsfield, and Schinz S. femoralis, Martin, as synonyms,

both of which are species, in physiognomy, colours, and, as far as S. maurus is con-

cerned, in habits distinctly different from the present one.

176 Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting [No. 171. -

Hazs.—Purlis (on the Malayan Peninsula.)

Borneo, Java (?), Sumatra (?).

In a young male of this, apparently everywhere difficultly procurable

species, the face during life was intense black, except the white-haired

lips and the chin, which were of a milk-white colour. In the preserved

specimen, the latter soon changed into the dull brownish-black of the

rest of the face. The interdigital membrane, often loosely connecting

the first phalanges of the four fingers and toes in S. obscurus, alboci-

nereus, cristatus and other Malayan monkeys, was also present in this

individual, in which even the first and second phalanges of the index

and middle toe were thus connected. In preserved specimens, the in-

terdigital web becomes shrivelled and indistinct, and therefore, being at

all times a very questionable, if not altogether inadmissible, specific

character, ought in such state to be least relied upon. On its arrival at

Pinang, the animal was in too sickly a state to allow of its natural habits

being observed.

Gevn.—CerrcoriTHecus, apud Ogilby.

CrRCOPITHECUS CYNoMOLGUS, Ogilby.

Syn.—Simia cynomolgus, Linné.

Simia aygula, Linné.

Simia attys, Schreber.

Macacus cynomolgus, Desmarest. ey

Simia fascicularis, Raffles.

Cercocebus aygula, Geoff. apud Horsfield.

Macacus cynomolgus, apud Gray : List.

Macacus cynomolgus, apud Schinz.

‘“‘ Kra” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.

Sumatra, Java, Banka, Borneo, Celebes, Timor, Tenasserim,

Nicobar Islands.

The first phalanges of the four fingers and toes, and in some in-

dividuals also the second phalanges of the toes, are united by a mem-

brane.

Grn.—Partio, apud Ogilby.

Papro NEMEsTRINUS, Ogilby.

Syn,—Simia nemestrinus, Linné.

Simia platypygos, Schreber.

1846.} the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 177

Simia fusca, Shaw.

Macacus nemestrinus, Desmarest.

Simia carpolegus, Raffles.

Macacus nemestrinus, apud Gray, List.

Macacus nemestrinus, apud Schinz.

‘¢ Broh” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.

Sumatra, Borneo.

The interdigital membrane of the first phalanges of the four fingers

and index, and middle toe, occurs also in this species.

LEMURIDZ.

Gren.—Nycricesus, Geoffroy.

NycrTIcEBUS TARDIGRADUS, Waterhouse, Cat. Zool. Soc.

Syn.—Lemur tardigradus, Linné apud Raffles.

Nycticebus bengalensis, Geoff.

Nycticebus javanicus, Geoff.

Loris tardigradus, Geoff.

Stenops javanicus, Van der Hoeven.

Stenops tardigradus, Wagner, apud Schinz.

‘« Kukang” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.

Java, Siam, Tenasserim, Arracan, Bengal, Sylhet, Assam.

The sublingual appendage is cartilaginous, of a white colour; the

apex divided in a number of fine points. The new-born is of the same

colour as the adult, but paler, and has the dense, soft fur, mixed with

a number of long hairs, grey at the base, white at the point. In a male,

measuring from the apex of the nose to the root of the tail one foot

two and a half inches, the tail five-eighths of an inch, the dimensions

of the intestinal canal, were :

Small Intestines, .. .. .. .. 8 feet 2 inches.

MALO ECO, 5. A etwnygin of) £8 Visin laretiey, Yetta

Ce. se AK rrt4 res 1S phat ek rf Odendwonte

Gren.—GaveoritTHecus, Pallas.

GaALropitHecus TEMMINCKII, Waterhouse.

Syn.—Lemur volans, Linn. apud Marsden and Raffles.

‘“Kibong” or “ Kirbong” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

178 Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting [No. 171.

Has.—Singapore, Pinang, and other Islands in the Straits of Malacca,

Lancavy Islands, Malayan Peninsula.

Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Pelew Islands, Siam.

Two individuals are never of precisely the same design and ground-

colour, which latter varies from clear ashy-grey to greyish-brown or

chesnut. The white spots on the back of the anterior extremities,

appear to be constant in every age. Though there are four mamme,

situated in pairs one above the other, close to the axilla, of a number of

females with young, none had more than one offspring, which was car-

ried wrapped in the wide mantle-like membrane. In several shot on

the hills at Pinang, the stomach contained vegetable matter, but no re-

mains of insects. In confinement, plantains constitute the favourite

food, but deprived of liberty the animal soon pines and dies. The ante-

rior margin of the broad smooth tongue has a fringed appearance, pro-

duced by a number of rounded papille. In a male, measuring from the

apex of the nose to the root of the tail one foot four inches, the tail nine

inches, the intestinal canal was of the following dimensions :

Small Intestines, .. .. .. .. 4 feet 4 inches.

Large ditto, ..., qmraotl 13h 08 ..6ogi0<v een

Crecum, .....ioe Deum TORR) Tega) Ur ee

Coste verze seven pairs, spuriz six pairs.

CARNIVORA.

CHEIROPTERA.

INSECTIVORA.

Gen.—Ruinoroma, Geoffroy.

Ruinopoma, Harpwicxil, Gray.

Syn.—Vespertilio (Rhinopoma) Hardwickii, Elliot.

Hazs.— Malayan Peninsula.

Southern Mahratta country, Calcutta, Allahabad,* Agra,t

Mirzapore.

A single male, in no way differing from Bengal individuals, was ob-

tained by Captain Congalton, H. C. Steamer ‘ Diana,’ in .a cave on an

island in Girbee river, in Latitude 8° 0’, on the Malayan Peninsula.

This species is provided with a true cecum, the existence of which

in all Cheiroptera has erroneously been denied, or restricted to the car-

* Numbers inhabit the subterraneous Hindoo place of worship within the Fort at

Allahabad.

¢ In the Taj-Mahal.

1846.] the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 79

diac czecum observed in the genera Vampyrus and Pteropus. The pre-

sent species, and Megaderma spasma, also possessing a true cecum,

thus present a higher organisation than has hitherto been attributed to

Cheiroptera.

Length of the small Intestine, .. .. 7 inches.

uf * large ditto, ] 3

ag Fs cecum, Say lieder S55

Gen.—MeEcapEerMA, Geoffroy.

MecaperMa spasmA, Geoffroy.

Syn.—Vespertilio spasma, Schreber.

Megaderma trifolium, Geoffroy.

Megaderma spasma, apud Fisher.

| Megaderma spasma, apud Schinz.

Has.—Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.

Singapore, Java, Ternate.

Incis. Canin. Molar, =

Length of thehead and body .. .. 3- inches.

+> 59 ~Sy:~Slntter-femoral membrane, 1 inch.

Extent of the flying membrane, a. ule inches.

The five caudal vertebre project one quarter of an inch beyond the

pelvis, but are completely enveloped in the inter-femoral membrane, and

therefore not apparent. The inguinal warts are, as in the Rhinolophi,

most developed in the adult female. A true cecum, though smaller

than in Rhinopoma Hardwickii, is present in this species.

Length of the small Intestines, .. .. .. 7 inches,

i “Ait

Ss i, laree CUtO, fe to ees ee yg imebes,

meter CRCUM, ye hoe. foes. 0 Ofg mehes.

Gen.—Nycrtinomus, Geoffroy.

Nyctinomus TENuIs, Horsfield.

Syn.—Nyctinomus tenuis, apud Fisher.

Molosse gréle, Temminck.

Dysopes tenuis, Schinz.

Has.~—Malayan Peninsula.

Jaya, Sumatra, Borneo.

180 Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting [No. 171.

Two individuals had the back of a velvety snuff colour, becoming a

shade lighter on the under-parts. Entire length of the larger four

and four-eighth inches, of which the tail one and two-fourth inches.

Extent of the flying membrane ten and four-eighth inches. In the size

of the ears some difference exists in the two.

Gren.—Taruozous, Geoffroy.

TAaPHOZOUS MELANOPOGON, Temminck.

Syn.—Taphozous melanopogon, apud Schinz.

Has.—Pulo-Titkus, Pulo-Lancadvy, Malayan Peninsula.

e Java, Caves of Kannera.

Temminck’s description, as quoted by Schinz, is taken from the adult

male, the Malayan individuals of which differ in having the black beard

surrounded by a broad light-brown band, covering, like a pelerine, the

chest and shoulders. The rest of the lower parts are either white or

brownish-white. The flying membrane in the adult male is whitish;

in the females and young males it is blackish or brownish between the

legs, along the sides of the body and the arms. The colour of the

female and young male is on the back of a more or less brownish

mouse-grey, becoming much lighter or whitish beneath, but both are

destitute of the black beard, which, out of a number of between forty

and fifty from different, Malayan localities, occurred but in seven males,

although some of the beardless males in size and extent of flying mem-

brane equalled, or even slightly exceeded, the bearded. The entire

length of the largest male was four inches, of which the tail measured

one inch.

Extent of flying membrane fifteen and four-eighth inches.

Dentition : Incis. - Canin. = Molar, es

JAPHOzOUS SACCOLAIMUS, Temminck.

Syn.—Taphozous pulcher, Elliot MSS. apud Blyth.

Has.—Pinang. *

Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, Southern India.

In two males captured at Pinang in houses in the valley, the colours

somewhat differ from Temminck’s description, quoted by Schinz. In

the larger, the head and back are of a sooty black, with a few white

dashes, the lower parts of a pure white. The flying membrane is black

1846.] the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 181

between the legs, along the sides of the body and the arms, and between

the index, second and third fingers ; the rest being dull semi-transparent

white. The length from the apex of the nose to the posterior margin

of the inter-femoral margin, is four and seven-eighth inches, of which the

tail measures one inch. The extent of the flymg membrane eighteen |

inches. Dentition as in T. melanopogon. The smaller differs in having

the chest of a pale brownish-white, the abdomen and the pubes light rust-

coloured, leaving the sides pure white. Mr. Blyth quotes Taphozous

pulcher, Elliot, from Southern India, as being “‘ black-brown above with

white pencillings, and pure white below,” (Journal As. Soc. XIII. 1844.

p. 492,) from which, as well as from Mr. Elliot’s specimen, at present in

the Museum of the Asiatic Society, it appears that the Indian more

resemble the Malayan individuals than those of the Indian Archipelago,

described by Temminck. The internal surface of the gular sac secretes,

an odorous oily fluid, of a light brown colour.

Gen.—Ruinotopuus, Geoffroy.

RuINOLOPHUS, Gray.

RHINOLOPHUS AFFINIS, Horsfield.

Has.—Pinang.

Java.

Of two individuals, the male is reddish-brown above, light greyish-

brown beneath; the female is above golden fulvous, which becomes

lighter on the lower parts.

Entire length of the male, .. 2 inches—female, 2 inches.

Tail, :

Extent of flying membrane,.. 11

Slinl ssa female: ~. a3

2 4

eater aiemale, 12>...)

’ 2 . Ig 5.5

Incis. A Canin. a Molar, ae

The inguinal warts are highly developed in the female.

HiprosipERos, Gray.

A. Adult male with a frontal pore, with a tuft of rigid hairs.

HiprosipEros Diapema, Gray ?

Syn.—Rhinolophus Diadema, Geoffroy ?

Has.—Pinang, Malayan Peninsula,

Timor.

The Malayan individuals are, according to age and sex, of a more or

less intense reddish or greyish-brown above, under certain lights assum-

182 Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting [No. 171.

ing a golden lustre, owing to the whitish points of the hairs; beneath,

they are of a lighter greyish-brown. Individuals occur of a light golden-

brown, in colours resembling Rhinolophus larvatus, Horsfield. In the

adult male, the livid flesh-coloured nasal appendage is larger, more com-

plicated, and somewhat different from the figure given by Geoffroy

St. Hilaire, (Ann. du Muséum XX, Pl. 5 and 6), which resembles the '

female in the simpler appendage and in the absence of the frontal pore.

The latter organ, in the adult male, is large, secreting a yellowish

brown oily fluid, the odour of which resembles that of Arctictis Bintu-

rong, Fisher. A female, during lactation, presented a great inequality

in the development of the inguinal warts, of which the right measured

one-quarter of an inch in length. At the time of her capture, it was

reported that a young one had been “sucking” the right wart. Not

having myself observed the young clinging to that organ, I cannot

vouch for the correctness of a statement which, if authentic, would tend

to explain the use, being to afford support to the young, when not suck-

ing. The size of the Malayan individuals appears to exceed those from

Timor, the entire length of the former being five and six-eighth inches,

of which the tail measures two inches. Extent of the flying membrane

twenty-one and a half to twenty-two inches. The extremity of the 2nd

phalanx of the fourth and fifth fingers is bifid, or terminating with two

minute diverging joints, a structure also existing in the Malayan indivi-

duals of the following species.

: 2 . I—l 5.5

Incis. 7 Canin. joa Molar, =a

HIpPosIDEROS NOBILIS, Gray.

Syn.—Rhinolophus nobilis, Horsfield.

Rhinolophus nobilis, apud Fisher.

Rhinolophe fameux, Temminck,

Rhinolophus nobilis, apud Schinz.

Hazs.—Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.

Java, Sumatra, Timor, Amboyna.

The frontal pore is less developed than in the former species, as com-

pared with which the present is of a more slender form, though of

a size little less inferior. Entire length five and four-eighth inches, of

which the tail measures two and one-eighth inches. Extent of flying

membrane twenty-one and four eighth inches. Dentition similar to that

1846. ] the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 183

of H. Diadema. In the valley of Pinang single individuals of both

species are at night abroad at all seasons, but during the rains they

are particularly numerous.

HiIPposIDEROS VULGARIS, Gray.

Syn.—Rhinolophus vulgaris, Horsfield.

Rhinolophus insignis, Var. apud Temminck.

Rhinolophus insignis, Horsf. apud Schinz.

Rhinolophus vulgaris, Horsf. female of insignis, apud Schinz.*

Has.—Pinang.

Java. |

Entire length four inches, of which the tail measures one and three-

eighth ; extent of flying membrane fourteen inches.

1—1 4.4

eae ia

i Molar, = 5

asad F

Incis. ai Canin,

HiprosiDEROS MURINUS, Gray.

Syn.—Rhinolophus murinus, Elliot.

Has.—Pinang.

Southern Mahratta Country, Nicobar Islands.

_ Entire length two and four-eighth inches, of which the tail measures

one inch. Extent of flying membrane nine and four-eighth inches.

Dentition similar to that of the last species.

B. Forehead simple.

HIpposiDEROS GALERITUS, N. S.

H prosthematis simplicis membrana transversa lata, alté erecta, auri-

culas tangente; auricularum, laté pyriformium, apicibus lacinia exsertis,

besse postico lobuloque basali villosis; vellere longo, denso, molli, bico-

lore; supra saturate, subtus pallidius-fusco-rufescenti.

Latet feemina.

Has.—Pinang.

Entire length three inches, of which the tail measures one inch. Extent

of the flying membrane ten and four-eighth inches.

4.4

5.5.

The livid flesh-coloured nasal appendage is simple but large, occupy-

: 2 . } ey)

Incis. vr Canin. ok Mol.

ing the whole upper part of the face and the forehead ; the horse-shoe or

* The only individual of Rhinolophus vulgaris, Horsfield, observed at Pinang, hap-

pened to be a male.

184 Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting [No. 171.

nasal disk covers the short, rounded, hairy muzzle, which has two leaves

on either side; the transversal membrane is concave, as broad and long as

the horizontal horse-shoe, which it joins under a right angle, while its

sides are almost in contact with the ears. The latter are sub-erect, broader

than long, their breadth equalling the length of the head; the shape is

broad, pyriform, narrowing towards the apex, which appears like a small

artificially rounded flap, scarcely elevated above the level of the fur co-

vering the vertex. More than two-thirds of the back of the ear is

covered with fur, leaving a narrow naked line along the external mar-

gin, which, as well as the singular shape of the ear itself, affords a dis-

tinguishing character. The hairs are buff or whitish at the base, the

other half of their length brown. The general colour of the upper parts

is deep-brown, with a slight reddish hue, becoming a shade lighter be-

neath.

This species somewhat resembles Hipposideros apiculatus, Gray (Ves-

pertilio speoris, Schneider, apud Schreber; Rhinolophus speoris, Geof-

froy,) from which it however differs in the absence of the frontal pore,

in the shape of the ears, and in colours. A solitary male was captured

in the valley of Pinang.

Gen.-—VESPERTILIO, Linné.

VeEsPERTILIO, Gray.

VXSPERTILIO ADVERSUS, Horsfield ?

Syn.—Vespertilio adversus, Fisher ?

Vespertilio adversus, Temminck ?

Vespertilio cineraceus, Blyth MSS.

Has.—Pinang.

Java, Calcutta.

This bat having the characteristic distinction of the upper incisor,

described by Horsfield, is above greyish-brown, beneath light-greyish,

measuring in length three and two-eighth inches, of which the tail is

one and four-eighth inch. Extent of flying membrane ten and

four-eighth inches. It differs from V. adversus in having on each side

five molars, of which but two are spurious, which character also obtains

in V. cineraceus, Blyth MSS. and specimen in the Museum Asiatic

Society, which (as observed by Mr. Blyth,) as well as the present, may

prove varieties of V. adversus, Horstield.

— :1846.) the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 185

Kirivouta, Gray.

Krrivouta picra, Gray.

Syn.—Vespertilio ternatanus, Seba?

Vespertilio pictus, Pallas, apud Horsfield.

Vespertilio kerivoula, Boddaert.

Vespertilio kerivoula, apud Geoffroy.

Has.—Pinang.

Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Ceylon.

KrIRIVOULA TENUIS, Gray.

Syn.—Vespertilio tenuis, Temminck, apud Schinz.

Has.—Pinang.

Java, Sumatra, Borneo.

A single male, in colours slightly differing from Temminck’s, being

above of a dark greyish-brown, many of the hairs with white points;

beneath of a lighter shade. Entire length three and two-fourth inches,

of which the tail one and four-eighth inch. Extent of flying mem-

brane ten inches.

Incis. = Canin. = Mol. ae

Trilatitus, Gray.

Tritatitus HorsFigypit, Gray.

Syn.—Vespertilio tralatitius, Horsfield.

Vespertilio Gartneri, Kuhl, apud Schinz.

Has.—Pinang.

Java, Sumatra.

Scotophilus, Leach, apud Gray.

Scororuitus Temmincx1, Gray.

Syn.—Vespertilio Temminckii, Horsfield.

Vespertilio Belangerii, Isid. Geoff.

Vespertilio noctulinus, Isid. Geoff.

Scotophilus castaneus, Gray.

Nycticeius Temminckii, Schinz.

Nycticeius Belangerii, Temminck, apud Schinz.

Nycticeius noctulinus, Temminck, apud Schinz.

“« Klawah” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Singapore, Pinang, Malayan Peninsula and Islands.

Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Timor, Pondicherry, Calcutta.

186 Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting [No. 171.

As observed by Schinz, this species is very variable in its colours

according to age, all of which variations occur in individuals inhabiting

Pinang and the Malayan Peninsula. The following are the specific

names attributed to different individuals of this species :—

1. Vespertilio Temminckit, as originally described and figured in

Zoological Researches in Java. Back dark-brown; greyish-brown

underneath. Entire length four inches six lin., of which the tail one five-

eighth of an inch ; Extent of flying membrane twelve inches.

2. Scotophilus castaneus, Gray.

3. Nycticeius Belanger, Temminck, apud Schinz. Hairs of the back

brown at the base, chesnut or olive-chesnut at the apex; beneath

light yellowish-brown, isabella or whitish. Entire length 3}” of which

the tail 1” 11” Extent of fying membrane 13”.

; J—1 . 11 4.4

Incis. eal Canin. ie Mol. win

4, Nycticeius noctulinus, Temminck, apud Schinz, is the very young.

Above more or less intense brown or rust-coloured; beneath isabella or

light greyish-brown. Entire length three to three two-eighth inches,

of which the tail seven-eighth to one two-eighth of an inch. Extent of

flying membrane eight six-eighth to nine inches. In this state it has

frequently been observed clinging to the mother.

. 22... I—l 4.4

Incis. — Canin. ah Mol. a

This species is exceedingly numerous, forming large congregations in

sheltered situations on the Malayan Peninsula, and in the caves on the

numerous islands of limestone which stud the shores from Maulmein to

Java, and in such localities large deposits of Guano occur. The latter,

(“Ty Kléwah” of the Malays, i. e. bats’ manure,) has been tried by |

agriculturists at Pinang, but has been found much less efficacious than

the Guano obtained from the swift (Collocalia), producing the edible

nests.

FRUGIVORA.

Gren.—Preropvus, Brisson.

PrEeRoPus EDULIS, Geoffroy.

Syn.—Pteropus javanicus, Desm. apud Horsfield.

Pteropus Edwardsii, Geoffroy.

1846. | the. Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 187

“‘ Kalong”’ of the Javanese.

“« Kliang” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Haz.—Pinang, Singapore, Malayan Peninsula and Islands.

Java, Sumatra, Banda, Bengal, Assam.

Gren.—Cynoprerus, Fred. Cuvier.

CYNOPTERUS MARGINATUS, F. Cuv.

Syn.—Vespertilio marginatus, Buchanan Hamilton, MSS.

Pteropus marginatus, Geoffroy.

Pteropus titthzecheilus, Temm.

Pachysoma titthecheilus, Temm.

Pachysoma brevicaudatum, Is. Geoff.

Pteropus brevicaudatus, Schinz.

Pachysoma Diardii, Isid. Geoff.

Pteropus Diardii, Schinz.

Pachysoma Duvaucellii, Is. Geoff.

Pteropus pyrivorus, Hodgson, apud Gray.

Has.—Singapore, Pinang, Malayan Peninsula and Islands.

Java, Sumatra, Southern Mahratta Country, Bengal, Nipal.

The colour is very variable, not only individually, but according to

age and sex, which has given rise to several supposed distinct species.

But they all resemble each other in habits and dentition, they occupy

one common place of rest, and their new-born, or very young, are of a

uniform colour. The ears of the adult are, in all, more or less distinctly

margined with white.

1. Cynopterus marginatus. Back reddish, or brownish-grey ; lighter

underneath.

2. Pachysoma titthecheilus. 3. Pteropus brevicaudatus. Male: back

reddish or olive-brown; a tuft of hair on the sides of the neck, the

chest, and the sides of the greyish abdomen rusty, or orange-coloured.

Female: above yellowish, or greyish-brown; beneath lighter. In some

individuals from Malacca, the flying membrane is of a light reddish-

brown.

4, Pachysoma Diardii: Back greyish-brown; abdomen greyish,

brown on the sides.

188 Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting ENo.. WAL

5. Pachysoma Duvaucellii: pale greyish-brown.

The following is a description of a new-born. The upper part of the

head, the nape of the neck, the back and the posterior surface of

the humerus and femur, were covered with dense, soft, short hairs,

of a dark greyish-brown ; all the rest of the body was naked, of a grey-

ish-black colour. The eyelids were not yet separated. The joints of

the bones of the extremities were cartilaginous. The nails of the thumb

and index were developed, but the feet and nails of the toes had already

attained the size of the adult. The tongue was considerably extensile.

The teeth present were :

Incis. 4 Canin, — Mol. 5

Entire length, one and four-eighth of an inch, of which the slightly

projecting tail two-eighth inch. Extent of the flying membrane, six

and four-eighth inches.

In an individual measuring two and four-eighth inches in length, with

an extent of the membrane of nine inches, the face and the lower parts,

excepting the throat, had become scantily covered with light brownish-

grey, short hairs. The eyelids were separated. The shoulder, elbow,

hip, and knee-joints, had become ossified, the other joints still remaining

cartilaginous.

INSECTIVORA.

Gen.—Torata, Raffles.

TUPAIA FERRUGINEA, Raffles.

Syn.— “‘ Tupai Press,” Raffles and Horsfield.

Cladobates ferrugineus, F. Cuv. apud Schinz.

Sorex Glis, Diard and Duvaucel.

Glisorex ferruginea, Desmarest.

Hylogale ferruginea, Temminck.

Herpestes, Calcutta Journ. Nat. Hist.*

* Vol. II, p. 458, Pl. XII[Z. The explanation accompanying this figure is as

follows: ‘* Searching for Col. Farquhar’s drawing of Rhizomys Sumatrensis already

referred to, I found in the Society a drawing of a bushy-tailed Herpestes, differing

merely from Mr. Hodgson’s Guio Urva, in having the tail of one uniform colour with

the body, without the yellow tip. There is no name or letter on the drawing to shew

LT — a —

1846.} _ the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 189

‘“*Tupai tana” of the Malays of Pinang.

Has.—Pinang, Singapore, Malayan Peninsula.

Sumatra, Java, Borneo.

The young of this very numerous species in hilly jungle, is easily

tamed, and becomes familiar with its feeder, though towards strangers

it retains its original mistrust, which in mature age is scarcely reclaim-

able. In a state of nature it lives singly or in pairs, fiercely attacking

intruders of its own species. When several are confined together, they

fight each other, or jointly attack and destroy the weakest. The natu-

ral food is mixed insectivorous and frugivorous. In confinement, indivi-

duals may be fed exclusively on either, though preference is evinced for

insects; and eggs, fish, and earth-worms, are equally relished. A short

peculiar tremulous whistling sound, often heard by calls and an-

swers, in the Malayan jungle, marks their pleasurable emotions, as

for instance, on the appearance of food, while the contrary is ex-

pressed by shrill protracted cries. Their disposition is very restless,

and their great agility enables them to perform the most extraordi-

nary bounds in all directions, in which exercise they spend the day, till

night sends them to sleep in their rudely constructed lairs in the highest

branches of trees. At times they will sit on their haunches, holding

their food between the fore-legs, and after feeding, they smooth the head

and face with both fore-paws, and lick the lips and palms. They are

also fond of water, both to drink and to bathe in. The female usually

produces one young; she has four mamme, the anterior pair of which

is situated on the lower lateral part of the chest, the posterior on the

side of the abdomen. On the lower surface of the tongue, the frenum

is continued to within a short distance of the apex in a raised line, on

either side of which the skin is thickened, fringed at the edges, and

thus presenting a rudimentary sublingual appendage, somewhat similar

from whence it came, and to prevent its following the fate of Colonel Farquhar’s

Rkizomys, we here afford a copy of it.’? Pl. XLII} represents no Herpestes: the

elongated muzzle, the proximity of the large eye to the ear, which is exposed, and not

hidden by the hairs of the cheek, are characters foreign to every known species of

Herpestes. The draughtsman has very correctly represented a Tupaia, and the draw-

ing, reappearing as a Herpestes inthe Calcuttu Journal of Natural History, has, by

Mr. Blyth, been traced to be the original of Pl. 1X, Asiatic Researches, Vol. XIV,

where it properly accompanies the description of Sorex Glis, (i. e. Tupaia ferrugi-

nea) of MM. Diard and Duvaucel.

190 Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting [No. 171.

to that observed in Nycticebus tardigradus ; though in Tupaia ferruginea

the fringes of the margin only are free, the rest being attached to the

tongue, but easily detached by a knife. The lateral raised lines of the

palms and soles, the posterior part of the first phalanges, and the third

phalanx (second of the thumbs,) which is widened into a small soft disk,

in fact all the points which rest upon the ground, are studded with little

transversely curved ridges or duplicatures, similar to those observed

under the toes, of some of the Geckotide, which fully account for the

precision, the ‘applomb,’ with which these animals perform the astound-

ing leaps from below, barely touching with the soles the point d’appui

above. In a cage, the Tupai will continue for hours vaulting from

below, back downwards, poise itself for an instant, continuing back

downwards under the horizontal roof, and regain the point of starting,

and thus describe a circle—the diameter of which may be three to four

times the length of the animal,—in far shorter time than is required for

the description. In a young male, measuring from the nose to the root

of the tail seven and three-fourth inches, the tail six and a half inches,

the dimensions of the intestinal canal were :

Small Intestines,....... 3 feet 45 inch.; diameter } inch.

3 a

Large ditto nts) erden, Onis peat an » ei) a

3 es

Caocuins: od) 2 1015, bade, S; a8

Coste vere: 8 pairs; spurie: 5 pairs = 13 pairs.

This species* is infested with a Tick of the following description :

Ixodes Tupaie. Body suboval, shining dark-green olive; scaly plate,

palpi casing the pointed sucker, and the legs: pale reddish-brown.

Length, when swollen, three-eighth inch.

Gren.—Gymnora, Raffles.

Gymnura Rarrtesii, Vigors and Horsfield.

Syn.— Viverra gymnura, Raffles.

‘“Tikus ambang bilan,” Raffles.

Has.— Malacca.

Sumatra, Singapore.

In a district not distant from Malacca, the animal is said to be numer-

ous, though not to be seen in other localities.

* Single light coloured individuals occur with the back, limbs and abdomen grey-

ish, whitish, or isabella.

1846.] the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 191

Gren.—Sorex, Linné.

Sorex MurRinvs, Linné.*

Syn.—Sorex myosurus, Pallas, apud Schinz.

Sorex czerulescens, Var, Raffles ?

“‘Chinchorot” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has,—Pinang.

Java.

Dark brownish-grey above ; beneath light brownish-grey. Feet and

tail flesh-coloured in the living animal, changing to cinereous after

death. In the young the colour is more of a bluish-grey, slightly mixed

with brown on the back. Length of the head and body five and half

inches ; tail three inches.

f 2 0 8.8

Incis. — in. hi

n - Canin ‘ Molar, aa

The present differs from the ‘Musk Shrew’ of Bengal (‘‘Choochundr,”)

in its proportionally broader, more developed, and from the head more

diverging ear, which characters also distinguish it from Sorex nigres-

cens, Gray, which it somewhat resembles in its colours. The smell of

musk, emitted by the adult animal, and which in the young is barely.

perceptible, is much less intense than that of the Bengal Musk Shrew.

CARNIVORA\

Gren.—Unrsus, Linné

Hexarcros, Horsfield.

Hexarctros Matayanus, Horsfield.

Syn.—Ursus Malayanus, Raffles and Horsfield.

‘“‘Bruang”’ of the Malays.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula.

Sumatra, Tenasserim Provinces, Assam, Nipal.

Colour of the young: snout and lips pale ferrugineous. Head, back,

and outside of the limbs black, mixed with pale rust colour, in conse-

quence of many of the black hairs having the point, or a part next to the

* The following Syn. are given in Gray’s List of Mam. in British Museum: Sorex

myosurus, Pallas. Geoff. Ann. Mus. XVII. S. Sonneratii, and S. giganteus, 1. Geoff.

Mem. XV. S. indicus, Geoff. Mem. Mus. 1. S. capensis, Geoff. Ann. Mus. XVII. 8.

Pilorides, Shaw, Mus. Lever. S. c@rulescens, Shaw, Zool. S. crassicaudatus, Licht.

Saiigeth. S. nepalensis, Hodgson. S. moschatus, Robinson, Assam. Olivier, Voy.

Buffon. H. N. Suppl. VII.

192 Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting [No. 171.

point, of the latter colour. Ears, tail, paws, and inner side of the ex-

tremities shining black. ‘The somewhat woolly hairs of the abdomen

are faintly marked with ferrugineous, and are mixed with longer stiff

black hairs. As observed by Schinz, the mark on the breast is very

variable in its form. It may be compared to a crescent, assuming

according to the smaller or greater breadth of the limbs, the shape of

the letter U, of a horse-shoe, or a heart. In the living animal it is

of a pale rust, or orange colour, in some individuals with a few small

blackish spots, fading after death to a yellowish-white. A very old

male presented the nici eae :

~ Mo ian ea

6.6 (3+3)

In a young female, re pa in length, the intestinal canal measured

wit 6 4

Incis. =e Canin. >

fifteen feet. It had neither caecum nor valve to mark the transition.

She had ten grinders in either jaw, of which four were spurious, six true.

Gen.—Arctictis, Temminck.

Arctictis Binturone, Fischer.

Syn.—Viverra? Binturong, Raffles.

Paradoxurus albifrons, F. Cuvier.

Ictides ater, F. Cuvier.

Arctictis penicillata, TTemminck.

Ictides ater, Blainv. Calcutta Journ. of Nat. Hist.*

“ Unturong” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula,

Tenasserim, Arracan, Assam, Bhotan, Nipal.

Java and Sumatra are quoted by M. Schinz, but neither Dr. Hors-_

field, Sir S. Raffles, nor M. Temminck, (Discours Preliminaire, Fauna

Japonica,) mention the Binturong as inhabiting either of the two islands.

* In the 3rd Vol. of Calcutta Journ. of Nat. Hist. p. 410, occurs the following

passage ; ‘The Binturong was first discovered in Java, but the first notice of its existence

on the continent of India will be found in the second volume of this Journal, p. 457,”

(sic!) ‘*&c.”’ Sir Stamford Raffles, who published the first account of this animal, dis-

tinctly states, that it was discovered at Malacca, (not Java, as erroneously stated, ) by

Major Farquhar, and Malacca is situated on the continent of India as well as Tenas-

serim. ‘Uhe fact of its inhabiting Bhotan, was according to Cuvier (Régne Animal, ) first

made known by Duvaucel, and the author of the article ‘‘ Jctides’’ in the Penny

Cyclopedia, 1838, gives Mr. Hodgson’s authority of the Binturong’s inhabiting

Nipal, (Kachar, though they occasionally occur in the central region of Nipal.)

1846. ] the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 193

The general colour of either sex is black, sprinkled on the body and

extremities with pale ferrugineous, produced by some of the hairs having

a part next to the point of that colour. In both sexes nearly all the hairs

of the head, face and throat are thus marked, which communicates to

these parts a whitish or greyish appearance. In the young of either

sex there is a faint trace of a white spot over the eyes. The long ear-

tufts are always black, the margin of the auricle being either white, or

pale rust-coloured. The tail is black, but the hairs of the anterior or

basal half, are whitish at the root, or in some uniformly of that colour.

The pupil is vertically contracted by the influence of light; the iris is

of a beautiful Van Dyke brown. In its habits the Binturong is both arbo-

real and terrestrial, and nocturnal, sleeping till the sun is below the

horizon, when it displays great agility in searching for smaller quadru-

peds, birds, fishes, earth-worms, insects and fruit. The howl is loud,

resembling that of some of the Malayan Paradoruri. The young are

easily tamed, but the old animal retains its natural fierceness. Between

the anus and penis is situated a large pyriform gland, exceeding two

inches in length, partially divided by a deep naked fossa, commencing

from the latter organ. The gland secretes a light-brown oily fluid, of a

peculiar intense, but not fetid or sickening odour. In a young male,

measuring from the nose to the root of the tail, two feet three and five-

eighth inches, the tail two feet two and a half inches, the intestines were

of the following dimensions :

Small Intestines, .. ah 7 feet 11 inches.

Large ditto, .. 3 - 1 foot 10 inches.

Czecum, . ies Mie 0 + inch.

The circumference of the small intestines about seven-eighth inches .

of the large but little more, but the rectum was thickened two inches

in circumference.

The short cecum is crescent-shaped, or lengthened pyriform. The

stomach is remarkably lengthened cylindrical, the parietes much thick-

ened towards pylorus. Oesophagus enters close to fundus ventriculi,

in consequence of which there is but a slight difference between the

curvatures.

Length along the greater curvature, .. 1 foot 2 inches.

€ a sail SRO ak Patni eee

194 Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting [No. 171.

The circumference from cardia round fundus ventriculi measured five

and a half inches; round pylorus two six-eighth inches. Both the gall-

bladder and the spleen presented a remarkably elongated shape. The

former organ, lengthened pyriform, measured in length two inches ;

ductus cysticus two and a half inches. The spleen, tapering to a narrow

point, was half an inch broad, and eight and a half inches in length.

Cost vere, nine pairs; spurie, five pairs = fourteen pairs.

Gren.—Musteta, Linné.

Putrorivus, Cuvier.

Purorius nupiPgs, Fred. Cuvier.

Syvn.—Mustela nudipes, Desmar. apud Schinz.

“ Pulasan’’ of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Hazs.— Malayan Peninsula.

Sumatra, Borneo.

The muzzle and the soles of the feet are pale flesh-coloured. The —

animal is said to inhabit the densest jungle, and is most difficult to —

obtain.

Mustexa, Cuvier.

MustTELA FLAVIGULA, Boddaert.

Syn.—Viverra quadricolor, Shaw.

Marte a gorge dorée, Desmarest.

Mustela Hardwickii, Horsfield.

Martes flavigula, Hodgson, apud Gray.

“ Anga Prao” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has,—Malayan Peninsula. |

Java, Sumatra, Nipal.

The Malayan individuals differ from those from Northern India,

originally described, in having the fur shorter and less dense, the head

pale-brown, the neck and back pale yellowish-brown, becoming darker

towards the tail, which, as well as the posterior extremities, is black.

The anterior extremities are greyish-brown; the feet and the streak

behind the ear deep brown; the lips whitish; the throat and chest

yellowish-white or ochreous; the scanty hairs of the abdomen pale

brownish.

1846. | the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 195

Gen.—Lurra, Storr.

Lutra Narr, Fred. Cuvier.

Syn.—Lutra indica, Gray.

“ Anjing Ayer” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula.

China, Bombay, South Mahratta Country.

Lutra Barane, Raffles.

Syn.—‘ Barang Barang” or “‘ Ambrang,”’ Raffles.

Lutra leptonyx, Wagner, apud Schinz.

Lutra Simung, Schinz ?*

**Mumrang” or “‘ Amrang” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula.

Sumatra, Borneo.

The young are very playful, and soon become sufficiently domestica-

ted to roam about the house, and to appear when called. Its voice is a

short shrill whistling, not unlike the sound of the cricket, but stronger.

Its food is not confined to fishes and crustacea; birds and insects are

equally relished. The muzzle is hairy, but in the old animal the hairs

become rubbed off. The Malayan individuals appear to attain to a

greater size than the Sumatran, described by Raffles. An old male

measured from the apex of the nose to the root of the tail two feet eight

and a half inches; the tail one foot eight inches. In a young male two

feet and two inches, and the tail one foot two-eighth of an inch in

length, the simple intestinal canal measured nine feet and one inch, with

a circumference throughout of about two and two-eighth inches. No

cecum. Each of the kidneys consisted of ten loosely connected glands.

Aonyx, Lesson,

Aonyx LEPToNyx, Gray: List.

Syv.—Lutra leptonyx, Horsfield.

Lutra cinerea, Illiger.

* In Schinz’s diagnosis of Lutra Simung is said ‘ ungvibus robustis falcularibus,”’

(‘die Nagel an den Zehen sind stark und gekriimmt’’) which if the passage refers

to Lutra leptonyzx, Horsfield, must be a mistake, as the original diagnosis expressly

states ‘‘ ungvibus brevibus sublamnaribus.’? As Schinz describes Lutra Barang

‘*ungvibus minutissimis obtusis’? Lutra leptonyzx is probably meant, and thus the one

Species is mistaken for the other.

196 Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting [No. 171.

Lutra perspicillata, Is. Geoff.

Mustela Lutra, Marsden.

Aonyx Horsfieldii, Gray.

Lutra Barang, apud Schinz?

«« Anjing Ayer” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula.

Java, Sumatra, Singapore, Nipal.

This, as well as the two preceding species, inhabits numerously the

banks of the Malayan rivers, and all are at times used by the Malays

in river fishing.

Gren.—Canis, Linné.

Cuon, Hodgson.

Cuon primavus, Hodgson.

Syn.—Canis primevus, Hodgson.*

Chryseeus primevus, Hamilton Smith.

Chryszeus soccatus, Cantor.

« Anjing tan” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula.

Bengal, Nipal.

Some slight differences occur in the Malayan individuals. The infe-

rior surface, the inside of the ears and limbs, the lips and throat, are of

the same colour as the back, but much paler, A black carpal spot,

like that of the wolf, is very distinct in the male, less so in the female.

The young animal of either sex has a faint white spot with a few black-

ish bristles, situated nearly midway between the angle of the mouth and

the ears. Of the wavy wool of the Buansu, the Malayan wild dog,

inhabiting a tropical climate, has but a little on the inner side of, and

immediately behind the ear; the posterior part of the abdomen is almost

naked. The short bristles of the lips, cheeks, throat, and above the

eyes, are all black. In habits, so fully described by Mr. Hodgson, and

in size, the Malayan agrees with the Nipalese. In a young male, from

* Mr. Ogilby considers Canis Dukhunensis, Sykes, and Canis primevus, Hodgson,

to be identical, and apparently not different from C. swmatrensis, Hardwicke, (Mem.

on the Mammalogy of the Himalayahs, apud Royle.) Colonel Sykes, on the contrary,

describes C. Dukhunensis as being ‘‘essentially distinct from Canis Quao, or Suma-

trensis, Hardwicke.”’

1846. ] the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. ee

the nose to the root of the tail two feet eight and a half inches in length ;

the tail one foot, the intestinal canal was of the following dimensions :

Small Intestines, .. vr -- 6 feet 2 inches.

Large, ditto, .. ad vig dh. 0OensoathO dy ings

Cecum, ers ik aby) Oegso8 4eo8g

The latter intestine is spiral, much widened at the origin.

Costze vere 8 pairs, spurie 5 pairs = 13 pairs.

The Malays mention another, black wild dog (‘‘ Anjing utan étam,’’)

as also inhabiting the densest jungle. A Hyena is also reported to

occur on the Peninsula.

Mongrel curs, ‘‘ pariah dogs,” of every description, infest every vil-

lage, but apparently not uninhabited places, nor localities far distant

from the dwellings of man. As they all may be said to be in a state of

half domestication, and are of forms very different from the wild dog,

which shuns the human presence, their origin cannot with certainty be

traced to the Malayan Peninsula.

Gren.—Viverra, Linné.

ViveRRA ZiseTua, Linné.

Syn.—Viverra undulata, Gray.

Viverra melanurus, Hodgson

Viverra elvettodes, Hodgeon APUG Gray: Lis.

Undescribed Civet, McClelland

“ Tanggallong” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Pinang, Singapore, Malayan Peninsula.

Southern China, Siam, Bengal, Khasyah Hills, Nipal.

Judging by the comparatively few individuals observed in the Straits

of Malacca, this species would appear to be far less numerous, than the

following. Of several, the largest, which was a female, measured from

the apex of the nose to the root of the tail two feet and eight inches ;

the tail one foot eight and a half inches.

VivEerRA Tanecatunea, Gray.

Syn.—Viverra Zibetha, Lin. apud Raffles.

“Tangalung,” Raffles.

Viverra Zibetha, Lin. apud Horsfield.

198 Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting ENo. h7 i

Viverra Zibetha, apud Fred. Cuvier.

Viverra Zibetha, Lin. apud Schinz.*

‘‘Musang jebat”’ of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Pinang, Singapore, Malayan Peninsula.

Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, Amboyna, Philippines.

This species is readily distinguished from V. Zibetha by a continuous

longitudinal black band occupying the upper surface of the tail, the

numerous irregular rings being separated only on its inferior half. (Gray :

Proceed. Zool. Society, 1832, p. 63.) The number and distance of the

half rings on the lower surface of the tail, vary in different individuals,

some of which have either the entire tail, or the anterior half or third

of the tail, thus marked, the rest being black. The very young animal

is generally of a much darker ground colour than the adult, and the

black marks are therefore less conspicuous. Under certain lights the

colour appears uniformly black. Viverra Tangalunga and Zibetha, how-

ever similar in habits and general colours, neither live nor breed toge-

ther. Placed side by side, the living animals present a marked dissimi-

larity of countenance, which although obvious to the eye, would be most

difficult, if possible at all, to convey in words. The female has three

pairs of Mammee, and produces from one to three young. The Malays

of the Peninsula distinguish by different names the Zibetha and the

Tangalunga, but as they suppose the civet of the former species to be

of better quality, perhaps because it is scarcer, they will frequently offer

for sale individuals of the latter, exceedingly numerous species, impos-

ing upon it the name of V. Zibetha: ‘‘ Tanggalong”’ of the Peninsula.

The largest individual of the present species observed, measured in

length from the apex of the nose to the root of the tail three feet and one

inch; the tail one foot five and a half inches. In a younger, a female,

three feet five and a half inches in length, of which the tail one foot and

one inch, the intestinal canal was of the following dimensions :

Small Intestines, ty 4 .. 7 feet 5 inches.

Large ditto, che se se +e 0 a» 9 ”

Ceecum, a nf by eNO ag ae

Coste verze, seven pairs; spuric, six pairs = thirteen pairs.

* The true Viverra Zibetha, Linné, is quoted by Schinz under the denominations

of V. bengalensis, Hardwicke (?), and V. melanura, Hodgson.

1846. | the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 199

Viverricuta, Hodgson.

VIVERRICULA MALACCENSIS.

Syn.—Viverra malaccensis, Gmelin.

Viverra Rasse, Horsfield.

Viverra Gunda, Buchanan Hamilton MSS.

Viverra indica, Geoffroy.

Viverra bengalensis, Gray: Illustr.

Viverra pallida, Gray: Illustr.

Genetta Manillensis, Eydoux.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula.

China, Philippine Islands, Java, Singapore, Cochin-China, Tenas-

serim Provinces, Bengal, Nipal, Hindoostan, Dukhun, Bombay.

On the Malayan Peninsula this species appears to be more numerous

than V. Zibetha; less so than V. Tungalunga, and in size inferior to

either. The largest observed was three feet four inches in length, of

which the tail one foot three and a half inches. In a male, measuring

from the apex of the nose to the root of the tail, two feet and three-

fourth of an inch, the tail one foot one inch, the dimensions of the

intestinal canal were:

Small Intestines, oe a .. 4 feet O inch.

BParee ditto, . »,.. un oi HWI0O:. (PIV 0 HHH

Cecum,.. aa me ae Lg Os {OLQE 0 yy

The three preceding species have the following characters in com-

mon—The pupil is vertical, oblong; the iris of a rich brown. They are

arboreal as well as terrestrial, preying upon the smaller quadrupeds,

birds, fish, crustacea, insects and fruit. Naturally very fierce, they are

scarcely reclaimable except in youth, but with age the original disposi-

tion returns. Their voice is peculiar, hoarse and hissing.

Gen.—Prionopon, Horsfield.

PRIONODON GRacILIs, Horsfield.

Syn.—Viverra? Linsang, Hardwicke.

Felis gracilis, Horsfield.

Viverra Hardwicke, Lesson.

Viverra gracilis, Desmarest, apud Schinz.

Linsang gracilis, Miller, apud Gray: List, and Schinz.

200 Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting [No. 171.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula.

Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Siam.

The ground colour is buff, and the dark marks are of a deep snuff

colour, inclining to black with purple reflection. Length from the apex

of the nose to the root of the tail: one foot six inches, the tail one foot

three six-eighth inches.

Mr. Rappa, for many years a dealer in objects of natural history

at Malacca, who previously had been supplied with a figure and descrip-

tion of Prionodon gracilis, reported in a memorandum accompanying the

specimen, that it had been captured in the jungle at some distance from

Malacca. It was unknown to himself and to the natives. At first the

animal was fierce and impatient of confinement, but by degrees it became

very gentle and playful, and when subsequently suffered to leave the

cage, it went in search of sparrows and other small birds, displaying

great dexterity and unerring aim in stealthily leaping upon them. Fruit

of every description it refused.. Another younger individual was cap-

tured about the same time, but contrived to make its escape.

Gren.—Parapoxurvws, Fred. Cuvier.

Paguma, Gray.

PaguMa LEucomystTax, Gray: List?

Syn.—Paradoxurus leucomystax, Gray?

Amblyodon auratus, Jourdan ?

“‘Masang bilan” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Hazs.—Malayan Peninsula.

Singapore, Sumatra.

In a single individual observed, the hairs of the body, limbs and an-

terior third of the tail, are greyish-yellow at the base, next bright rust-

coloured, with the apex shining black, which produces a mixture of

ferruginous and black, the latter prevailing on the nape of the neck, mid-

dle line of the back, and the anterior third of the tail. The hairs of the

vertex and the ridge of the nose are dark at the base, with yellowish

points. The large oblique whitish spot in front of the ear, produced by

uniformly whitish hairs, is on either side blended with the whitish

vertex and ridge of the nose, and is continued down the sides of the

neck, forming a large broad arrow-shaped mark. The orbits are

dark brown, the face, lips and throat pale brown. The long rigid white

1846. ] the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 201

whiskers are mixed with a few shorter black bristles. The feet are

dark brown, the posterior two-thirds of the tail uniformly black. The

lower surface and the inner side of the extremities are pale ferrugi-

nous. From the apex of the nose to the root of the tail: two feet three

inches, the tail one foot eight inches.

PaguMma TrivireaTa, Gray: List.

Syn.—Viverra trivirgata, Reinwardt, Mus. Leyd.

Paradoxurus trivirgatus, Gray.

“‘ Musang akar” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula.

Singapore, Tenasserim.

The ground colour varies from yellowish, or brownish, to blackish-

grey. Fur short, peculiarly soft, silky. The dorsal streaks are either

continued, undulated, (the central nearly always,) or composed of separate

black spots. Some individuals have a short white streak on the ridge of

the nose. The largest male measured from the apex of the nose to the

root of the tail, two feet two and a half inches ; the tail two feet three

inches.

Parpoxurus Musanaa, Gray.

Syn.—Viverra hermaphrodita, Pallas, apud Schinz.

Viverra fasciata, Gmelin?

Viverra Musanga, Marsden, Raffles.

Musang bulan, Raffles.

Viverra Musanga, Var, javanica, Horsfield.

Ichneumon prehensilis, Buchanan Halmilton MSS.

Platyschista hermaphrodita, Otto

Paradoxurus Pallasii, Gray d Schi

Paradoxurus Crossil, Gray / lhaebaniaianesti

Paradoxurus dubius, Gray

Paradoxurus Musangéides, Gray.

Paradoxurus typus, apud Schlegel.

Paradoxurus felinus, Wagner, apud Schinz.

‘‘ Musang” or “‘ Musang Pandan,” (when the tail is with white

point: “‘ Musang Bingkwang,”) of the Malays of the Penin-

sula,

Has.—Pinang, Singapore, Malayan Peninsula.

Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Timor.

202 Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting [No. 171.

The ground colour and dorsal marks of this exceedingly numerous

species are liable to considerable variations, the principal of which

are noted by Schinz: individuals occur (probably of every species)

with the apex of the tail white, with elongated white spots on the ab-

domen, with the tail spirally twisted. In most the dorsal marks

become indistinct, or invisible in certain lights. The female has from

one to three young, of colours similar to the adult, but less distinct,

their fur is softer, somewhat woolly, mixed with longer stiff black hairs.

The young is tamed without difficulty, and is sometimes kept in houses

to destroy rats and mice. The Paradozuri are in habits like the Civets.

They have an elliptical pupil, vertically contracted by the influence of

light. Their glandular secretion is of a peculiar, not civet or musk-like

odour. The largest specimen of a great number, measured from the apex

of the nose to the root of the tail two feet and half an inch; the tail one

foot four and a half inches. In a male, measuring three feet one and

a half inch in length, of which the tail one foot four and a half inches,

the intestinal canal were of the following dimensions :—

Small Intestines, .. Bh “a 5 feet 8 inches.

Large ditto, .. x ae Me O° pS hes

Czecum, ee + ay YY Ot 0. dees

Coste verze, seven pairs ; spurie, six pairs = 13 pairs.

ParapoxuRus (?) Dersyanus, Gray.

Syn.—Paradoxurus? Zebra, Gray.

Hemigalea Zebra, Jourdan.

Viverra Boiei, Miller.

‘“‘ Musang Batu” or ‘‘ Sangah Prao” of the Malays of the Penin-

sula.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula.

Borneo.

The ground colour varies from pale ochreous to buff, and the dark

marks in shape and number scarcely alike in any two individuals, from

snuff colour to black. ‘The species is apparently not numerous, and is

celebrated among the Malays for its great agility. It is said chiefly to

feed upon the larger birds, such as the Argus pheasant, which it

will hunt down, following its prey till the strength of the latter is

exhausted, when it falls an easy victim to the indefatigable pursuer.

The slender vermiform make, the countenance and distribution of

1846. ] the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 203

colours ; the serrated, flattened false molars ; the soles, hairy between and

under the toes, and slightly in the centre ; the somewhat removed thumb,

are characters by which this animal differs from Paradorurus, and forms

a link between that genus and Prionodon in the same manner that

Viverricula connects Viverra to Prionodon. ‘The largest male observed

measured from the apex of the nose to the root of the tail two feet ; the

tail one foot and four inches.

Gren.—CywnoGatez, Gray.

Cynogate Bennettit, Gray. ,

Syn.—Viverra (Limictis) carcharias, Blainville.

Potamophilus barbatus, Kuhl.

Cynogale barbata, Schinz.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula.

Sumatra, Borneo.

The very young, of which two individuals, a male and a female, were

found with the mother, differ from the adult in having a very soft, silky,

dense fur, mixed with longer hairs, which are black, except on the

‘chest and abdomen, where the apex is silvery. Over the tarsus and on

the upper surface of the feet some of the hairs have a subterminal white

band, close to the black apex. The posterior margin of the ear is hairy

and of a silvery colour, This animal appears to be of rare occurrence

on the Malayan Peninsula, and the natives are consequently not ac-

quainted with it. The largest male examined measured from the apex

of the nose to the root of the tail two feet three inches; the tail eight

inches:

(To be continued. )

204

Notes, chiefly Geological, on the Coast of Coromandel, from the Pennaur to

Pondicherry. By Captain Newxoun.

The coast from the mouth of the Pennaur to Madras, is a sandy

plain, covered with reddish sandy loam which occasionally passes into

clay, and generally rests upon the bluish-black marine clay of the Coro-

mandel. It has been already said, that the breadth of the latter stratum

varies, and is interstratified with layers of sand and reddish clays ;—the

whole resting usually on granitic or hypogene rocks: nodules and

masses of a concretionary sandstone are found imbedded in the sands

close to high-water mark, often perforated by lithodomi. Magnetic iron

sand is found in many situations mingled with the sea sand, derived

probably from the hornblende and basaltic greenstone rocks. This iron

sand occasionally, I suspect, contains potassium, and strongly resembles

iserine in external character.

Farther inland, between the base of the ghauts and the sea, extend

thin beds of laterite, and sandstone closely allied to laterite, passing

into puddingstones and soft shells of various colours.

The puddingstones usually imbed rounded pebbles of white quartz,

and of the older sandstone which crests the eastern ghauts near Nag-

ghery, Udegherry, &c.

The beds of this sandstone rarely exceeds three or four feet in thick-

ness, and may be seen near Sri Permatoor, on the great western road,

(vide Notes from Mangalore to Madras), and, according to native infor-

mation, in the vicinity of Parmaulnaigpet, about six and a half

miles to the E. by S. of Tripassore, a little north of the road to

Madras. Their continuity, and that of the laterite beds, with which

they are probably contemporaneous, has been much interrupted by

aqueous denudation, which probably took place while the Coromandel

Coast was emerging from the bed of the sea.

It is also probable that these sandstone strata were once continuous

with those imbedding silicified wood at Pondicherry and Verdachellum

in south Arcot.

These remarks are merely thrown out to elicit farther investigation

and research into the age, and extent on the coast, of these interesting

littoral deposits, by which we may be enabled, probably, to mark out

the ancient lines of coast formed, as the land gradually rose.

Notes, chiefly Geological, &c. 205

From its flatness the plain of Coromandel has been usually neglected

by geologists as of little promise, but I trust, these remarks will prevent

observers from running over it in the dark.

The sandstones and slate clays should be diligently examined for or-

ganic remains, as after all, it is possible, they may be freshwater deposits.

Of the sea and its inroads upon the land, from the Pennaur to the

mouth of the Cauvery, the natives preserve many wild traditions,

which I have little doubt originated in a sinking of this part of the

coast.

In a Mahratta MS. of the Mackenzie collection,* there is a legend

of the origin of the town of Sri-hari-cota, on the south boundary of

Telinghana, close to the west shore of the Pulicat lake, which states the

submersion of another town; the ruins of which, according to the

MS. are still to be seen underneath the water. ‘Trisancu, a king of the

Solar race, is said to have been founder of it.

The miracle of the sea shell passing by a subterranean passage to the

Pandurangha temple, might have originated from the circumstance

of subterranean beds of marine shells being found, as at Madras, &c.

inland.

The Pulicat lake is a lagoon running down the coast from Deraz-

patumam on the north, to Pulicat on the south, nearly forty miles

long, and varying in breadth from a few yards to twelve miles. A spot

of sand from a quarter of a mile to five miles broad, running parallel

with the coast, separates it, excepting four narrow openings, from the

Bay of Bengal. Three of these openings are at its northern and southern

extremities, and the other between the hamlets of Ryadooroo and Day-

ullum.

The lake is studded with numerous islets: its inland or western

shore is low and sandy, furrowed by numerous rills which run down

during the monsoon from the sides. of the eastern ghauts, (here having

the local name of the Pulicat hills), about eleven miles to the west-

ward.

The lake is in general shallow, and its formation is attributed to the

sea bursting through the sand-bank in front on the low ground inland,

now its bed. Iam not aware of any other tradition which refers its

origin to the historic period, except that just alluded to.

* Madras Journal, No. 30, p. 86.

206 Notes, chiefly Geological, five. 17 2:

Madras.—Granite and the hypogene schists, have been before stated

as the rocks basing the more recent deposits covering the level plain

of Madras. In the bed of the river (Adyar) near Marmalong bridge, and

on its right bank at the quarries for the old breakwater, in the park of

Guindy, around the race course, it usually contains but little mica, being

composed of grains of a greyish quartz, with white felspar usually wea-

thered and earthy on the exposed bosses and blocks in which the rock

makes its appearance. Much of the granite near the Little Mount I found to

be pigmatitic, that is, a binary granite of felspar and quartz, without mica.

Laterite is seen overlying the granite at the breakwater quarries

before mentioned, and I am informed by Capt. Worster, that beds of this .

rock occur about a mile north of Nabob’s Choultry on the Poonamalee

road ;—also near Tremungalum, about two miles NE. of Santivellore ;

near Vungada, about two miles SE. from Sri Permatoor; at Cotrum-

baucum, half a-mile north of Raja’s Choultry, and about two

miles north of Balchitty Choultry; besides the beds at the Red hills,

about eight miles NW. from Madras, so ably described by Mr. Cole,

and which occupying an area of about fifty miles, cover an undulating

tract, elevated usually forty or fifty feet above the general level of the

country. Those near Sri Permatoor tank, I have already noticed (vide

notes from Mangalore to Madras.)

At the bases of St. Thomas’ Mount and the Palaveram Hill, granite

is seen outcropping, and it also forms some of the smaller hills in the

vicinity of Palaveram.

Both the Palaveram Hill and that of St. Thomas’ Mount, are com-

posed for the most part of a massive variety of hornblende rock, in

which stratification is indistinct.

This rock, though often entirely composed of black brilliant horn-

blende, at Palaveram is usually a dull olive-green colour, translucent at

the edges, and appears to be a mixture of hornblende and felspar,

with a small proportion of quartz, in an almost homogeneous mixture.

This rock occasionally imbeds garnets, crystallized schorl, hornblende,

and a little dark mica. A little to the SSE. of the Mount, near the

tank, is a lateritic bed.

The height of the Palaveram Hill, on which the bungalow built by

Col. Coombes stands, Lieut. Ludlow informs me, is nearly 3453 feet

above the plain at its base.

1846. ] Jrom Pennaur to Pondicherry. 207

Chingleput.—This is the judicial head-quarters and capital of the

Jaghire of the same name; it is situated about thirty-six miles to the

SSW. of Madras, at the base of a small cluster of hills; the loftiest

not being higher than the Flagstaff hill at Palaveram, and composed of

a precisely similar variety of hornblende rock (garnetiferous), and as-

sociated with binary granite, or pigmatite. |

The hornblende rock passes into light shades of green. It has been

largely used as a building stone in the construction of the fort, which

is extensive, and said to be nearly two miles in circumference. It, as

well as the town, lies on a stream, which falls into the Palaur, about half

a mile to the west, almost surrounded by this hilly cluster. A wet

ditch surrounds the outer walls which enclose a citadel,—the remains of

the ancient palace of the native princes, government offices, and bar-

racks, &c. Near the outer gate is a weaving establishment: and on a

neighbouring eminence stands the European burial ground. The na-

tive town is populous; the houses are, for the most part, built of mud,

thatched, or tiled.

Chingleput was early a place of importance, and for some time the

residence of the Hindu princes of the Bijanugger dynasty.

During the early wars, when the French and English were strug-

gling for empire in the East, the occupation of Chingleput, which lies

on the great southern road to Madras from Pondicherry, was a point of

much consequence. It was captured by the French in 1761, but

retaken the following year by Capt. Clive. It was here the English

army under Sir Hector Munro retreated (11th September, 1780) from

Conjeveram, after the fatal massacre of Baillie’s detatchment near

Perambaucum.

The soil in the vicinity is sandy, but in some places overlies a stiff

clay used for bricks and tiles. The cultivation is principally of rice,

irrigated by a tank which lies to the east of the Madras road.

Carangooly.—The sandy bed, sometimes occupied by a muddy torrent

of the Palaur, is crossed about two and a half miles SW. from Chingle-

put. It is about three-quarters of a mile from bank to bank. This river,

which takes its rise in the table lands of Mysore in the elevated

tracts, (their water sheds) between Colar and Nundi-droog, pursues a SE.

course by Baitmungalum and Watlaconda-droog, to the Pullur gap in

the eastern ghauts, whence it descends to the vale of Amboor. Here,

following the north-easterly direction and slope of the valley which it

208 Notes, chiefly Geological, [No. 171.

fertilizes, it washes the feet of the eastern ghauts, receiving many moun-

tain tributaries to the base of Amboor-droog; whence, turning the

northern flank of the Rajahpollium and Javadie hills, which bound the

right of the valley, it escapes easterly by Paliconda to Vellore. Thence

it crosses the Carnatic increased by the Poni; by Arcot, Wallajahbad,

Conjeveram, and Chingleput to the Bay of Bengal, into which it flows

about three and a half miles, south of Sadras, in latitude 12° 28’ N.

after a course of about 220 miles, marked during its progress through

the Carnatic by a narrow, verdant, winding zone of rich vegetation.

The road from Chingleput to Carangooly lies at no great distance,

for the first and greater part of its course, from the right bank of the

river, over the plain on which the town and fort of Carangooly stand, to

the eastward of the large tank, and about thirteen miles SSW. from

Chingleput. A few low hills in the vicinity mark the prolongation

of the bed of hornblende rock observed at St. Thomas’ Mount, Palave-

ram, and Chingleput. ‘The prevailing soil is a sandy loam.

Carangooly, like Chingleput, during our early wars with the French,

was a military post of great importance, though now reduced to

insignificance. ‘The gates of the fort were blown open, and the place

stormed by Capt. Davis (January 24th, 1781): Hyder’s garrison was

700 strong. ;

The fort was dismantled by General Stuart, in February 1783.

Permacoil.—The route to Permacoil lies over a plain less cultivated

and more jungly than hitherto; varied at Acherowauk by a range of

hills running for two or three miles in a SW- direction, flanking the

right of the road. At Permacoil the granitic rocks rise above the sur-

face in clusters varying from 100 to 300 feet high. The chief mass is

composed of felspar, quartz, mica, and hornblende, in some places

veined by a porphyritic granite with large plates of mica. The mica is

sometimes entirely replaced by hornblende in the same mass, and would

be termed a syenite by many geologists. 1 picked up a few crystals of

adularia in the gravelly detritus of a weathering vein, and some fine

specimens of an iridescent felspar. The felspar, which prevails in the

substance of the rocks, is reddish, and the mica dark coloured, but it

sometimes occurs in rich gold coloured scales and plates.

The soil is a greyish, friable loam, passing into reddish and sandy,

and usually rests ona bed of kunker ; below which, in a bed of sand and

gravel, water is found at depths of from eight to fourteen feet from the

1846. | Jrom Pennaur to Pondicherry. 209

surface. The surrounding country is generally rocky and jungly. Rice,

raggi, kovaloo, and bajra are the staple articles of cultivation.

With the exception of two or three families of Palicars and Brahmins,

speaking Telinghi, the inhabitants are chiefly of the Pallaywar caste,

and speak Tamul: there are still a few Mussulmen left here. The

town is situated a little south of the tank bund, at the western base

of the rocks, and is said to contain about 600 houses.

The remains of the fort stand on a steep rock, overlooking the town,

about 300 feet high, and not commanded by any of the surrounding

heights. Like Carangooly and Chingleput, it became of importance as a

military post during hostilities with the French. In 1760 it was taken

after a severe assault by Sir Eyre Coote, who was wounded here;

besieged by Hyder in 1781 but not taken, and again in combination with

the French in 1782, to whom it was compelled to capitulate on the 6th

May. .

It was subsequently blown up and dismantled : but in the succeeding

war with Tippoo, it was held as a post of observation by a company

under an officer, which was cut off by Tippoo in 1791.

Murtandi Choultry.—This place is situated on the celebrated Red hills

which run to the rear of Pondicherry, from which it is about four and a

half miles NNE. These beds of sandstone, which extend probably

farther to the NE. will be described more fully when speaking of Pon-

dicherry. They overlie the Neocomien limestone beds, which are seen

outcropping nearer the sea to the NE. in the vicinity of Conjimere,

about ten miles north from Pondicherry, on the Madras along shore

road, &c. which passes by Sadras and the seven Pagodas—the ruins of

Mahabalipuram, or Mavellipuram, as it is called by natives. These ruins

lie among a cluster of low rocks which project from a sandy spit run-

ning down the coast from Covelong to Hedoor, a distance of about

sixteen miles in breadth. It varies from half a mile to one and a quarter

of a mile. In front, dashes the everlasting surf; in rear lies a salt marsh

of upwards of a mile broad in some parts, and communicating with the

sea on the south and north extremities of the sand bank in its front, by

two narrow openings. The principal sculptured rocks lie about two

and three-quarter miles from the south extremity of the bank, almost

abreast, but a little south of, the Chingleput hills already described.

In the monsoon they are insulated from the main-land by the inundation

of the salt marsh in their rear.

210 Notes, chiefly Geological, [No. 171.

A series of bare granite rocks, naturally of fantastic contour, nearly

a mile long and 120 feet high, has afforded the Hindu artist ample

scope for the exercise of his chisel, which must have been wrought of the

finest tempered steel, for which India, since the dawn of history, has been

justly celebrated. The bronze tools of the Egyptians might answer

well enough in the limestone quarries around old Cairo, in work-

ing the blocks which constitute the great bulk of the pyramid, but

would be of little avail in the quarries of Syene, a type of whose gra-

nite we find in the redder felspar. Quaternary granites compose the

great monolith raths of the seven pagodas—a mixture of red and

white felspar, white quartz, dark mica, and hornblende. It is more -

than probable that Indian steel found its way into Egypt during the

early traffic that is known to have subsisted between India, Judea,

Yemen, and Egypt. It is absurd to suppose, that the sharply cut and

deeply engraved hieroglyphics which cover the granite obelisks of

Egypt, were done with chisels of bronze, even armed with: corundum

dust.

Quintus Curtius informs us, that Porus presented Alexander with a

quantity of steel as one of the most acceptable and valuable gifts India

could offer.

The granite blocks here, as elsewhere in India, are subject to spon-

taneous concentric exfoliation and splitting. The globular mass ap-

parently about sixty feet in circumference, which we see nicely poised on

a convex mass of granite—the pat of butter petrified by the god of milk-

maids, Krishna—is ascribable to the first process; and the rents in the

sculptured rocks—one of which cleaving the monolith pagodas, was as-

cribed by Mr. Chambers to a violent earthquake—have doubtless been

caused by the latter process of spontaneous splitting. |

With regard to the Brahmanical history of the seas overwhelming the

ancient city and rolling over its ruins at the fiat of the God of the Heavens,

Indra, who, it is said, loosed the chains of the ocean and overwhelmed

its wicked ruler Malecheren, there are few facts that can be relied

on—except that pieces of pottery, Roman and Chinese coins, are occasion-

ally washed ashore in storms, and the remains of ruins and sculptured

rocks are at a little distance in the sea.

From a multitude of enquiries which I have made regarding the

encroachment of the sea on various parts of the Coromandel Coast, I am

led to think, that the shore has been subject, like that of the Baltic, to

1846.] From Pennaur to Pondicherry. 211

undulations, causing the sea to encroach and recede in different parts.

Marks on the rocks, as on those of the Baltic and Caspian, would serve

to determine the question.

From the inscriptions hitherto deciphered, nothing decisive has been

obtained as to the date of the sculptures. In the 3rd report, by Taylor,

on the Mackenzie MSS. section 9, we find it stated that in the Cali

Yuga, Singhama Nayadu, a zemindar of the Vellugotivara race, ruled

at Mallapur, (Mavellipoor). In that time during a famine many artifi-

cers resorted hither, and wrought on the mountain a variety of works

during two or three years. Ignorant people term these things the work

of Visvacarma; but, (says the writer) the marks of the chisel remaining

disprove that opinion. Besides Singhama Nayadu built a palace on the

hill, of‘which a few fragments now only remain. ‘In another MS.

we find a Singhama Nayadu mentioned as son of Vennama Nayadu,

and who became head of his race, and whose brother made successful in-

cursion against Canchi and the Pandya kings, and beat the Musul-

mans.”

There must be always some doubt until the identification of this

Singhama of the Cali Yug and the Singhama who lived at the time of

the Mohomedan invasion, a period not more remote than the 7th cen-

tury of the Christian era.

Mr. Walter Elliott, with the aid of inscriptions he has lately brought

to light at Idian Padal, two miles north of Mavellipoor, in old Tamul

characters, one of which bears the name of Tribhuvana Vira Deva, a

Chola king—and other collateral evidence—infers that its rulers were in

a state of independence during the 6th and beginning of the 7th cen-

turies.*

None of these inscriptions bear the special number of the year, but

Mr. Elliott mentions one, in the neighbouring hamlet of Parajaskaran

Choultry—in the same character as those of Idian Padal, and Varaha

Swami—as bearing the name of the reigning sovereign Vikrama Deva,

and the date of 1157 of the Salivahana era. The other names of sove-

reigns that occur, are Kama Raja and Ati Rana Chanda Pahava.

These inscriptions referred merely to grants and sales. The time in

which Tribhuvana Vira Deva ruled remains to be fixed. But even when

this is accomplished, we shall be still in the dark as to the exact date of

* Madras Journal, No. 30, for June 1844.

212 Notes, chiefly Geological, [No. 171.

these singular sculptures which resemble,* as Mr. Fergusson justly

observes, in plan and design the Hindu series at Ellora, though many

of their details are only to be found at Ajunta and Salsette. It is evi-

dent, however, that the rocks were executed under the direction of

priests of Siva and Vishnu, as no traces of Buddhism or of the Jains

are seen.

From the inscriptions hitherto brought to light, I coincide with Mr.

Elliott in supposing that the character in which some of them are writ-

ten, (Grantham and Nagri) are not older than the 6th century. The

freshness of the chisel-marks on the granite on which Mr. Taylor and

some other antiquarians found, in part, their suppositions of a still more

modern origin, (viz. from 300 to 500 years) cannot be relied on, as

the marks in the quarries of Syene, and in the defile leading from Thebes

to Cossier testify.

One general remarkable feature in these sculptures remains to be

noticed, viz. that they have been left apparently in haste, being all un-

finished. Mr. Goldingham mentions a tradition of the workmen, who

had emigrated from the north, having suddenly been recalled by their

prince before they had completed them. This tradition, and the similarity

of the sculptures to those of the Deccan, are in favour of the theory that

they are not the work of the inhabitants of the country, yet the inscriptions

in the old Tamul character must have been executed probably at a

later period than the others, under the directions of the Tamul or Chola

princes, or priests.

I am not aware whether the inscriptions on the monolith Ruths

have as yet been fully deciphered. It is probable they may throw light

on the era of the Ati Rana Chanda, the lord of kings, who is declared by

the inscription on granite, (north of the pagoda, two miles north of |

the place) to have built it; and of the Kama Rajah who founded the

temple to Siva, according to the Sanscrit inscription in the temple of

Ganesa. The antiquity of these inscriptions beyond a certain era may

be negatively inferred from the absence of the date either Vikramaditya

or Salivahana.

The Revd. Mr. Taylor, who has catalogued the Mackenzie inscriptions,

states, that he has not met with inscriptions with a defined year higher

* Journal Royal As. Soc. Part. 1, No. XV, p. 88.

1846.] From Pennaur to Pondicherry. 213

up than the 10th century*. I have only met with one of the 9th

century on stone, but copper grants have been found with earlier dates

extending to the 5th century.

Pondicherry.—F rom Murtandi to Pondicherry, the loose sandstone of

the Red hills extends on the right, and a sand-covered beach on the

left. The nature of the substrata at Pondicherry has already been de-

scribed in the notes from Pondicherry to Beypoor.

A Canal Act of the Emperor Akbar, with some notes and remarks on the

History of the Western Jumna Canals. By Lieut. Yuun, Engineers,

First Assist. W. J. C.

For the following translation of a Decree of the Emperor Akbar,

forming an interesting Appendix to the History of the Canals, given by

Colonel Colvin in the 2nd volume of the Journal of the A. S., I am

indebted to the kindness of Capt. S. A. Abbott, in charge of the Kythal

district, who obtained the Persian copy from the parties named below,

residents of Dhatrat, a town on the southern boundary of Kythal, just

at the point where the Hansi branch of the Western Jumna canals

enters the Chitang Nala, in the old channel of which, deepened and

widened, the canal waters flow to their termination at Bahddera, in the

Bikaner territory.

Translation of a Sanad of Akbar Shah Badshah, dated month of Shawl,

A. H. 978, [A. D. 1568] at Firozpur, in the Province of Lahaur.

Obtained from Abdul Samad and Abdul Mustakim, Pirzadahs at

Dhatrat, being four leaves abstracted from a book which bears the

appearance of considerable antiquity.

“« My Government is a tree, the roots of which are firm in the earth,

and being watered by the waters of God’s grace, its branches reach to

Heaven. In acknowledgment of God’s mercy in establishing this great

empire, my desire, purer than water, is to supply the wants of the poor;

* Madras Journal, No. 30, p. 4l.

214 A Canal Act of the Emperor Akbar, [No. 171. °

and the water of life in my heart is larger than the sea, with the wish to

dispense benefits, and to leave permanent marks of the greatness of my

Empire, by digging canals, and founding cities, by which too the

revenues of the Empire will be increased.

‘God says, sow a grain, and reap sevenfold(a). My desire is to reap

one-hundredfold, that my crown may become wealthy, and that the

zamindars may obtain double returns.

‘¢ The seeds sown in this world, are reaped in the next.

«The Omnipotent God gives power to whom he pleases.

‘« The following is the best purpose to which my wealth can be applied,

viz.—

«« The Chitang Naddi, by which Firoz Shah Badshah, two hundred and

ten years ago, brought water from the nalds and drains in the vicinity

of Sddhaura(d), at the foot of the hills, to Hansi and Hissar, and by

which for four or five months in the year water was then available, has,

in the course of time, and from numerous obstacles, become so choked,

that for the last hundred years, the waters have not flowed past the

boundary of Kythal, and thence to Hissar, the bed has become so chok-

ed, that it is scarcely discernible ; since which time, the inhabitants of

those parts have become parched with thirst(c), and their gardens dried

up.

*«* Now that I have given the district (Sarkar) of Hissar to the great,

the fortunate, the obedient, the pearl of the sea of my kingdom, the star

of my government, the praised of the inhabitants of the sea and land,

the apple of my kingdom’s eye, my son Sultan Muhamad Salim

Bahadur(d), (may God grant him long life and greatness) ; my wisdom

wishes that the hopes, like the fields of those thirsty people, may, by

the showers of liberality and kindness, be made green and flourishing,

(a) ** The similitude of those who lay out their substance, for advancing the religion

of God, is as a grain of corn which produceth seven ears, and in each ear a hundred

grains.’’—Sale’s Koran, Ch. II.

(b) Sadhaura, a town of the Ambala district, about twenty miles west of the Jumna.

The river flowing past Sadhaura is the Markanda, but the sources of the Chitang are

only seven or eight miles distant.

some instances as much as sixty feet.—Capt. Baker’s Report on the Sutlej and Jumna

Canal.

(ad) Afterwards the Emperor Jahangir, who was at this time under two years of

age. ‘* The Sirkar of Hissar Firozeh, ever since the conquest of Hindoostan by the

Moguls, has constituted the personal estate of the heirapparentof the empire’’—Rennel.

1846. ] on the Western Jumna Canals. 215

and that the canal may, in my time, be renewed, and that by conducting

other waters into it, it may endure for ages.

‘For God has said, from water all things were made. 1 consequently

ordain, that this jungle, in which subsistence is obtained with thirst, be

converted into a place of comfort, free from that evil.

“«« Consequently, in the year of the Hijra 977, my Farman, bright as the

sun, and obeyed by all the world, went forth ; that the waters of the ndlds

and streams at the foot of the hills at Khizrabad(e), which are collected

in the Sonb river and flow into the Jumna, be brought by a canal, deep

and wide, by the help of bunds, &c. into the Chitang Naddi, which is

distant from that place about one hundred kos(/f), and that the canal be

excavated deeper and wider than formerly, so that all the waters may be

available at the above mentioned cities, (Hansi and Hissar) by the

year 978.

‘* Behold the power of God, how he brings to life land that was dead(g).

** Truly a canal is opened, and from the source to the mouth, although

the zamindars and cultivators take by cuts abundance for their crops,

it is still sufficient to meet the demand.

“‘ Because this canal was renewed for the sake of my beloved son, in

compliment to him, whom, in his childhood, I call Shekho, and because

in Hindustani a canal is called Nai, I have called this canal the Shaikh

Nai(h).

«* And whereas Muhamad Khan Tarkhan was superintendent of this

work from first to last, I have conferred upon him the office and title of

Mir-ab.

[Here follows a flourish of the writer of the Sanad.]

«The following verses have arisen from the ocean of my heart to the

shores of my lips :

** Muhamad Akbar Ghazi Jalaluddin.

‘“‘ He is the king of this age, and equal to king Jamshaid.

(e) Khizrabad, a Sikh town near the debouchement of the Jumna from the Hills,

and the present Delhi Canal head.

(f) Dhatrat, where the present canal joins the Chitang, is by the line of the banks

about 130 miles (pretty exactly 100 kos of the country) from Khizrabad.

(g) God sendeth down water from Heaven, and causeth the Earth to revive, after

it hath been dead.—Sale’s Koran, Ch. XVI.

(i) This title appears to have been very short lived. I am not aware that the word

Nazi is now applied in this sense in any of our canal districts, but | learn that it is the

Panjabi corruption of Naddi, and is commonly applied by the Sikhs to a river or water-

course, The valley of the Ghagar is called Naiii.

216 A Canal Act of the Emperor Akbar, [No. 171.

‘« His throne is the throne of Faridin and Kai.

‘* He is like unto Khizr, and from the waters of his generosity every

thing has life.

‘* He is such a king, that from the canal of his liberality, the garden of

the world is green all the year round.

** A canal by his orders was carried to Hissar ;

*“* For the sake of the Prince Salim of blessed steps.

‘* A canal like milk, and that milk full of fish ;

‘“‘ Its waters like honey, and pleasanter than wine.

“The king in his great kindness gave Muhamad Salim the title of

Shekho, because his Pir (spiritual patron) was a Shaikh(?).

“He consequently called this canal Shaikh Nai.

“« May the Badshah and Prince live for ever.

‘The date of excavating this canal is to be found in the following

words :—

rz; gaat} (J)

« Tarkhan obtained the title of Mir-4b for his labours, because he car-

ried the waters of the canal in every direction.

‘«‘ As long as the new moon, like a boat, sails in the waters of the blue

heavens, so long may the waters of this king’s generosity irrigate the

garden of the world.

‘“* Whereas I have ordered that the waters be collected in this canal,

and that it be made so wide and deep to Hissar, that boats may ply

upon it in every part ; itis my will that the superintendent build bridges

and bunds wherever necessary(k), that at the season of cultivation a

sufficient supply of water be given to all who aided in excavating the

canal, and they obtain water all the year round.

(¢) It is said that Akbar having had no child who survived infancy, made a pil-

grimage to offer his prayers for posterity at the shrine of Muginuddin Chishtfat, Aj-

mir. He was there directed to seek the intercession of the Shaikh Salim Chishtia

Sikri; and shortly afterwards the favourite Sultana was delivered of a son, who in

honour of the saint was called Shekho Salim. A village on the canal near Hissar

bears the name of Salima Shekhopoor.

(%) The only old bridges now existing between the canal head and Hansi are, that

called the Gharaunda bridge, near Karnal, and one at Safidan; both massive

structures with pointed arches.

1846. } on the Western Jumna Canals, 217

‘« Also, that on both sides of the canal down to Hissar, trees of every

description, both for shade and blossom, be planted(/), so as to make it

like the canal under the tree in Paradise, and that the sweet flavour of

the rare fruits may reach the mouth of every one, and that from these

luxuries a voice may go forth to travellers, calling them to rest in the

cities where their every want will be supplied, and I trust that, from the

blessing attending this charity, the garden of goodness may remain ever

green, that the benefits of the blessing may be incalculable, and that

from it, I may obtain eternal reward.

‘** Thanks be to God who has enabled me to do this, which, without his

instruction, I should not have performed.

“It is necessary that every one acknowledge the person appointed to

this work, and recognize no partner with him.

«« Should it be necessary to construct a bund, or any other work on the

canal, all Shikkdars(m), Chaudris, Mukaddams, and Rayats, whether

of the Khalsa or of other Parganahs, will give the necessary assistance

in labourers, &c. and delay not.

*«‘ Every Parganah will be satisfied with the number of cuts made by the

Mir-ab, and take no more, and on every occasion abide by his directions.

He has the power to punish as he sees fit every one who takes water

out of season; whoever disobeys his orders will, after investigation, be

punished as an example to others.

“The superintendent is particularly cautioned to see that the cuts in

every Parganah are equally and justly distributed, and in this matter to

consider every one on an equality ; not to permit the strong to oppress

the weak, and so to act as to please both God and man.

‘“‘ The inhabitants of both sides of the canal will abide by these orders,

and obey all the high, enlightened, concise, &c. &c. farmans of the king.”

This document will be regarded as a very curious one by all who

take interest in the past history, as well as in the present and prospec-

tive utility of the canals of Hindustan, suggesting as it does a fact which

history appears to have forgotten, and which we have not ascertained

(7) Excepting a few of the different kinds of Ficus, scarcely any old trees now ex-

ist on the canal banks.

(m) Shikkdar, a revenue officer.

218 A Canal Act of the Emperor Akbar, [No. 171.

without some degree of pleasure, namely, that the Jumna canals, as a

perennial source of supply to a thirsty land, owe their origin to the great-

est of Indian princes.

The question, however, is a difficult one on account of the universal

prevalence of the belief that Firoz Shah drew a canal from the Jumna to

Hissér, and from the obscurity of the accounts of the various channels

excavated by that king. The only books bearing on the subject to

which | have access, are Dow’s Firishta, and Rennel’s Memoir on the

Map of India.

The words of Firishta are as follows :—*‘ In the year 757, between

the hills of Mendouli and Sirmoor, he (Firoz) cut a channel from the

Jumna, which he divided into seven streams; one of which he brought

to Hansi, and from thence to Raeesen, where he built a strong castle,

calling it by his own name. He drew, soon after, a canal from the

Cagar, passing by the walls of Sirsutti, and joined it to the rivulet of

Kera, upon which he built a city, named after him Firozeabad. This

city he watered by another canal from the Jumna.”’(n)

The seven streams I cannot explain. ‘‘ Raeesen, (though this name

is not now recognizable) where he built a strong castle, calling it by

his own name,” is doubtless Hissar Firozah, or ‘‘ the castle of Firoz.’’

The remainder of the sentence seems almost inextricable from its

obscurity, and probably, as Major Rennel suggests(0), contains a jumble,

arising from the multitude of excavations made by King Firoz, and the

number of cities to which he gave his name. There appears, however,

no reason to believe, according to Rennel’s hypothesis, that a canal

was ever brought to Delhi before the time of Shah Jahan.

The city of Sirsutti, which Major Rennel is a little puzzled to

fix, would seem to be Sirsa, for the following reasons—It was (Rennel

(n) Dow’s Firishta, I. 305. A more exact translation than Dow’s of the passages

relating to the excavations of Firoz, from a copy of Firishta in the palace library

at Delhi, is given by Mr. Seton, Resident at Delhi, in aletter to Government, on the

subject of restoring the canals, dated September I 1th, 1807. But, in the words quoted,

there is no material difference, except in the names of Hansi and Raeesen, which

Dow writes Hassi and Beraisen. But the system of water carriage on the canals

which Dow attributes to Firoz in the following sentence, appears to be a mere em-

bellishment.

(o) ‘* It may probably be a jumble of two sentences, which relate to different cities

together. The river Kera, and Firozeabad may relate to the city of Firozepoor, at

the conflux of the Sutlege and Beyah, and the canal from the Jumnah to Ffrozeabad,

a city founded by Firoz in the vicinity of old Delhi. * * * * Capt. Kirkpatrick

notices an obscurity in the text of Firishta in this place. —Rennel, page 74,

1846. | on the Western Jumna Canals. 219

p-. 76) at the end of Timur’s third march from Bhatner to Samana, and

four marches distant from the latter place. Now Sirsa lies directly

in the road from Bhatner to Samana; it is upwards of forty miles

distant from the former and about eighty-five from the latter. This

is easily reconcilable with the number of marches given, especially

as two of these seven are stated to have amounted to 32 kos; which,

if we take somewhat under 60 miles, the remaining five marches would

average 14 miles each, and three such marches would just give the

distance from Bhatner to Sirsa. Firishta also states that Timur having

taken and pillaged the town of Battenize (Bhatner), and after that

Surusti, advanced to Futtehabad(p). This seems to fix the identity of

Sirsutti with Sirsa. But again, Ibn Batuta relates, that on his journey

from Multan to Dehli, after travelling four days from Ajidahan, he

arrived at the city of Sirsutti, a large place abounding in rice, which was

carried thence to Dehli. And from Sirsutti he proceeded to Hansi(q).

Now Sirsa is about 100 miles distant from Ajodin, (or Pak Patan)

on the Gharra, in the direct line towards Hansi. And the rich valley

of the Ghagar might well supply the abundant rice crops.

The canal then which Firoz drew from the Ghagar under the walls of

Sirsutti, is in all probability the Choya nala, which issues from the

Ghagar near Munak, passes close to Sirsa, and bears evident traces

of having been partially, at least, an excavated channel(r). The men-

tion of its junction with “the rivulet of Kera’’ is indeed unintelligi-

ble. The nala in fact joins the Ghagar again, not far from Sirsa,

and a short distance below their union, the Revenue map shows a village

called Firozabad. I should be curious to know if at this village exist

any remains of greatness, from which we might suppose it to be the

city alluded to by Firishta.

The remainder of the sentence we must leave alone. Hissar Firozah

might indeed have been watered by a canal from the Ghagar as well as

from the Jumna(s), but certainly not by a canal from the Ghagar

passing under the walls of Sirsutti or Sirsa.

(p) Dow IL. p. 4.

(7) Ibn Batuta, p. 110.

(7) See Capt. Baker’s printed report on the Ghagar.

(s) And probably was. For the late Major Brown traced an old channel from the

vicinity of the Ghagar, in the direction of Hissér. This, however, the natives called

an old bed of the Sirsutti river. But the Sirsutti has a gift of ubiquity !

220 A Canal Act of the Emperor Akbar, [No. 171.

Major Rennel’s words with regard to the Hissar canals are as follows :

‘It appears that previous to the building of Hissar, Firoz had

made a canal from the Jumna, near the northern hills, to Safidin

a royal hunting place; for the purpose of supplying it with water.

This canal was in length 30 royal cosses or full 60 G. miles; and it

passed by Karnal and Toghlukpoor. After the foundations of Hissar

were laid, he drew two principal canals to it; one of which was a pro-

longation of the canal of Safidin, the whole extent of which was then

80 (common) cosses, or about 114 G. miles. The other principal canal

was drawn from the Sutlege river to Hissar Firozabad. The outlet

and course of this canal is not so clearly defined as the other: Capt.

Kirkpatrick, to whom I am indebted for the information concerning

Hissér and its canals, had it from a history of Firoze written by

Shumse Seraje, soon after the death of that great monarch which hap-

pened in 1388.”

With regard to this Sutlege canal to Hissar Firozah having ever

been successfully executed, we may feel sceptical. ‘The only line within

possibility would be from the neighbourhood of Rupar to the Sirhind

nalé, and thence crossing the Ghagar into the Hissar district, according

to the general line sketched by Capt. Baker in 1841. But leaving this

and turning to the Safidin canal, we remark that in Hodgson and

Herbert’s map, a branch of the Chitang is represented as quitting the

main channel and passing within a short distance of Safidin(¢). And this,

guided by the Sanad before us, we might suppose to be the original canal

of Firoz, were not the statement so distinct that his canal was drawn

from the Jumna. Toghlukpur I have no knowledge of, but the mention

of Karnal points to the existing line of canal, as the Chitang is ten

miles distant from that city. It is dificult to doubt this evidence, and

yet it is almost equally difficult to throw overboard the clear statement

of Akbar’s Sanad. It is indeed possible that Firoz may have connected

the Chitang at a much higher point of its course with the Jumna, by

a cut which could only convey a supply of water into the nalaé when the

river was at high levels; or that a canal from the Jumna was by Firoz

Shah attempted unsuccessfully, upon which recourse was had to the

(z) ** Of this branch all I am aware of is, that in seasons heavy of rain great floods

pour into the canal near Barod, said to be consequent on the destruction of the earthen

dams of the Chitang.—Col. Colvin in J. A. S. 11. 106.

1846.] on the Western Jumna Canals. 221

temporary supply derivable from the Chitang, and as the latter flows for

sixty miles almost parallel to the Jumna and at no great distance from

it, a misrepresentation thus arose. Otherwise we can only suppose that

Akbar, in self-glorification, falsely represented his own renewal and re-

pair of his predecessor’s work, as an original enterprize of his own.

Singularly enough the Sanad itself does not speak of the new canal

having been fed from the Jumna, but “from the nalas and streams at

the foot of hills which are collected in the Sonb river and flow into the

Jumna.” But the Emperor speaks of his canal as capable of supplying

water all the year round, and the Jumna is the only accessible source of

such a supply. Doubtless then as now, the supply of water crossed the

Sonb, that is, flowed into it and again owt of it, so that the canal

might with truth be said, to be drawn from nalas collected in the

Sonb.

It is certainly somewhat singular that Firishta, who flourished in the

latter part of Akbar’s reign, and has made prominent mention of the an-

cient excavations of Firoz, should not have alluded to this work. But

the historian residing in the Deccan had probably no personal know-

ledge of the work, whilst contemporary documents would be less ac-

cessible than those relating to past times. It is true also that the

Hansi canal is still known universally as the Canal of Firoz, and the

name fondly bestowed by Akbar in honour of his infant heir has been

utterly forgotten(w). But new names always adhere loosely among

the many: Dehli and Agra are likely to outlive the remembrance of

Shahjahdnabdd and Akbardbdd, and though the canals have had as many

names as a Parisian place during the Revolution(v), yet Nahr Firozah,

the first name known to the people, keeps its place in their mouths.

There seems no good reason to doubt the genuineness of the Sanad.

It is dated in the month of Shawél A. H. 978, from Firozpir in the

Subah of Lahaur. Now it appears from Firishta, that Akbar, on the

(u%) Akbar appears to have been particularly fond of this kind of nomenclature.

He called the new Stibah of Kandish Dédndish, after hisson Daniel.—(Rennel. )

(v) Some of these names are—

Nahr Firozah.

Shaikh Nai.

Nahr Bihisht.

Fyz Nahr.

Shah Nahr.

222 A Canal Act of the Emperor Akbar, [ No. 171.

birth of his son Murad, in the first month of 978, went on a pilgrimage

to the shrine of Muyinuddin at Ajmir, thence by way of Nagor and

Ajodin on the Sutluj to Lahaur, which he quitted for Ajmir and Agra

in the second month of 979. So that he might well have been at

Firozpur on the date given.

It is easy to conceive how the canals fell into decay. In the decline

of the imperial power, when the irrigated country was a seat of constant

war, and the lands along the banks were alienated among various chiefs,

any system of conservancy became impossible, and the works must ra-

pidly have been ruined. The Hansi canal was the first to suffer, as

early as 1707, weare told(w), the Sikhs taking advantage of the weakness

of government during the contentions of Aurang Zeb’s sons for the

empire, converted the whole of the canal waters to their own use.

And this at once reducing the country around Hissar to its original ste-

rility, forced almost the whole of the inhabitants to seek a more favour-

able soil. A hundred years afterwards, in 1807 (as we are told by an

officer on Survey in the Sikh States at that time), there was not a single

inhabitant in the extensive city of Hissar(z). The Dehli canal, or

Ali Marddén Khan’s branch, continued to flow to a much later period.

The officer just referred to learned, from aged zamindars, that the coun-

try had been deprived of the advantages of this canal since the accession

of Alamgir II. in 1753. The same authority informed him that for pur-

poses of canal police, and the ready repair of accidents, a Darogha was

stationed at every three or four koss, with peons and beldars under him.

The water rent appears to have been regulated by the time that the

outlets remained open. 1000 armed peons and 500 horse, as Mr.

Seton was informed by the son of one of the last native superinten-

dents,(y) were maintained on the establishment. According to a pro-

verbial expression current at Dehli, the net revenue from the canals

was reckoned equal to the maintenance of 12,000 horse(z).

As Colonel Colvin’s paper on the history of the canals contains few

dates, it may be worth while to add the following :—

(w) Letter dated May 1807, from Lieut. F. White, Surveyor to the Resident at

Dehli. In the Office of the G. G. A. N. W. F.

(x) Ditto ditto.

(y) Letter from Mr. Seton to Govt. 11th September, 1807.

(2) Ditto ditto.

1846. | : on the Western Jumna Canals. 223

Chronology of the Western Jumna Canals.

A. D. 1351.—Firoz Shah brought a stream down the channel of the

Chitang to Hansi and Hissar.

About 1468.—The waters of the above named channel ceased to flow

further than the lands of Kythal.

A. D. 1568.—Akbar re-excavated the work of Firoz and brought a

supply from the Jumna and Sonb, by the present line,

into the Chitang.

About 1626.—From the last named line, Ali Mardén Khan drew a

canal to Dehli; first by way of Gohana, and afterwards,

on that failmg, by the present channel, passing near

Paniput and Soneput.

A. D. 1707.—The water ceased to reach Hariana.

bf 1740.—Ceased to flow at Safidin.

~ 1753

to The Dehli branch ceased to flow.

ze 1760

», 1817.—Capt. Blane appointed to restore the Dehli Canal.

™ 1820.—The water again entered Dehli.

% 1823.—Restoration of Firoz’s, or the Hansi branch commenced.

"= 1825.—The water turned down.

Simla: November \st, 1845.

P. S.—Capt. Abbott having, since the above was written, furnished

me with a copy of the original Persian of the Sanad, it is enclosed. I

have also since ascertained that the Ayin Akberi makes no mention of

Akbar’s having engaged in this work, which is singular.

224

Notes, chiefly Geological, on the Western Coast of South India.

By Capt. NeEwBoup.

I have not yet had an opportunity of examining the Western Coast

from Cape Comorin to Beypoor, but by specimens received thence,

and by information from General Cullen, laterite is doubtless the pre-

valent surface rock. General Cullen writes me that he has found a bed

of lignite, in the laterite at Karkully, about fifteen miles south of Quilon,

in a stratum of dark shales and clays. At Cape Comorin itself are

beds of sandstone, and shell limestone, of which a good account is a desi-

deratum.

Calicut.—At Calicut, the ancient capital of the Zamorin, (a corrup-

tion by the Portuguese for Raja Samudri) and the landing place of

Albuquerque on the shores of India, laterite is also the prevalent rock.

The modern town exhibits few traces of this once famous city. Of

the old fort scarcely a vestige remains beyond a ruined doorway, the

traces of a fosse and counterscarp, some mounds marking the southern

gateway, and the site of a few bastions.

Another fort, it is said, was built by Tippoo; but this too has been

destroyed ; and the present shoal of Calicut was pointed out to me

by an old native as the site of a still older fort overwhelmed by the

sea, Tradition states that the place where the Syrians landed near

Quilon is also engulfed.*

The modern town is a large assemblage of garden houses, on a low

sandy sea coast, under a grove of cocoanut and jack trees, and extend-

ing a considerable distance inland. A broad street runs down to the

sea through the midst of this scattered town. The houses flanking

it are usually contiguous, built of laterite, or brick and chunam,

whitewashed.

The streets, that branch off from it to the right and left, are narrow,

winding, and dirty, like those in the oldest parts of Lisbon. Here

dwell the Moplay and other native merchants.

On the beach facing the sea runs a row of warehouses for timber,

coir rope, split bamboos and other marine stores. The rope is manu-

factured on the spot.

* Madras Journal, No, 30, p. 146.

Notes, chiefly Geological, &c. 225

In the roadstead I observed native craft only. The boats used for

communication with the shore, though composed of planks sewn

together with coir, like the Massoolah boats at Madras, differ from them

in being lighter, lower, and flat-bottomed, and are extremely pointed at

the stem and stern. As the surf here is much less powerful than on

the Coromandel Coast, a boat of a heavier description is not required.

The laterite continues, by Mahe and Tellicherry, to Cannanore, a

little north of which it overlies some carbonaceous looking clay, and

slate clay. Lateritic iron ore is found at Augadipur, Satimangalum,

and many other places throughout Malabar ; iron sand (magnetic) in

most of the ghaut streams. Gold dust is also found in similar localities,

especially in Wynaad and Ernaad, and other places elsewhere specified.

Payengady.— Payengady is about sixteen miles NNW. from Canna-

nore, and stands on the sea coast near a back water. A coup d’wil from

the rising ground near the village presents a low flat, stretching between

an inland ridge and the sea; and which has all the appearance of

having been covered by the sea up to the base of the laterite cliffs.

This flat is for the most part covered by marine sand, and thinly

scattered with houses shaded by cocoanuts. A few marine shells

were found at the base of the cliffs about a mile inland. Whether

drifted by the wind or conveyed here by the sea under former condi-

tions is uncertain.

The hills in the back ground stretch out like promontories, termina-

ting abruptly at the inland edge of the flat.

The laterite overlies granitic and hypogene rocks. Between Covai

and Cautcutcherry the Nelisir back water is crossed from Malabar to

Circar Canara, or from Malayala to ‘Tuluva, where Canarese is spoken

and Malayalum ceases.

Cassergode.—The laterite continues the surface rock by Hossdroog,

Bekul, and Chundergherry, to Cassergode. It rests as usual on gra-

nitic and hypogene rocks ; which, near Bekul, are veined with quartz,

and imbed garnets and amethystine quartz, fragments of which are

numerous in the sand on the shore. There is also a black magnetic

iron sand derived probably from the dark and beautifully crystalline

hornblende schists. The strike of strata is westerly : the dip is confused,

often vertical. The fort stands on laterite, capping basaltic greenstone.

226 Notes, chiefly Geological, [NoAi7i.

The soil on the rice flats is a rich mould, deposited in part by the

rivers in their passage to the sea from the ghauts. These bring down

a considerable portion of the decayed vegetable matter of the dense

jung leson their banks, mingled with the detritus of granitic hypogene

rocks, and of the laterite. When lateritic detritus is in excess, vege-

table matter is added by the natives as a manure. Inland, to the

NE., the granitic masses of Jumalabad, Murbiddry, and Carculla rise

above the surface, the former to a great height, almost inaccessible from

the steepness of its sides.

Mangalore.—Laterite is still the surface rock as before observed.

The numerous back waters or marine lagoons, which lie along the

Malabar Coast, are formed at the mouths of rivers by sand bars thrown

up by the antagonizing forces of the mountain torrents and the tidal

wave. These sand bars are liable to be broken through, and alter their

position by the force of extraordinary storms. Their beds afford in-

structive examples of the manner in which both fresh water and

Marine exuvie may be mingled and embedded in the same stratum.

Numerous sand dunes also occur at the embouchures of rivers near

back waters. These tranquil marine lagoons greatly facilitate native

commerce along the coast.

Kundapur.— About a mile inland from the present embouchure of

the Kundapur river, stands the town of Barcelore, the supposed

Barace of Ptolemy: a place of great traffic in former times with

Arabia and Egypt, and which is supposed to have stood upon the old

embouchure of the river before the land gained upon the sea.

Vicramaditya, or his dynasty, is said to have ruled 2,000 years at

Barcoor (Barcelore), and, after him Salivahana, to whom succeeded

Buddha Penta Raja and the Bijanugger dynasty. A human sacrifice,

offered up to increase its commerce, is alluded to in the Mackenzie MSS.

I observed near the old Pagoda at Kundapur, an inscription on stone,

which opportunity did not permit me to copy. Barcelore is still a place

of great native trade.

The present bar at the river’s mouth does not admit vessels of

more than fifty or sixty corges, which find secure anchorage under the

lee of the north bank. Its entrance was protected by a battery built

by Hyder, and an old fort now in ruins.

1846. ] on the .Western Coast of South India. 227

Honawer (Onore) and Sedashegur.—The geology of Honawer, or

Onore, has already been touched upon. Suffice it to say, that laterite

is the prevalent rock.

Sedashegur is about 1683 miles, northerly from Mangalore, about

three miles south of the southern frontier of the Portuguese terri-

tory of Goa. The western ghauts here advance boldly to the ocean

and afford some points of view, which truly approach the magnifi-

cent. The back ground of the picture is filled with the wild moun-

tain scenery of the ghauts, from whose forests issues the Kali, or

Black River, to the Indian Sea in the fore ground, expanding into a

broad and beautiful lake near its embouchure, and stretching between

two bold promontories, the northernmost of which is crowned by the

picturesque ruins of the old fort which once guarded the entrance.

Across the mouth of the river runs a sand bar, over which at high

water there isa draught of about two and three-quarter fathoms. Vessels

of about forty corges find a snug anchorage within the bar; and boats

of from twenty to twenty-five corges pass up the river eighteen miles

to Mallapur, where there is a salt depot. They carry up salt-fish

and salt from Gokurn, and bring back rice and firewood, chiefly for

the Goa and Bombay markets. Mr. Oakes attempted to make this a

depot for the cotton shipped from the interior to Bombay, &c., as

being a much more convenient harbour, and nearer Bombay than that

of Kompta. But the project failed in consequence of the opposition

of the Gujerati merchants of Kompta, who were averse to quitting

their Mamool village.

The formation of the ghauts near Sedashegur to the south, is chiefly

granite with gneiss and hornblende schist, penetrated often by large

dykes of basaltic greenstone, which at their base are covered partially

by laterite. Their summits, I had no opportunity of examining.

A little south of Sedashegur, between Ancola and Chendaya, the

beach of a small and pretty indentation of the sea is strewed with nodules

of a stiff black clay, resembling in colour that of the lignite deposit at

Beypoor : the situs cannot be very far distant. Iron is said to be smelted

at Gopchatta.

The soil is usually a sandy loam. ‘The staple articles of cultivation

are rice, cocoanuts, sugarcane and raggi. The latter and _hiil-rice

228 Notes, chiefly Geological, | [No, 171.

occupy the dry lands and cleared sides of the mountains (like the

wheat on the high sze77as of Spain,) while the irrigated flats of the val-

lies smile with abundant crops of paddy and sugar-cane. Yearly the

mountains blaze with the fires of the clearers, who are obliged, like

the Malays, to shift from one spot to another as the soil of the clearing

becomes exhausted.

The fort, itis said, was built by the Soday Rajas of Sircy, from whom

the Portuguese wrested it. It next fell with Ancola and Gokurn

into the hands of Hyder, and eventually into those of the English.

I observed about thirty-two guns, apparently of Portuguese manu-

facture, lying about. :

At present (1840), Sedashegur (Siveswargur) contains about 600

houses, inhabited principally by Concanni Mahrattas engaged in culti-

vation, by Christians from Goa, Comarapaiks, and Mussulmans. Three

miles north commences the Konkana region, where that of Tuluva

terminates. Near the junction, the two languages, viz. Canarese and

Mahratta, are mixed. The old inscriptions on stone at Gokurn and

other places south of this, are mostly in the old Canarese language

and character. Some of the earlier ones belonging to the ninth century

of the Salivahana era, show that this part of the country was under

the sway of the kings of the Cadumba dynasty of Bunwassi ; and those

of the fifteenth century show the extension of the Bijanugger empire

to the western coast.

Gokurn, about thirty miles south of Sedashegur, is one of the sacred

places of Hindu pilgrimage, ranking with Tripati, Ramisseram, Jug-

gernath, Sondur and Sri Sailam or Perwut.

It is the reputed scene of Parasuram’s exploits, who raised the whole

of the western coast from the ocean’s bed to the base of the ghauts, and

divided the new born territory among the Brahmans. Many subdivi-

sions of this tract, and other changes, are known to have taken place at

various historical epochs ; for instance, the tract from Honawer to Go-

kurn was called Hazga ; but it is probable the three provinces as they

now exist, viz. the Concan, (or Konkana) ; Canara (or Tuluva) ; Mala-

bar or Travancore (or Kerala), distinguished by the Mahratta, Canarese,

and Malayalum languages, were the original geographical and political

divisions of the western coast of India. After descending the ghauts,

1846. | on the Western Coast of South India. 229

with the physical aspect of the country, the vegetable, animal, and

social systems undergo a striking change. A new language strikes the

ear, and the eye is astonished at the sight of the wives and daughters

of the upper classes, walking abroad naked from the waist upwards.

The houses of towns and villages, instead of being huddled together as

in the Carnatic, are widely separated in gardens or. desams like the

Malay Campong, and the generality of inhabitants struck me as re-

sembling Malays in their habits and customs. The singular right of

inheritance enjoyed by the sister’s son is precisely similar to that of

the Menangcabowe Malays. Sheep are no longer seen, and instead of

the fine oxen of Coimbatore, one sees a miserable breed of black cattle,

hardly larger than donkies. The peculiar manners and customs of the

various castes are too various for detail here.

Goa and Malwan.—Laterite covering granite and the hypogene

rocks, continues from Sedashegur to Goa, and probably from Goa by

Vingorla to the north of Malwan.

At Malwan gneiss occurs, and a bright magnetic iron ore, resem-

bling that of Salem, disseminated in grains and nests, or in alternate

layers with quartz. The rocks off the coast, washed by the breakers

from their white colour and shape have the appearance of a boat under

sail.

Mr. Fraser describes the overlying trap as coming down to Malwan,

but I did not meet with it on the coast till I reached the village of

Sarki.

Sarkt.—I had no opportunity of examining the rocks at Ratnagherry,

which lies between Malwan and Sarki: but the contour of the ghauts

here is apparently trappean. At Sarki the trap hills descend towards

the coast in long, flat-topped, wall-like promontories, becoming higher

and wilder around Severndroog.

Bancoot or Fort Victoria.—The trap rises from the sea beach in a

high steep rock, on the western extremity of which stands the fort com-

manding the entrance of the river. The citadel and flag-staff are

conspicuous objects at sea. The town extends, at the base of the rock,

towards the sea, and is well studded by cocoanut trees.

The rocks in the little bay of Shiwurdin are dark basalt and amyg-

daloid, imbedding zeolites, geodes and veins of chalcedony and quartz.

At the water’s edge the basalt is much honeycombed.

230 Notes, chiefly Geological, [No. 171.

The outline of the ghauts in the back ground is bold and pictur-

esque. A little to the north, the mountains of overlying trap attain

their maximum elevation, which never approaches that of the peaks

of granite and hypogene schist farther south, although they sometimes

attain 4,500 feet of altitude above the sea’s level.

They usually rise from the low maritime tracts of the Concan in bold

escarpments, broken by steps or terraces, to the table land of the Deccan.

The Concan.—The foregoing observations from Goa were made

as I was sailing up the coast from Sedashegur in a native pattamar,

with a foul wind to Bombay. After leaving Fort Victoria the wind

became fair, and consequently I had no longer any opportunity of

going ashore and examining the Concan between Bombay and Ban-

coot. The ghauts in this region, we know, are of trap from the obser- ~

vations of Colonel Sykes. Their long horizontal outline, varied occa-

sionally by truncated conoidal peaks, are characters in which their na-

ture is plainly written.

The rock composing the Concan is chiefly trap. My lamented friend

Malcolmson found beds of sandstone at Atchera, dipping at a consi-

derable angle to the NW.

As the existence of fossiliferous deposits is by no means improbable

on this low maritime tract, through the rocky fissures of which many

hot springs find vent, and which have not yet been fully examined,

I should strongly recommend its minute geological exploration.

Bombay.—The geology of this and the neighbouring beautiful islets

of Elephanta, Salsette, &c. has been so well and minutely described

by Dr. Thomson, that I shall content myself with observing that they

are all of the overlying trap formation, and the rocks composing them

embrace every variety from dark basalt to light coloured amygdaloids

and wackes, from compact to crystalline and porphyritic.

I must not however omit to mention a curious variety termed

white basalt, of which -the base of Sir John Malcolm’s statue at

Bombay, if I recollect right, is composed. Externally it often re-

sembles a soft felspathic granular sandstone, white, with a slight shade

of yellow, but it is clearly seen passing into a true, rough, crystalline

trachyte.

It is dug at the quarries of Salsette, and composes a large part of

the island; some of the granular varieties are extremely hard, and

1846. ] on the Western Coast of South India. 231

take a fine polish. Crystals of glassy felspar occur imbedded when

the rock passes into trachyte porphyry ; but I have never seen it with

scales of mica, assimilating granite, like the trachytes of Smyrna and

Mitylene. In some places it has the appearance of a stratified sand-

stone, and in others there can be no doubt of its volcanic origin. In

one place it is felspathic; in the other imbedding rock crystal, and

globules of quartz.

As this curious rock is without parallel in India, a detailed descrip-

tion of its relations with the contiguous trap, and a series of specimens

exhibiting the different mineral alterations the rock undergoes in

various parts of its mass from the line of contact to its most dis-

tant point from the trap, would be highly interesting and instructive.

It is probable that the molten mass of trap and trachyte may have

here invaded the sandy bed of a lake or sea, and thus become

blended.

The amygdaloid of Bombay, among other beautiful specimens of

the zeolite family,-contains that rather rare mineral (in Europe),

apophyllite. Chalcedony in most of its varieties, and beautiful agates,

are common.

The temperature of sea water in the harbour of Bombay in April

was 87° Fahr. a foot below the surface. The temperature of air in the

shade was 85° the time of observation 3 Pp. m.

The temperature of water in a well at Bombay, 20 feet deep, was

82° ; (which approaches the mean temperature of the place): the tem-

perature of air in the shade was 86° ; time, noon; month, April. The

temperature of the cave of Elephanta—same month—time, noon—

was 85°; the temperature of the water of a well in Elephanta was

75°. 5'—temperature of air in the shade at the moment was 85° ; time

of observation, noon.

232 [No. 171.

The Coins of Arakan :—The Historical Coins, by Capt. A. P. Puayre,

Principal Asst. Commr. Arakan.

The art of coining appears to have been introduced among the Ara-

kanese only at a very late period. Their oldest legendary coins were

suggested to them by the coined money of the Mahumudan sovereigns

of Bengal. I say their /egendary coins, since it is probable that a medal

similar to that described, and so happily explained by Lieut. Latter

(in the Jour. As. Soc. Vol. XIII. p. 571) was struck in Arakan at a

period much earlier than were the coins now to be noticed. It is indeed

certain, that to coin money is a but lately known art among the Bur-

mese race. The term in their language for coin,—ding-ga,—seems not to

be a native word, but adopted from the Hindooee, ¢u-ka. In the domi-

nions of Ava, coined money is still unknown ; payments are made by

silver ingots weighed out as required.

The Arakanese sovereigns no doubt wished to follow the kingly prac-

tice existing in Bengal, of coins being struck in the name of the reign-

ing monarch. We learn from their annals that about the middle of the

fifteenth century of the Christian era, they conquered Bengal as far as

Chittagong, of which they kept possession for about a century. It was

then, that they first struck legendary coins. On.the obverse of the earliest

of these, we find the date and the king’s names written in the Burmese

character, together with barbarous attempts at Mahumudan names and

titles ; these they assumed as being successors of Mussulman kings, or as

being anxious to imitate the prevailing fashion of India. Indeed, there is

some reason to believe that Ba-tsau-phyi, a Buddhist king like the rest,

who ascended the throne A. D. 1459, obtained among his own subjects

the epithet kalamashd, (the son of the Kalama) from having issued a

coin with the Mahumudan kulima inscribed upon ‘it. The reverse of

most of the earlier coins, contains unintelligible Persian and Nagri in-

criptions, The Arakanese kings were frequently known to their subjects

by names and titles different from those which appear on their coins.

This circumstance will explain a discrepancy observable between the coin-

names of kings given here, and the sovereigns of the same period found

in the list of Arakanese kings, published in the Society’s Jour, Vol. XIII.

page 50. The coin-date generally coincides with the year of the king’s

Peres SF ee See eee eee eee

—— ae

1846. | Lhe Historical Coins of Arakan. 233

accession to the throne; but in some instances it does not : more than

“one coinage having occasionally been issued in the same reign.

Old coins are frequently discovered buried in the ground in various

parts of Arakan. Several valuable ones thus found have been kindly

sent me by Major David Williams, Principal Assistant Commissioner

(then) of Ramree. Many have also been met with, hung as charms or

ornaments round children’s necks, which have been retained in families

for several generations. At present I have the means of describing only

a few of those I once possessed; the greater portion having been lost

when the Society’s'cabinet was robbed some months ago. All those

now described are of silver, for though a few of mixed metal are to be

met with, their legends do not differ from these.

The oldest Arakanese coin I now possess is that marked No. 1. The

obverse is as follows :—

€@e s06(g oo06 sep8yc3ea0o08 Sagi

TRANSLATION.

963. Lord of the White Elephant, Nard-dib-ba-di Tshau-lim Shyd.

Here 963 in the Arakanese era is equivalent to A. D. 1601. Narda-

dib-ba-di is a Pali title signifymg I believe “‘ Ruler of men;” while

Tshaulim Shyd, is nothing more than a barbarous attempt at the Mahu-

mudan title Zalim Shah! The reverse of this coin bears some unintel-

ligible compound of Persian and Nagri letters. The above king stands

No. 17 in the list of Arakanese sovereigns of the Myouk-v dynasty, in

the Jour. As. Soc. 1844, p. 50, under the name of Meng-Ra-dzd-gyi. I

long considered the date of this coin to be 863, the first figure on that

I possess being imperfect, and the date 863 corresponding with the

accession of a king styled Meng Rda-dzdé in the above mentioned list

No. 8. However, on seeing a duplicate of this coin in the possession of

Lieutenant Fytche, I was struck with the resemblance of the first figure

to a 9 and looking into the Rda-dzd-weng or Arakanese history, I found

Meng-Ré-dzd-gyi mentioned with the Pali and Mahumudan titles (the

latter differing slightly in the spelling) as inscribed on the coin. The

coin must have been struck in the eighth year of his reign,

234 The Historical Coins of Arakan. No. "P79,

No. 2. The next coin is that of the son and successor of the preced-

ing king ; the obverse bears the following date and inscription :—

@€1g sbt(G c00€ ogqogepao peogioEagjo

TRANSLATION.

974. Lord of the White Elephant, Wa-ra-dham-ma Rd-dzd

Oo-shyoung-shya.

This date is equivalent to A.D. 1612. Wa-ra-dham-ma Réd-dzé is

a Pali title said to signify ‘‘ Excellent-law-observing king ;” while in

Oo-shyoung-shya we have another instance of the barbarous adoption of

a Mahumudan name, it appearing to stand for Hoosein Shah! This

king was commonly known to his subjects by the name Meng khamoung.*

The reverse of this coin bears like the preceding.one an illegible in-

scription.in Persian and Nagree. }

No. 3. The obverse of this coin has the following date and inscription :—

gag sa6(g c006 a0€3 a0E B4aQogcpao

TRANSLATION.

984. Lord of the White Elephant, Lord of the Red Elephant,

Thi-ri-thu-dham-ma Ra-dzd.

This date is equivalent to A. D. 1622. There is no Mahumudan

name on this coin. The Pali title is translated ‘‘ Excellent righteous

king.” On the reverse is an illegible Persian and Nagree inscription.

No. 4. This coin, and all those posterior to it, have the same inscrip-

tion on the obverse and reverse. On this one the date and inscription

are as follows :—

9000 a0E( a08 a063 oo0€ squd3B

TRANSLATION.

1000. Lord of the White Elephant, Lord of the Red Elephant,

Na-ra-ba-di-gyt. :

This date answers to A. D. 1638, the very year in which the History

of Bengal informs us that the ‘‘Mugh Chief who held Chittagong on the

* Khamoung, in Burmese writings signifies, the ‘‘ canopy of state’’—being part of

the regalia of their Kings. It is probable that this title Meng Khamoung—was a

translation of some Mahumudan epithet, which this King took to himself. It may be

rendered, ‘‘ The Canopy of Kings.”’—T. L.

1846.]_ The Historical Coins of Arakan. 235

part of the Raja of Arakan,” delivered it up to the Mogul Viceroy,

Islam Khan. This circumstance accounts for the Persian inscription

being wanting on this coin. This chief is called in the Bengalee His-

tory, Makut Ray, a corruption of his title Meng-ré, i. e. ‘‘ War Chief.”

No. 5. The date and inscription of this coin are as follows :—

9007 2068 a00€ a06(G c09€ 00098 w&:onep:

TRANSLATION.

1007. Lord of the Red Elephant, Lord of the White Elephant Tha-do

the monarch.*

This king does not appear to have been known by any other name

than that here mentioned. ‘The date is equivalent to A. D. 1645.

No. 6. Date and inscription are thus :—

900g © caa$ o00d Og0909cp@0

TRANSLATION.

1014. Lord of the golden Palace, Tsan-da Thoo-dham-ma Ra-dzd.

The date answers to A. D. 1652. The style of the king is here al-

tered ; he is no longer Lord of the White Elephant, but of the ‘“‘ golden

Palace.” ‘This style was retained until the fall of the kingdom in A. D.

1784. The Pali title signifies “‘ The moon-like righteous king.”

No. 7. The obverse and reverse run thus :—

0067 sad? o09€ ogogeped

TRANSLATION.

1047. Lord of the golden Palace, Wa-ra-dham-ma Ra-dzd.

This date is equivalent to A. D. 1685. In the list of Arakanese kings

before referred to, the date of this monarch’s accession is erroneously

given as 1054.

No. 8. The date and inscription are as follows :—

207) agsso09d og8av00

TRANSLATION.

1072. Lord of the golden Palace, Tsan-da Wi-dza-yd.

This date answers to A. D. 1710.

* The words meng tard might perhaps be interpreted ‘‘ Lord of justice.’’ Whilst

dhamma generally refers in the Burmese Language to the ‘* sacred law,” éaré alludes

to the ‘‘ law of the land.””—T. L,

936 The Historical Coins of Arakan. [No. 171,

No. 9. Date and inscription.

0062 agas$ aoa ogagGodcpeo

TRANSLATION.

1098. Lord of the golden Palace, Tsan-da Thu-ri-ya Rd-dzd.

This date answers to A. D. 1731.

No. 10. Date and inscription.

D0GE Ggar$ D096 wsqGcped

TRANSLATION.

1099. Lord of the golden Palace, Ma-da-rit Ra-dza.

No. 11. Date and inscription.

900G ge> 209C 94990200cp@9

TRANSLATION.

1104. Lord of the golden Palace, Na-ra-a-pa-ya Rd-dzd.

No. 12. Date and inscription.

D9 j2 Ggas D00€ Ogoqucp@d

TRANSLATION.

1123. Lord of the golden Palace, Tsan-da Pa-ra-ma Ra-dza.

No. 18. Date and inscription.

OCOJE cges D096 3990000000GD@9

TRANSLATION.

1126. Lord of the golden Palace, A-pa-ya Ma-ha Ra-dzd.

No. 14. Date and inscription.

2929 GgePp d00C ORDQesC@0

TRANSLATION.

1135. Lord of the golden Palace, Tsan-da Thu-ma-na Ré-dzd.

For this coin I am indebted to the kindness of Lieutenant A. Fytche,

Junior Assistant to the Commissioner of Arakan.

1846. ] The Historical Coins of Arakan. 237

No. 15. Date and inscription.

009@ Gga$ 909C ORoo8o0cGpe0

TRANSLATION,

1139. Lord of the golden Palace, Tsan-da-iha-di-tha Rd-dzd.

No. 16. Date and inscription.

99gG0 ag(gp5 s00€ ogep&cpao

TRANSLATION,

1140. Lord of the golden Land, Dham-ma-rit Rd-dza.

No. 17. Date and inscription.

20GG Gages c0aC euod00002epad

TRANSLATION.

1144. Lord of the golden Palace, Ma-ha Tha-ma-da Ra-dzd.

This was the last native sovereign of Arakan. In the second year of

his reign being 1146 or A. D. 1784, the Burmese conquered the coun-

try. They immediately issued the next coin.

No. 18. Date and inscription.

D0GE saqqaq sod (Gaorqe3cs

TRANSLATION.

1146. Conquered country of the Amarapura, many-white-Elephant-Lord.

This coin was also placed at my disposal by Lieutenant A. Fytche.

During the forty years the Burmese held Arakan, they did not, I believe,

issue a coin with any other date stampt upon it.

There is another coin which has been lent to me by Lieutenant

Latter, and which should have come immediately after No. 9. I now

mark it.

No. 19. Date and inscription.

2061 Ggee ac squoqcpad

TRANSLATION.

1097. Lord of the golden Palace, Na-ra-pa-wa-ra Rd-dzd.

The date is equivalent to A. D. 1735.

SS RA te

238 (No. 171.

The Coins of Arakan—The Symbolical Coins. By Lieut. Tuos. Latter.

The coins of which the accompanying facsimiles are given, are inter-

esting, in that they represent whatever ideas they were intended to con-

vey, by means of pure symbolism alone; and afford no clue by which

to connect them with any particular prince. They are all, I believe, of

a type peculiar to Trans-Gangetic India. No. 1, was found in the city

of Haleng, in the Empire of Burmah, and has been already described at

some length in a former number of the Society’s Journal. It is placed

here for the purpose of shewing how the same type of symbol runs

through the whole. The remainder are peculiar to Arakan, the last

being somewhat common. Knowing these coins to be Buddhistical from

their being found only in localities—where no other than that faith has

obtained, and having, as | have already said, no clue to justify our con-

necting them with any particular monarch ; it is only by viewing them

as representing by means of symbols certain dogmas, or tenets, (whe-

ther religious, or philosophical) of the Buddhist faith, that we can

hope in any way to resolve their meaning.

In the description of No. 1, I speculated that the side (b) might be

intended to convey a symbolical representation of the cosmology of

Buddhism. The twenty-eight circular figures in the outer ring repre-

senting the twenty-eight Buddhs characteristic of a Mahdgabbha, or

grand period of nature; and the five drop-shaped figures within the

circle representing a Buddhagabbha, or lesser period of nature, the pre-

sent period being characterized by the presence of five Buddhs; which

are therefore made to preside over a curious emblem composed of certain

triangles representing this world in particular. Although I could not

at the time account for the reason why this singular combination should

be able to convey such an idea; yet in a subsequent paper, (on the

Buddhism of the emblems of architecture), I ventured to suppose (taking

the triangles with their points downwards to represent ‘‘ water ;” and

those with their apices upwards to typify “ fire ;” that their being made

to meet in a circle, (the universe) with a point in it, (this earth) meant

to convey the belief in the reiterated destruction of the world by fire

and water, whence its Paliname Jauga, from lau, ‘to be again and

again’’ renovated and destroyed. It is singular that in the two coins,

Nos. 2 and 3, my interpretation is indirectly ‘corroborated, for in them

1846. ] The Symbolical Coins of Arakan. 239

this emblem of ‘“‘ renovation and destruction,” is conformably repre-

sented by the Bull Nandi, the peculiar cognizance of Shiva, the God of

‘* destruction and renovation.”

The two last coins are Shivite, but probably appertain to a time when

the emblems of the worship of Shiva, and those of Buddhism had

something in common. Struck perhaps by this similarity as well as

by their novelty, they seem to have been adopted by some of the

Princes of Arakan. The fact of the characters on them being Pali does

not in any way militate against this supposition, as the Burman Alpha-

bet is but a modification of the Pali, and the similarity of the two in-

creases in proportion to the earliness of the date. We see on these coins

the Buddhist triglyph represented by the trident of Shiva. On each side

is a scroll; and beneath are certain round dots. These dots are curious, for

they here occupy the same position in reference to the triglyph of Shiva,

that the guttz do to the triglyph of architecture. In three coins in

my Own possession, evidently of two different dies, their number is

‘five.’ In another from the collection of Capt. Phayre, figured No. 3,

their number is “nine;” this last, however, is a peculiarly expres-

sive and powerful number in Buddhism. The legend over the Bull

varies in three coins, they are given separately, (a. b. c. No. 5,). (c)

presents the characteristics of the old Pali alphabet, with the exception

of the first letter ; I read it “‘ Shré Vrieghau, the last member of the sym-

bol of the last vowel being effaced; so that it appears to the eye

Vrieghé. The other two may be determined by those better versed in

the old Nagri character. (6) is of a more ancient type than (a); which

last is of the same class as the characters composing the inscription on

the temple of Shiva in the village of Harshi, described in the Society’s

Journal, No. 43, July, 1835.

The popular tradition connected with these coins is the following:

There was a king who set off to China to find the skull which he owned

in a former state of existence when he was in the body of a dog; his

astrologers having told him that this skull being wedged into the cleft

of a tree was the reason why he was troubled with such incurable head-

aches, and that on removing it he would be cured. On his departure

he left with his wife a rmg, and told her that in case he should not

come back in seven years, she was to raise to the throne, and marry

240 The Symbolical Coins of Arakan. [No. 171.

that one of her subjects whom it would fit. On his way back the

daughter of the Ocean king who was in love with him, begged her fa-

ther to raise a storm to drown his fleet, and thus procure her lover.

This being done, the prime minister who escaped informed the queen of

the death of her husband; she immediately gave out throughout her

kingdom that he should be her husband whom this ring would fit.

Though numbers tried, it was not till an herdsman from the hills with

his brother and nephew came down, that it was found to fit any one.

It fitted them all three, the queen married the eldest brother, who thus

became king, and he, in commemoration of his origin, put an ox upon

his coins, as also the goad (the trident), the implement of his craft.

The coin No. 4, is much more modern in appearance than any of the

others. It would be impossible to determine its age, its appearance

would not give it more than 100 years. It is evidently the handywork

of an artist who has concocted together a quantity of symbols that

most struck his fancy from coins of a more ancient date. On the side

(a) we see the parasol roof; being a part of the tsédya emblems. On

each side are figures appearing to guard it. Below is that flame-shaped

symbol, mistaken by Marsden, if I remember right, for the conch of

Vishnu. On the obverse (6) is the symbol of combined triangles, over

which are three “‘ Z’’ shaped figures.

No. 6. The coin No. 6, though not belonging to the country, is re-

presented here, having been found on the sea shore of the Island of

Ramree with several others. Itis of gold, and thin. The central portion

represents an animal like a pig, with the representation of the Bo-tree

above, anda monographic character &% beneath. Around are certain cha-

racters which an intelligent Buddhist priest declares to be old Cinga-

lese, and to compose the words, ‘‘Pawaraganran thooradza,” commenc-

ing from the letter marked (a). The first letter appears to have been

mistaken by him ; the first half composing it, being indistinct, appears to

have escaped his attention. The name he gives is that of one of the

old kings of Ceylon.

(IN

: a | as Bul; ore

| on ae

WTR ccdlny Li.

ep pabncore aie

49) Oe iat, agent ae

’

a ee pre hen catia ame

TL, alert en nes a Tick. Pinca 'O%oTcebee

}

JOURNAL

OF THE

ASIATIC SOCIETY.

CATALOGUE OF MAMMALIA

Inhabiting the MaLayAaN PENINSULA AND ISLANDS,

Collected or observed by TuroporeE CanTor, M. D.,

Bengal Medical Service.

K> Localities printed in Italics signify those from whence the animals of the Cata-

logue were obtained : localities in ordinary type those previously given by authors.

[Continued from p. 203. |

Gen.—Henrpesstes, Jiliger.

HEeERPESTES JAVANICUS, Desmarest.

Syn.—Ichneumon javanicus, Geoffroy.

Mangusta javanica, Horsfield.

“« Garangan,” Horsfield.

Has.—Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.

Java.

The species is numerous. The largest male measured from the apex

of the nose to the root of the tail one foot four and a half inches; the tail

one foot one and a half inch.

No. 172. No. 88, New Srries. i

242 Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting [No. 172.

HERPESTES AUROPUNCTaATUs, Hodgson.

Syn.—Mangusta auropunctata, Hodgson.

Herpestes nepalensis, Gray.

Herpestes Edwardsii, apud Ogilby (?)

Herpestes javanica, Hodgson, apud Gray: List.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula.

Bengal, Nipal, Scinde, Afghanistan.

This species somewhat resembles H. javanicus, but the ground colour

is lighter, and the lower surface uniformly pale yellowish-grey ; whereas

in the former species it is similar to the back, or a shade paler. A sin-

gle female observed, measured from the apex of the nose to the root of

the tail one foot one inch; the tail nine inches.

HeErprstes GrRisEus, Desmarest.

Syn.—Ichneumon griseus, Geoffroy.

Mangusta malaccensis, Fischer,

Mangusta grisea, Fischer,

Herpestes Edwardsii, Fischer, (

Mangusta Nyula, Hodgson,

Mangouste de Malacca, F. Cuvier, !

Apud Schinz.

Herpestes griseus, Nyool, apud Ogilby.

Herpestes pallidus, Schinz.

Forsan H. nipalensis, Gray, Var. apud Schinz.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula.

Bengal, Hindoostan, Scinde, Nipal.

The present differs from the other species not only by its grey colour,

but by its broader head, particularly between the prominent eyes, and —

by its shorter, blunter nose, which places the eyes comparatively nearer

to the muzzle. In a single female, measuring from the apex of the

nose to the root of the tail one foot two and a half inches, the tail nine

and a half inches ; the intestinal canal was of the following dimensions :

Small Intestines, . aX .. 98 feet 14 inch.

Large ditto, .. oh pe «Oe

Czcum,... ti: be a ri Ow slau

By a contraction in the middle of the greater curvature, the stomach

is distinctly separated into a cardiac and pyloric cavity.

1846. ] the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 243

HERPESTES BRACHYURUS, Gray.

Syn.—‘ Musang Turon” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula.

The largest male measured from the apex of the nose to the root of

the tail one foot six and a half inches, the tail nine inches. It is distin-

guished from the other species, not only by its colours and comparatively

short tail, but by its larger size and much more robust make. |

Gen.—Fe nis, Linne.,

Feuis T1GR1s, Linné.

Syn.—Tigris regalis, Gray: List.

“Harimau”’ or “‘ Rimau” of the Malays.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula.

India.

Lieut. Colonel James Low has communicated the following denomi-

nations, by which the Malays of the Peninsula distinguish different varie-

ties :

‘“‘Rimau Sipai,” reddish coated, striped.

“Rimau Ballu,” darker coloured.

‘‘Daun Pinang,” reddish coated, without stripes.

‘“<'Tuppu Kassau,” darkish, without stripes, but with longer hairs

than the others.

“ Puntong Prun,” very dark, striped.

FELIS LEOPARDUS, Schreber.

Syn.—Felis Pardus, Linné, ?

Felis varia, Schreber,

Felis Panthera, Erxleben,

Felis chalybeata, Hermann, Apud Gray: List.

Felis antiquorum, Fischer,

Felis fusca, Meyer,

Felis Nimr, Ehrenberg,

Leopardus varius, Gray : List.

Felis Leopardus, apud Schinz.

‘“‘ Rimau Bintang” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula.

India.

244 Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting ~ [No. 172.

Dark Var.

Syn.—Felis melas, Péron, apud Gray: List.

«Rimau Kumbang,’’* of the Malays of the Peninsula.

The ground colour is a shining beetle-brown, mixed with white

hairs, not however sufficiently to impart a grey appearance. The black

spots become distinctly visible in certain lights only. The skin ofa

male killed at Malacca, measured from the nose to the root of the tail

four feet four and a half inches, the tail two feet ten and a half inches.

The Leopards of the Malayan Peninsula appear to attain to a larger

size, and to be more ferocious than is generally the case in India. In-

stances of their having killed and carried off Malays are on record.

Friis MARmMorRATA, Martin.

Syn.—Felis Diardii, Fischer, apud Schinz.

Felis Diardii, apud Jardine. Tab. 21 and 22.

Leopardus marmoratus, Gray: List.

‘*Rimau dahan”’ of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula.

The ground colour varies from rusty-grey, or fulvous to grey, and the

black markings are scarcely quite alike in any two individuals, nor is the

extremity of the tail constantly black. The adult exceeds the size given

in the original description; a female measured from the apex of the

nose to the root of the tail two feet half an inch; the tail one foot nine

inches. ‘The species is numerous.

FELIs JAVANENSIS, Desmarest.

Syn.—Felis javanensis, Desmarest, apud Horsfield.

‘* Kuwuk,” Horsfield.

Felis minuta, Temminck,

Felis servalin, Temminck, wwaa Soni

Felis sumatrana, Horsfield, ata c 7

Felis undata, Desmarest,

* “ Kiimbang”’ signifies a beetle ; applied par excellence to a species of Oryctes,

resembling Scarabeus nasicornis, Linné, which is very destructive to cocoanut planta-

tions. ‘‘ Rimau Kimbang,”’ Raffles, is by Schinz referred to Felis Pardus, Temminck,

Var. nigra, Muller; Felis melas, F. Cuvier, the habitat of which is said to be Java

and Sumatra.

1846. ] the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 245

a Diardii, Griffith, \ Apud Gray’! Vist.

eopardus javanensis,

‘* Rimau akar” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.

Java, Sumatra?

The ground colour in the Malayan individuals varies from pure grey

to greyish brown or ferruginous. ‘The largest adult male measured

from the apex of the nose to the root of the tail one foot eleven and a

half inches, the tail ten inches ; another of equal dimensions of the body

had the tail eight inches in length. The intestinal canal was of the

following dimensions :

Small Intestines, MN om gi 3 feet 8 inches.

Large, a os oe spe OMAR iar

Ceecum, ee ee eo ee 0 be) 14 93

In the scansorial habits of this very numerous species originates its

local denomination “ akar,” signifying a climber as well as a root.

Fevis PLANICEPS, Vigors and Horsfield.

Syn.—Chaus (?) planiceps, Gray : List.

“ Kuching-ttan,” or ‘‘jalang” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Hae.— Malayan Peninsula.

Sumatra, Borneo.

The Malayan individuals of this apparently not numerous species

differ from the Sumatran, originally described, in having the whitish

throat, chest and abdomen, and the inner side of the limbs undulated

with brown, transversal, interrupted bands. In none of the Malayan

wild cats is the length of the tail more variable. In a male, measuring

from the apex of the nose to the root of the tail two feet one and a half

inch, the tail, consisting of twelve gradually diminishing caudal vertebre,

measured five and a half inches ; in another, one foot ten and three-

fourth inch in length from the nose to the root of the tail, the latter

organ measured two inches, consisting of four slightly decreasing verte-

bree, the last one of which was broad, flattened, and rounded at the poste-

rior extremity. It is of most ferocious habits, and untameable. In the

smaller individual the intestinal canal was of the following dimensions :

Small Intestines, .. .. 9 feet 64 inches.

Large, ni ie ade ara pats Stag

Cecum, .. iA ee May VE iting

246 Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting .~ aNo. a2.

Fruis pomestica, Auct.

“Kuching” of the Malays.

The Malays, like most Muhamedans, are as partial to cats as they are

the reverse to dogs. As observed by Sir S. Raffles, some of the Ma-

layan, like the Madagascar domesticated cats, have a short twisted or

knobbed tail, others are tailless. Among those of an uniform colour, a

light ashy and a bluish (or slaty-grey) variety, with single longer black

hairs on the back and tail, are conspicuous. They frequently relapse

from a state of domestication, resort to the jungle, and shun the pre-

sence of man.

RODENTIA.

ScruripD2&,

Gen.—Scrurus, Linné.

ScIURUS BICOLOR, Sparrmann.

Syn.— Das javanische Eichhorn, Schreb.* apud Horsf.

Sciurus giganteus, McClelland MSS. ]} Apud Horsfield, Proc.

Sciurus bicolor, Sparrmann, { Zool. Soe.

Sciurus madagascariensis

: Se bs Arpud Gray: Li

Sciurus macruroides, Hodgson, ie y: List.

“ Chingkrawah étam” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.

Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Siam, Tenasserim, Assam, Nipal.

The original diagnosis will prevent misunderstanding as to the species

under consideration. ‘‘Sciurus supra niger, infra fulvus, auriculis

acutis imberbibus, palmarum ungue pollicari magno rotundato.”’ (Sparr-

mann, apud Horsfield.) The colour of the head, back, tail, outside of

the extremities, and the feet, is intense shining black, the single hairs

being blackish-grey at the root, those of the tail blackish-brown at the

root. In some individuals the black hairs generally, in others those of

the tail, or some part of the back only, have a broad subterminal band

of bright cinnamon, or Indian red, which imparts a reddish tint to the

general black colour. The mustachios, whiskers and the superciliary

bristles are black; those of the throat and forearm are black in some,

* Sciurus javensis, Schreber, and bicolor, Sparmann, apud Gray: List, is Scirus

Leschenaultit, Desmar. apud Horsfield. Syn. S. Aypoleucus, Horsfield.

1846. ] the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 247

ferruginous, or with the apex of that colour, in others. The under-parts

vary from a deep golden fulvous to isabella colour. Whatever be the

prevailing shade, it is always most distinct on the lateral line, which,

commencing from the cheeks, passes along the sides of the body. The

fur of the lower parts of the body, and of the inside of the extremities,

is much shorter, softer, and less dense, than that of the back. The sin-

gle hairs are greyish, or blackish at the root, with the apex of the shade

of yellow prevailing in the individual. Single long bristles, either uni-

formly, or partially black, or fulvous, appear on the chest and abdomen.

The species, under the present garb, is very numerous in the Malayan

forests and hills.

Var. Bs Horsfield.

‘‘Sciurus supra fuscus, varians a fusco-nigricante ad sordide fulvum,

pilis velleris fulvis et canescentibus intermixtis, subtus fulvus vel pallide

flavescens.”—Horsfield.

Syn.—Sciurus auriventer, Is. Geoff. apud Schinz.

Sciurus aureiventer, Is. Geoff. apud Gray: List.

“ Chingkrawah’’ or ‘“‘ Chingkrawah puteh” of the Malays of the

Peninsula.

Single individuals, resembling the Javanese one figured in ‘ Zoological

Researches in Java,’ occur at Pinang, but there, as in Java, tawny of

different shades, with a greyish cast, is more frequent. In some the

head is of a darker colour, in others large spots of dark appear on the

back, or the tail is above barred with dark. The upper part of the nose,

a ring encircling the eyes, and the ears appear in all individuals to be

of a darker brownish colour, and all have a more or less distinct large

white spot on the anterior and upper part of the thigh. The back of

the feet is either dark brown or fulvous. The palms, soles, mamme

and genital organs, are black in all. The single hairs of the back are

greyish-brown at the root, darker than the apex. which imparts the

general colour to the back. With the hairs of the tail the reverse is

the case, the basal half being isabella or white; the apical darker. On

the lower surface of the distichous tail, the roots of the hairs form a

white line on either side of the vertebrze, which are covered with short,

dark-brownish, or fulvous hairs. The under-parts of the body are of

the same colours as those of the black-coated animal, but their roots

are yellowish-white. The mustachios, whiskers, and other bristles, are

248 Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting [No.1172.

in all of a blackish-brown ; but the single bristles of the abdomen are

sometimes fulvous.

The black-coated individuals stand in a similar relation to the light-

coloured varieties, as that in which the black-coloured Hylobates Lar

stands to the light-coloured. Such differences of colour, wide no doubt,

are of no uncommon occurrence among the Malayan Mammalia, and

ought to be well considered by Zoologists, who have not the oppor-

tunity of studying the living animals.

This, as well as the rest of the Malayan squirrels, is capable of being

tamed to a certain extent, and evinces attachment to those who feed

them, but the appearance of a strange person, animal, or even an unu-

sual sound, startles them, and recalls their natural shyness. The largest

of a great number, measured from the apex of the nose to the root

of the tail one foot six inches; the tail one foot nine and a half inches.

The intestinal canal was of the following dimensions :

Small Intestines, .. mh .. 9 feet 6 inches.

Large ditto, .. i. Bi oh ao pean

Ceecum, in <B ap t asthbor pr. eae

Scrurus Rarruesii, Vigors and Horsfield.

Syn.—Sciurus rufogularis, Gray.

Sciurus rufoniger, Gray.

Sciurus Prevostii, Desmar. apud Schinz.

‘““Tupai balang” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula.

Java, Borneo, China* (Canton.)

* China is the habitat assigned to Sciurus rufogularis, Gray. Without doubting the

authenticity, it is perhaps as well to observe, that skins of the more showy animals and

birds of India, Malacca, and the Indian Archipelago, are offered for sale as indige-

nous productions in the shops of Canton and Macao. Skins of Halcyon Smyrnensis

for instance, and other birds from different parts of India, are bought up by the

Chinese merchants of our colonies in the Straits of Malacca, who annually, on Chinese

Junks, ship quantities of considerable value to China, where they are manufactured

into fans and artificial flowers. In a list of birds, contained in a collection of

Chinese productions, exhibited in London in 1842, Mr. H. E. Strickland observes

in his communication to the Zoological Society, that some of them appear to

have been imported from Malacca. Skins and other parts of a host of animals, from

the most distant parts of Asia, form items in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. On my visits

to Chinese Dispensaries in China and in our Malayan Colonies, | have been shewn

horns of rhinoceroses and deer, tusks of the Duyong, heads of Buceri, tortoise-shells,

and well preserved skins of T'rigonocephalus Blomhoffii, from Japan; Ammonites and

other fossils, cum muitis aliis, all supposed to possess specific virtues, and accordingly

prescribed by Chinese Medical practitiuners.

1846. ] the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 249

This species, numerous in the Malayan countries, occurs with the

following individual variations of colour—

Cheeks and throat iron-grey, shoulders uniformly, or mixed with red.

(Sciurus rufogularis, Gray. Mag. Nat. Hist. 1842, p. 263.)

The cheeks are sometimes dark-brown, or ferruginous.

In some the white lateral lime commences from the side of the nose,

passing over the cheeks, the side of the neck, and over the shoulder.

The lateral line is either pure white, more or less distinct, or mixed

with single longer hairs with black apex.

Some have a short black line immediately below the white; in others

there is above the latter a grizzled line, sometimes continued over the

outside of the thigh. The tail is seldom uniformly black, frequently

partially black, reddish or grizzled, owing to the apex of the hairs being

white. The tuft is frequently reddish or rust-coloured.

_ The feet are sometimes white or pale ferruginous.

The Museum of the Asiatic Society possesses a specimen from Java,

differing from Sciurus rufoniger, Gray, in having the tail grizzled instead

of black. Sciurus redimitus, Van der Boon, is probably another variety

of S. Rafflesii.

A young male, about a fortnight in confinement, after having finished

his usual meal of cocoanut, seized and devoured an Jora typhia, which

had just been shot, and happened to be placed within reach. Sparrows

and other smaller birds were subsequently eaten, and apparently relished.

The largest male measured from the apex of the nose to the root of

the tail eleven and a half inches; the tail one foot two inches.

Scrurus wippurus, Is. Geoffroy.

‘N.—Sciurus erythreus, Pallas (?) ;

Sciurus caudatus, McClelland? pApud Gray : List.

Sciurus anomalus, Kuhl.

Sciurus rufogaster, Gray.

Sciurus castaneoventris, Gray.

‘“Tapai Jinjang,” “*Ummu,” or “Jaw” of the Malays of the

Peninsula.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula.

Java, Sumatra, Assam, China (Canton).

Ls)

wal

250 Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting [No. 172.

The ground colour of the Malayan individuals differs but slightly,

according to the more red or yellow rust colour of the bands of the hairs.

The anterior part of the tail above is of the same colour as the back,

the rest is either uniformly black, reddish, or with transverse bands, or

has the tuft of that colour. The colour of the ears is brownish in

some, but generally of the leaden grey, grizzled colour of the head, cheeks,

chin and outside of the limbs. The feet are black or slightly grizzled.

The largest individuals of this numerous species measure from the

apex of the nose to the root of the tail one foot; the tail one foot and

half inch.

Scrurus vittratus, Raffles.

Syn.—Tiupai, Raffles.

smar.

Beureuil Toupai, F. Cuvier, f APUd Horsf,

Macroxus Toupai, Lesson, apud Gray : List.

Sciurus flavimanus, Is. Geoffroy, apud Schinz.

*« Tupai” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Singapore, Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.

Sumatra, Borneo, Canton.

This is the most numerous species in the Straits of Malacca, the larg-

est individuals measuring from the apex of the nose to the root of the

tail eleven inches ; the tail eleven inches.

Scriurus nicrovitratus, Horsfield.

Syn.—Sciurus griseiventer, Is. Geoffroy, apud Schinz.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula.

Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Canton.

Not numerous; the largest individual observed, a female, measured

from the apex of the nose to the root of the tail nine inches; the tail

eight and half inches.

Scrurvus tenuis, Horsfield.

Syn.—Sciurus modestus, S. Miiller?

Has.—Singapore, Malayan Peninsula.

Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Canton.

Of two individuals observed, the larger, a male, measured from the

apex of the nose to the root of the tail six inches ; the tail seven inches.

1846] the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 251

ScirurvUs LATICAUDATUS, Diard, Var.

Syn.—Sciurus laticaudatus, Diard, apud S. Miiller ?*

Has.— Malayan Peninsula.

The present squirrel differs from the diagnosis of Sciurus laticaudatus

from the west coast of Borneo, (communicated in Natuur en Genees-

kundig Archief, &c. 11 Jaarg. 1 Aflev. p. 87,) in having neither the first

nor the fifth molar of the upper jaw very large. Both are of nearly

equal size, and much smaller than the rest. The following is a descrip-

tion of the Malayan animal.

The shape of the head is depressed, elongated, conical, gradually

attenuated towards the laterally compressed nose. The whole outline,

the slender form, and general colours, render the animal strikingly simi-

lar to Tupaia ferruginea. ‘The eyes are large, brilliant, dark; the ears

large, oval, with smooth short hairs; the mouth is small, the upper

incisors are very minute, the lower slender, flattened, and almost

straight ; the black mustachios, whiskers, superciliary and gular bristles,

and the few white ones of the forearm, are all shorter than the head;

the muzzle hairy, leaving the margins of the small, and at the apex

laterally pierced nostrils, naked. The limbs and feet slender ; the

nailless tubercle of the thumb rudimentary, barely perceptible in the

living animal. The claws are small, sharp, compressed, whitish.

The colour of the head, back, outside of the limbs and feet, is a rich

rusty-red, mixed with shining black, particularly on the occiput, the

back and the feet, less on the sides, where the ferruginous prevails ;

the throat, chest, abdomen and inner side of the limbs, whitish ; in some

individuals pale-yellowish. The fur is soft and delicate. The separate

hairs are leaden-grey at the base, shining black, or with a broad subter-

minal ferruginous band. The tail is shorter than the body, distichous,

broadest in the middle, attenuated at the root, terminating in a

thin tuft. It may be compared to a feather, black on each side

of the quill, successively ferruginous, again black, margined with buff.

* In the List of Mammalia in the British Museum occurs a genus: Rhinosciurus,

Gray, and a species R. tupaioides, Gray, Syn. Sciurus laticaudatus, Miiller ? ? Generic

or specific characters being neither given nor referred to, it is impossible in India to

decide whether the specimen in the British Museum thus labelled, is identical with

the animal here characterised.

252 Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting [No. 172. :

Such is the succession of the bands on the separate hairs. This organ

is less full and ornamental than in the generality of squirrels. The

species is apparently not numerous; the largest out of five examined, a

female, was of the following dimensions—

Length from the apex of the nose to the root of the tail, 10 - inch.

, of the tail, i ei 6-—

s of the head, .. + ie ive te endo Re

i from the apex of the nose to the anterior angle

of the eye, of ae 5 al al - >

,, from the posterior angle of the eye totheear,. O72 ,,

Breadth above the apex of the nose, = Oe) = he

be between the anterior angles of the eyes, Og a

», between the ears, 0 - i

Diameter of the head at vertex,. .

——

Its habits in confinement presented nothing remarkable.

Gren.—Preromys, Cuvier.

PreRomMys NITIDUS, Geoffroy.

Syn.—Sciurus petaurista, Lin. apud Cuvier ?

Sciurus petaurista, Chin Krawa, Raffles ¢

Pteromys albiventer, Gray Illustr.

“ Tipai Térbang” or “‘ Kiibin” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Singapore, Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.

Java, Sumatra, Borneo.

The part of the head anterior to the ears, the cheeks, the chest, and

the abdomen, are white in some individuals of either sex, one of which

is figured in Hardwicke’s Illustrations of Indian Zoology, under the de-

nomination of Pteromys albiventer, Gray.

The black, or dark-brown eyelids, nose, chin, feet and tip of the tail,

appear to be constant characters. The shade, and intensity of the red

colour is liable to considerable variations.* In the very young, there is

a short black stripe behind the ears ; and the posterior part of the back

and anterior half of the tail are shining black, from each separate hair

having the apex of that colour. ‘Traces of these characters occur in

some adult individuals. This species is very numerous in the Malayan

countries. It is not strictly nocturnal, for it is frequently seen abroad

* In an individual from Malacca, the back was very dark Indian-red, with a few

dashes of pure white. The identity of the species is, however, doubtful.

1846. ] the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 253

during the day. Itis particularly fond of the Durian, the fruit of

Durio Zibethinus, Linné. The flying squirrel has this partiality, in

common with various other animals, as monkeys, Pteropi and Para-

doxuri; nay, the Malays assert, that they have to watch this, their

favourite fruit, against tigers.

In a female, measuring from the extremity of the nose to the root of

the tail, one foot six and half inches; the tail one foot nine inches: the

intestinal canal was of the following dimensions—

Small Intestines, i ae .. 7 feet 42 inches.

Daree, Ae a ue Fe Bia Ory my

Cecum,.. a i m: SHOUD Ie, Auer

ScruropTerus, Fred. Cuvier.

ScriuropTerus HorsFiELpD11, Waterhouse,

Syn.—Pteromys aurantiacus, Wagner, apud Gray : List.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula.

Java ? Sumatra ?

A single skin, brought from Kéddah, measured from the apex of the

nose to the root of the tail eight and three-eighth inches; the tail eleven

inches.

ScIUROPTERUS GENIBARBIS.

. Syn.—Pteromys genibarbis, Horsfield.

“‘ Kechubu”’ Horsfield.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula.

Java.

Of two, the larger, a male, measured from the apex of the nose to the

root of the tail seven and half inches ; the tail seven inches.

Mourip2.

Gen.—Mus, Linné.

Mus sannpicota, Bechstein.

Mus malabaricus, Shaw,

Mus perchal, Shaw,

Mus Icria, Buchan. Ham. MS. (

Mus nemorivagus, Hodgson,

Tikus besar of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.— Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.

Southern Mahratta Country, Bengal, Nipal.

Syn.—Mus giganteus, Hardwicke, Q

Apud Gray : List.

254 Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting [No. 172.

Mus pecumaunvs, Pallas.

Syn.—Mus javanus, Pallas, apud Schinz.

Mus norvegicus, Brisson, apud Gray : List.

“Tikus” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.— Malayan Peninsula, Pinang.

Cosmopolita.

Mus setirEr, Horsfield.

Syn.—‘ Tikus virok,’ Horsfield.

Mus giganteus, Temminck, apud Gray.

Hazs.— Pinang.

Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Van Diemen’s Land.

The larger of two individuals, captured in gardens, measured head

and body, ten and one-eighth inches; the tail seven and four-eighth

inches.

Mus rvuFescens, Gray.

Syn.—Mus flavescens, Elliot, A

Mus rufus, Elliot, \ Apud Gray : List.

Hazs.— Pinang.

Dharwar, Madras, Bengal, Arracan.

In the young, the brown bristles are fewer, and leave the lead- coloured

under-fur more apparent. The colour of the abdomen is paler yellowish-

grey than in the adult. The species is numerous at Pinang in out-

houses. In the largest observed, the head and body measured seven

and six-eighth inches; the tail (mutilated,) four and two-eighth inches.

Mus muscutvs, Linné ?

Syn.— Tikus rama” of the Malays.

Has.—Pinang.

In colours, this slightly differs from the European mouse, the upper

parts being a mixture of shining grey and tawny. ‘The separate hairs

are leaden-grey at the base, then tawny with black apex; some are

longer and uniformly dark-brown. Beneath pale-ash. The ears are

large, more than one-half of the length of the head, with very short

hairs, rounded, blackish. Toes, palms and soles, whitish. Tail slender,

dark-grey, with very short appressed brown hairs. Length of the head

and body, two and five-eighth inches: tail two and four-eighth inches.

1846.] the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 255

Grvn.—Raizomys, Gray.

RHIZOMYS SUMATRENSIS, Gray.

Syn.—Mus sumatrensis, Raffles.

‘“*Dekan,” Raffles.

Hypudeus de Sumatra, Temm.

Nyctocleptes Dekan, Temm. Apud Gray: List.

Spalax javanus, Cuvier,

Rhizomys chinensis, Gray, apud Schinz.

Rhizomys cinereus, McClelland.*

Rhizomys Decan, Schinz.

‘“‘ Tikus bilow” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula.

China, Moulmein, Assam.

Although the animal was first described in Sir Stamford Raffles’

catalogue of collections, made in Sumatra, the author distinctly states

that it was forwarded from Malacca by Major Farquhar; nor does it

appear to inhabit Sumatra, although the specific name would lead one

to suppose that such is the case. The colour of the adult is liable to

individual variations, from grey of different shades to isabella or silvery-

buff. The separate hairs are mostly of the colour prevailing in the

individual, mixed with single dark-brown hairs with whitish apex, parti-

cularly on the vertex, continuing along the centre part of the back. On

the nose, anterior part of the head, and on the cheeks, the hairs are of

a pale rust colour. On the vertex some white hairs form either a spot

or a short line of that colour. The scanty hairs of the abdomen are all

of a pale-greyish or isabella colour. The mustachios, whiskers, superci-

liar and gular bristles, are either of a pale-brown or buff colour. The

young are above of a dark-grey, with a brown streak on the vertex and

* The description of this supposed species (Calcutta Journal of Nat. Hist. Vol. 11.

p. 456, Pl. XIV.) states, ‘‘There are four toes to each fore-foot, and five to each

hind-foot.”” The draughtsman of Pl. XIV, ‘‘ Rhizomys cinereus,’’ has, at all events,

observed, that all the feet are five-toed, however incorrectly he has represented the

animal. Another error occurs in the description, viz: ‘“* Sir Stamford Raffles describes

_ a species of Bamboo Rat found in Sumatra by Colonel Farquhar,’’ &c. Sir S. Raffles’

words are these: ‘‘ Mus SumatTrensts. A drawing and specimen of an animal, which

appears related to the Mus Pilorides, was forwarded from Malacca’’ (not Sumatra,

as erroneously asserted) ‘‘by Major Farquhar, to the Asiatic Society at the same time

with the Binturong. 1 am informed by him that it is not uncommon at Malacca,

and is perhaps to be found in most parts of the Malay Peninsula,’’ &c. Transact.

Linn. Society, Vol. XII. Part II.

256 Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting [No. 172.

back ; beneath pale-grey. The forehead, nose, temples, and cheeks,

are ferruginous. The adult, like some squirrels and rats, is subject to

enlargement of the scrotum. In confinement, it is very savage, scarcely

tameable. The length of the tail varies from about one-third to little more

than one-fourth of the length of the body. It is blackish, or brownish ;

the apex whitish. The largest male examined, measured from the apex

of the nose to the root of the tail one foot seven and a half inches; the

tail five and a half inches. The female, in size and colours equalling

the male, has ten mamme, viz. two axillary, and three inguinal pairs.

Grn.—Hysrtrix, Cuvier.

Hystrix Loneicaupa, Marsden.

Syn.—Acanthion javanicum, Fred. Cuvier?

Hystrix brevispinosus, Schinz.*

‘Babi Landak” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula.

Java, Sumatra, Borneo.

Sir Stamford Raffles has pointed out the inaccuracy of Marsden’s

figure, representing the fore-feet with five toes, instead of with four, anda

rudimentary thumb with a flat nail. The figure also has a few mane-like

long bristles on the head, whereas the mustachios are situated on the

side of the nose, the whiskers below the ear, and one or two bristles

above the eye. In colours, this species resembles Hystrix leucurus,

Sykes, from which it differs in the absence of the long mane-like bristles

of the head and neck. Although single, scattered, thin, flexible spines,

upwards of twelve inches in length, occur on the posterior part of the

back, the majority of inflexible spines are much shorter than in Hystriz

leucurus or H. cristatus, and are either pure white, or with a blackish

band in the medial portion. The short, blackish, slightly iridescent

spines of the neck, anterior part of the back, the limbs, and abdomen, are

generally grooved on the upper surface. The short white pedunculated

tubes of the posterior part of the tail are at first closed, terminating in

a short spine, which latter wears off, leaving the tubes open. The pubes

* In ‘‘ Nachtrage zum 2ten. Bande,”’ this species is supposed to be identical with,

and substituted for Atherura fasciculata, although a very correct description is given

of both.

1846. ] the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 257

are disposed in a wreath of stiff bristles, frequently of a deep rust

colour. The epidermis of this species, as well as of Atherura is

remarkably thin and liable to be torn. Beneath the skin appears a

fatty tissue, upwards of an inch in thickness. The anterior molars are

slightly larger than the rest. Viewed from above, iz situ, the crown of

the anterior lower molar of either side presents the form of two letters

S, facing each other (S@). In a foetus,—of which the head measures

two and one-eighth inches, the body four and three-eighth inches, the

tail one inch in length,—the whole of the body, and the anterior half of

the tail have numerous short hairs, disposed on separate transverse lines

of six to eight distant black hairs, becoming longer on the posterior

part of the back and sides. The posterior part of the tail has longer

and closer hairs. In a female, measuring from the apex of the nose to

the root of the tail two feet five inches, the tail four inches ; the intes-

tinal canal was of the following dimensions :

Small Intestines,. . of iy .. 21 feet 6 inches.

Large ditto, oe Be aP wleaen eh lO: ws)

Czcum, .. oe Se pe RES) ee ey Emenee

The stomach is of a heart-shaped outline, with thin membranes

externally smooth, internally with a few longitudinal ruge near the

narrow fundus.

The species is numerous, and, as it is considered a delicacy by the

Chinese population, is frequently brought to market.

Gren.—ATHERURA, Cuvier.

ATHERURA FASCICULATA, Cuvier.

Syn.—Hystrix fasciculata, Lin., apud Cuvier.*

Hystrix orientalis, Brisson, apud Gmelin.

Hystrix macroura, Linné.

Porc-epic de Malacca, Buffon.

Hystrix fasciculata, Shaw, apud Raffles.

Mus fasciculatus, Desmarest.

Hystrix fasciculata, Linné, apud Gray : Illust.+

* No species of that name occurs in Systema Nature, Ed. XIII. Gmelin, 1788,

but Hystriz macroura is described ‘‘cauda longitudine corporis’’(??) ‘‘ apice fasciculo

pilorum” &c.

+ In the figure, the anterior foot has one toe too many, the animal having four toes

and a rudimentary flat-nailed thumb. Nor is the back of the hind foot naked, unless

indeed become so by accident.

ie 2)

Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting [No. 172.

Acanthion javanicum, F. Cuv.

Atherurus fasciculatus, Schinz.

Atherurus macrourus, Schinz.

‘“‘ Landak” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.

Java, Sumatra, Borneo.

The nose, lips, forehead, and back of the feet, are covered with

greyish-brown hairs. The body and limbs at the root of the spine, are

covered with dense soft silky hairs, grey on the upper parts, and silvery

on the abdomen. Single longer flexible spines, white with a dark

central band, are scattered over the back. The anterior part of the tail

is, like the back, covered with flat-grooved spines, white at the root,

then slightly iridescent brown, and frequently with white apex. ‘The

centre part of the tail is scaly, with very short spines between the scales.

The posterior part is white ; with white or silvery, flexible, and in length

gradually increasing, spines, which Buffon has aptly compared to nar-

row slips of irregularly cut parchment. The pubes are ofa deep rust

colour.

This species is very numerous in the Malayan valleys and hills. . In

fretful habits, and in its food, it resembles the preceding porcupine,

like which, it is carried to the market at Pinang and Malacca, where as

many as twenty to thirty may frequently be seen. In a male, measur-

ing from the apex of the nose to the root of the tail one foot ten inches,

the tail ten inches ; the intestinal canal was of the following dimensions :

Small Intestines, ai ae 19 feet 43 inches.

Large, .. 3 bk ie a 4» 3 »»

Cecum, ae t " Laetsy gee 9

The stomach is of a general outline, resembling that of H. longicauda,

but it differs in having an external deep vertical sulcus, dividing the

stomach into a pyloric and a cardiac portion, which latter presents 6 to 7

deep oblique sulci. The membranes of the stomach are thick and mus-

cular. Internally the cardiac portion is transversally divided by six or seven

ridges, corresponding to the external sulci, intersected by numerous con-

centric ruge. The pyloric portion, separated from the cardiac by the

ruge produced by the external vertical sulcus, is much smoother, and

has but few ruge.

1846. ] the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 259

EDENTATA.

Gren.—Manis, Linné.

Manis gAvanica, Desmarest.

Syn.—Manis pentadactyla, Lin., apud Raffles.

Manis aspera, Sundeval.

M. quinquedactyla, Raffles, apud Gray : List,

« Pengdling” or “ Tangiling” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Pinang, Malayan Peninsula.

Java, Sumatra, Borneo.

The series of dorsal scales vary in individuals from 16 to 19. The

number of central dorsal vary from 20 to 22; the central and the mar-

ginal caudal from 26 to 29 : in the young all the scales are finely linea-

ted and the rounded apex only is smooth. With age the lines become

obliterated on the exposed surface of the scales, between which appear a

few long whitish bristles. ‘The very young animal corresponds to the

description of Manis aspera, Sundeval. The eyelids, the margins of

the ears, and the scaleless parts, except the palms and soles, are scantily

provided with short whitish hairs. The two pectoral mammz are

situated at a short distance from the axilla. Its habits present nothing

different from those of Manis crassicaudata (M. pentadactyla, Linné),

of which an interesting account is communicated by Lieut. R. S. Tickell

in Journal Asiatic Society, Vol. XI. 1842. p. 221.

The present species, although numerous in rocky situations, is not

often captured, as it is seldom abroad till after sunset. The largest male

measured from the apex of the nose to the root of the tail one foot nine

and a half inches; the tail one foot eight inches. In a younger male,

the entire length of which was one foot eleven inches; the intestinal

canal was of the following dimensions :

Small Intestines, ” *; .. 8 feet 4 inches.

Large ditto, .. se ms ae eniGne er

Czcum is rudimentary, indicated by a slight, yet distinct widening of

the intestines. The stomach is capacious, the pyloric region thickened

and gizzard-like. On the external surface, where the greater curvature

begins to ascend, is situated a small (one inch in length, one and three-

eighth in breadth) triangular, externally gyrated, glandular body, firmly

attached to the stomach, but not communicating with the cavity. Its

260 Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting [No. 172.

external appearance might be compared to that of a crest of ostrich fea-

thers. The narrowed apex, towards the pylorus, is provided with

a small, thick, rounded and wrinkled opening, surrounded by concentric

fibres, leading by a common, short, cylindrical duct to the broader cavi-

ty, which latter is divided by two longitudinal parietes into three sepa-

rate portions. If a tube is introduced into the common duct, the

air injected will simultaneously fill all three portions of the cavity, but

if the tube is inserted into any one of the three separate portions, the

air will fill that particular portion, leaving the two others collapsed.

The interior surface of this organ secretes a whitish mucus. Adjoining

the common opening, from ten to eleven small rounded glands com-

mence, arranged on a line towards the pylorus. Each gland has, in its

centre, a minute wrinkled opening, leading into a small cavity secret-

ing mucus.

The stomach was extended by the remains (heads and legs,) of a pro-

digious quantity of large black ants, inhabiting the hills. The contents

of the stomach were involved in mucus, deeply tinctured with bile, and

among them appeared five small rounded fragments of granite. Another

individual expired after 10 days confinement, during which period it took

no food, although it was repeatedly placed among swarms of the black

and red ants, so excessively numerous in the valley of Pinang. Water it

always took when offered, lapping it up with the tongue in the same

manner that serpents drink. |

Coste vere 8 pairs; spuriz 7 pairs = 15 pairs. The ensiform process

of the os sternum is greatly elongated, terminating in a broad, rounded,

thin cartilaginous plate.

PACHYDERMATA.

PROBOSCOIDEA.

Grevn.—Eepnas, Linné.

ELEPHAS inpIcus, Linné.

Syn.—‘‘ Gaéjah” of the Malays.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula.

India, Burma, Siam, Ceylon, Sumatra, Borneo.

1846. | the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 261

Elephants are very numerous on the Malayan Peninsula. ‘They may

be procured at the following rates :-—

‘For an elephant 4 feet 6 inches high, .. 120 Dollars.

Diktoss ‘5b 4/528 5 erin 200k i!

Ditto, 6 ,, O 5 F220 Ha;

Distoy) 6 ‘uj pi9 t ETULOOR AF

Dita: ,3'6 Ps at AAO Sy:

Those exceeding this height are paid for at an advance on the last

mentioned rate of 20 dollars for one foot six inches. If above eight

feet and three inches, then an addition of 40 dollars for each one foot six

inches is charged. Elephants ten feet six inches in height are taken by

the Siamese to the Capital, and it is not permitted to sell them. The

Keddah chiefs used formerly to breed elephants, a speculation rarely,

if ever, attempted elsewhere. Coromandel Native Traders were, until late

years, constantly in the habit of loading vessels with elephants for that

Coast.” (Extract from Lieut. Colonel James Low’s ‘‘ Dissertation” &c.)

ORDINARIA.

Gev.—Sus, Linné.

Sus rnpicus, Schinz.

Syn.—Sus Scrofa, Linné, apud Elliot.

Sus indicus, wt Hie:

Sus Scropha, Hodgson, ¢ Apud Gray: List.

Sus vittatus, Schlegel.

Sus cristatus, Wagner, apud Schinz.

** Babi utan” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula, Pinang, Singapore, Lancavy Islands.

Bengal, Nipal, Southern Mahratta Country.

The difference between the Indian and the German wild hog (Sus

Scrofa ferus, Lin.) have been pointed out by W. Elliot, Esq. (Madras

Journal, Vol. X. 1839, p. 219.) The colour of the adult is brown-

ish-black, scantily covered with black hairs, of which few retain

the infantile yellowish sub-terminal band. Besides the black recum-

bent mane of the occiput and back, the whiskers and bristles above

and below the eye, there is a bundle of long black bristles on the

throat. The hairs of the throat and chest are reversed. The tail is

scantily covered with short hairs, the apex compressed, with long

262 Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting [No. 172.

lateral bristles, like those of the elephant, arranged like the wings of an

arrow. ‘The young is more hairy, with the plurality of hairs tawny or

fulvous, some with black root and apex, which, as they are more or less

mixed with black hairs, produce on the sides of the body saturated

fulvous stripes. The hairs of the throat, chest, abdomen, and elbows, :

(in the two latter places very long,) are black at the basal, and white at

the apical half. Wild hogs are exceedingly numerous on the Peninsula,

and most of the Malayan Islands. ‘The largest boar examined measur-

ed from the apex of the nose to the root of the tail, five feet ; the tail

one foot. The stomach of a young boar, examined shortly after it had

been speared, was extended with food, principally consisting of the re-

mains of a very large coleopterous larva, some small seeds of different

kinds, leaves, grass and roots.

Sus Scrora, Var. SINENsIS, Linné.

Syn.—‘ Babi’ of the Malays.

Introduced by the Chinese settlers.

Gen.—Raurnoceros, Linné.

RHINOCEROS UNICORNIS, Linné.

Syn.—Rhinoceros indicus, Cuvier.

Rhinoceros asiaticus, Blumenbach.

Rhinoceros inermis, Lesson.

‘« Badak”’ of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Hazs.—Malayan Peninsula.

Bengal, Assam, Nipal.

RHINOCEROS SONDAICUS, Cuvier.

Syn.—Rhinoceros sondaicus, Cuvier,

« Warak,” ae Badak,” \ Apud Horsfield.

Rhinoceros javanensis, F. Cuvier, apud Schinz.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula.

Java.

This, as well as the former species, appears to be numerous on the

Malayan Peninsula.

1846. ] the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 263

A two-horned Rhinoceros is stated by the Malays to inhabit, but rare-

ly to leave, the densest jungle. The Museum of the Asiatic Society

possesses a skull, and also a head with the skin on, of Rhinoceros

Sumatranus, Raffles, from the Tenasserim Provinces, in which locality

the existence of the species has been recorded by Dr. Helfer and

Mr. Blyth. This fact would seem to corroborate the statement of

the Malays, and the habitat of Rhinoceros Sumatranus may reasonably

be expected to be hereafter found to extend over the neighbouring Malayan

Peninsula. As such, it has indeed been enumerated by Capt. Begbie,

the author of ‘“‘ Malayan Peninsula,’ &¢c., Madras, 1834. In Lieut.

Col. Low’s History of Tenasserim (Journal Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 3.

1836,) is figured the head of a young Rhinoceros, which, from the con-

siderable protuberance between the eyes, appears to represent a two-

horned, probably the present, species.

Gren.—Tapirus, Linné.

TAPIRUS MALAYANUs, Rafiles.

Syn.—Tapirus malayanus, apud Horsfield.

Tapirus indicus, Fred. Cuvier.

Tapirus sumatranus, Gray.

Me des Chinois, Remusat, young? apud Gray: List.

Tapirus bicolor, Wagner, apud Schinz.

“* Badak,” *‘ Kida Ayer,” “‘Tennw” of the Malays of the Penin-

sula.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula.

Sumatra, Borneo.

The body of a newborn male, found in Province Wellesley in August

1844, was shortly after its death carried over to Pinang. As described

by Colonel Farquhar, it was of a beautiful black velvet colour, with purple

reflections, with numerous small, and other larger, irregular spots on

the body, arranged in longitudinal stripes, above of a rich gamboge,

beneath and on the inner side of the extremities, paler yellow. The

under-lip was white. The shrivelled remains of the black funiculus

umbilicalis were upwards of four inches in length. The fur very short,

dense, and velvety. The separate hairs, of either of the two prevailing

colours, slightly curly.

264 Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting [No. 172.

DIMENSIONS.

Length from the apex of the nose to the root of the tail, 1 foot 10 inches.

», Of the head, Orrin,

,». of the tail, Ou?3 le 2

,, Of the ear, ON 0% 5; 12 3

Diameter of the head from vertex, .. Oh ERR 52

Height of the shoulder, i ba ate hhOh eh 8= §,

haunch, tg wd ‘ we SOQ Ada ARE ag

399 33 33

The animal, from which a sketch was eich on its arrival at Pinang,

was the property of the Rev. R. Panting, a.m. The skin, imperfectly

preserved, has lately been deposited in the Museum of the Asiatic

Society.

On the 16th of May 1845, I obtained a living young female Tapir,

captured in Keddah a few days previously. Though still in its infan-

tile garb, it was older than the preceding. The ground colour was a

brownish-black, like worn-out velvet ; the spots, stripes, and the poste-

rior part of the abdomen were of a dirty-white. The separate hairs were

longer and curly; the hairy ears retained numerous white spots on the

margins and external surface. The lips were blackish, with numerous

short distant bristles, which also appeared round the nostrils, on the

ridge of the nose, above and below the eyes, on the cheeks and on the

throat. Two black mamme were situated between the hind legs, three

and a half inches behind the large naked cicatrix of Funiculus umbilicalis.

DIMENSIONS.

Length from the apex of the nose to the root of the tail, 3 feet 42 inches.

of the head,, ... sie se *: Bitte haere har Yi 3

of the tail,

3°

of the ear,

Diameter of the head from vertex,. .

Height of the shoulder,

99 », haunch,

Greatest circumference round the mene i

Circumference at the root of the ear,

0] WOO] 00) 29

ee i

OD Cy Oo tn Sop

1846. ] the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. | 265

DENTITION.

¢ 6 . 0.0 Ste

Incis. $ Canin. ae Molar, ae

From the first, although fresh from its native wilds, this young Tapir

. shewed a remarkably gentle disposition. The daytime it spent in

sleeping in a dark recess of the portico of my house, though it would

rouse itself if noticed. ‘Towards sunset it became lively, would bathe,

feed, saunter abroad, and with its lengthened nose examine objects

in the way. Within a few days after its arrival, it commenced to

exhibit a marked partiality to the society of man, not indeed to its

keeper in particular, whom it scarcely had discrimination enough to

distinguish, but to any body who happened to notice or caress it.

Towards sunset, it would follow a servant on the green in front of

the house, and punctually imitate his movements, whether standing,

walking, or running. If the man suddenly hid himself, the Tapir

would hasten to the spot where it had lost sight of its leader, look

about in all directions, and, if unsuccessful in discovering him, express

its disappointment by a peculiar loud whistling. On the re-appearance

of the man, it expressed its pleasure by rubbing its side against his

legs, running between them, occasionally giving out a short singular

sound, resembling that produced when the larger wood-peckers tap

the trees, but more sonorous. When of an evening it heard the voices

of people in the verandah above the portico, it exhibited strong marks

of impatience, till let loose, when of its own accord it would, awkward-

ly enough, ascend a flight of stairs leading to the verandah. It would

then quietly lie down at their feet, and by stretching its limbs and shak-

ing its head, express the satisfaction it derived from being caressed ;

and it was only by compulsion that it could be made to leave the

company. Its food consisted of plantains, pine-apples, mangustins,

jambu, leaves of Ficus pipul, sugar-cane, and boiled rice, of which

latter it was particularly fond, if mixed with a little salt. Its drink

was water, and also milk and cocoanut oil, which latter taste the

Tapir possesses in common with the O’rang-iitan. It delighted in

bathing, and was otherwise cleanly. When roaming about the garden,

(its walk was like that of the elephant,) it would select a spot with soft

earth, and like a cat form with its hind legs a small excavation, and

266 Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting [No. 172.

again cover it. The whole body has a peculiar, and by no means offen-

sive exhalation, somewhat resembling that noted of Arctictis Binturong.

Indeed, this is so tenacious, that although the skin of the individual above

described has been preserved more than a twelvemonth, and kept in a

strongly camphorated case, the odour is still perceptible.

On the 27th of June 1845, the subject of the preceding notice

expired after two days’ illness, from inflammation of the lungs, brought

on by the strong southerly winds, prevailing throughout the Straits of

Malacca during the season, which in man produce a slight influenza,

in animals frequently terminating fatally. The few adult Tapirs,

which occasionally have been kept in confinement by residents at Ma-

lacca, have acquired the character of being hardy animals. During the

short period that the present lived in my possession, no perceptible

change appeared in its growth, but a striking alteration took place in its

colours. Nearly all the white spots on the head, nape of the neck, and

back of the ears, gradually disappeared, and the upper part only of the

margin of the ears remained white, which colour it retains in the

adult animal. On the posterior part of the back and sides, the black

and white stripes were in a state of progressing obliteration, their hairs

had faded to a brownish colour, and were about being replaced by a

shorter and less dense fur of the fresh white hairs, which were to form

the characteristic permanent white mark, already appearing in outline,

when death terminated the unfinished process of nature.

Vertebrze ; cervical seven, of which the atlas and epistrophzus are the

largest; dorsal twenty; lumbar four; sacral seven; caudal three.

sternum. The anterior extremity cartilaginous, sharply keeled, arched,

continued over manubrium, composed of two rounded angularly-joined

pieces, as far as the second pair of ribs; corpus composed of five pieces,

of which the two posterior, in a pair, are connected by cartilage.

Coste vere, eight pairs; spurie, twelve pairs = twenty pairs; the

last spurious rib is rudimentary, and absent on the left side.

Femur, five and two-eighth inches long; the large bony sub-trochan-

teric process, described by Sir Everard Home, is developed, though partly

cartilaginous, measuring one inch in length at the base.

Liver of moderate size, each lobe divided into two portions of nearly

equal size. |

Gall-bladder ; none.

1846. | the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 267

Spleen ; tongue-shaped, flattened, with cutting margins, seven and a

half inches in length, one and six-eighth in breadth.

Pancreas ; in a state not to admit of accurate examination.

Kidneys ; three and six-eighth inches in length ; one and six-eighth

in breadth.

Renes succenturiati ; none.

Urinary bladder ; very large.

Stomach ; capacious. Its dimensions in the state in which it appeared,

distended with food, were—

Length along the smaller curvature, .. een 0) feet 5 inches.

bs Ce AMEReALers) 5, a WIL a sgtheng cleat 5

Circumference from cardia round fundus, 1D Geet | ae

“ round pylorus, . Siar ei ee

The internal surface smooth, villous.

Where the duodenum joins the pylorus, it is considerably widened.

Length of the intestinal canal :

Small Intestines, .. ae Wy. .. 27 feet 7 inches.

Large, y S33 a! AY ut PEG GEA 2... G8 ii 59

Cecum, .. at 9 J% das Ren O ORS Oinhony

Average circumference of small, . . 4G A CPOE (RD Bae

Fe re large;}:,. ay ee Oue,, oF SE. §

Czcum sacculated, with a longitudinal band on either side. Distend-

ed with feces as it appeared, the greatest circumference close to the

fundus was one foot one and a half inch.

In the adult Tapir dissected by Sir E. Home, and which was according

to Mr. Yarrell eight feet in length, the relative proportion between the

length of the intestinal canal and that of the body, was as eleven to one.

In the present young female, the relative length of the intestinal canal

is proportionally less than in the adult, being less than as ten to one.

SOLIDUNGULA.

Grn.—Eauus, Linné.

Eavus CABALLUS, Linné.

The horse, ‘“‘ Kuda” of the Malays, appears not to be indigenous in

the Peninsula. The few ponies, which the wealthier use for ordinary

purposes, are imported either from Siam, Burma, or Sumatra. The

Malays either travel by water, or prefer the elephant as a locomotive

more dignified than the horse.

268 Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting [No. 172.

RUMINANTIA.

Gen.—Moscuus, Linné.

Tragutus, Brisson.

Tracutus Kancuit, Gray : List.

Se Chevrotain de Java, Buffon, apud Gray.

Javan Musk, Shaw.

Moschus Palandok, Marsden.

Moschus Kanchil, Raffles.

Pelandok, Raffles,

Moschus fulviventer, Gray.

“ Kanchil” or “ Pelandok’’ of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Singapore, Pinang, Lancavy Islands, Malayan Peninsula.

Sumatra, Java.

In some individuals the back is nearly black. The colour and distri-

bution of the marks of the chest and abdomen are also liable to individual

variations, one of which gave rise to the supposed species: Moschus

Sulviventer. The animal is by the Malays indiscriminately denominated

‘*Kénchil” and ‘‘ Pelandok;” the latter denomination is sometimes par

excellence applied to the young, and this circumstance in all probability

gave rise to the supposed species Moschus Pelandok. The species is

astonishingly numerous. In Prince of Wales’ Island, any number may -

be procured within a short notice, at the rate of one Spanish dollar per

dozen. Knowing the partiality of these deer to the leaves of the sweet

potato plant (Convolvolus batatas,) the Malays either use traps, baited’

with this vegetable, or lie in ambush in moonlight nights in fields where

it is cultivated, and disable the intruders by throwing sticks at their

legs. In confinement, in its native climate, the animal becomes rather

delicate, though it occasionally survives, and even breeds. The female

has four mammee, and one or two young at the time. The new-born

measures eight and six-eighth inches in length, of which the head is

three inches, the tail one inch. The skin of the upper parts is of a pale

blackish colour, scantily covered with short, fine, brown hairs. The

abdomen and inner side of the limbs are pale yellow; the throat and

chest have the dark marks of the adult, but paler. The largest adults

measure from the apex of the nose to the root of the tail, one foot six

and a half inches; the tail three inches in length.

1846.) the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 269

TraGutvus JAvANiIcus, Pallas.

Syn.—Moschus javanicus, Gmelin.

Moschus javanicus, Pallas, apud Raffles.

Napu, Raffles.

Moschus indicus, Gmelin, Rawauera

Cervus javanicus, Osbek, P y-

Moschus Napu, Fred. Cuvier.

“‘ Napu” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula.

Sumatra, Java, Borneo.

On the Malayan Peninsula, the species appears to be far less numerous

than the preceding. The canines of the female are very small. The

four mamme are situated at the posterior part of the abdomen, a little

in front of the hind legs, The anterior pair are half an inch apart; the

posterior two-eighth of an inch apart. The two pairs are half an inch

distant from each other. In an adult female, measuring from the apex of

the nose to the root of the tail two feet, four and two-eighth inches ; the

tail five inches: the intestinal canal was of the following dimensions :

Small Intestines, .. =! ore .- 13 feet 6 inches.

Large ditto, uss By; Fi Ay ere 1 ee

Cecum, .. oy na ou Pee hs SO 3S

The gall-bladder is very large; immediately behind it is situated the

right kidney.

Grn.—Cervus, Linné.

Srytoceros, Hamilton Smith.

Srytoceros Muntsax, H. Smith.

Syn.—Chevreuil des Indes, Allamand.

Cervus Muntjak, Zimmerman, apud Horsfield, Sykes and Elliot.

Cervus Muntjak, Boddaert, B

Cervus vaginalis, Boddaert,

Cervus Muntjak, Schreber,

Cervus Muntjak, Marsden, f

Cervus moschatus, Blainville, >Apud Horsfield.

Cervus subcornutus, Blainville,

Cervus Muntjak? Shreb, apud Raffles,

Cervus Muntjak, Desmarest,

Cervus moschus, Desmarest, ‘y

270 Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting [No. 172.

Cervus aureus, Ham. Smith,

Cervus Philippinus, Ham. Smith,

Cervus albipes, Fred. Cuvier,

Cervus Ratwa, Hodgson,

Apud Gray : List.

Muntjacus vaginalis, Gray: List.

Cervus Muntiac, Linné, apud Schinz.*

‘«* Kidang”’ of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula. —

Java, Sumatra, Banka, Borneo, Tenasserim, Nipal, Assam, Ben-

gal, South Mahratta Country, Dukhun.

In a young male, measuring from the apex of the nose to the root of

the tail three feet and one inch, the tail seven inches; the intestinal

canal was of the following dimensions :

Small Intestines, .. we Re .. 183 feet 10 inches.

Large, sis we xe oe 5: oot 22 apo we ass

Cecum, .. its fis - ax 0 i530 RIB 3;

The right lobe of the liver lies in contact with the right kidney ; the

spleen with the left.

Gall-bladder ; none.

Axis, Hamilton Smith.

Axis MacuLatus, Hamilton Smith.

Syvn.—Axis, Plinius.

Cervus axis, Erxleben, apud Gmelin.

Cervus nudipalpebra, Ogilby, (black Var.)

Axis major, Hodgson, ..-.. .. 4. pApud Gray; List.

Axis minor, Flodssony4) i Wil ali em.

* Risa Bunga” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula, Pinang.

Sumatra, Bengal, Assam, Nipal, Southern Mahratta Country,

Ceylon.

* In ‘“* Nachtrage zum 2ten. Bande,’’ the author suggests that six distinct species

are supposed to lie hid under the denomination of Cervus Muntiac, viz:

1. Cervus styloceros, Schinz, Syn. C. Muntiac, Lin. apud Ogilby. Hab. Hima-

layah.

2. Cervus Ratwa, Hodgson. Hab. Himalayah.

3. Cervus albipes, F. Cuvier. Hab. India.

4, Cervus Muntjac, Raffles and Horsfield. Hab. Java, Sumatra, Banka, Borneo.

5. Cervus Reevesii, Ogilby. Hab. China.

6. Cervus antisiensis, Pucheran. Hab. Andes.

1846. ] the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 271

Sir Stamford Raffles thinks it probable that the Axis in Sumatra has

been introduced from Bengal. It is numerous in Keddah, and at

present in Pinang. But it did not inhabit Prince of Wales’ Island till

one of the last Governors of the late Presidency took the trouble of im-

porting from Bengal some pairs, which were kept in the park adjoining

Government House, (Suffolk House.) When the Presidency of Prince

of Wales’ Island was abolished, and with it all its paraphernalia, ex-

cept the titles of as many of its officers as were necessary to the con-

tinuance of H. M. Court of Judicature, the deer of the quondam Gover-

nor’s park found their way into the jungle, where they have multiplied

to a prodigious extent.

Rusa, Hamilton Smith.

Rusa EQquINA, Hamilton Smith.

Syn.—Cervus equinus, Cuvier.

Cervus Rusa, Raffles.

Rusa etam or Kumbang, Raffles.

« Rusa” or “ Risa étam’’ of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula, Pinang.

Sumatra, Borneo.

The Malayan individuals correspond with the description given by Sir

S. Raffles of Cervus Rusa. The lips are whitish; the posterior part of

the lower, sometimes dark-brown. Round the eyes and the lachrymal

sinus, on the side of the forehead, root of the ears, and on the throat,

the hairs are either uniformly pale ferruginous, or have a subterminal

band of that colour, the effect of which is to impart a pale rusty tint to

these parts. Normally, each horn has three antlers, of which the lower

or anterior, commencing from the burr, is directed outwards till towards

the apex, which turns slightly inward. The second and outward turned

antler commences at the root of the third, and is the shortest of the

three. ‘The third is directed inwards, and is the longest of the three.

In the number, direction, and size of the antlers, numerous individual

variations occur.

According to Mr. Blyth’s observations, Cervus Hippelaphus has,

normally, the third antler much longer than the second; Cervus Aristo-

telis has much larger and more divergent horns, of which the second

and third antlers are about equal. Considering the similarity of colours

272 Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting [No. 172.

and size of Cervus equinus, Hippelaphus, and Aristotelis, Mr. Elliot is pro-

bably right in considering all three as varieties of the great Indian stag,

‘described by Aristotle under the designation of Hippelaphus. (Madras

Journal, 1839. p. 220.), and Cervus Peronii, Cuvier—Cerf du Timor—

may probably be added as a fourth variety.

Panoxia, Gray: List.

PaNoLia AcuTicorNis, Gray: List?

Syn.—Cervus frontalis, McClelland ?

Cervus lyratus, Schinz ?

Hazs.—Malayan Peninsula.

A single skull of a stag, killed in Keddah, has the horns so like those

of the Munneepore animal, that the species might be taken to be identi-

cal, but that the Malays assert theirs to be maned, and of a dark colour,

with white spots, like the Axis. This stag is further described as being

extremely wary, and therefore seldom seen but on heights inaccessible

to man. The skull is of an old male, with the teeth, canines in particu-

lar, much ground. |

Gren.—AnrtTILoPeE, Linné.

NamoruHEDUs, Hamilton Smith.

N#MORHEDUS SUMATRENSIS, Hamilton Smith.

Syn.—Kambing utan, Marsden.

Antilope sumatrensis, Pennant, apud Raffles.

Cambtan, Fred. Cuvier.

Antilope interscapularis, Lichtenstein, apud Schinz.

‘‘Kambing titan” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula.

Sumatra, Tenasserim.

It appears to be numerous on the Malayan Peninsula, but exceedingly

difficult to obtain, as it frequents the steepest hilly localities, and is very

shy and active.

Gren.—Bos, Linné.

Bos cour, Trail.

Syn.—Bos Gaurus, Ham. Smith.

Bison Gaurus, Ham. Smith.

Bos aculeatus, Wagler,

1846, ] the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 273

The Bison, Low: Hist. of Tenasserim.

Bos (Bibos) cavifrons, Hodgson, apud Elliot.

Bos frontalis, Lambert, apud Gray : List. (? ?)

«« Sapi uitan” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Malayan Peninsula.

, Tenasserim, Hindoostan, Assam, Nipal, Southern Mahratta

country.

Numerous in the Malayan Peninsula.

Bos Taurus, Var. Inpicus, Linné.

Syn.— “ Sapi” (S. jantan, Bull; S. betina, Cow) of the Malays of the

Peninsula.

Although this kind of cattle is plentifully bred in some of the Malay-

an countries, it is not in general use, and is less numerous than the

buffalo.

Busauus, Hamilton Smith.

Bupauus ArnEz, Hamilton Smith.

Syn.—Bos indicus, Plinius.

Bos bubalus, Brisson.

Bos arnee, Shaw.

Bubalus ferus Indicus, Hodgson, apud Gray : List.

Bubalus Buffelus, Gray : List.

‘‘ Karbau” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Haz.—Pinang, Singapore, Malayan Peninsula.

Tenasserim, Southern China.

The wild buffalo is reported, but apparently without proof, to be in-

digenous in the Malayan Peninsula. Domesticated, it is very plentiful,

and is the principal draft-cattle employed by the Malays and the

Chinese settlers. The black-coloured, apparently the hardier, is prefer-

red by the Malays; the reddish-white, freckled with brown, is the

greater favourite of the Chinese. Both are very slow, and as observed

by Lieut. Col. Low, Sree and liable to sudden attacks of disease if

worked in the sun.

274 Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting [No. 172.

CETACEA.

HERBIVORA.

Gun.—Haticorz, Llliger.

Haticore Inpicus, F. Cuvier.

Syv.—Dugon, Buffon.

Trichechus Dugong, Erxleben.

Halicore cetacea, Illiger.

Halicore Dugong, Cuvier, apud Raffles.

Halicore Tabernacularum, Riippell.

Dugungus marinus, Tiedemann, apud Schinz.

“ Dayong” or ‘‘ Paramptian Laut” of the Malays of the Penin-

sula.

Hazs.—Singapore, Malayan Peninsula.

Sumatra, Philippine, Molucca and Sunda Islands, New Holland,

Red Sea.

The Duyong appears not to be numerous at Singapore, still less so

to the northward, and has but in few instances been observed in Kwala

Mida, the mouth of the river, which forms the northern boundary of

Province Wellesley.

ORrDINARIA.

Gen.—Detruinus, Linné.

DELPHINUS PLUMBEUS, Dussumier.

Syn.—Delphinus malayanus, Lesson, apud Cuvier.

‘« Paramptian Laut” of the Malays of the Peninsula.

Has.—Coasts of Pinang.

Malabar Coast.

The species, although very numerous, and rather heavy in its move-

ments, is rarely captured, except by chance in fishing stakes. ‘The

stomach, of a single young individual observed, contained remains of

small fishes, apparently Clupee, and Glyphisodon celestinus, Cuvier.

1846.]

the Malayan Peninsula and Islands.

275

Noumericat List of Mammatia inhabiting the Malayan Peninsula and Islands,

Hylobates lar, Ogilby.

al =F iis

— — — —

and other localities.

Malayan Peninsula,

Hylobates agilis, F. Cuvier.| Malayan Peninsula,

— =.

Semnopithecus obscurus,

Reid.

—. —__ —_—

Malayan Peninsula,

Pinang, Singapore.

Siam, Burma, Tenasserim.

Sumatra.

ss ee pee 8

i ee ee ces ee

Tenasserim.

Sumatra, Borneo, Banka.

Sumatra, Java, Banka, Bor-

Semnopithecus albocine- |Malayan Peninsula,

reus, Schinz.

Semnopithecus cristatus, |Pinang, Malayan Pe-

Horsfield. ninsula,

Semnopithecus femoralis, {Malayan Peninsula,

Horsfield.

Cercopithecus cynomolgus, |Pinang, Malayan Pe-

Ogilby. ninsula,

Papio nemestrinus, Ogilby.

rn ee ee

Pinang, Malayan Pe-

ninsula,

Pinang, Malayan Pe-

Nycticebus tardigradus,

neo, Celebes, Timor, Te-

nasserim, Nicobars.

Sumatra, Borneo.

ee ee

Java, Siam, Arracan, ‘Te-

Waterhouse. ninsula, nasserim, Bengal, Silhet,

Assam.

Galeopithecus Temminckii,|Malayan Peninsula|Pelew Islands, Borneo, Java,

Waterhouse. and Islands,

Sumatra, Siam.

i | ee, | ee es

Rhinopoma Hardwickii, Malayan Peninsula,

Gray.

Megaderma spasma, Geot-

rs ee ee

Pinang, Singapore,

froy. Malayan Peninsula,

Nyctinomus tenuis, Hors-| Malayan Peninsula,

field.

Taphozous melanopogon, | Pulo Tikus, Lancavy,

‘Temminck. | Malayan Peninsula,

Taphozous saccolaimus, Pinang,

‘Yemminck.

Rhinolophus affinis, Hors-| Pinang,

field.

Hipposideros diadema, Pinang, Malayan Pe-

Gray? ninsula,

Hipposideros nobilis, Gray. | Pinang, Malayan Pe-

ninsula,

Hipposideros vulgaris, Gray.| Pinang,

Hipposideros murinus, Pinang,

Gray.

Hipposideros galeritus, Can- Pinang,

tor.

Southern Mahratta country,

Calcutta, Allahabad, Agra,

Mirzapore.

————

Ternate, Java.

— ee

Borneo, Java, Sumatra.

Java, Caves of Kannera.

Celebes, Borneo, Java, Su-

matra, Southern India.

a ss ce ED

Java.

Timor.

Amboyna, Timor, Java, Su-

matra.

——— eee

Southern Mahratta country,

Nicobars,

276

owes |

—e

Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting

Vespertilio adversus, Hors-

field ?

ee ee

——

Kiriwoula picta, Gray.

Pinang,

et er

Pinang,

[No. 172.

Java, Calcutta.

es pe ey CRED

Borneo, Java, Sumatra.

es i i pf rs ne re | ee re er es en en ee

Kirivoula tenuis, Gray.

—- eS

Trilatitus Horsfieldii, Gray.

Borneo, Java, Sumatra.

Java, Sumatra.

——S=_— | eee eee ee

Gray.

Malayan Peninsula

and Islands,

ey ey

— —_—__. —_—_—

Pieropus edulis, Geoffroy.

Cynopterus marginatus, F.

Cuvier.

en en

Tupaia ferruginea, Raffles.

Gymnura Rafflesii, Vigors

and Horsfield.

Sorex murinus, Linné.

Helarctos malayanus, Hors-

field,

—_ - - .. --

Arctictis Binturong, Fischer.

—_—————— ee ee

Putorius nudipes, Fred. Cu-

vier.

Malayan Peninsula

and Islands,

Malayan Peninsula

and Islands,

Pinang, Singapore,

Malayan Peninsula,

Singapore,

Pinang,

Malayan Peninsula,

—— ee,

Malayan Peninsula,

Java, Sumatra, Banda, Ben-

gal, Assam.

Java, Sumatra, Southern

Mahratta country, Bengal,

Nipal.

Borneo, Java, Sumatra.

a re es ee OD ee ee ee

Sumatra. ~

Java, Sumatra.

Sumatra, Tenasserim, Assam,

Nipal.

Arracan, Tenasserim, Assam,

Nipal, Bhotan.

Borneo, Sumatra.

ee ee ee er ee eee

a Cn re me ff ee

eae — ——— a

ee Pe a

—— SS OS SO

Luira Barang, Rafiles.

———— ee

Aonyz leptonyz, Gray.

Malayan Peninsula,

—

Malayan Peninsula,

Singapore,

China, Bombay, Southern

Mahratta country.

— ee ee ee

Borneo, Sumatra.

i eee,

Java, Sumatra, Nipal.

— oe, | ee OOOO ee ee ee

Cuon primevus, Hodgson.

———— ee

Viverra Zibetha, Linné.

i ee

Viverra Tangalunga, Gray.

SE SS A

Viverricula malaccensis.

a es es

Prionodon gracilis, Horsf.

Malayan Peninsula,

Pinang, Singapore,

Malayan Peninsula,

Pinang, Singapore,

Malayan Peninsula,

— ee

Malayan Peninsula,

Singapore,

i ee ee

Malayan Peninsula,

Southern Ghiack Siam, Ben-

gal, Khasyah Hills, Nipal.

Amboina, Celebes, Borneo,

Philippine Islands, Suma-

tra.

China, Philippines, Java, Co-

chin China, ‘Tenasserim,

Bengal, Nipal, Hindoostan,

Dukhun, Bombay.

Borneo, Java, Sumatra.

=s eS ed

8 eee ee —_—_—_————

Paguma leucomystaz,

Gray ?

Paguma trivirgata, Gray.

Malayan Peninsula,

Singapore,

Malayan Peninsula,

Singapore,

Sumatra.

'Moluccas, ‘enasserim.

1846.]

46 |Paradozurus musanga,

Gray.

Paradoxurus Derbyanus,

Gray.

Cynogale Benneiti, Gray.

Herpestes javanicus, Des-

marest.

the Malayan Peninsula and Islands.

Pinang,

MalayanPeninsula,

Malayan Peninsula,

Penang, Malayan Pe-

ninsula,

——

nn ee ee |

Herpestes auropunctatus,

Hodgson.

Herpestes griseus, Desma-

rest.

Herpestes brachyurus,

Gray.

Malayan Peninsula,

a a ee

Malayan Peninsula,

Malayan Peninsula.

277

Singapore, | Timor, Borneo, Java, Suma-

tra.

ee Oe

Borneo.

Borneo, Sumatra.

—_

Java.

Bengal, Nipal, Scinde, Af-

ghanistan.

Bengal, Hindoostan, Scinde,

Nipal.

ee, ee ee

i i nc ry es oe

Felis tigris, Linné.

——— EEE EnEEEEEEEEEEEEEEene

Felis leopardus, Schreber.

——. OO

Felis marmorata, Martin.

Malayan Peninsula,

SS SS

Malayan Peninsula.

Ceylon, India.

i rs ee

India.

i i i ss a 9) re se a ee es SS

Felisjavanensis, Desmarest.| Pinang, Malayan Pe-

ninsula,

eS ms me | es es

Felis planiceps, Vigors and| Malayan Peninsula,

Horsfield.

eee ee

Felis domestica.

Sciurus bicolor, Sparrm.

Sciurus Rafflesii, Vigors and

Horsfield.

Sciurus hippurus, 1. Geof-

froy.

Sciurus vittatus, Raffles.

a er

Sciurus nigrovittatus, Hors-

field.

— ee,

Pinang, Malayan Pe-

ninsula,

Malayan Peninsula,

——— eee

Malayan Peninsula,

Pinang, Singapore,

Malayan Peninsula,

—

Malayan Peninsula,

Java, Sumatra ?

—-

Borneo, Sumatra.

Borneo, Java, Sumatra, Siam,

Tenasserim, Assam, Nipal.

Borneo, Java, Canton Pro-

vince.

Java, Sumatra, Assam, Can-

ton Province.

Borneo, Java, Sumatra, Can-

ton Province.

—— ee ee ee

Borneo, Java, Sumatra, Can-

ton Province.

| es en | LS A SL

Sciurus tenuis, Horsfield.

i i se es

Var.

——S= ———————_—

Sciuropterus Horsfieldit.

Waterhouse.

——

—— eee

Malayan Peninsula,

Singapore,

Pinang, Singapore,

MalayanPeninsula,

Malayan Peninsula,

ninsula,

| Borneo, Java, Sumatra, Can-

ton Province.

Pe ey

.|Malayan Peninsula.

SS SSE

ns SG | SS GS SS

Java? Sumatra ?

——— eee

Java.

ee ee | errr

Pinang, Malayan Pe-| Southern Mahratta country,

Bengal, Nipal.

i i nn es ee ee

Mus decumanus, Pallas.

, Cosmopolita.

278

71 |Mus setifer, Horsfield.

72 |Mus rufescens, Gray.

73 | Mus musculus, Linné?

74 |Rhizomys sumatrensis,

Gray.

75 | Hystriz longicauda, Mars-

den.

7 Atherura fasciculata, Cuv.

77 +| Manis javanica, Desmarest.

— ae ee

78 | Elephas indicus, Linné.

79 |Sus indicus, Schinz.

80 |Sus scrofa, Var. Linné.

se ts el ES

81 |Rhinoceros unicornis,

Linné.

82 |Rhinoceros sondaicus, Cuv.

83 | Rhinoceros sumatranus,

Raffles.

84 |Tapirus malayanus,

Raffles.

85 | Equus cabalius, Linné.

86 |Tragulus Kanchil, Gray.

87 | Tragulus javanicus, Pallas.

88 |Styloceros Muntjak, Ham.

Smith.

89 |Awvis maculatus, H. - mith.

90 | Rusa equina, H- Smith.

91 | Panolia acuticornis, Gray ?

92 | Nemorhedus sumatrensis,

Ham. Smith.

Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting

Pinang,

[No. 172.

Borneo, Java, Sumatra, Van

Diemen’s Land.

Dharwar, Madras, Bengal,

Arracan.

a ee | ee

Malayan Peninsula,

——

Malayan Peninsula,

Pinang, Malayan Pe-

ninsula,

Pinang, Malayan Pe-

ninsula,

ee ee

Malayan Peninsula,

Pinang, Singapore,

Lancavy, Malayan

Peninsula,

Malayan Peninsula

and Islands,

es es ee

Malayan Peninsula,

ee ee es SS

Malayan Peninsula,

Introduced in_ the

Malayan Peninsula

and Islands.

Pinang, Singapore,

Lancavy. Malayan

Peninsula,

Malayan Peninsula,

Pinang, Malayan Pe-

ninsula,

Malayan. Peninsula,

Malayan, Peninsula,

China, Moulmein, Assam.

SS ea CE

Borneo, Java, Sumatra.

i i a

Borneo, Java, Sumatra.

Borneo, Burma, Siam, India,

Ceylon.

cr rs rn

Bengal, Nipal, , Southern

Mahratta country.

i ee ee ee

China.

a ee

Bengal, Assam, Nipal.

ee ee es CED Ge Ce

Java.

a en ee a Ge SE ee TS

Sumatra, Tenasserim.

i rs as cr ce ee fs i

a a ee ee | |

ee ee ee

Java, Sumatra.

Borneo, Sumatra, Java.

Borneo, Banka, Java, Suma-

tra, Tenasserim, Nipal,

Assam, Bengal, Southern

Mahratta, Dukhun.

ee ee — —. — SS |

Sumatra, Bengal, Assam,

Nipal, Southern Mahratta

country, Ceylon.

Borneo, Sumatra.

Sumatra, ‘lenasserim.

1846. | the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 279

93 | Bos gour, Trail. Malayan Peninsula, ,Tenasserim, Hindoostan, As-

sam, Nipal, Southern Mah-

ratta country.

94 |Bos taurus, Var. indicus,| Introduced in the Ma-

Lin. layan Countries.

EE ia io

95 |Bubalus arnee, H. Smith. | Ditto.

i i is i scr i ee

96 |Halicore indicus, F. Cuv. |Singapore, Malayan| Philippines, Moluccas, Sun-

Peninsula, da Islands, Sumatra, New

Holland, Red Sea.

i ee ee Se eee | my er ee Se ns ss RS a

97 |Delphinus plumbeus, Dus-| Malayan Seas, Bay of Bengal.

sumier.

Note to Gen. Nyctinomus, p. 9. A male Nyctinomus bengalensis,

Geoffroy, (Syn. Vespertilio plicatus, Buchan.—N. bengalensis, Geoffroy,

apud Horsfield.—Dysopes plicatus, Temminck, apud Schinz,) examined

after the Catalogue had passed through the press, exhibited a true

cecum. The entire length of the animal was 42 inches, of which the

tail measured 13 inch. Extent of the flying membrane : 1 foot 05 inch.

A Ms large ditto, TG ere ie i x

A “: cxcum, - PTS, PTR GO, Feel 0=, »

The cecum is crescent-shaped, anit the concave aia firmly

adhering to the external surface of the small intestine. The convex

curvature presents near the apex a sacculated appearance ; the mem-

branes are thickened. Where the cecum joins, the small intestine and

the rectum are narrowed.

Fort William: Dec. 11th, 1846.

280

Notices and Descriptions of various New or Little Known Species of

Birds. By Ev. Buyru, Curator of the Asiatic Society’s Museum.

[Continued from p. 54, ante.]

In the intervals that elapse between the publication of successive

portions of these notices, it regularly happens that further collections

are received by the Society, and that some additional information is

derived from them relative to groups that had already been treated of. In

the present instance, we have been indebted to Dr. R. Templeton, of

Colombo, for two collections of birds from Ceylon, in which some in-

teresting novelties have been comprised, and much information gained

respecting the ornithology of that island, which of late years has been

very little investigated. Among the species sent is a little Owl, which

appears to be the true Strix castanoptera of Horsfield; one of three

nearly allied Indian species, as follow :—

1. Athene castanopterus, (Horsf.): Strix spadicea, Reinwardt. Entire

mantle and wings uniform deep chesnut-rufous, more or less obscurely

barred with subdued dusky: primaries weak dusky, faintly banded with

rufous on the inner web, and with a series of spots of bright rufous on

the outer web: tail dusky, with eight or nine narrow white or whitish

bars, the last of them terminal : head and neck closely barred with light

rufescent on a dusky ground, and contrasting strongly with the rufous

of the back : breast nearly similar, but the colours deeper; the abdomen

white, with longitudinal dusky streaks; and the vent and lower tail-

coverts pure white: bill pale yellow. Length of wing about five inches.

Three specimens received are essentially quite similar, and a fourth is

mentioned in XIV, 185. Inhabits Ceylon.

2. Alh. malabaricus, nobis : Ath. castanopterus apud nos, doubtfully

cited in XIV, 134, and of Jerdon, Madr. Journ. No. XXXI, 320.

Size of the preceding, or a little shorter in the wing: the head, neck,

and interscapularies, uniformly coloured, of a lightish rufous with nar-

row and close dusky rays; wings the same, but the colours deeper,

and the dusky bands considerably broader: primaries deep rufous, the

three first barred throughout with dusky, the rest mostly immaculate (or

with comparatively obscure bars) for the basal half, and distinctly

barred for the remainder; secondaries with broad distinct bands

throughout, rufous and dusky; and tertiaries with the scapularies

1846. ] Notices and Descriptions of various New, &c. 281

barred rufescent-whitish and dusky, the outermost scapularies having

the large white spots (common to most Owls,) in general conspicuously

developed: the lower-parts are barred throughout, dusky and white on

the belly and flanks, rufous and dusky on the breast, except the vent

and lower tail-coverts, which are spotless white; tail dusky, with eight

or nine whitish bars, somewhat broader than those of the preced-

ing species. This inhabits the Malabar Coast and Travancore ; and the

Society is indebted for specimens of it to Mr. Jerdon.

3. Ath, radiatus, (Tickell) ; Ath. erythropterus, Gould; Noctua perli-

neata, Hodgson ; N. cuculoides (?) apud Jerdon, Catal. Upper-parts

uniformly barred with close rays, rufescent-whitish and dusky; the

wings more distantly barred with the same, but the rufous tinge deeper,

and some of the greater coverts have, in general, conspicuous white

spots; the great alars are still deeper rufous, barred with dusky

throughout, and marked much as in the first species ; lower-parts barred

whitish and light dusky, and the under tail-coverts white as in the

others. This species occurs in most parts of the country, as in the

Himalaya, Upper and Central India, the eastern coast of the Peninsula,

and Mr. Jerdon says ‘‘ Travancore and Malabar ;” but it is probable

that he here refers to Ath. malabaricus, in which case the synonyme of ,

cuculoides apud Jerdon, must be transferred. About Allahabad, as-Dr.

Stewart informs me, it is particularly numerous.

Although the first of these three species accords with the descriptions

of Ath. castanopterus of Java, it may yet prove (upon comparison of

specimens) to be an allied species rather than the same; but it would

not be the only Malayan species that has turned up in Ceylon, and in

no part of Continental India as yet: the same collection contained ex-

amples of Vespertilio pictus, (or Kerivoula picta, apud Gray,) perfectly

identical with Javanese specimens; whereas, from Continental India, I

have only seen a nearly allied species, which I presume to be Kerivoula

Sykesi of Gray. The curious Bittern, Tigrisoma melalophos, (Raftles,)

is sent from Ceylon, and this is new to the fauna of cis-Gangetic India,

though the* Society has received it from Arracan: Kphialtes lempiji of

Ceylon and Malabar is again identical with the species common

throughout the Malay countries; but it has been erroneously identified

with Eph. lettia, (Hodgson,) or the closely allied (if different) Eph.

lettioides v. griseus of Jerdon. Athene castanopterus I have never seen

282 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 172.

from the neighbourhood of the Straits, but Helfer (a very unsafe autho-

rity) mentions it to inhabit the Tenasserim Provinces. Probably the

Ath. badius, Hodgson, from Nepal, mentioned in Mr. G. R. Gray’s Cata-

logue of the British Museum Raptores, but as yet (I believe) undescribed,

pertains to the same little sub-group.

In p. 12, ante, I suggested that Bucco zeylanicus, Gmelin, founded

on the ‘‘ Yellow-cheeked Barbet’ of Brown’s illustrations, would pro-

bably be found to differ from B. caniceps, Franklin, which Mr. Jerdon

had assigned to zeylanicus. There is now more reason to incline to

that naturalist’s opinion, as the B, caniceps is very common in Ceylon,

being rather smaller, on the average, than specimens from Upper India,

as indeed are those of the Peninsula generally, so far as my observations

have hitherto gone,

The Picus ceylonus, Forster, mentioned in a note to p. 18 ante, isa

true Brachypternus, which appears to be as common in Ceylon

as Br. aurantius is in India generally: and as there can be no doubt

of its specifical distinctness, any more than of the distinctness of Tiga

Rafflesiz (p. 16, ante,) from T. tridactyla and its immediate allies, this fact

of the existence of a plurality of decided species of these types—of an

undeniable repetition of their peculiar and marked characters—adds

much to the probability of the more closely allied species—Br. micropus

(XIV, 194), Br. dilutus of Scinde (XIV, 550),—T. Shorei, (Vigors), and

T. intermedia (XIV, 193), being also severally distinct from and not mere

local varieties of Br, aurantius and T. tridactyla. Other examples of this

close affinity occur in Micropternus badius, M. pheoceps, and M. gularis ;

and Mr. Jerdon, in the third No. of his ‘ Illustrations of Indian Ornitho-

logy’, has contended that his Hemicercus cordaius is probably an ana-

logous representative of H. canente, (Lesson), of the countries of the

eastern side of the Bay of Bengal. That he is right in this conjecture is

not improbable ; though the two are absolutely similar in structure, colour-

ing, and markings : but the South of India species appears to be constantly

smaller than its representative on the opposite side of the Bay, Mr. Jer-

don gives the length of wing of the former as three inches and three-quar-

ters, that of a female in the Society’s Museum being only three inches

and a half: but of several specimens received from Arracan and Tenasse-

rim, the length of wing of the males averages four inches, and of the fe-

males three and three-quarters ; the latter being conspicuously larger than

1846. ] or Little Known Species of Birds. 283

the only South of India female that I have to compare them with. Small

as this difference may seem, it is very perceptible in the general size

of the birds ; and ornithologists will form their own opinion as to its value.

In the Hemilophus Hodgsoni, Jerdon, the size of this species of Peninsular

India, exceeds that of the nearly allied H. javensis, Horsfield, v. leuco-

gaster, (Reinw.), of Tenasserim and Malacca. I might mention several

more instances of the kind, but will merely observe that further obser-

vation has confirmed the propriety of separating Caprimulgus albonotatus,

C. macrourus, and C. mahrattensis, (which last occurs in Ceylon,) these

species scarcely differing but in size; also C. monticolus and C. affinis,

but C. arenarius of Burnes’ drawings seems merely to be the nestling

plumage of C. monticolus, to judge from a specimen of the latter

with which the Society has been recently favoured by Dr. Stewart.

To return to the Woodpeckers, Gecinus chlorigaster (ante p. 16,) is an

inhabitant of Ceylon; and this species, though well distinguished in

the colouring of its occiput more particularly, is as closely allied to

G. chloropus, as mutually are many of the approximate races to which

I have been adverting.

Simotes albivertex, nobis (ante p. 19,) is not from Borneo, but from

an islet off the coast of Waigou: and so likewise is the Carpophaga

with knobbed bill, referred to the ‘ Sumatra Pigeon’ of Latham in XIV,

857 ; while the small C. enea, supposed to be from the same region

(Joc. cit.), proves to be from the Neilgherries. What further informa-

tion I have obtained on the Columbide may be reserved till their turn

arrives: but in reference to the remark in a note to XIV, 846, that per-

haps some of the Gourine may prove to have more than twelve caudal

rectrices, I may here mention that Goura (v. Lophyrus), and also the

great Phaps group of Australia (including Leucosarcia, if not also, as I

suspect, Ocyphaps and Petrophassa), possess fourteen—as in Treron,

Carpophaga,* and Ptilinopus ; while Chalcophaps, and apparently Peris-

tera, have only twelve. Of three specimens of Calenas nicobaricus in

the Society’s Museum, all have the tail imperfect ; and it is curious that

* The curious Australian Pigeon, Lopholaimus antarciicus (v. Col. dilopha, Yem., )

which in XIV, 885, I suggested was probably a subgeneric form of Carpophaga, is allied

rather (as I now find from inspection of specimens) to that Carpophaga-like group of

true Columbine, having twelve tail-feathers only, which is referred to Dendrotreron,

Hodgson, in p. 53 ante, but which will bear the prior name Alsocomus of Tickell, as

Col, punicea must also be assigned to it.

284 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 172.

the rectrices of this bird, which are pure white in the adult, are, in the

young of the same, green-glossed black as the wing-primaries : — at

least I presume the species to be the same, the Society's black-tailed

young one being from the Nicobars, and one of the adults from the

Cocos Isles (a group of rocks lying northward of the Andamans,) the

other from the Malayan Peninsula.

Zanclostomus viridirostris, Jerdon, would seem to be a common

species in Ceylon; thus confirming my suspicion (XI, 1096,) of its

being Daniell’s Handee Kootah, as well as the supposed Indian race

(mentioned by Levaillant) of Serisomus cristatus of Madagascar.

Captain Tickell has favoured me with the following description of a

new Spiny-tailed Swift :—

“ Acanthylis sylvatica, Tickell. Entire length, from tip of bill to

end of tail, four inches and a fifth; wing from shoulder to tip four

inches and a half, and reaching an inch and a half beyond the tail.

Form typical : the details being as in Ac. nudipes, (Hodgson), Wiry-

tips to the shafts of the rectrices well developed—sharp and stiff.

Thumb versatile but opposive (as in Ac. nudipes, of which I killed a

fine specimen at Darjeeling*). Colour—Bill, iris, and legs, black. Rictus,

auriculars, chin, throat, and breast, iron-grey, with a dash of ashy- brown.

Belly pure white, the feathers black-shafted. All the upper-parts

black, with dull blue metallic reflections. Remiges brownish-black : tail

and its shafts black. Across the lower back passes a broad defined

space of white, including in fact the whole rump, but not the upper tail-

coverts which are of the same colour as the upper-parts generally.

‘I shot a specimen of this bird so far back as Nov. 1835. It haunts

open cultivated ground in the midst of forest; also the cleared patches

on the sides and summits of the hills [in Central India]. Is common,

but local; gregarious and noisy: being often seen in company with

Cypselus melba. When my duties call me next into the wooded regions

of my jurisdiction, I will do my best to shoot some specimens and send

you the dried skins, as vouchers for the above description.”

Psilorhinus, p. 27, ante. Lord Arthur Hay mentions, in epistold,

—“Itis very curious that though the Red-billed Jay is found alone at

Simla, I should have procured only the Yellow-billed one after leaving

* Mr. Bartlett informs me that he had lately seen a specimen of this Himalayan

bird shot in England, at or near Colchester, in Essex.—E. B.

1846. ] . or Little Known Species of Birds. 285

Jummoo, and in Cachemere.” His lordship’s description of the latter

identifying it with Ps. flavirostris of Darjeeling, while by the “ Red-billed”

he probably means Ps. occipitalis.

Gracula, p. 31, ante. Two species of this genus inhabit Ceylon: one,

the Gr. religiosa (apud nos), of southern India,*—the other new, which

may bear the name |

Gr. ptilogenys, nobis. This has no bare skin on the cheek, but the

occipital lappets are well developed, and the basal half of the lower man-

dible is black: bill moderately strong. Length of wing six inches.

Colouring as in the others.t

Amadina, p. 36, ante. The A. malacca, or ‘“‘ White-breasted Indian

Sparrow” of Edwards, common in Southern India, occurs rarely in

Bengal, mingled in flocks of A. sinensis, or the ‘‘ Chinese Sparrow” of

Edwards ; from which, indeed, it only differs in having the lower-parts

pure white, with the same abdominal black patch: and it is curious that

a third race inhabits the Malayan peninsula, similar to A. sinensis,

excepting in having no black patch on the abdomen; whence the name

malacca is ill applied to the white-bellied bird of Peninsular India.t

* Mr. Jerdon designates this Gr. minor (Madr. Journ. No. XXXI, 134): but if it

be not admitted as Gr. religiosa (vera), aS it is certainly the Hulubes indicus of

Cuvier, it would therefore rank as Gr. indica.

¢ Add, asasynonyme to Sturnia pagodarum, the Turdus melanocephalus, Bahl

(nec Gmelin), Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc. Copenhagen, 1792.—Emberiza bruniceps,

Brandt,—E£. icterica, Eversham ; and Coccothraustes speculigerus, Brandt, is proba-

bly no other than C. carnipes, Hodgson.

t Immediately as the above was consigned to press, Mr. R. W. G. Frith kindly

allowed me the pickings of an extensive Malayan collection just received, wherein

are four species of Amadina, comprising one that I have been unable to identify. The

Malayan peninsula yields, at least, the following six species of this genus of Finches.

1. A. oryzivora, (L.), which deviates a little from the type of all the rest.

2. A. maja, (L.) : Loxia leucocephala, Rafiles: L ferruginosa, Latham; whose ZL,

bicolor is probably the young.

3. A. —— ? The race resembling A. sinensis, except in wanting the black ips

on the abdomen.

4. A. punctularia, (L.): Fringilla nisoria, Tem. Distinguished from dA. undulata,

(Lath.), v. Munia lineoventer, Hodgson, of India, by the whitish-grey on the rump,

upper tail-coverts and tail, which is represented by glistening fulvous in the other.

5. A. molucca (?), v. Munia acuticauda, Hodgson, which is doubtless Mr. Jerdon’s

supposed A. striata (v. deuconota, Tem.,) of the Malayan peninsula. This agrees pretty

well with Latham’s description of A. molucca, except that the striation of the upper-

parts is not mentioned ; Griffith adds, however, ‘‘ rump, and under breast, cross-barred,

black and white.’’ ‘The belly in the Malacca species is pencilled with dusky, but

not the white patch over the rump. Mr. Hodgson’s Nepal specimens merely differ in

286 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 172.

Certhilauda, p. 41, ante. My suggestion that Mr. Jerdon had sent

me a distinct species as his Alauda deva, turns out to be well founded :

the A. deva of his catalogue is a Certhilauda which I have not seen yet ;

and he has recently again obtained the true Alauda with pointed crest,

referred by meto A. malabarica in XIII, 962.

In XIII, 567, it is remarked, that I had not actually compared Ma-

layan with Bengal specimens of Pycnonotus jocosus, but had an impres-

sion that the crimson sub-ocular tuft is considerably less developed in

the former. Dr. Cantor’s rich collection from the Malayan peninsula

comprises several specimens of the bird in question, which is common

at Penang; and it is remarkable that the crimson sub-ocular tuft does

not attain to a third of the length which it does in Indian specimens. In

fine examples of the latter, the longest of the hair-like plumes compos-

ing this ornamental tuft, measure above five-eighths of an inch, passing

considerably beyond the extremities of the white ear-coverts, and im-

pending their upper half; while in equally fine specimens of the Ma-

layan bird, they appear as if truncated, and impend only the basal third

of the white ear-coverts: in other respects the two birds exactly resem-

ble; as does likewise the P. monticolus, (McClelland and Horsfield,)

from the mountains of Assam, which is described to have “a scarlet ring

about the eye, but no tuft beneath this organ.” This, and the Amadina

malacca group, are accordingly further exemplifications of that repetition

in different districts of the Fauna Indica, of the same specific types with

merely a variation of size, or some trivial but constant difference of

colouring, or (as in the Pycnonotus jocosus group) a variation in the

form or degree of development of an ornamental tuft: the specific value

being somewhat paler, and what white remains on the rump appears to be a little

striated ; but they are in very bad condition. A. striata? (v. leuconota?) of India

accords with Latham’s description, except that the white on the rump is not men-

tioned. Its upper-parts, and those of A. molucca (?) of the Malayan peninsula, are

nearly similar; but the lower are very different: the Indian (and Arracan) bird

having the throat to breast inclusive, uniform blackish, and the belly, vent, and flanks,

white ; whereas the Malacca bird has the chin and throat only blackish, the breast

dark brown, with whitish shafts and borders to the feathers, and the belly dull white,

with dusky pencillings.

6. A. leucogastra, nobis, n. s. (?). Size and proportions of A. punctudaria, having

the upper-parts throughout dark brown, with whitish shafts to the feathers more or less

developed ; throat, breast, and flanks, brown-black ; the lower tail-coverts quite black ;

and belly white, narrowing to a point in front: margins of tail-feathers yellow-fulvous :

i and feet blackish in the dry specimens. Individuals vary in the intensity of their

colouring.

1846. ] or Little Known Species of Birds. 287

of which differences will probably be ever a subject of dispute. Ana-

logous slight differences occur in certain of the mammalia, reptiles,

fishes, and insects, of the same regions, which are variously set down

as allied species, or local varieties of the same, as the opinions of in-

dividual naturalists vary: but if the distinctness of such races be not

admitted, there is no demarcating the line between them and what are

conceded on all hands to be allied but distinct species, as every grade

of approximation is abundantly manifested.*

| Rubigula gularis, X1V, 576. This bird is figured by Mr. Jerdon, in

the third No. of his ‘ Illustrations of Indian Ornithology ;’ and besides

the ruby throat, it is both represented and described to have a black

chin-spot, and the tail is represented as greenish like the back. The

following, however, may yet prove to be the female. Length about six

inches and a half; wing two inches and seven-eighths ; tail two and three-

quarters: bill to gape three-quarters of an inch, and tarse five-eighths.

Colour olive-green above, below yellow throughout, sullied with greenish

* The opposite opinion is ably maintained by M. Schlegel, in his ‘ Essay on the

Geographical Distribution of Serpents,’ contained in Dr. Traill’s abridged translation

of Schlegel’s great work on serpents: but that naturalist’s hypothesis of climatal and

local varieties carries him so far as to consider the Himalayan Jay (of course meaning

Garrulus ornatus, v. bispecularis,) as a‘‘ variety’? only of the European species ;

and he states—‘‘ The Paradoxurus typus is spread over Bengal, Siam, Sumatra,

Borneo, Amboyna, Timor, &c., and forms, in these different places, numerous varie-

ties, which are chiefly distinguishable by the tint and distribution of the colours, but

sometimes also differ in size ; in Sumatra, for example, the species is stronger than in

Java; in Java than in Timor, &c,; there appears to exist in several places a variety

with a white tip to the tail; and the individuals from certain parts of the island of

Java have a pale yellow fur, with three stripes down the back.’? Now this amounts,

in fact, to a reduction ofall species that are nearly allied, to the rank of varieties only

of the same one, however different their locale ; and so far as climatal or local influ-

ence is concerned, it happens that several of the supposed ‘‘ varieties’’ of Parodoxu-

_ rus typus co-exist abundantly in the Malayan peninsula, and without intermingling

so far as I have ever seen or heard of, which there can be little doubt they would do

freely, were they really thesame. ‘The white tail-tip is of no consequence whatever,

and occurs not unfrequently in several species of Paradoxurus, without affecting their

other distinctive characters: white feet are also common, and occasionally these animals

are largely pied with white also upon the body. If the different races of Paradoxuri

inhabiting the Malayan peninsula are not to be regarded as species, all discrimina-

tion of species is at an end ; no two naturalists will agree respecting the amount of

specifical variation ; and no confidence can be reposed in any list of names represent-

ing the faunaofaregion. Therefore, (at all events in the present state of knowledge, )

I think it right to distinguish species or permanent races to the fullest practicable ex-

tent; and I even do not see that identity of origin is implied by absolute similarity.

288 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 172.

on the breast and flanks: cap and ear-coverts black, but no black chin-

spot: the tail dusky or blackish, laterally edged with green towards its

base; its four outer feathers having a largish white spot at tip, and the

two central pairs being successively more narrowly tipped with the same.

Bill and feet black. From Ceylon. If new, R. aberrans, nobis; but I

repeat my suspicion of its being the female of R. gularis.

Genus Calamoherpe, Boie. In my notice of the Indian species of

this genus, XIV, 594, I cited C. arundinacea, (Lin.), with a mark of

doubt, in referring to it the Agrobates brunnescens of Jerdon. By the

kindness of H. E. Strickland, Esq., the Society has now been favoured

with a specimen of the European bird, which proves, though very closely

allied, to be certainly a distinct species from its Indian representative.

It is rather larger, with a longer wing, the latter measuring above three

inches and three-quarters; anda good distinction is afforded by-the

European bird having its first primary somewhat longer, if anything,

than the next; whereas the Indian species, which will now rank as

C. brunnescens, (Jerdon,*) has the first primary constantly three-six-

teenths of an inch shorter than the next, the third being, if anything,

longer than the second: the general colouring of the European species

is also rather more intense, and especially the russet hue of the flanks

abdomen, and lower tail-coverts, is considerably more developed.

Another result for which we are indebted to the fine British collec-

tions just received from Mr. Strickland,—Mr. Kirtland, of the Ashmiolean

Museum, Oxford,—Mr. Bartlett, of London,—and Mr. W. Davison, of

the Alnwick Museum,—is that the British Nuthatch is a different species

from that bearing the same name of Sitta europea in Norway, which

latter Scandinavian bird is doubtless the true 8. europea of Linnzus.

The Norwegian Nuthatch has the whole under-parts white, with the ex-

ception of the deep russet hue of the flanks and variegating the lower

tail-coverts, which is the same in both species.t In other respects they

resemble; but the difference is as marked as between various acknow-

ledged species of Budytes, or the Motacilla alba and M. Yarrellizt, &c. ;

* Provided, however, that it also proves distinct from C. olivetum (? or olivarum ? ),

Strickland, another allied species which that gentleman procured in Greece, and which

is figured in Gould’s ‘ Birds of Europe ;’ but no description of Mr. Strickland’s bird is

here accessible.

t Some specimens have an exceedingly faint tinge of fulvous on the abdomen only.

1846. ] or Little Known Species of Birds. 289

and a Himalayan Nuthatch is equally approximate (S. cinnamoventris,

nobis, considered to be probably the §. himalayana, J. & S., in XIV,

579), this having merely the deep russet of the flanks spread over the

whole under-parts of the male, and similarly diffused but much paler

in the female,—the chin and sides of the throat below the ear-coverts

being alone white, except the white variegation of the lower tail-coverts

in which it resembles the two allied European species under consider-

ation; another very slight distinction of this Himalayan Nuthatch

appears also to be constant, namely that the outermost tail-feather has

either no white, or the merest trace of white, on its exterior web: but

its affinity with the two western European species is so close, that if the

latter are held to be varieties of the same, so also must the Himalayan

bird, notwithstanding that its deep ferruginous hue is as much developed

as in S. castaneoventris, though still not so dark as in that smaller and

slender-billed species of the hilly parts of India generally. Referring

to the notice of 8. europea in the Dict. Class., I observe that the British

Nuthatch is there described, and hence infer that it is the species inha-

biting France ; the Scandinavian bird being probably confined to the north

of Europe ;: and presuming that the latter is true S. europea, Lin., I pro-

pose for the British species the name Sitta affinis.*

Passing now to groups which have not yet fallen under review, I shall

commence with that which should have received the name

Muscicapide. The Flycatchers (Muscicapide of authors) are an as-

semblage from different natural families of birds, many of which are

little connected by the physiological proximity we style affinity, but

by analogy rather, or similarity of external adaptations to a particular

mode of life. A large proportion of those of the Old World appertain

strictly to the great group, branching off from the Thrushes, which is

now currently known by the name Savicoline. Of these I have many

species to describe; but the group under consideration is altogether

distinct from the Flycatching Sazicoline, and though the different

* It has lately been suggested to me that S. nipalensis, Hodgson, is identical with the

British Nuthatch ; but it is a widely different species, distinguished by its much smal:

ler size, proportionally very short bill, and by the belly, flanks, vent, and lower tail-

coverts, being uniform light ferruginous : in some (males?), the throat and fore-neck

are white, passing laterally into pale buff; while in others (females ?), a light buffy tint

pervades the whole throat and fore-neck. ‘Ihe two outermost tail-feathers only, on

each side, are marked with white.

2@Q

290 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No 3:72:

Indian genera have all the Muscicapa adaptations fully developed, it

branches off to such forms as Piezoriynchus and Monarcha of Australia,

wherein those particular adaptations are much reduced. At the head

of the group may be placed the Tchitree; nearly allied to which are the

Myiagre of Swainson, as exemplified by M. cerulea, (Vieillot), of

India (which is Musc. occipitalis, Vigors, and the female—M. ceruleo-

cephala of Sykes, nec M. cyanocephala, Gm., and ‘ Azure-headed

Flycatcher’ of Latham.*) As seen alive, or in the recent state, the

approximation of Myiagra cerulea to Tchitrea paradisi is extremely

close: there is a near resemblance in general structure; the same deli-

cate blue bill, which loses its colour a few hours after death; and the

lengthened occipital crest of the Paradise Flycatcher is represented by

the short velvety occipital tuft of the other, the plumelets of which

are similarly erected: even the black pectoral cincture of Mytagra

cerulea defines the boundary of the black throat and fore-neck of Tchitrea

paradisi. Allied to these, again, we have Leucocerca, Sw.f (the Indian

species of which are referred to true Rhipidura in XII, 935): and Rhi-

pidura (vera), v. Chelidorhynr, Hodgson, XII, 936, almost equally allied

to Leucocerca and Cryptolopha, shews that the last-named genus comes

also under the present series. The Indian Cryptolopha is Musc. griseo-

capilla, Vieillot, (apud Griffith, An. Kingd. VI, 343,) and was figured

by Mr. Swainson as Platyrhynchus ceylonensis, afterwards altered by

him to Cryptolopha poiocephala. It is also Muscicapa nitida, var A, of

Latham. Its real name will therefore be, I believe, Cr. griseocapilia.

* The type of this genus is M. plumbea, the male of which=Muscicapa leucogasira,

nobis, XIII, 336, and the female is the supposed female of my M. rubecula, loc. cit.,

which—Myiagra rubeculoides, Vigors and Horsfield : but the supposed male of my 1.

rubecula would seem to be the female of another species, to which may probably also

be referred the Platyrhynchus rufiventris of Vieillot. That I did not recognise the

Myiagra plumbea, was owing to the overcoloured figure of this bird in both editions

of Lewin’s work. .

t+ The name Leucocerca is not felicitous, as shewn by Mr. Swainson’s own ZL. lati-

cauda, ‘‘ remarkable for its broad and perfectly black tail.’ ( Nat. Libr., ‘Flycatchers.’ )

The Society has also a species from Java or the Moluccas, with a wholly rufous tail.

The common species of Lower Bengal, ZL. fuscoventris, (Franklin), was subsequently

named Muse. (Rhipidura) sannio, by M. Sundevall; and Mr. Strickland, in referring

the latter appellation to Franklin’s species, erroneously adds Z. pectoralis, Jerdon, as

a synonyme. J. fuscoventris is the ‘ Broad-tailed Flycatcher’ of Latham, and ZL.

albofrontata, the ‘ White-browed Flycatcher’ of that author.

1846. ] or Little Known Species of Birds. 291

This bird is generally distributed over all India, from the Himalaya to

Ceylon, and it is common enough in mango groves in Lower Bengal.

Of the Tchitree, 1 am acquainted with three Asiatic species which

have the middle tail-feathers elongated, and the Muscipeta atrocaudata

of Eyton is perhaps a fourth.

1. Tch. paradisi, (L.), the fully mature bird : Muscicapa indica, Stephens,

and M. castanea,* 'Tem., the once moulted bird.t It is not at all uncom-

mon to get specimens of this bird in a transitional state of plumage,

variously intermediate ta the phases above referred to; and not merely

when moulting from the rufous to the white garb, but a variously in-

termediate dress is occasionally put forth. Thus, among a number of

specimens before me, one white male has a considerable intermixture

of rufous on many of its back and rump feathers: another is almost

unmixed rufous above, and pure white below; some of the upper tail-

' coverts are white, and there is a streak of the same on one of the mid-

dle caudal feathers: a female is very similar to the last, but has one

primary on each wing—and not the corresponding feathers—white-

edged: another and remarkably fine rufous male has a single white

dorsal feather only : and another again has only a single outermost

caudal feather chiefly white, with a black outer margin. Females do

not appear to assume the white dress until they are several years old ;

and it is usual, therefore, to see a white male paired with a rufous

female: but, in general, the females have the whole neck and throat

glossy-black, like the male, though in some the lower portion of the

black passes into grey, and rarely the whole throat is ashy, with the

lower half of the neck behind. In adults of either sex, the crest-feathers

appear never to be under an inch in length, and vary from that to one and

a quarter: but the nestling-bird is crestless, and has the head of a pale

dull chesnut, with the clothing feathers altogether extremely downy

and unsubstantial. Lastly, the black exterior margin to the caudal

feathers occurs only in the white or fully mature livery, and the

elongated central tail-feathers are never thus margined (as in the next

species), but have a black shaft for about half their length. This species

is more or less common throughout India, from the Himalaya to Ceylon.

* Perhaps, however, this name belongs rather to the next, or common Malayan,

species.

t¢ Musc. mutata of India, Lath., can only refer to the same-

292 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 172,

2. Ich. affinis, A. Hay, MS.: Malayan Tch. paradisi, auctorum ;

Muscipeta castanea (?), Temminck. In any state of plumage, this

species may be distinguished from the last by having the crest never

more than seven-eighths of an inch in length (generally less), and

the feathers which compose the crest are broader and much more com-

mingled into a uniform smooth surface than in the other. The middle

tail-feathers of the male rarely, if ever, attain a foot in length ; where-

as in the Indian species, they often exceed fifteen inches; in form,

too, they are very much narrower than in Tech. paradisi (vera).

The adult male is white, with glossy-black head and neck, as in

the other; but the black on the shafts of the feathers of the upper

plumage generally, is much more developed; and the middle caudal

feathers are black-shafted throughout their whole length, or nearly so, and

are more or less conspicuously margined throughout, both externally and

internally, with black, often broadly so throughout. A mature female

received from Malacca is wholly white, with black head and nape, and

black centres of feathers and edges of caudals, as in the male; the cau-

dals being however broad, instead of narrow as in the other sex.

Young males in the chesnut plumage seem never to have any black on

the throat and fore-neck, which, with the nape, are wholly ash-colour,

as In some young females of Tch. paradisi; these rufous males, and also

the younger rufous females, have little or no trace of the black centres to

the feathers,—but in older rufous females the latter are well developed on.

the tertiaries, and the ash-colour of the nape, throat, breast and flanks,

is very dark* ; the inner portion of the large alars, which in the corres-

ponding plumage of the Indian species is commonly chesnut throughout,

is in its Malayan relative always dusky black. This species is also

smaller than Tch. paradisi. It is common in the Malayan peninsula

the Tenasserim Provinces, and occurs rarely in Arracan; replacing Th.

paradisi of India Proper.

The advance from rufous to white occurs in several other species ; as

somewhat fantastically shewn in one or two of Levaillant’s plates : and

it is also instanced by Mr. Swainson’s figure of his Muscipeta rufiventris,

in the ‘ Birdsof western Africa,’ Nat. Libr., wherein an admixture of

white is exhibited upon the wing of a rufous specimen.

* The Society has one chesnut female with shining black throat and fore-neck, as

commonly occurs in Tech, paradisi.

1846. ] or Little Known Species of Birds. 293

~ Teh. leucogaster, (Swainson), Nat. Libr., ‘ Flycatchers,’—is an alleged

species founded on (apparently) a female specimen, which was in the col-

lection formed in India by the Countess of Dalhousie. It would seem to

agree with Tch. affinis (in the rufous dress), except in its larger size,

measuring ‘‘ no less than five inches from the tip of the bill to the

vent,” and in having the posterior crest-feathers long and narrow, as in

Tch. paradisi. If a true species, the form of the tail would indicate that

the central caudal feathers of the male are elongated ; which is not the

case in all the genus, for instance in the small Tch. borbonica of the Isle

of France, the general structure of which comes very close upon

Myiagra.

Tch. atrocaudata, (Eyton), P. Z. S. 1839, p. 102. ** Toto corpore pur-

pureo-atro, sed pectore imo abdomineque albis. Long. tot. 9 uncias.”

Hab. Malacca. Lord Arthur Hay possesses what I take to be a mature

female of this species, having the head and neck glossy black, the rest

of the upper parts beautiful glossy maronne, or deep chesnut-bay, with

a very strong maronne gloss,—and of the lower-parts dark ash-colour,

passing to white towards the vent and lower tail-coverts, which last

are tinged with chesnut: shafts of the tertiaries black (as in Tech.

affinis) ; and the primaries and secondaries dusky-black, margined ex-

ternally with dark rufous; axillaries white: the central caudal feathers

are scarcely developed beyond the rest; and the crest is still shorter

than in Tech. affinis. Young females are scarcely distinguishable from

those of Tch. affinis; but have a shorter crest, the middle tail-feathers

about equal with the rest on either side, and more or less of the beau-

tiful maronne gloss is generally perceptible. In this state of plumage,

they constitute Muscipeta atriceps, nobis, XI, 203, 790.

Tch. princeps, (Tem.), p. c. 584. This superb species inhabits China

and Japan. Lord Arthur Hay has received it from Hong Kong*: and

I should acknowledge that I have been indebted to his lordship for the

loan of some specimens of Tch. affinis, &c., which first enabled me to

come to some understanding of these different species.

In immediate proximity to Tchitrea, we have the new genus Philen-

toma of Eyton, of which two species inhabit the Malayan peninsula;

* Muscipeta atrocaudata, Eyton?, apud Lord A. Hay, Madr. Journ. No. XXXI,

159, His lordship, however, does not agree with me in the above identification of his

specimen with Tch. princeps. Perhaps Tch. atrocaudata may, indeed, yet prove to

be no other than Tch. princeps.

294 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 172.

viz. Ph. pectorale (Muscicapa pectoralis, A. Hay, Madr. Journ. No.

XXXI, 161,) and Ph. plumosum (vide p. 10, ante): this is a genus which

I had long instituted in MS., when I found that I had been anticipated in

publication by Mr. Eyton. ;

Dicruride. Drongos, or ‘King Crows.’ A very distinct group,

one marked character of which is to have constantly but ten tail-fea-.

thers. An attempt was made to reduce the synonymes of the Asiatic

species in XI, 799 et seg.; and Mr. Strickland made a further attempt

in the Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. 1844, p. 36. Mr. G. R. Gray, again,

has more recently tried his hand at the whole series of them, and

he adds the genera Artamus and Irena to his Ampeltde Dicrurine, in

which I cannot think of following him. The generic subdivisions I

would retain the same as formerly. .

1. Chibia hottentota ; Corvus hotientotus, Lin. : Edolius barbatus, Gray ;

E. crishna, Gould; Criniger splendens, Tickell; Chibia casia, Hodgson.

Common in Bengal, Nepal, Assam,.Sylhet, and in Central India; rarer in

Arracan ; and partially distributed in S. India. This beautiful bird is re-

markable for the arched form of its bill, which is high and carinate at

base, and attenuates gradually to a point, with scarcely a trace of emargi-

nation. It has a frontal crest of a few hair-like stems, which hang over

the nape; and its outermost tail-feathers are very much twisted over,

forming a singular ornament.

2. Chaptia enea, (Vieillot): Dicrurus eratus, Stephens ; Ch. muscipe-

toides, Hodgson: Butchanga of the Bengallees. This beautiful species

resembles the last in the character and lustre of its feathers, but has

the general form of a Flycatcher. It is a loud and very respectable

songster. Inhabits India generally.

3. Ch. malayensis, A. Hay. Very similar to the last in plumage, but

the size inferior, the tail much less deeply forked, the bill deeper, and a

considerable development of the peculiar crest impending its base, of the

next species. Lord Arthur Hay will describe it more particularly in the

‘ Madras Journal.’ From Malacca.

4. Bhringa remifer, (Tem.): Bh. tectirostris, Hodgson; Edolius

rangonensis apud Horsfield, from Assam. This is peculiarly a hill

species, common in the eastern Himalaya, and extending to the moun-

tains of Assam, Sylhet, and Arracan. It much resembles the preceding

in the general character and lustre of its plumage, but has a nearly

1846.] . or Little Known Species of Birds. 295

square tail, with the stems of the outermost feathers excessively elongated

beyond the rest, and barbed only for the terminal four inches (or there-

abouts), nearly equally so in both webs, and this barbed portion is not

twisted as in the following species; the stem, however, which is much

smoother or more completely barbless than in the others, takes half a

turn, so that the barbed tips remain vertical to the axis of the body,

with the upper side inwards.

We come now to the Edolii, as I restrict this division: and are pre-

sented with a series of species closely allied in other respects, but

shewing every gradation in the degree of development of frontal crest,

from the total absence of such an ornament, to one flowing backward

over the occiput. Their synonyme, as may be supposed, is much

involved. All have a moderately furcate tail, with the stems of its

outermost feathers prolonged and naked for a considerable space, and

broadly barbed on the inner side towards the extremity ; the stem how-

ever giving one twist, so that this inner web appears to be the outer

one : in younger specimens, the inner side has conspicuously a short

web throughout its length (which is considerably less than in mature

birds), and the rudiment of this inner web is seen, upon close inspection,

in adults, as also a very slight rudiment of an outer web, which latter

becomes further developed towards the extreme tip of the feather. Fi-

nally, the barbed tip is more or less twisted inwards, and has

always its inferior side uppermost. It is worthy of remark, that the

crested birds are successively larger as the crest becomes more deve-

loped ; while the crestless species are smallest : also, that the latter have

the longest and most spirated outer tail-feathers ; while in the former,

these are successively shorter and less spirated.

5. E. malabaroides ; Chibia malabaroides, Hodgson, Ind. Rev. 1837,

p. 325: Lanius malabaricus, as figured by Latham and Shaw, but not

LL. malabaricus as described by Latham from Sonnerat: EL. grandis apud

nos, XI, 170, and Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. XIV, 46. In this species, the

frontal plumes attain a length of two inches and a half, and flow back-

ward over and beyond the occiput. The hackles of the neck are also

decidedly more elongated than in the others. Length of wing com-

monly six inches and three-quarters. Inhabits Nepal, Tipperah, and

the Tenasserim Provinces.

296 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 172.

6. E. grandis, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1836, p. 5: #. bengalensis,

A. Hay, MS. Crest-feathers attaining to an inch and a half, or in very

fine specimens a trifle more, and reaching to the occiput, but scarcely

ever overhanging it.* Fine specimens are of equal size with the pre-

ceding race ; though, in general, the present one is rather smaller. It

is common in Assam and Arracan, and occurs in the Bengal Soonder-

buns.

7. E. paradiseus ; Cuculus paradiseus, Lin.: Dicrurus platurus, Vieil-

lot; Edolius retifer, Tem. ; E. cristatellus, nobis, XI, 171; H. interme-

dius, Lesson, apud G. R. Gray. This is the common species of the Te-

nasserim provinces, with crest generally from an inch to an inch and

a quarter long, and the, wing usually six inches and a quarter. It is not

well distinguished from the last; but when a number of specimens are

seen together, with a corresponding series of the Arracan bird, the aver-

age size and development of the crest-feathers of the present race is

shewn to be inferior, and the tendency of the crest is always to curve

back more abruptly.

Two specimens from southern India (locality not mentioned), with

which the Society has been favoured by Mr. Jerdon, do not—at least that

I can perceive—differ in any respect from the common Tenasserim race ;

but Mr. Jerdon informs me, that he possesses three Hdolit from the

Indian peninsula,—‘‘ one from Malabar, one from the Eastern Ghats,

and one from Goomsoor. This last (Z. orisse),” he adds, “has the

bill much smaller than in #. dentirostris of the Eastern Ghats. ‘The

Malabar species is crested, and therefore does not correspond with Son-

nerat’s figure’ below’ referred to.

8. EH. malabaricus, (Scopoli), founded on le Grand Gobe-mouche de la

cote de Malabar of Sonnerat: E. rangonensis, Gould. That two races

even here remain to be distinguished is still my suspicion, one being the

bird described as H. rangonensis in XI, 172, and represented in the

plate to XI, 802, figs. 8 and 9; the other, the bird of Sonnerat, devoid

of the slightest trace of a frontal crest, and of which (if I am not greatly

mistaken) I saw a Singapore specimen in the collection of a French

gentleman some time ago, who forwarded that collection to Paris be-

* Mr. Gould, in his description of £. grandis, states—‘*‘ The recurved feathers of

the upper part of the head measure an inch and a half in length.”’

1846.] or Little Known Species of Birds. 207

fore I had examined it more particularly, as it was my intention to have

done. That such a crestless Hdolius exists, however, in Peninsular

India is extremely doubtful.* _

In fine, I should not now be surprised if a most complete gradation of

specimens from the E. malabaroides of Nepal, with frontal crest two inches

and a half long, to the entirely crestless bird figured by Sonnerat, should

prove to be obtainable (as we proceed southward) in the countries lying

eastward of the Bay of Bengal; and sucha gradation would, I think, be

due to the intermixture of a succession of allied races, rather than to clima-

tal or local variation of the same aboriginal race: such intermixture

decidedly taking place between Coracias indica and C. affinis, and be-

tween Treron phenicoptera and Tr. chlorigaster, as also between the

different Kalidge Pheasants (as I shall take another opportunity of

shewing)t. The Hdoli of peninsular India, I am not yet sufficiently

acquainted with.

9. Dicrurus edoliformis, nobis, n. s. This well marked species

would seem to be a common bird in Ceylon. It much resembles the

ordinary sub-crested bird of the Malayan peninsula, except that its tail

is formed as in D. macrocercus, the caudal feathers being however some-

what broader. Three specimens are quite similar. Length of wing

five inches and three-eighths, of middle tail-feathers five inches, the out-

ermost an inch and a half, to an inch and three-quarters more; bill to

gape an inch and three-eighths ; and tarse an inch. The form of bill and

plumage is as in E. malabaricus, the frontal crest being rather more de-

veloped than in the next species.

10. D. viridescens, Gould, vide XI, 173 and 802, figs. 10 and 11.

Tail almost quadrate, with but a slightly furcate tendency. Both this

and the preceding are, in fact, Hdolii, with the outermost tail-feathers

not prolonged as in that series of birds.

* Since the above was written, the Society has been favoured by Mr. E. Lindstedt

with a fine specimen of an Edolius from Malacca, having a frontal crest half an inch

in length; and I feel doubtful whether this and other Malacca specimens can be safely

identified with the bird having very long and very spiral outer tail-feathers, noticed in

the description of Z. rangonensis, XI, 172, and the bill of which is figured at p. 802,

nos. 8 and 9.

¢ Corvus corone and C. cornix, and Motacilla lugubris and M. alba (apud Tem-

minck), afford similar cases of intermixture of wild races in Europe. The Society’s

Museum contains a specimen of what is certainly the hybrid between Corvus corone

and C. cornix, received from Norway; and we have also the well known hybrid be-

tween Tetrao urogallus and T. tetrix, from the same country.

2 Rk

298 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 172.

11. D. balicassius ; Corvus balicassius, Lin.: Oriolus furcatus, Gme-

lin, apud G. R. Gray; Bhuchanga annectans, Hodgson ; Dicrurus affnis,

nobis, XI, 174; Corvus afer, Licht.; and C. assimilis, Bechst., apud G.

R. Gray. Inhabits the Malay countries, and occurs also in Nepal.*

The Australian species referred to this by Messrs. Vigors and Horsfield,

is the D. bracteatus, Gould.

12. D. macrocercus, Vieillot: Muscicapa biloba, Licht.; D. indicus,

Stephens, and also of Hodgson, As. Res. XVIII, described and figured in

part II; likewise Bhuchanga albirictus, Hodgson, Ind. Rev. 1837, p. 326:

Edolius forficatus, Horsfield (apud Strickland, in epistold) ; D. balicas-

sius apud Sykes and Jerdon, also apud nos, XI, 174; and D. fingah

apud nos (passim). ‘The common Fingah, or ‘ King Crow,’ of India

generally.

13. D. longicaudatus, A. Hay: D. macrocercus apud Jerdon, et nos

passim: Neel Fingah of the Bengallees ; described in Ann. Mag. Nat.

Hist. 1844, p. 46. Inhabits India generally, but is much less common

than D. macrocercus. :

14. D. cerulescens, (Lin.): Lanius Fingah, Shaw: both founded on

Edwards’ figure. Described in Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. 1844, p. 47. Not

common in Lower Bengal. :

15. D. leucopygialis, nobis, n. s. Similar to the last but smaller ; the

tip of the upper mandible (it would seem constantly) more produced ;

and the white confined to the lower tail-coverts, the abdominal region

being merely somewhat paler than the breast. Length of wing five

inches and three-eighths. This appears to be a common species in

Ceylon.

‘16. D. intermedius, nobis, n.s. Also closely allied to D. cerules-

cens, but having no white whatever on the under- parts, which are dark-

er than the throat and breast of D. cerulescens, and have a faint steel-

blue gloss. The upper-parts are also glossed with steel-blue instead of

steel-green. Length of wing five inches, of middle tail-feathers three

and a half, and of outermost tail-feathers an inch and five-eighths

more. From Penang. In general aspect intermediate to D. cerules-

cens and D. longicaudatus.

* Captain Lewis took a specimen at sea, when within a few leagues of one of the

Nicobar Islands.

1846. ] or Little Known Species of Birds. 299

17. D. cineraceus, (Horsf.) :—leucopheus, Vieillot ;—ceylonensis,

Stephens. Lord Arthur Hay has presented the Society with a Malacca

example of this species. Its length, to tip of middle tail-feathers, is

about ten inches, the outermost exceeding them by about an inch, and

the tail-fork much divaricated ; wing five inches and three-quarters :

bill as in D. longicaudatus and D. cerulescens, but less carinate above,

especially towards its base: general plumage deep ash-grey, passing to

blackish just over the beak, also on the exterior web of the outermost

tail-feathers and on the wing-primaries ; ear-coverts, and around the

eye, with the vent and lower tail-coverts, albescent grey: bill and feet

_ black.

Respecting the remaining semi-described species of oriental Dicruri-

de, I have no information to contribute.

Artamus, Vieillot : Ocypterus, Cuv.; Leptopteryx, Horsfield. 1 do not

range this very peculiar genus here from any belief in its affinity for the

Dicruride, but simply because I have no idea where else to place it. It

is chiefly an Australian group, though one species inhabits the Philip-

pines, another Java, and a third occurs throughout India. This is the

A. fuscus, Vieillot, and Ocypterus' rufiventer of Valenciennes, referred to

O. leucorhynchos in P. Z. S. 1839, pwl58. It is also the Murasiny*

Chatterer, and Brown-coloured Swallow, var. A, of Latham. An allied

form, the Analcipus hirundinaceus, Swainson, was erroneously assign-

ed to India by that author.f A. fuscus has quite the same habits

as the various Australian species observed by Gould: except that

I could never hear of its clustering in the very singular manner

stated of A. sordidus ; i. e. a number of them clinging together, like

a swarm of bees, even to the size of a bushel-measure, pendent

from a high and bare branch of a tree. In other respects, Mr. Gould’s

description of the habits of A. sordidus might be transferred to the

Indian species. Wherever a high tree rises above its fellows, and projects

a bare or dead branch commanding a wide view around, there may

commonly be seen a party of these birds, one minute sitting together

in a close row, anon sallying forth in quest of insects, and soon return-

ing (each separately and independent of the movements of the rest,) to

alight and perch together as before. Yet they are not very common,

* Mispelt Murasing.

t Vide p, 45, ante.

300 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 172.

but the parties are met with here and there, sometimes at long inter-

vals through a tract of favourable country ; but wherever they are seen, a

number of specimens may be procured with the greatest facility.

Laniade. Of the true Shrikes ( Lanius ), the following Indian species

may be enumerated.

1. L. lahtora, Sykes; L. excubitor, var. C, Latham ; Doodea lahtora

(‘ Milky Shrike’), Hind. This differs from JL. excubitor in having a

narrow black frontal band, and in the secondaries having their whole

inner webs, and a broad tip and margin to the terminal half of their

outer webs, white. It does not seem to occur in Lower Bengal; nor

have I seen it from the Himalaya, or from the countries eastward : but

it is of general occurrence on the plains of Upper India and the Northern

portion of the peninsula, extending to Scinde, and it is hikewise found

at Rajmahl.

‘here is a remarkable specimen in the Museum, with the habitat of

which I am unacquainted, and which is probably not Indian: but it

seems to be a new species, and as such may be here described :—

EL. longipennis, nobis. A large grey Shrike, with a fine blush on the

under-parts, a very broad black frontal band, and singularly long

straight wings, having the first primary very short, and the second near-

ly as long as the third. It is, therefore, a Lanius of Vigors, as opposed

to his Collurio; to which latter all the other Indian species belong,

even L. Hardwickit. Length about eight inches and a half, of wing

four arid three-quarters, its first primary but seven-eighths of an inch ;

and middle tail-feathers three and three-quarters, the outermost three-

quarters less: bill to gape seven-eighths ; and tarse an inch. Upper-

parts ash-grey, darker and less pure than in L. ercubitor and L. lahtora,

except over the rump; throat, middle of belly, and lower tail-coverts,

white ; the rest of the under-parts subdued white, with a roseate blush ;

broad frontal band to a level with the eyes, and streak comprising the

ear-coverts, black ; wings and tail dull black; the basal third of the

primaries white, forming a wing-band ; tertiaries slightly tipped with

the same; and outermost tail-feathers wholly white, the penultimate

with only a dark spot on its inner web, and a dark shaft, with a narrow

contiguous stripe on its outer web, and the two next tail-feathers white

at base and tip ; the ante-penultimate more broadly so. Bill black, with

white spot at extreme base of lower mandible; and legs brown-black.

1846. } or Little Known Species of Birds. 301

The following is a series of allied species, certain of which have not

hitherto been distinguished. -

L. schach, Lin.: L. bentet, Horsfield, Lin. Trans. XIII, 144; Lesson,

in Belanger’s ‘ Voyage.’ Length eleven inches or less, of wing four and

one-eighth, and of middle tail-feathers five inches to five and three-

quarters, the outermost an inch and three-quarters to two inches short-

er. Head and neck ashy, passing to whitish on the vertex, tinged

with rufous on the back, and passing to bright light rufous on the rump,

upper tail-coverts, scapularies, and flanks: lower-parts delicate rufous-

white, whitest on the throat and middle of belly : a very broad frontal

band, and streak, through the eyes, comprising the ear-coverts, deep

black : wings also black, with rufescent-whitish margins to the tertiaries,

and white edge anteriorly: and the tail black, with rufescent-white tips

often obsolete on its middle feathers, and successively more developed to

the outermost ; the two or three outside feathers merely blackish, and

margined round with light rufescent, which colour predominates on the

outermost feather of all. Described from three Chusan specimens, which

seem to be identical in species with the Javanese bird. This is the

largest species of the sub-group, and is particularly distinguished from

the others by having the black band on its forehead fully five-eighths

of an inch broad.

2. L. nigriceps, Franklin: L. nasutus, Scopoli, and L. antiguanus, La-

tham, both founded on Sonnerat’s figure of his Pie-griéche d’ Antigue ; but

the former name is objectionable, as referring to an individual deformity

of the specimen figured, and the latter, as likely to convey the idea that it

is a West Indian bird, from the more familiarly known island of Antigua,

instead of the province of Antigue in Panay. It is also ZL. tricolor,

Hodgson, Ind, Rev. 1837, p. 446; and Indian Shrike, Latham. This

species is at once distinguished by having the whole cap black. The

rufous hue of its upper-parts varies much in depth, and many have the

nape more or less ashy. Inhabits all northern and central India; being

common in the Soonderbuns of Bengal, and on many of the churrs (or

alluvial banks and islands) in the Ganges and its branches. It is also

common in Assam, Sylhet, Tipperah, and Arracan.

3. L. tephronotus, Vigors, P. Z. S. 1831, p. 43: L. nipalensis,

Hodgson, Ind. Rev. 1837, p. 445: Grey-backed Shrike of Latham. Size

of the last species; wing three inches and three-quarters. Colour of

302 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 172.

upper-parts dusky-grey, faintly washed with rufous on the back in most

specimens; the rump and upper tail-coverts dark rufous: lores and

streak through the eyes, black ; as also the feathers immediately impend-

ing the nostrils in fine adults : a slight pale streak over the eye, more or

less developed : throat, fore-neck, and middle of belly, white; the rest

of the under-parts rufous. The females and young have the breast,

flanks, and sides of the neck, rayed more or less with dusky: wings

dusky, with rufescent margins to the tertiaries and coverts, more or less

developed ; and tail nearly uniform brownish, with its outer feathers and

the tips of all paler. Common in Nepal and Bengal, and has been re-

ceived from Tipperah and Arracan ; frequenting the same haunts as the

last species.

4. L. erythronotus, Vigors and Gould (nec Jerdon). Wing three

inches and five-eighths to three and three-quarters: middle tail-feathers

four and a half to five inches. Has a broad black frontal band, three-

eighths of an inch and upwards ; a dark ash-coloured head and nape,

a little albescent in some towards the frontal band; and sometimes the

whole back deep rufous up to the neck, at other times the upper back

is merely tinged with rufous. A good distinction from the next species

consists in the broad black streak through the eyes being continued for

some distance beyond the ear-coverts, instead of terminating with them.

Appears peculiar to the NW. Himalaya.

5. L. caniceps, nobis. Nearly similar to the last but smaller; the

black frontal band much narrower ; the grey of the head much paler,

and spreading considerably more upon the back, becoming also much

more whitish towards the front and over the black eye-band: below,

the breast is whiter, and the rufous of the flanks more defined; and

above, this is often confined to the rump and upper tail-coverts, and the

posterior scapularies only ; whereas in L. erythronotus (verus), the entire

scapularies seem to be always deep rufous, and sometimes the whole in-

terscapulary region, which is never more than tinged with rufous in the

present species. Wing three inches and three-eighths to three and a

half, and middle tail-feathers four and a half. A marked individual

variety of this species—with grown tail only three inches and three-

quarters long, the whole back and scapularies grey, and scarcely

any rufous on the flanks, (but its plumage altogether much abraded)—

I referred doubtfully to LZ. minor, in X, 841. The present is the

1846. ] or Little Known Species of Birds. 303

L, erythronotus apud Jerdon and others, of India generally ; extend-

ing to Scinde on the west, and eastward it would appear to inhabit

Assam, as Dr. Horsfield remarks of the Assamese bird that—‘* compar-

ed with the figure in Gould’s ‘ Century of Himalayan birds,’ it is con-

siderably smaller, and the colours are more dull than in the Himalayan

bird.” It also occurs in Arracan, and in the Rajmahl hills in Bengal,

but not lower towards the mouth of the river.

Col. Sykes remarks, of the ZL. erythronotus of his list of Dukhun

species, that “ this bird differs from L. bentet, Horsf., only in the crown

being ash-coloured instead of black, and in the defined black bar across

the forehead.” JZ. schach (v. bentet), however, as described by Dr.

Horsfield, has no black crown, but a black forehead (‘‘L. fronte lateribus

colli alis cauddque nigris, vertice dorsoque griseis,’ &c). L. erythronotus

and ZL. bentet are successively larger than L. caniceps, with a suc-

cessively broader black frontal band: but in other respects all three

bear a near resemblance; L. nigriceps chiefly differing in its black cap,

which indeed constitutes its only marked distinction from L. erythro-

notus ; and among some birds which Lord Arthur Hay collected in the

vicinity of Benares, is a specimen which has every appearance of being

a hybrid between these two: it has the cap mingled fuscous and ashy,

and the forehead above deep black as in L. erythronotus. We may ac-

cordingly look for the latter species at that distance from the Himalaya,

probably as a cold season visitant.

6. L. phenicurus, Pallas: L. cristatus, Lin., founded on Edwards’

figure (but the species is not crested); L. rutilus, var. A., and oo

superciliosus, var. A, Latham: L. melanotis, Valenciennes: and L.

ferrugiceps, Hodgson, Ind. Rev. 1837, p. 446. Brown, with more rufous

head, tail, and its upper coverts; streak over the eye and the throat

white, and the rest of the under-parts whitish with a fulvous tinge : lores

and ear-coverts, forming a broad band through the eye, dull black.

Females and young much rayed. This is one of the commonest of Indian

birds, and as its particularly harsh chattering affords one of the earliest

intimations of the advent of the cold season in Calcutta, its note is then

far more acceptable than is warranted by the music of it. A few indi-

viduals, however, are procurable at all seasons within a few miles. This

species is also common on the eastern side of the Bay of Bengal, ex-

tending southward to the Straits: where it is found together with the

304 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 172.

L. superciliosus and with L. tigrinus of the Dict. Class. (v. L. magni-

rostris, Lesson, and L. strigatus, Eyton). Another allied species, but

inhabiting further eastward in the Philippine Isles, is the L. ducionensis,

Lin. I mention these to shew that I do not confound them.*

A marked variety of L. melanotis (for it can scarcely be admitted as a

separate species) was found abundantly by Capt. Boys in the country

lying between Scinde and Ferozepore. Itis distinguished by its pale co-

louring, a predominant dull sandy-grey, scarcely tinged with rufous,

except on the rump and tail; the lores being whitish (in a male and

female presented to the Society by Captain Boys), but with a slight

black spot adjoining the orbit above. If regarded as new, ZL. arenarius,

nobis.

7. L. Hardwickii, Vigors: Bay-backed Shrike, Latham. Of this beau-

tiful species, some females perhaps resemble the males ; but they usually

differ in their generally duller colours, in the total absence of the black

upon the forehead, and over and before the eye, while the ear-coverts

are nearly brown-black: some of them have a grey head and neck, not

however very pure; and others a brown head and neck, the latter having

also rays on the under-parts. This Shrike is common in most parts of

the country from the Himalaya southward, but does not occur below

the Rajmahl hills in Bengal, and I have never seen it from the

countries eastward.

Tephrodornis, Swainson. To this genus must be referred—

1. T. sylvicola, Jerdon, Catal. S. India.

2. T. pelvica: Tenthaca pelvica, Hodgson, Ind. Rev. 1837, p. 447.

Nepal, Tipperah, Arracan.

3. T. gularis; Lanius gularis, Raffles: L. virgatus,s Tem. Ma-

lacca, Sumatra.

These three species are very closely allied. The last is distinguished

by its small size, and otherwise resembles T. pelvica. Length of wing

three inches and seven-eighths. In the two others the wing measures

* There is a L. ferox described in the Dict. Class., from Java, which I cannot iden-

tify ; probably a female or young bird of its species. Also Z, vitiatus, Val., assigned

to India, but with which I am unacquainted; the latter is probably not a true Lanius :

L. collurioides of Lesson, in Belanger’s Voyage, is described from Pegu.—Mr. Strick-

land suspects that L. tigrinus (v. magnirostris, ) is probably a reed, of L. phenicu-

rus ; but it is a well marked distinct species.

¢ Misprinted vulgatus, in the Dict. Class. 7

1846.] or Little Known Species of Birds. 305

four inches and a half: the male of 7. sy/lvicola having the head dark ash-

colour, and that of T. pelvica light grey; an invariable distinction.

4. T. pondiceriana, (Gm.): Lanius keroula, Gray ; L. muscipetoides,

Franklin ; L. griseus, Tickell; L. sordidus, Lesson ; Muscicapa philippensis

of India, Latham; Tephr. superciliosus, Swainson ; probably Tenthaca

leucurus, Hodgson, Ind. Rev. 1837, p. 447. A very common Indian

bird and generally diffused.

5. T. grisola, nobis, XII, 180 (bis). I killed an adult female of

this bird with the same shot that brought down a young one of the pre-

ceding species, and I have never since met with it here: but the Society .

has recently received an undoubted specimen from Java, and another

from Penang, so that the species has probably been named by M. Tem-

minck.

Hemipus, Hodgson, dun. Mag. N. H. 1845, p. 203. This genus

is founded on a near affine to the Muscicapa picata, (Sykes): but

a more typically characteristic species is

1. A. obscurus; Muscicapa obscura, Horsfield: M. hirundinaceus,

Reinwardt ; Tephrodornis hirundinaceus, Swainson. Common in the

Malay countries. This bird was referred to Tephrodornis by Mr.

Swainson, and subsequently by Mr. Strickland; and there can be no

doubt of its affinity for that group; but its generic relationship i is with

H., picatus and H. capitalis. I observe that different specimens of this

bird vary remarkably in length of bill; thus, of two males before me, one

has the bill fully a fourth longer than that of the other; but interme-

diate specimens prove their identity, and there is not the slightest differ-

ence in other respects. In the short-billed specimen, that organ is in

form and size absolutely similar to that of the larger-billed examples of

the Indian species.

2. H. picata, (Sykes): Muscicapa tyrannides, Tickell, II, 574; Musc.

hirundinacea of Jerdon’s list.* Common in the hilly regions of Central

and Southern India, and in Arracan.

3. H. capitalis, (M’Clelland,) P. Z. S. 1839, p. 157: H. picecolor,

Hodgson.t Very closely allied to the last (indeed I am not satisfied

* Mr. Jerdon suggests that Muse. variegata, Auct., is perhaps the female of this

bird.—MM/. maculata, Tickell, Mr. Strickland suspects to be the European M. atrica-

pilla (v. luctuosa, Vem.), pertaining to another group of Flycatchers.

¢ Dr. McClelland’s coloured figure (unpublished) of his Musc, capitalis is decided-

ly Mr. Hodgson’s bird, not very well represented.

258

306 ‘Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 172.

of the propriety of its separation) ; but the back and scapularies appear

always to be of a pitchy-brown colour instead of green-glossed black ;

while the cap of the male is as black as in the other, and in the female

is marked by a blackish tinge: the tail, too, is, I think, generally somewhat

longer, and the scapularies are often more or less brown, like the back.

Inhabits Nepal and about Darjeeling, as also Assam.

A closely allied diminutive of these is the Muscicapula melanoleuca,

nobis, XII, 940: a species common in the Himalaya and in Arracan,

and which the Society has lately received from Java, so that M. Tem-

present group would be linked to the various black-billed blue Flycatch-

ers; but I cannot pass conveniently to these just now.

Lalage, Boie. This genus connects the preceding birds with the Graw-

culince. I know but of two species, the L. orzentalis Gm., v. Turdus

striga, Raffles, and Sylvia leucophea, Vieillot,—and another nearly

allied, but without the white supercilium, and shewing less white on

the distal half of the wing, from Australia ; this I take to be Campe-

phaga leucomela of Vigors and Horsfield, Lin. T7. XV, 215,—those

authors describing only a mutilated female.

Grauculus, Cuv. The G. papuensis, Cuv. (v. Macet, Lesson, and

nipalensis, Hodgson, Ind. Rev. 1837, p. 327,) is a tolerably common

bird throughout India, as well as eastward of the Bay. Wing six

inches and a half, and tail five and a half. Ceblepyris javensis,

Horsfield, is perhaps distinct, as Mr. Strickland writes me word that

its wing measures but six inches, and total length ten inches instead

of a foot.*

Campephaga, Vieillot: Ceblepyris, Cuv.

1. C.fimbriata, (Tem.) apud Strickland (27 epistold ) : Lantus silens,

(Tickellt) ; Volvoctvora melaschistos, Hodgson ; Grauculus maculosus,

M’Clelland and Horsfield ; Ceblepyris lugubris, Sundevall ; Blue-grey

Thrush of Latham. Tolerably common in Bengal, Nepal, Assam,

and in Central India; but has not hitherto been observed south of

Goomsur. |

* Mr. Jerdon remarks of the Indian species — ‘‘It appears doubtful if this be

the true papuensis — if not, it is perhaps the Gr. Macei of Lesson.’? Madr. Journ,

No. XXXII, p. 122.

¢ The South African Z. silens of Levaillant is a true Curruca, of which Mr. Strick-

land has lately fayoured the Society with a fine specimen.

1846. ] or Little Known Species of Birds. ; 307

2. C. melanoptera, nobis, n. s. Nearly allied to the next, but larger,

and of a deep ash-grey colour, paler on the belly, and passing to white

on the lower tail-coverts; the wings wholly black ; and tail the same,

with large white tips to its outermost and penultimate feathers, and

successively smaller ones to the rest. Bill and feet black. Length

about eight inches, of wing four and a quarter, and tail four inches,

its outermost feather an inch shorter than the middle ones. Discover-

ed in Arracan (with so many other new species) by Capt. Phayre.

3. C. Sykesi, (Strickland), dan. Mag. N. H. 1844, p. 36: Cebl.

fimbriatus apud Jerdon, and probably C. canus apud Sykes (the

young): Eastern Thrush of Latham. Adults of either sex of this

species have the body light pure ashy; the head, neck, and breast,

deep black; the lower breast and abdomen pale grey, passing gra-

dually to white on the lower tail-coverts, &. The young (or appa-

rently one-year old birds) have the head grey, like the back; the

throat and the entire under-parts whitish, with dusky cross-rays, and

the rump also rayed less distinctly. It is about equally common in

Lower Bengal with C. fimbriata, perhaps rather less so; I have never

seen it from the Himalaya, or the countries eastward, and it seems

to be tolerably common in Southern India.

A Ceblepyris cinereus, Lesson, from Java, is described in the ‘ Zoo-

logie du Voyage de M. Belanger,’ of which I have taken the follow-

ing rough note. Length eight inches. Bill robust, hooked, toothed,

dilate at borders; wings short, scarcely passing the croup. Tail of

mean length, rounded as in the others. Colour ash-grey above, be-

neath whitish-grey ; a little brown spot before the eyes ; wings brown,

the primaries slightly edged with white, and secondaries tipped with

pale grey. Approaches the Shrikes in form of wings, tail, and tarse ;

and the Artami and Drongos in its beak.

There is also a Cebl. culminatus, A. Hay, from Malacca, described

in the Madr. Journ. No. XXXI, 157.

The following species, from the Isle of France, I presume to be Tanagra

capensis, Gm., referred to Campephaga in the Dict. Class. The beak

is much stouter than in the Indian species, also straighter, and more

strongly toothed at tip, but not very strongly hooked: the tip of the

lower mandible curves upward, to lock within the notch of the upper one.

Length of an adult female nearly nine inches ; wing four and an eighth ;

308 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 172.

and tail three and a half: bill to gape above an inch ; and tarse an inch.

Upper-parts wholly deep cinereous, darker on the crown, and paler on

the rump and upper tail-coverts ; lores, and a streak beyond the eye,

blackish-cinereous, surmounted by a slight whitish supercilium ;

wings blackish, the feathers margined with grey, and two or three of

the primaries slightly with whitish ; winglet and coverts of the prima-

ries wholly blackish, and anterior two-thirds of the wing white un-

derneath ; the throat and lower tail-coverts are white, the breast light

ashy, with faint traces of cross-rays in the specimen ; belly slightly

fulvescent white ; and the tail is black, its feathers successively more

deeply tipped with white to the outermost; form of the tail slightly

graduated, its outermost feathers being half an inch shorter than the

middle ones ; bill and feet dull black. A young male differs in having

its upper-parts tinged with rufous-brown, deepening considerably on

the rump; breast and belly also with ferruginous patches ; tibial fea-

thers the same ; and I am informed that the old male has the under-

parts light ferruginous. Gmelin describes his Tanagra capensis to be

yellowish, and such is likely to be the case with a still younger spe-

cimen than the male here noticed.

In XI, 463, I described a species from the island of Luzon, by the

name Ceblepyris ceerulescens. This is a very interesting bird, from

its close affinity for vena, which genus I had considered to approxi-

mate to the Grauculine, previously to remarking the affinity of this par-

ticular species. In the female and immature plumage of Irena, the

resemblance to the Grauculine is seen more especially. Campephaga

ceerulescens is probably allied to C. cinerea, (Lesson), just noticed ;

having a larger and stouter bill than the Indian species, more as in

Irena, only that the tip is more abruptly hooked and emarginated.

Size and general characters of I7ena, but the rump-feathers spinous

to the feel, and the tail sub-quadrate, except that its outermost fea-

thers are three-eighths of an inch shorter than the penultimate, which

latter are also very slightly shorter than the rest. This bird might

be regarded as the type of a new division, to which C. cénerea should

also probably be referred.

Irena, Horsfield. A curious distinction between the Indian and

Malayan I. puella, auctorum, has been pointed out by Lord Arthur

Hay ; to whom we are indebted for the discrimination of numerous

1846. | or Little Known Species of Birds. 309

other closely allied species. In the Malayan bird, the under tail-

coverts reach quite to the end of the tail ; while in J. endica, A. Hay,

they are never less than an inch and a quarter short of the tail-tip

in the males, and generally an inch and a half short in the females.

I have verified this observation upon so many examples from both

regions, that there can be no doubt of the fact; and the Arracan

Irena, and I think also the Tenasserim one, are identical with that

of India. Athird beautiful species (J. cyanogastra, Vig.), from the

Philippines, has been recently figured by Mr. G. R. Gray.

Pericrocoitus, Boie: Pheenicornis, Swainson ; Acts, Lesson. This

genus has been approximated by Mr. Swainson and others to the

Grauculine ; but the affinity is not particularly close. The follow-

ing species are comprehended—

1. P. miniatus, (Tem.) Malay countries. ( Non vidi).

2. P. speciosus; Turdus speciosus, Lath.: Muscipeta princeps,

-Vigors and Gould. Himalaya, hill ranges of Central India, and

sparingly those of South India; common in Arracan, and extends

southward to the Malayan peninsula. A few visit Lower Bengal in

the cold season.

3. P. flammeus ; Muscicapa flammea, Forster, figured in Pennant’s

‘Indian Zoology,’ also in Swainson’s Illustrations, and more recently

by Mr. Jerdon: M. subflava, Vieillot; Phcenicornis elegans, (?)

McClelland and Horsfield, P. Z. S. 1839, p.156; August Flycatcher of

Latham, but the preceding species also referred to. Hab. South India

and Ceylon. The description and unpublished figure of P. elegans,

from Assam, would seem to indicate this species of Southern India.

4. P. brevirostris; Muscipeta brevirostris, Vigors and Gould.

Himalaya, and more sparingly the hill ranges of Central and Southern

India.

5. P. igneus, nobis: Malayan P. flammeus, auctorum, and pro-

bably of Temminck, p. c. 263.* Size small ,“barély larger than P.

peregrinus, the wing measuring but two inch and seven- eighths,

and the rest in proportion; bill to gape five-eighths, and tarse nine-

sixteenths of an inch. Colour as in P. speciosus, except that the outer

tail-feathers are less deeply red, and the wing-band is proportionally

* If this be the Musc. flammea of Dr. Horsfield’s Javanese list, it would account

for his describing what appears to be the true Aammea from Assam, by another

name.

310 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 172.

smaller ; the fore-part of the wing underneath, with the band as there

seen, is deep yellow, and the axillaries are yellow, irregularly tipped

with red. Altogether the red is ofa shade more igneous than in P.

speciosus, but considerably less so than in P. flammeus. The female

I have not seen. Described from Malacca specimens.

6. P. solaris,* nobis, m. s. Length about seven inches and a half, of

wing three and three-eighths, and tail four inches ; bill to gape five-

eighths, and tarse nearly five-eighths. Male fuliginous-ashy above,

verging to black on the wings, and quite black on the tail; the rump,

Wing-spot, greater portion of the three outer tail-feathers, [and the

under- parts, bright reddish flame-colour (or as in P. flammeus) ;

throat orange-yellow, and the ear-coverts pale grey: bill and feet

blackish. The female has the head dark ashy, like the male, but the

back olive-green, and the flame-colour of the male is replaced by

yellow ; sides of the throat whitish. The bill of this species is broader

and shorter than in the others. It is common at Darjeeling.

7. P. roseus; Muscicapa rosea, Vieillot: Phenicornis affinis,

McClelland and Horsfield}. Not rare in Lower Bengal; and occurs

also in Assam, Arracan, and in the forests of Malabar.

8. P. peregrinus ; Parus peregrinus, Lin. India generally.

9. P. erythropygius ; Muscicapa erythropygia, Jerdon: Cawnpore

Flycatcher, and Turdus speciosus, var. B., of Latham.—South India,

Upper Bengal. (?) This is a very aberrant species, and even separable

as a subgroup; deviating, as remarked by Mr. Jerdon, in “‘ its more

depressed bill, weaker legs and feet, and in the mode of variation of

the female. In its colour,” he adds, ‘‘ the male resembles most of the

species of Pericrocotus, except in having a white stripe on the wings,

and on some of the tail-feathers. The female differs from the male

in having ashy-brown instead of glossy-black, and cinereous-white

where the male has bright orange-red. The irides also are light-

coloured.” It seems, in fact, to be an intermediate form between

Pericrocotus and Hemipus of Hodgson (p. 305 ane) ; near which latter

Mr. Jerdon formerly arranged it, considering it allied to H. picatust.

* In some collections which have gone to Europe, I have called this species P.

Siavogularis, MS.

t Identified from Dr. McClelland’s unpublished figures.

{ Add, as a doubtful member of the group, Pheenicornis? aureopygia, A. Hay, from

Hongkong; Madr. Journ. No. XXX1I, 158: also, probably, Lanius cruentus of the

Dict. Class. D’ Hist, Nat., from Java.

1846. ] or Little Known Species of Birds. 311

Eurylaimus, Horsfield. This group, the geographic limits of which,

according to Mr. Swainson, ‘‘ seem to be restricted to the hottest parts

of India,” is only admissible into the Fauna Indica from the occur-

rence of two Himalayan species, the range of both of which extends to

Assam, Sylhet, and Arracan. These birds are the Raya sericeogula

and R. rubropygia of Mr. Hodgson, J. A. S. VIII. 36; the former

standing as Psarisomus Dalhousie, (Jameson) Sw., and the latter

falling under Mr. Swainson’s Serilophus, being very closely allied to S.

lunatus, (Gould), for which it was mistaken in Proc. Zool. Soc. 1839,

p. 156. The differences are as follow:—S. lwnatus has the whole upper-

parts rufescent, including the crown and cheeks ; and it exhibits a re-

markable structure of the tips of its primaries, the third and fourth

especially, which terminate in acute points, as if artificially clipped,

while the secondaries and tertiaries are truncate, and strongly emar-

ginate at tip; moreover the third and fourth primaries are termi-

nated by a large triangular white spot, and the secondaries and tertiaries

have no white bar near the end of their outer webs:—S. rubropygius

has the upper-parts deep ash-colour, with a faint rufescent tinge on

the back; the primaries rounded at their tips, and narrowly termi-

nated with white; the secondaries and tertiaries slightly truncate

and emarginate at tips, with a triangular white spot near the end of

the black outer web of each, beyond which the colour is bluish-grey.

The white lunate mark tipping certain feathers of the sides of the neck

is alike in both species, and does not seem to be a sexual distinction,

but, I suspect, is attained after two or three moultings by both sexes.

S. dunatus occurs in the Tenasserim Provinces, where also are found

the Corydon sumatranus (which is the species described by Capt.

Hay, in X, 575),— Eurylaimus javanicus (the range of which extends

northward to Arracan),— Eu. ochromalus (v. cucullatus, Tem. ),—and

Cymbirhynchus nasutus (v. lemniscatus, Raffles), all common

Malayan species, to judge from their frequency in collections from the

Straits.

Cymbirhynchus was separated by Mr. Vigors on account of the for-

ward position of the nostrils and some other particulars; and Mr.

Swainson lays much stress upon the vertical depth of its bill, which cer-

tainly is a marked feature in the common Malayan and Tenasserim

species (C. nasutus); but there is a very closely allied species in

312 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 172.

Arracan, which, until I had obtained a good series of both, I declined

to venture on distinguishing, but which I shall now designate

C. affinis, nobis. In this, while the general characters and colouring

are the same as in C. nasutus, the bill is invariably much smaller and

flatter, as in the restricted Eusylatmz, but the nostrils are placed for- .

ward as in the other. The general dimensions are also less, the usual

length of wing in C. afinis being three inches and a half, rarely three

and five-eighths, and the middle tail-feathers three inches ; in C. nasutus

the wing measures three and seven-eighths to four inches, and the tail,

three and five-eighths to three and three-quarters. C. affinis has also,

constantly, an oblong red spot margining the tip of the outer web of

two of its tertiaries, and a third margining the inner web of the up-

permost tertiary: in what appear to be the females, the latter spot is

red as in the supposed males, while the former are white: these spots

do not occur in C. masutus. Lastly, the white upon the tail is more

developed in C. afinis, and placed nearer the tips of the feathers: a

white spot at the base of the inner primaries is also larger and more

conspicuously shewn.

If the affinity of the Eusylazm7 with the South American Pipride

admit of doubt, the question would seem to turn on the relationship of

the former for Calyptomena ; for this Malayan genus appears truly to

approximate to Pzpra and more especially to Rupicola.* Mr. Swainson

distinguishes two species of Calyptomena ( Lardner’s Cyclopeedia, ‘ Me-

nageries’,, p. 296), as C. Rafflest? and C. caudacuta; and he assigns

India as the habitat of the latter, erroneously unless by that word he

means vaguely “‘ the East Indies”, a term now rapidly and properly fall-

ing into disuse. Notwithstanding, however, the difference in the form of

the tail, and which is not so great as Mr. Swainson represents it, I feel

satisfied that his C. caudacuta is the young of C. virddis, Raffles, who

states that ‘“‘ the female does not differ in appearance from the male.”

The tail is a little graduated in these presumed young birds, but I have

never been able to recognise the pointed form of the feathers represent-

ed by Swainson, nor the difference of size which he indicates ; indeed

* Another Malayan genus with syndactyle feet, and which I have not yet seen,

is the Crataionyz of Eyton, P. Z. S. 1839, p. 104: and to judge from the brief Latin

definitions of his two species, Cr. favus and Cr. ater, 1 think there is every reason

to suppose them to be the sexes merely of the same species,

1846. | or Little Known Species of Birds. 313

he adds, as a note, that he had entertained suspicions that C. cauda-

cuta was merely the young of the other ; but continues—“ and yet the

different form of its tail-feathers is so totally opposed to this supposi-

tion, that until such a similarity” (meaning specifical identity) “is

established beyond all doubt, I must continue to hold the opinion

here acted upon.” That his C. caudacuta is a bird in immature

plumage, I feel no doubt whatever ; and I can only say, that I have

again and again seen it associated with adult C. wérédis in Malacca

collections, the two being evidently intended by the dealers who

prepare these collections for male and female of the same.*

Near the Pipride of course rank the Ampelzde, to which Mr.

Hodgson refers his genus Cochoa (since called by him Prosorinia),

V, 359, XII, 450 ; but this remarkable genus wants one noted charac-

ter of the Ampelide, (including the Waxwings) and Pipride, in

common with various other South American groups, having the

first primary but one third of the length of the second, which again is

considerably shorter than the third. Of the two species, C. purpurea

seems common in the S. E. Himalaya, as at Darjeeling ; C. viridis,

decidedly rare. For a specimen of this latter beautiful bird, the

Society is indebted to the lady of W. H. Oakes, Esq., C. S.; and the

late Mr. Webb, of Darjeeling, among numerous other specimens with

which he favoured the Society (including Alcedo grandis, Accentor

mollis, Pericrocotus solaris, Troglodytes punctatus, Tesia pusilla,

Pomatorhinus ferruginosus, Certhia discolor, Chieuasicus ruficeps,

and other novelties yet to be described), obliged us with what is

evidently a male, in nestling plumage, of C. purpurea, which is

worthy of a particular notice. The wings and tail are as in the

adult male; but the back is quite black, the scapularies and smaller

wing-coverts having a central brown spot on each feather ; coronal

feathers broadly tipped with white, having a black margin at their

extreme tips; a portion of the ear-coverts similarly marked with

white ; and the entire under-parts are light ferruginous, with a broad

black tip to each feather, less developed on those of the middle of the

throat. The plumage of the back, scapularies, and under-parts, recals

to mind that of a young male English Blackbird.

* Since writing the above, I have had an opportunity of examining several dozens;

and should remark that I could find no instance of a transitional moult, or indeed of

any moulting bird among them,

2 4

314 Notices and Descriptions of various New [No. 172.

Posrscrirt.—A further collection of Cingalese birds has just been re-

ceived from Dr. Templeton, including some of considerable interest,—as

the Gallus stanleyi of Gray, hitherto I believe only known from Hard-

wicke’s published figure of the hen,—and the Tetras bicalcaratus of Pen-

nant, which is quite distinct from the ‘ Curria Partridge’ of Latham (Per-

dix benulasa, Val., v. Hardwickii, Gray, and Francolinus spadiceus, Ad.

Delessart), but ranks with the latter and G. spadéceus in my genus Gallo-

perdix, which represents, in India, the Polyplectrons of the countries

eastward, to which they are much more nearly allied than is generally

suspected.* Col. Sykes thought he recognised the Gallus stanleyi in

what he terms a short-legged variety of G. sonneratii, occurring at an

elevation of 4000 feet above the sea on the Malabar coast; but Mr.

Jerdon and other subsequent observers know of but one species of

jungle-fowl in that part of the country—the ordinary G. sonneratii, and

the females of this bird have not (as Col. Sykes states) the “ cartilagin-

ous spots on the feathers,” but young males have, when in plumage

otherwise resembling that of the females. Moreover, G. stanleyi is

quite as high on the legs as G. sonneratii ; and, lastly, Mr. Jerdon has

found no indications whatever of G. sonnerati having ever been domes-

ticated, such as would have appeared in the plumage of its tame de-

scendants—or of its having mingled its blood with the ordinary domes-

tic stock, as Col. Sykes’ remarks lead me to suppose.

It is worthy of notice that specimens of Acridotheres tristis from

Ceylon are considerably darker-coloured than any I have seen from the

mainland of India; whence the contrast between the vinaceous-brown

of the body and the blackish hue of the neck is very much less decided,

and the white of the vent and lower tail-coverts is in like proportion

more strongly contrasted with the blackish vinaceous colour of the

breast and flanks.

A similar relationship seems to hold between Dicrurus leucopygialis

(p. 298 ante) of Ceylon, and D. ce@rulescens of continental India: the

latter 1 have never observed to vary ; but some specimens of the Cin-

galese bird have the corresponding portion of the abdominal region albes-

* This affinity is well exemplified by the general plumage of the females, and by

the vertical carriage of the tail, as well as by the form of beak irregular number of

spurs, &c. The Polyplectron Northia, of Hardwicke’s ‘ Illustrations’ is thus the

female of Galloperdix spadiceus. Ithaginis of Wagler, with which Mr, G, R. Gray

confounds these birds, is an allied, but very distinct division.

1846. ] or Little Known Species of Birds. 315

cent, which in the continental race is pure white ; the upper-parts being

also a shade blacker ; and the bill (as previously remarked) seems always

to be more strongly falcate at tip than in D. cerulescens. The average

dimensions, too, of the continental race are decidedly greater.

Pomatorhinus horsfieldit of South India has an analogous representa-

tion in P. melanurus, nobis, of Ceylon, which I shall describe with

other species of this genus. Though approximating very closely, it is

as well characterized as several admitted species of Malacocercus.

From these and similar instances, it would appear as if several species

had a tendency to become more intensely coloured towards the equator ;

Gallus bankinus of Malacca is much deeper-coloured than that of India :

and the difference of Halcyon capensis of India and of Malacca (pointed

out in XIV, 190) is so marked that Mr. Jerdon proposes to call the

Indian bird H. brunniceps (Madr, Journ. No. XXXI, 148 ;) but if con-

sidered distinct, it would bear the prior name of H. gurzal, (Lath.)

Pearson, X, 633.* Our little tailor-bird of India (Orthotomus longi-

cauda) occurs, but of a considerably darker colour, at Malacca, and to-

gether with two other species of its genus, Orth. edela and O. cinera-

ceus. I could mention two or three more instances ; but nevertheless,

in the great majority of cases, examples of the same species from the

most various localities are absolutely similar.f

(To be continued. )

Notes, chiefly Geological, from Seringapatam, by the Heguilla Pass, to

Cannanore. By Carr. NEwBOLp.

The geology of the country around Seringapatam IJ have already no-

ticed.{ Having passed its walls, my route lay westward over a strong,

kunkerous, uneven, and rather sterile tract to Hussairpore (eighteen

miles), on the banks of the Lachmi Thirth stream, a tributary to the

Cauvery, where stands a ruined bungalow, built by the Hon. Arthur

Cole.

Hussairpore.—The formation is a micaceous gneiss with veins of

quartz, and beds of the same mineral, evidently interstratified with the

layers of gneiss. These beds, on weathering, leave the surface soil

* The Malacca H. capensis is also smaller than its Indian representative.

¢ On the question of the very close approximation of numerous allied species, wide

Agassiz, in the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, 1842, p. 97.

ft Madras Journal, January 1840, pp. 129—33.

316 Notes, chiefly Geological, [No. 172.

covered with their angular and rust-stained fragments. Glimmering

hornblende rock, veined with milky quartz, and a pale flesh-coloured

felspar alternate with the gneiss. The outgoings of two or three dykes

of basaltic greenstone are passed on the roadside. The surface of the

country from Seringapatam gradually rises as it approaches the ghauts.

Periapatam.—This place is twenty-five miles westerly from Hus-

sairpore, and forty-three miles from Seringapatam. It stands on the

rise of the western ghauts from the table lands of Mysore, on the

frontier of the wild territory of Coorg. To the west the scenery is

mountainous and clothed with forest ; fifteen miles to the north rises

Bettadapore to the supposed height of 6,000 feet, one of the loftiest

summits of this part of the western ghauts: the elevation of Periapatam,

barometrically calculated, is 4,000 feet above the sea’s level.

The country between Hussairpore and the ghauts is a succession of

rocky risings and falls of the surface, covered for the most part with

reddish alluvial soil, over the face of which are scattered numberless

angular fragments of the surrounding rocks; especially white and

iron-stained quartz, and occasionally kunker. Some of these alluvia

have not travelled far, since we often find the colour of the surface

soil a true index to the nature of the rock beneath: viz. dark-red or

coffee-coloured soil over hornblende rock and trap ; light-red to sandy

soil over gneiss and granite; light greenish-grey over talc-schist, and

white, or what is nearly white, over felspar and quartz rocks.

The quartz beds, being usually harder than their neighbours, are

written in white bas-relief characters over the face of the country.

They never weather—like the felspars, hornblendes, and micaceous

rocks—into clay, but usually break up into fragments by imperceptible

fissures, into which water, impregnated with iron from the surrounding

weathered rocks, soon insinuates itself and stains the rock. At length

the particles, composing the fragments themselves, lose their cohesion,

and break up into an angular gritty sand.

In the low grounds, intervening between the rocky swells, is a black

or dark-coloured mould, which I should hesitate to call regur. It ap-

pears to me to be the result, first of vegetation produced by water rest-

ing there (like the oases of the desert), and finally of artificial culture,

manuring, &c.

In these vallies flourish groves of palms and wild dates; and here

the ryot carries on his simple process of cultivation.

1846.] from Seringapatam, to Cannanore. 317

At Periapatam itself, basaltic greenstone is seen in the bed of a

nullah crossing the gneiss and hornblende rock, and veined with

kunker. Large blocks of fine red granite are seen in the ruined fort

walls, brought evidently from no great distance.

The ghaut line west of Periapatam presents a succession of round-

backed hills and smooth knobs, which continue to Verajunderpetta in

Coorg. Their surface is covered with dark vegetable mould, and

shaded by a fine forest, the roots of which.strike into the red loam or

clay on which the vegetable mould rests. It produces excellent san-

dal wood for which Periapatam is a depot. It was formerly the capital

of Coorg, but fell under the Mysore Rajas in 1744, A. D. A little to

the west, General Stewart in 1799, with two regiments of Europeans

and three of Native Infantry, repulsed the Mysorean army under the

personal command of Tippoo. The fort was blown up during the

preceding campaign in 1790 by Tippoo, in anticipation of General

Abercrombie’s advance from Cannanore.

Verajunderpetta.—About eight miles from Periapatam the Mysore

frontier is crossed into Coorg. ‘The soil is so thick as to cover the

rocks of the ghauts from observation in most part, and the dense forest

adds to the difficulty of getting a good exposé of the strata. In one

place I saw gneiss veined with a fine crystalline reddish granite. Both

rocks rapidly weather from the moisture and heat of the climate.

A well, dug on the side of the road, exhibited a stratum of red

clayey loam, about five feet thick, underneath which lay a bed of gra-

velly local detritus ; about three feet below which, was gneiss with

much silvery mica. The gneiss was penetrated by a large granite

vein which appeared on the summit of the hill in blocks. This gra-

nite passed into pigmatite. Scattered blocks of hornblende rock, and

basaltic greenstone also occur, the outgoings of dykes or beds.

Laterite.—About seven miles east of Verajunderpetta, I first observ-

ed laterite capping, and partially covering, a small round-topped hill.

Its surface was bare, and cleared by the rains of the ochreous and

lithomargic earths, which usually fill the cavities, and keep soft and

sectile the weather-protected under-layers of this rock. It had almost

the dark scabrous aspect of an iron slug in some parts, but in others,

might be seen distinctly passing into the sectile lithomargic laterite,

so much used in building. Like sandstones and other rocks, it varies

in mineral composition even in the same mass—being, in one place,

318 Notes, chiefly Geologicat, (No. 172.

argillaceous or felspathic; in another, quartzose ; now, so ferruginous

as to pass into clay ironstone ; and at another time, presenting nothing

but a bed of compact lithomarge.

The soil in the flats and vallies, where the Coorgs cultivate rice, is

generally of a pale ochreous colour ; and is clayey from the disintegra-

tion of the felspars which prevail now in the hypogene rocks. Frag-

ments of quartzy iron, aggregated garnets, and quartz, mica slate,

schor] and kaolin were picked up loose on the road.

Junction of laterite with granite—The hill on which the Coorg

Raja’s palace stands at Verajunderpetta is of granite, capped with late-

rite. This granite is composed of a brownish felspar, resembling that

of Mount Horeb, of quartz, black mica, and hornblende. The line of

superposition is seen on the descent towards the Portuguese Chapel.

The granite is hard and crystalline at the junction, and not in the

least soft or friable, as it would have been had the mass of laterite,

which caps it, been nothing more than its weathered (in siti) upper

portions; as supposed by many theorists and speculators on the origin

of this singular rock.

Quarries of laterite.— At a little distance are the quarries whence the

blocks of laterite used for building are excavated. The laterite here

lies under a thick layer of moist turfy earth, which keeps its surface

from hardening under the sun’s rays or atmospheric exposure, and is

so soft and sectile as to be cut out with the Indian spade, like turf

from a peat bog.

The town.—The palace of Verajunderpetta was built only two

generations back, by the then Raja of Coorg, whose name it now bears.

It is a large building, partly in the European style, on the top of a

hill or rising ground to the west of the Pettah. The portico is sup-

ported by two elephants, twelve or fourteen feet high, constructed of

stucco and brick, over iron frames.

The woodwork, glazed windows, roof, and every thing about the

palace, is finished in a massive style ; and convenient outhouses are

enclosed, with the palace, within a high and massive wall.

The town is said to contain about 300 houses, inhabited princi-

pally by the Coorg Lingayet cultivators of the soil, a few Telingas,

Bengalis, Mussulmans, and a flock of Roman Catholic Christians

(about 100), under their Portuguese pastor. There are two Jungum

maths.

1846. | JSrom Seringapatam, to Cannanore. 319

The houses are neat, usually thatched, and shaded by a small ve-

randah in front: all romantically situated in a sylvan amphitheatre,

surrounded by mountain peaks and ridges.

It being market day, the bazar was so crowded that I could scarcely

pass. Here were Mapillays groaning under bundles of odoriferous

salt-fish from Malabar and Canara, and hundreds of bullocks laden with

salt from Cannanore and Tellicherry, which is sold all over Mysore.

Then came the Coorg market people from their sequestered villages,

with bags of rice and paddy, baskets of eggs, fruits, fowls, &c. &c.

The clean, neat, white dress of the Coorg females is pleasingly con-

trasted with the gaudy dark petticoats of the wandering Brinjaris,

who never wash or change this article of dress until it drops off,

heavy with filth and vermin.

The Coorg men generally wear a sort of smock-frock, like the Baju of

a Malay or Bedouin woman, and usually go armed with their peculiar

knives which serve as weapons of defence, and also to clear the jungles

they daily tread.

The larger of these knives (a sort of hatchet), is carried unsheathed

in a brass socket, attached to the belt on the right side ; the smaller is

in front.

The Coorg does not differ much in feature from the Mysorean, but is

invariably fairer, from the sandy forest and moist climate in which he

lives. He is grave in manner, and in general studiously civil to Euro-

peans. They are nearly all Lingayets, and I observed many of them

worshipping the numerous images of the Indian Apis-Nundi, set up in

in the recesses of the forest.

Like the Malays, they usually live in separate campongs, on the

edge of the rising swells which divide the rice fields, and which are

well shaded by cocoa, jack, and other fruit trees.

The Heggulla Pass.—From Verajunderpetta to the top of the Heg-

gulla Pass, is about five miles of forest, ascent and descent, but rising

on the whole to the edge of the pass at Bokerah.

Gneiss—in some places overlaid with laterite and penetrated by

dykes of basaltic greenstone—massive hornblende rock, and glimmering

hornblende schist, are the rocks seen both in detached blocks, and zz

siti at this watershed of the great line of elevation. The dense na.

ture of the jungle and the rain which now began to pour down, were

great obstacles to a full examination of the geological features of this

320 Notes, chiefly Geological, [No 172.

chain: a few angular blocks of a large grained, and a syenite, granite

were also seen.

The descent to the foot of the pass is about six miles, and extremely

steep. At its upper extremity I observed in a road section, first a thin

layer of dark vegetable mould, then a thick bed of red clay, under

which lay a stratum of laterite. Farther down in the pass, gneiss out-

cropped. Some of the cavities, in the laterite, contained a black bole.

Fragments of white quartz, imbedding large crystals of felspar, often

pinkish, were picked.up imbedding a silvery-white mica, in large plates.

Farther down the pass I did not see the laterite. Hornblende schist

with garnets of a massive thick-bedded structure was the prevalent

rock. This had often been blasted to improve the road ; and the beds

of clay, which covered it, had been removed, exhibiting the different

stages of weathering which this rock undergoes.

Blocks of this kind not only often exhibit a concentric structure

like that of granite, but still oftener a pseudo internal structure, from

weathering internally in layers conformable to their exterior surfaces.

Fragments, several feet in diameter, are seen thus weathered ; with

nothing but a dark crystalline nucleus of the rock in its original state

in the centre, to tell us what the variegated soft mass before us once

was. Even the nucleus disappears before the ravages of this maladie

du granit in due time.

This decay does not commence from the core, but from the exterior

of the block, whence it sinks by successive phases from the cireum-

ference towards the centre.

The effect of these different stages of decay is to produce, in the

substance of the block, differently coloured bands, one within another,

(like the lines of agate) often arranged around a nucleus of sound

dark crystalline hornblende rock in the centre. The first band around

this nucleus is of a grey colour, from the felspar whitening, and the

segregation, &c. of the iron, which coloured it. The hornblende

crystals are little affected, and the felspar is often seen running among

them in whitish reticulation.

The next band exhibits the rock in a state of greater decay. In

this the hornblende crystals have commenced to oxidize ; and, without

mingling with the felspar, assume an orange-brown hue, still mottled

slightly with dark specks This band has a mottled appearance, and

resembles a weathered granite.

1846.] Srom Seringapatam, to Cannanore. 321

The third stage shows the felspar reduced to a white clay, and the

oxidated hornblende crystals losing their shape, spreading their colour-

ing matter in irregular patches through the clay. Where nests of

garnets occur, their disintegration imparts a crimson-mottled appear-

ance, often seen in the white lithomargic earths of the ghauts. The

faint violet, or lilac-coloured, spots result from the decay of amethystine

quartz or other minerals, impregnated with manganese which imparts

this beautiful colour: mica usually imparts a light bright-red.

Lastly, the whole of the colouring matter—iron, titanium, and man-

ganese—become equally diffused through the clay, which is now either

of a light ochreous-brown colour, or reddish-brown, according to the

greater or less ferruginous character of the rock. Where quartz prevails

the decayed mass is more friable and earthy, and the colours are in

general lighter than in the clays resulting entirely from the disintegra-

tion of felspar rock ; a fact probably to be attributed to the action of

the alkali, contained in the latter mineral, on the metallic oxides.

The red variety of clay prevails most on the hornblendic rocks

of the Heggulla pass: near the base of the pass it lies in a stratum

twelve feet thick, imbedding angular blocks of hornblende rock, fast

decaying.

_ It rests immediately on hornblende rock in sitéd, and is covered by

a light brown earth, of mixed alluvial and decayed vegetable matter,

intersected by roots of trees, shrubs and grasses, and three or four feet

thick.

The roots of the larger forest trees descend into the clay bed, which

is sometimes intersected by crumbly veins of white quartz, which may

be seen continued into the substance of the clay from the subjacent

bed of rock; proving the disintegration to have taken place 7m siti ;

and that these clay beds are not the result, in general, of aqueous

transportation. Where much iron and quartz prevail, the clay is apt to

become cellular, an appearance which must not induce observers to

confound it with true laterite. The pass is much steeper than those

of Devamunni, Hossamucki, and Bisly, farther north, but is never-

theless practicable for lightly laden bullocks. The Bombay army, in

1791, advanced towards Mysore by this route, and expended two days

in dragging twenty light field guns up two miles, and three weeks

to bring up fourteen battering guns with their tumbrils, none heavier

than eighteen-pounders. Near the bottom of the pass, the true laterite

322 Notes, chiefly Geological, &c. [No. 172.

is found, which, from the base, covers the low hills and knolls westerly

to Vyathoor.

Stony River: foot of Heggulla pass.—In the bed of this river lie

large irregular blocks of massive hornblende rock with garnets, and a

granite with both mica and hornblende, evidently rolled down (like

those on the slope of the pass,) from the adjacent heights. The horn-

blende rock is usually crystalline, but there occur globular masses of

compact basaltic greenstone, with needle-shaped crystals of augite

shooting irregularly through its substance; those probably are from

some large dyke in the vicinity. The garnet occurs both massive,

dodecahedral, and semi-foliated ; the last is the most common variety.

Vyathoor.—The Coorg frontier is crossed into Malabar, close to the

Stony river, from which the first Malabar village, Vyathoor, is about

five and a half miles distant, and about twenty-nine and a half miles

inland from Cannanore. The adjacent country is rocky, and covered

with jungle: laterite continues capping the granitic and hypogene

rocks, principally granitic hornblende schist. The beds of the mountain-

streams abound with fragments of garnet. I found none of the crystal-

lized specimens of any magnitude. Magnetic iron-sand also is found

in their beds in small quantities. The Moplay town of Ercoor lies

about eleven miles farther, on a fine clear stream, called the Rokaat,

which debouches near Mount Delli at Markaree. The houses have

upper stories, are built of laterite, and have a remarkably substantial

and neat appearance. -

Cudully.—This place is about ten miles inland from Cannanore.

The surface of the country is rugged and uneven, with low hills and

cliffs of laterite, and still covered with luxuriant jungle. In many

places the jungle has been fired, leaving the black precipitous tabular

masses of laterite, which cap them, exposed. The hornblende schist is

still seen in low situations. Black pepper, betel and rice, are exten-

sively cultivated.

Cannanore.— Nearer Cannanore, passes are cut through high cliffs of

Jaterite, and steps planed down the sides of the terraces, which descend

towards the sea coast. Hornblende schist veined with quartz is still

seen as the underlying rock. At Cannanore, the laterite terminates in

high, sea-washed cliffs.

JOURNAL

OF THE

ASIATIC SOCIETY.

On the Coins of the Independent Muhammadan Sovereigns of Bengal.

By J. W. Latpuay, Esq., Co-Secretary Asiatic Society.

Some months ago, as most of the readers of this Journal are perhaps

aware, the greater part of the collection of ancient coins belonging to

the Asiatic Society was abstracted from the Museum, and along with

these, a valuable gold medal, the gift of the present Emperor of Russia.

About the time when this unfortunate event occurred, I was engaged in

arranging a series of the coins of the independent Muhammadan sove-

reigns of Bengal, and had reason to believe, that with the assistance of

the Society’s cabinet, which contained many rare and unique specimens

of that type, I should succeed in filling the gaps in my own collection,

and render the series tolerably complete. As misfortunes, however,

rarely happen singly, it occurred that just about the same time, my own

little cabinet sustained a similar loss. At a moment of neglect,—for

we have in general but our own negligence to blame for mishaps of this

nature,—nearly the whole of my gold and silver coins, including many

uniques, and almost all of the series now under consideration, a series

which had employed many years and much labour to collect, were

purloined from my cabinet, those of copper only being spared to me,

as being of too little intrinsic value to be worth the labour of removal.

No. 173. No. 89, New Szrizs. 2x

324 On the Coins of the Independent [No. 173.

The coins which record the names of the obscure Muhammadan

dynasties of Bengal have, it must be confessed, nothing in common with

the high interest attached to the relics of ancient India and Bactria,

which bring us in contact with times and persons of classical renown ;

or illustrate those dark but profoundly interesting periods in the world’s

history, upon which the light of tradition falls but dimly. Yet, even in-

dependently of their more important use in correcting or in confirming

the narrative of the historian, they have an interest of their own in their

very rarity, which is such, that it is far easier to procure the coins of

Alexander or his successors, than those of the Sultans of Bengal, of

whom indeed few other monuments, and scarcely even these, remain. Of

Gour, or Laknauti, the once vast and magnificent seat of their govern-

ment, the capital whose wealth and splendour claimed for it the title of

the ‘ seat of paradise,’ scarce a vestige is to be seen: over its entire site,

once instinct with thronging multitudes, nature has resumed her quiet

sway, and the last traces of the mighty city are fast disappearing under

the peaceful labours of the husbandman.

It is with the view of preserving a few authentic memorials of a dynasty

of kings, of whose history so little is known, that I venture to submit

a series of such coins as escaped the disasters above alluded to, or were

happily figured before them. Some of these are in less perfect preser-

vation than is desirable ; but let us hope, that such collectors as may be

in possession of better specimens, will be induced to supply impressions

of them, by means of which, these defects may be remedied on some

future occasion.

The first of the Muhammadan rulers of Bengal who attained any

thing approaching to real independence was Iliyas Shah, who success-

fully resisted the arms of Feroz Shah, and concluded a treaty of peace

with that Emperor at Akdala, a. u. 757. He caused the coin of his

kingdom to be struck in his own name, the least equivocal sign of inde-

pendent sovereignty, without experiencing that immediate interference

on the part of the Emperor of Delhi which attended all similar manifes-

tations of his predecessors. In this respect, as well as in the permanence

of his dynasty, Iliyas Shah must be regarded as the first independent

Sultan of Bengal; for his predecessor Fakhar ud-din, who is generally

considered so by native historians, had scarcely thrown off his allegiance

to Delhi, when his unstable authority was subverted by Ali Mobarik, an

1846. ] Muhammadan Sovereigns of Bengal. 325

officer acknowledging the supremacy of the emperor, who put him to

death and himself assumed the emblems of independence. His reign,

however, if a short usurpation may be so designated, was soon terminated

by Iliyas Shah, who assassinated Fakhar ud-din, and took possession

of the kingdom, which he governed with vigour for sixteen years, and

transmitted to his descendants. The coins Nos. 1 and 2 were struck by

this prince ; they bear no date, and their execution is sufficiently rude—

OBVERSE.

slis Galas) ydLasS! gS eye dg Lod! Guad Jalsls lead

lala!

REVERSE.

ropell yo! RIMES ems SA ihe

He* died in a. H. 760, and was succeeded by his son Sekandar Shah.

This prince reigned, according to Ferishteh, for nine years and some

months, maintaining by the prudent adoption of his father’s policy,

the independence and integrity of his kingdom, when the utmost efforts

of Feroz Shah were once more put forth to reduce him to a state of

vassalage. No. 3, is a coin of Sekandar. It is in good preservation,

and was procured at Santipore, near Culna. It records the titles and

paternity of this prince, but no date—

OBVERSE.

ski Gala yal wld ake oole eat omy duldy Goll

wlahenl}

REVERSE.

wrrluds ell Wye paregell yao pols abil BUS no

Bio xd) OAS

The inscription on the margin is not legible. Sekandar Shah died,

or according to some, was killed in an engagement with his son and

successor Gheias ud-din, in a. H. 769.

Nos. 4 and 5, are coins of the last named Sultan. As usual with the

coinage of that period, they bear no date—

* Before ascending the throne he was known as Haji Iliyas; he is said to have

founded the town of Hajypore.

326 On the Coins of the Independent [No. 173.

OBVERSE.

wy! sls sion wy sla es! pride! wots Loo} Cole

REVERSE.

x Jo ALS wyatdanes ts eed wot wyeroges ee) yo

Gheias ud-din seems to have been a gay and accomplished prince. He

was in correspondence with the poet Hafiz, who addressed an ode to

him. He died according to Ferishteh a. u. 775, having reigned six

years and some months.

His son Seif ud-din succeeded on the throne with the pompous title

of Sultan Assulatin. I have not been fortunate enough to procure any

coins of this monarch, but copy that figured No. 6, from Marsden’s

‘ Numismata Orientalia’—

OBVERSE.

ald lish yl ald ek osle et Qualls Lit! Cage

cba! 35 Galas ert sls Ko Bel

REVERSE.

wyzodanadl g o hod OT at erniogedl ee pols

Historians ascribe to him a reign of ten years. He died in a. u. 785,

‘and was succeeded by his son Shams ud-din Sani, the last of a dynasty

unusually long in those times. The author of the Tabqat-i-Akbari,

Nizam ud-din Ahmed, ascribes a short but prosperous reign to this

prince; but Ferishteh describes him as young and inexperienced ;

from which we may infer, that he was most probably assassinated by his

successor, a powerful Hindu nobleman, named Raja Kanis, (Ganesa ?)

No coins have been found of Shams ud-din Sani, who died in 787.

As Raja Kanis never openly embraced the Muhammadan faith, it is

most probable that he never issued the coin of the realm in his own

name. To have omitted the usual symbols of Muhammadanism

would have been a perilous experiment on the forbearance of the bigot-

ed followers of the prophet, and to insert them would have compro-

mised the Raja with the adherents of his own faith. Either alternative

was, perhaps, avoided by the issue of no new currency during his reign,

1846. } Muhammadan Sovereigns of Bengal. 327

which lasted seven years. He died in a. nH. 794, and was succeeded

by his son Junmul, or Cheitmal. This prince avoided the perplexities

of his father’s anomalous position by summoning the nobles on the

death of Raja Kanis, and publicly professing his conversion to Islam,

which he artfully insinuated had taken place in his early youth, but had

remained unavowed in deference to his father. He assumed with the

emblems of sovereignty, the title of Jellal ud-din Muhammad Shah.

There are, I believe, many of his coins bearing dates, according to Mars-

den, from 819 to 823, although the commencement of his reign is

fixed by historians in 795 and its termination in 812. The specimens

Nos. 7, 8, and 9, are very much defaced, and bear no date. The first

two are taken from impressions presented to me by the late James

Prinsep. ‘The inscription upon the obverse seems the same in all—

lblwS} sl one? dbllyss dtl, Lio} We

and on the reverse in Nos. 7 and 9 ols &c. In No. 8, apparently

ao)

the Kalmeh. This prince took much pains to improve and adorn the

city of Gour, and there may be still some few remains of public build-

ings erected at his expence.

No. 10, is a coin of his son and successor, Ahmed Shah, who died

according to Ferishteh and Nizam ud-din, in a. H. 830; but this coin

does him the good service of prolonging his life to 836, which date it

bears. His reign, however, must as to its earlier part be curtailed. by the

evidence of the dates on those of Jellal ud-din—

OBVERSE.

Sei) dll, Lithia» * & *€ Gib

wibhas! sla on” ep sla oss!

On the reverse, the Kalmeh and date :—A{*

After an interregnum of a few days, during which, a slave of the royal

household having usurped the throne, caused the sons of Ahmed Shah

to be murdered, and was afterwards destroyed himself. Nasir Shah, a

remote descendant of Iliyas Shah, the first of our series, was summoned

by the nobles from the plough, to which the adverse circumstances of his

family had driven him, to sit on the throne of his ancestors. Being

328 On the Coins of the Independent [No. 173.

unable to record a royal paternity on his coinage, he seems to have con-

tented himself with the simple repetition of his name and title—,. lio

sls yrols in seven little circlets, occupying the obverse of his coin

No. 11. The reverse is illegible. I have met with no other coin of this

prince.

The next king of Bengal recorded by historians is Barbek Shah,

whom they designate the son of Nasir Shah. But there is reason to

reject this affiliation as incorrect ; for Barbek Shah describes himself on

his coinage as the son of Mahmud Shah, as does also Yusuf, the son

of Barbek, as will be seen. The same Mahmud is also recorded on a

subsequent coin of Fatteh Shah. But historians make no mention

of such a prince. Can it be that his reign has been entirely overlooked

by history ? or did Nasir Shah, at any period of his life subsequent to

ascending the throne, change his name for that of Mahmud? There

are great difficulties in either view of the matter, but it does not seem

a very bold conjecture, considering the imperfect history of those times,

that Mahmud Shah may have been omitted in the roll of princes that

has reached us.* The remarkably long reign ascribed to Nasir Shah

seems to afford room enough for the interpolation of another king ; but

on either supposition, I incline to ascribe to the father of Barbek Shah

the coin No. 12; for an impression of which, I was indebted to the kind-

ness of the late James Prinsep. The cufic characters on the reverse are

not usual upon the Bengal coinage; but the small circlets, with the

monarch’s name on the obverse, seem to establish a relationship between

this coin and the preceding one of Nasir Shah. The only words legible

on the obverse are—

wlble «ld doe”

On the reverse, the Kalmeh.

Of the coins of Barbek Shah, I have met with none; but to render as

complete as possible the present series, I borrow that figured in plate

No. 13, from Marsden’s work—

* That there is nothing very extravagant in this conjecture may be inferred from

the circumstance of the omission of one entire reign (that of the last Mahmud) by

Ferishteh. The reign of Yusuf Shah is in like manner omitted in the Tabqat-i-

Akbari; but this may possibly be the fault of the transcriber who made the copy in the

Society’s Library. Since the above was printed, I have met with a coin of Mahmud,

which bears a strong family likeness to those of Fatteh Shah in the Plate.

1846. | Muhammadan Sovereigns of Bengal. 329

OBVERSE.

ahaa!) sld ages? yl lbdud) sls RL bel oll

REVERSE.

The Kalmeh and date 873.

The next, No. 14, is a coin of his son and successor Yusuf Shah.

For this handsome specimen I am indebted to the kindness of my friend

Mr. Maseyk of Junghipore, whose skill in the acquisition of these re-

lics is unrivalled. ‘This coin confirms the affiliation of Barbek Shah,

and leaves no room to doubt that a prince named Mahmud Shah sat on

the throne of Bengal; but whether identical or not with Nasir Shah,

we have at present no monuments to determine. It is most singular,

however, that no mention should be made of this name in the history of

the times—

OBVERSE.

aK by yal Wlbahw ali Cimys dLialloas adSly Lill Gued

wlahw slé ages? wal wlblw ald

REVERSE.

The Kalmeh and date—NAJ®* 33}5<5

After the death of Yusuf Shah, a youth of the royal family was raised

to the throne, with the title of Sekander Shah, but was, after a few

weeks, deposed for incapacity, and was succeeded by his uncle Fatteh

Shah. Historians do not mention the genealogy of this king; but his

coins, Nos. 15 and 16, which are, as far as I am aware, unique, make him

the son of Mahmud Shah, and consequently the brother of Barbek

Shah. The inscription on these coins runs from reverse to obverse—

sli? dbasMoa Qo dtly Loctite wlblut! gpl ylblust

Fatteh Shah was killed according to Ferishteh, in a. n. 896, by

Barbek, a eunuch, who usurped the throne under the title of Sultan

330 On the Coins of the Independent [No. 173.

Shahzada, and reigned about eight months. He was, in his turn,

assassinated by an Abyssinian, named Mulk Andiel, who setting aside

the legitimate heir, a son of Fatteh Shah, assumed the royal authority

with the title of Feroz Shah. We must not be surprised if there remain

but few coins or other monuments of those barbarous and unsettled

times, when, as the Persian historian naively remarks, ‘“ to have killed

the murderer of the king was deemed in Bengal a sufficient title to the

vacant throne.”* Of Sultan Shahzada there are no coins extant:

perhaps none were ever struck; but Marsden has preserved one of

Feroz Shah, of which, to continue the series, I here give a copy-—

OBVERSE.

REVERSE.

* * -« opis asi] wo aden)

Date on the margin of the obverse—A4¥Y, 897.

At the death of Feroz Shah, he was succeeded on the throne by Mah-

mud Shah, stated by Ferishteh to have been his son. Of this prince

I have met with no coins; at least with none that can be, with certainty,

ascribed to him. His reign was a very short one, and specimens of his

coinage are not likely therefore to be numerous. Amongst the coins

figured by Marsden, as those of the Patan dynasty of Hindoostan, is one

of Mahmood Shah, so palpably that of a Bengal king, that it is difficult

to imagine how it could be ascribed to any other. There is no date

upon it to enable us to fix it with certainty upon the son of Feroz Shah ;

but the execution of the coin and the locale of coinage, sll®

of which several letters are legible, leave no doubt of the class to which

it belongs: and as there is no other Mahmud with whom he can be

confounded, unless it be the apocryphal father of Barbek (for the coins

of Mahmud, the son of Husein, are very distinct from this), I have little

doubt that this is the appropriate place for it—

J) dod Pa Ls. eee, BS yd aS a9) lKy a) ey! ie dle

Feristeh. yrgiies Ac? nd ol XS daly ise 95 nat 9 OS

1846. | Muhammadan Sovereigns of Bengal. 331

No. 18. OBVERSE.

wld oye? ole te! Q2dI, Lol) pol Jalal) labul

ejlbadaa

REVERSE.

slalet > JI es) Ixy J res)

The reign of Mahmud Shah was a short one. Jn a. xu. 900, he

was murdered by Seddee Badr Dewaneh, who ascended the throne with

the title of Mozaffer Shah. No. 19 is a coin of this execrable prince,

which Marsden has erroneously ascribed, as the foregoing, to the Patan

sovereigns of Hindoostan. In execution and other respects, it is so per-

fectly coincident with other Bengal coins, that there need be no hesita-

tion in appropriating it to the present king, the only one of the name

among those of Bengal—

OBVERSE.

sbls*” xX ho

REVERSE.

The Kalmeh.

Mozaffer Shah reigned about three years, during which he rendered

himself hateful to his subjects by his many atrocities. He suffered in

turn the same fate which he had inflicted on his predecessor; and

Ala ud-din Husein Shah, a nobleman of distinguished but not royal

rank, ascended the throne by the usual path of blood. This prince

enjoyed a degree of authority and safety, which had not fallen to the lot

of any of his recent predecessors. Of his coins numerous specimens

are extant, bearing testimony by their number and variety, to his peace-

ful and prosperous government. Nos. 20 and 21, are two out of many

that have passed through my hands. The inscription continues from

the reverse to the obverse—

eR IP RR he OS heme Chat one pl

332 On the Coins of the Independent [No. 173.

Husein Shah reigned twenty-four years, and notwithstanding some

unjustifiable proceedings in the early part of his career, was deservedly

beloved by his subjects, and respected by surrounding governments.

The emperor Sekandar, who had subdued the province of Behar,

marched against Husein Shah; but found it convenient to arrange a

treaty of peace with so vigorous a prince, and withdraw towards Delhi,

ere the commission of aggression on either side rendered a friendly

adjustment impracticable. Ala udsdin died in 927 at Gour, where his

tomb still exists. Many monuments of this reign are scattered over the

country.

Husein Shah was succeeded by his son Nasrat Shah, or, as he is

improperly styled by historians, Nasib Shah. From the accession of

this prince may be dated the decline of the independent kingdom of Ben-

gal. The chronology of his reign is involved in much perplexity, which

unfortunately the dates upon the coinage of the times, do not assist in

unravelling. Historians seem to have fused the events of two reigns,

those of Nasrat Shah and his successor, into one; and notwithstanding

their comparative recency, there is more uncertainty and confusion in

the history of those times, than in that of the earlier periods of the

kingdom. The coins Nos. 22 and 23, are two of several that have passed

through my hands. They have no date, but their legend and the locale

of their coinage leave no doubt as to the propriety of their ascription to

this prince. The inscription reads from reverse to obverse—

Nasrat Shah came to the throne under the most favourable auspices,

as far at least as regarded the internal condition of his government as

bequeathed by his wise and vigorous father; but from his cruel and

tyrannical disposition gave great disgust to his subjects and dependents.

He was assassinated by his own servants after a reign, (according to

historians) of eleven years. This would make the date of his death 938,

(according to others it was 940 or 943,) but this does not agree with

the date inscribed upon the next coin.

Nasrat Shah was succeeded by Mahmud Shah. This king is altoge-

ther omitted by the author of the Tabqat-i-Akbari, who ascribes all

Ne Uo it was

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1846. ] Muhammadan Sovereigns of Bengal. 333

the events of his reign to that of his predecessor. Ferishteh briefly men-

tions Mahmud as a nobleman of Bengal; but he is correctly described

in a Persian history of Bengal now before me, as the brother of Nasrat

Shah. I have had several of his coins in my possession, but find room

in the present plate for one only, No. 24. They are all distinguished

by having a small circle on each face, concentric with the rim of the

coin, containing what appear to be the words ol é, ce

Reverse and OsvERrsE read continuously—

sldsgec? yalialga! yo rly YIM CoLE label) yal Gllud!

Bihalw 4 shbo al ols wlblw! sli eee Gal Wlbdu

arr

and on some of the coins the place of coinage ,|,[;,., It is the

date upon this coin 933, which is so irreconcilable with the chronology

of written history. Mahmud died according to Ferishteh in 945, and

with him was extinguished the independence of the kingdom of Bengal.

The city of Gour was invested by the hostile armies of the emperor

Homayun, who, onits capitulation, held his court there for some months.*

Sometime, however, elapsed ere the kingdom of Bengal was finally at-

tached to the Moghul empire; for the different rulers, who were from time

to time appointed to administer the government in the name of the em-

perors of Delhi, omitted no opportunity of seeking to throw off their alle-

giance, and occasionally to a considerable extent succeeded in doing so.

The coins of these rebellious subjects, from Shir Shah, who usurped under

Homayun, to Daud Khan, when the kingdom was finally absorbed by

Akbar, as well as of those who attempted independence before the dynasty

of kings which we have just been considering, may furnish an interesting

subject of future notice; more particularly, if collectors who may be in

possession of specimens, would be good enough to communicate impres-

sions or drawings of them.

* For an interesting account of the state of Bengal at this period and the cir-

cumstances attending its conquest by Homayun, the reader may consult Joao de

Barros’ work, Dos feitos que os Portuguezes fizeram no descubrimento e conquista

dos mares e terras do Oriente; fourth decade, ninth book.

334 [No. 173.

Description of a new species of Tibetan Antelope, with plates.* By B. H.

Honeson, Esa., Darjeeling.

RUMINANTIA.

CaPRID&.

Genus. —GAZzELLA ? CAPRA? New Genus,—PRocaPRA MIHI.

Generic Character.—Horns in the males only. Nose ovine; no

lachrymal or inguinal sinuses ; interdigital foss small ; mamme two.

Type.—P. Picticaudata mihi.

Ragéa and Goa of the Tibetans.

Sp. Ch.—Goat antelope ; with medial, elliptic, black horns, inserted be-

tween the orbits, and directed upwards and backwards with a bold curve

and slight divergency ; the tips being again recurved forwards but not

inwards, annulated nearly to the tips ; the rings being complete, separate,

and 25 to 27 in number ; short, deep head, finely attenuated ; large eyes ;

long, pointed, and striated ears; very short, depressed, triangular tail,

and long and delicate limbs. Pelage consisting of hair only, of medial

uniform length and fineness, varying with the seasons like the colour.

Above, sordid brown,t} tipt with pale-rufous ; below, with the lining of

the ears, the entire limbs almost, and a small caudal disc, rufescent-white;

no marks whatever ; no tufts to knees; tail black. Length from nose

to anus about three anda half feet. Height about two feet. Horns

along the curve, thirteen inches; straight, eleven inches. Habitat: the

plains of Tibet, amid ravines and low bare hills ; not gregarious.

The above generic character, it will be seen, is drawn up in con-

formity with the system of Mr. Ogilby,t who, being the latest, is

probably the least inaccurate investigator of the vast and heterogeneous

group of antelopes. But the fact is, that by far too little is yet known of

the real and intimate structure of the majority of the species of this

group, to admit of any present arrangement of its contents into generic

divisions being satisfactory. A long tract of time will be needed to

perfect our knowledge of recorded species ; and in the meanwhile, it

seems better to distinguish generically new species whose organization

cannot be reconciled with the results of existing systematic researches,

than to go on loading the antilopine mass with additional discordant

* The plates are being coloured and will shortly be published with the title page

and index of the present volume.—Eps.

+ In summer.—In winter canescent-slaty, smeared on the pale surface with fawn.

Internally the hairs slaty blue.

} Proceed. Zoological Society for December, 1836.

1846. | Description of a new species of Tibetan Antelope. 335

materials. Having said thus much in apology for bringing forward a

new genus, I should add in explanation of my lengthy specific character,

- that a necessary regard to precision must render a dispensation with the

canons of Linneus indispensable, so long as innumerable, vague, and

shadowy species shall continue to be the plague of Zoological science.

The exceedingly graceful little animal, which is the subject of our pre-

sent description, is called by the Tibetans Raga, or Gda simply, and they

allege that it is found generally throughout the plains of middle and

eastern Tibet. But those plains, it must be remembered, are, for the

most part, broken by deep ravines or low bare hills, and it is in such

situations more especially, that the Goa dwells, either solitarily or

in pairs, or at most small families, never in large flocks. The

species is said to breed but once a year, and to produce ordinarily

but one young-one at a birth, rarely two ; and it is added, that it browses

rather than grazes, preferring aromatic shrubs and shoots to grass,

of which latter, indeed, its habitat is nearly void. I have not heard

that the G6a is ever tamed, but it is killed for the sake of its flesh,

which is esteemed excellent, and is free from all caprine odour, even

in the mature males. In size, proportions, and superficial aspect, our

animal bears considerable resemblance to Antelope africana and to

bennetiit; but not to gutturosa, with which last named species Mr.

Blyth supposed it to be identical, upon inspection of a female transmitted

last year by Dr. Campbell to the Asiatic Society. But the following

description and drawings will serve clearly to distinguish it from all

those species. The Ga is in size equal to bennetizi, and is remarkable

for the same exquisite grace and delicacy of form. ‘The head is short,

compressed, deep towards the horns, and thence much attenuated to the

nose, which is neither bluff nor bristly, as in the Dseren and Chirt, but

smooth and fine. The nostrils are narrow, nor do they, or the lips, show

the least trace of a nude moist muzzle: the chaffron is straight; the

eye very large, and (I am told), dark ; the ears long, narrow, pointed, and

striated. The horns, which rise between the orbits and are of medial

size, larger considerably than in africana or bennettii, proceed upwards

and backwards with a bold ibex-like curve, the last inch and a half only

being somewhat recurved, and the divergency moderate and gradual, in-

creasing almost uniformly from a basal interval of half an inch to a ter-

minal one of four and a quarter inches. In young specimens the tips of

the horns incline inwards as well as forwards, and as the backward

arcuation of the horns is in them much less than in maturity, the horns of

the young thus come to possess the lyrate form, which is hardly, or not

336 Description of a new species of Tibetan Antelope. [No. 178.

at all, noticeable in the mature animal. The horns are equally rounded

to the front and back, compressed considerably on the sides, so that

their basal outline is elliptic, and the compression and annulation extend

to within one and a half inch of the tips. In a very perfect specimen

now before me, there are twenty-seven rings, which go entirely round the

horns, each ring being separate and distinct, and the longitudinal stria-

tion too faint to impair the continuity of the annulation. In the

younger specimen, the compression of the horns is very trifling, and the

rings, larger in front than elsewhere, are only six or seven in number ;

the animal being rather more than a year old. To proceed with the

description of the mature male of the species, I may next note that the

neck is rather thin, the body short and compact, the limbs long and ex-

quisitely fine, the low hoofs compressed anteriorly, wide and rounded

posteriorly, and that the false hoofs are large, but obtuse and adpressed.

The tail is a mere rudiment, depressed, broad, triangular, entirely nude

below, and furnished with radiating hairs, about one and a half inch

long, on the sides and tip. The pelage or fur offers no peculiarity, con-

sisting of hair only, neither fine nor very coarse, and of equable length of

about one and a half inch. The scull presents the Cervine and Antelopine,

not the Ovine and Caprine* form. There is no trace of suborbital,

of superorbital, of maxillary glands or pores, nor of moist muzzle,

nor of inguinal pores ; and the interdigital pores, though distinct, are

small. The females are hornless, and have only two teats, which are

perfectly developed in the males also. ‘There are no tufts to the knees,

nor any of those marks upon the face, flanks, and limbs, which are so

frequent among the antelopes. In regard to colour, my two specimens,

which were brought here in November, and killed, no doubt, in summer,

exhibit above and laterally, a dull and somewhat purpurescent-brown,

freckled with hoary, owing to the pale fawn tips of the hairs, and below

rufescent-white, which colour likewise is extended all over the limbs,

over the insides of the ears, the back parts of the head (in the old ani-

mal), and the posteal margin of the buttocks, whence it spreads like a

small disc round the tail, becoming also more rufous there ; and thus the

tail, which is black itself, assumes that contrast of colours that has sug-

gested the specific name—Picticaudata. Dr. Campbell’s specimen of a

female is paler in colours than my males, the superior surface being

hoary-blue or canescent-slaty ; and as such, is the winter hue of so many

other Tibetan ruminants; it is probably also that of the Gé6a. I have

said that the limbs are entirely colourless; but there is, especially in

* See Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal, No. 111, for 1841.

1846. ] Description of a new species of Tibetan Antelope. 337

young animals, a faint list of colour passing down their outsides to} the

hoofs. This species is said to be totally void of caprine odour in the

living state. The skins certainly are so. The small testes are lodged

in a neat hairy scrotum, and all the adjacent parts, including the groins,

are entirely clad in hair, there being no trace whatever of those sinuses

in the groin which are so highly characteristic of the most typical genera

of the antelopes, that is to say, Antilopa et Gazella of the moderns.

Still the Goda, in my judgment, is closely and essentially affined to the

antelope group, by the extreme delicacy of its form; by its manners;

by the cervine shape of its scull; by its black, round, and ringed horns ;*

and lastly, by the absence of caprine odour, notwithstanding that its

Structure, according to modern views, is caprine, not antelopine: and,

in fact, it is throughout structurally a true Capra of Ogilby, save that

the females are hornless. This character, together with the others just

mentioned, forbid me, however, to class the delicate graceful G6a with

the goats proper, whilst the ovine nose, and the want of suborbital as

well as of inguinal sinuses, renders it impossible to range our animal

with the proper Antelopes or Gazelles, though it is more nearly affined to

the latter than to the former. The ovine nose seems to me a very im-

portant character; and Mr. Ogilby, when he classed the antelopes pro-

per, typed by Cervicapra, in a family characterised by ‘ Rhinaria nulla,’

ought apparently to have given them as a subordinate and generic mark

« Rhinaria parva,’ because the nude moist muzzle is a material diagnosis,

very decidedly forthcoming in the Antelopes, less so in the Gazelles. Col.

H. Smith considers that Mr. Ogilby has laid undue stress upon the inter-

digital pores as a generic character; and yet Mr. O’s. most accredited

predecessors in classification had insisted upon the presence or absence of

this character, together with that of the suborbital pores, as constituting

the distinctive marks of Ovis and of Capra. ‘True, they were in error

in this instance, for goats havet interdigital, though not lachrymary,

pores, and consequently Mr. Blyth’s suggested genus Ammotragus is

based on misconception, though accidentally true to nature, at least in

my view of her, and without reference to systems. But, however falsely

used heretofore, still it does not follow, that each of these characters (the

pores) is not of importance, and there can be no doubt that either of

them may be rationally presumed to be so, and to affect the conditions

of existence, the habits, and economy of the animals; whereas, several of

* The form of the horns is rejected from modern definitions of genera, and wisely

so guoad the particular flexure. But still I incline to the older notion that round,

black, and ringed horns, as opposed generally to grey, angular-keeled, and nodose horns,

serve well to indicate Antelopine or Caprine tendencies.

¢ Mr. B. expressly says not, and thereon founds his genus. Let him look at nature

instead of books, and he will see his error,

338 Description of a new species of Tibetan Antelope. (No. 173.

Col. Smith’s proposed diagnostics of genera have no pretensions to be

so regarded.

With regard to the specific distinctness of the Gda, there must remain

some doubt, until its essential and trivial characteristics, as above given,

have been compared with those of the species it most resembles. Books

cannot well be trusted on this head, and the whole of my collections

have been deposited in the British Museum. The size and proportions

of the Géa are quite those of bennettii, and both species are alike dis-

tinguished by black tails and horns of somewhat similar form. But the

difference of habitat, of pelage, of colour, the inguinal pores, knee tufts,

and females horned of bennettii, not to mention differences of detail

and of size in the horns and tails, sufficiently distinguish this species

from the Gdéa. Antilopa arabica, or the Ariel, has (like bennetti ?) the

structure of a true Gazella of Ogilby, which at once suffices to prove

its distinctness from our species, not to dwell on diversities of colour,

manners, habitat, &c., all very obvious. Lastly, gutturosa, or the Dseren,

is a much larger animal,* with much smaller horns; and its suborbital

pores, its knee tufts, its protuberant larynx, and glandular preputial bag,

are all marks impossible to be mistaken, and not found in the Géa.

The following are the dimensions of a fine old male of the Gdéa:

Snout torump, .........4. Cecio we cee seen etesercces ree sacl Salsct hoe e

Eicieht-at shoulder, ca. sos. sce scnncs seas ac ciswsesinke. sclet apie. se enne

Head {0 occipinty dada asuei'i Sete stte aie dia eiac’e ocala ear ates tise) See

Head ‘fo base Of HOLS, fa.ao.,cpiosisiens was aoin ecxresodaslte maisieeratad > vide me (Ho

WATS crease terete COOGEE he ous Seterata steletae’ fet sta) slaintatatelets|ofale= seoeieiten 0 03-4

Ears, site ny Seleilieiti éotiaia wisiepatetela ake ak Sok tA eT aebee Hos

Fore-leg, top of cannon- bone to end of hoof,. sees cvecccvemecn OG L-8

Hind-les,, difte ditto-artto.). 8. Si. oY Rees APA CON een

Horns, dength Dy; Curves: ain: duiems aor sedew dio ereiriearadiye. geo senaeremtia de

Ditto ditto, straight, ........ Wivialste 6 inc sie'el/s cla’u alg lets olnayn's aise ete 011

Ditto, greatest) divergence, iss i. siselévcdldndsids dbedo vient eenaeeee QO 4 3-10

Ditto, basal interval, . os... me ose. me Sin 2 esis isis atin aay sie 0 0 4-10

Ditto, terminal interval, .... pares eaters ore a alae en wietnls a'eieh oseoesee VU 43-10

Ditto, periphery of base, . oe cee. is cies seseiscessa beaceseesnes eos) Ol

On the Wild Sheep of Tibet, with plates.

CAPRIDAE.

Genus.—Ovis.

Species. —O. AMMONOIDES MIHI.

In No. 111 of the Bengal Asiatic Journal for 1841, I have described

two species of wild sheep belonging to the Himalaya and Tibet. Havy-

ing recently received a splendid specimen of the male of one of these

species, I recur to the subject with a view of more fully fixing the cha-

racters of this animal, whose close affinity to the Argali of Pallas renders

* The Dseren is 43 feet Jong, and 23 ral tei Horns 9 inches.

+ Sic in MS.—Eps

1846. | Description of a new species of Tibetan Antelope. 339

it somewhat difficult of satisfactory discrimination. To Dr. Campbell’s

kind arrangements in my favour, I am indebted for this specimen, as well

as for the Géa, which were all received in November and killed in the

summer, and hence exhibit the summer dress of the animals.

The present specimen of the Ovis ammonoides is that of a male of

eight years, and having the scull and members complete, and being

otherwise in perfect condition; it displays the characteristics of the

species in a most satisfactory manner.

This magnificent species of sheep measures from five and a half to six

feet in length, exclusive of the tail, and from three to three and a half feet

high at the shoulder. My undistorted specimen, as laid simply on the table,

gives the former dimensions, and the latter, with a slight degree of ten-

sion. The head to the occiput (straight) is seventeen inches, and twelve

inches to the base of the horns. The tail is but two and a half inches long,

or three and a half with the hair; and the ears are four and a quarter

inches. The horns, by the curve, are above three feet, and they have

a basal girth of fifteen inches; the age of the animal being eight years,

as marked on the horns. The stately and rather large head, has great

breadth, and still greater depth at the insertion of the horns, and is

thence gradually narrowed to its fine nasal extremity. The forehead is

concave,* exhibiting a considerable dip from the crest of the frontals to

the fore-angles of the eyes. The chaffron is straight, or arched only in

the slightest degree. The nostrils of the ordinary ovine shape, have

their mere margins, and a confluent stripe down the front of the upper

lip, nude. The eyes are of medial size, and beneath them are the

usual lachrymal sinuses, deep but immobile, and of good size, but hid by

hair which clothes them inside and out. ‘The ears are small, narrow,

pointed, and striated. ‘The massive horns are inserted obliquely on the

top of the head, considerably behind the orbits and in contact. They

are triangular and compressed, having nearly twice as much depth as

breadth at the bases. Their frontal aspect, which is presented directly

forwards, is flat, and is extended nearly to their tips with gradually dimi-

nishing breadth. Their dorsal aspect is in general, cultrated, but

widened roundwise towards their bases. Their lateral aspects or sides

are, the inner one, nearly flat, or somewhat concaved, and the outer

one more plainly convexed; and thus, though the trigonal form of the

horns is decided, it is not perfect; the outline of the base being ovoid.

* Cuvier says, Ovis has a convex, Capra a concave, forehead; and he even makes

generic marks of these peculiarities. But in Cuvier’s day, genuine wild specimens of

either genus were too rare to admit of just discrimination and definition of generic

characters,

340 Description of a new species of Tibetan Antelope. [No. 178.

The transverse wrinkles are very numerous and conspicuous, exhibiting

on the frontal surface a succession of large ridges and furrows: on the

sides of the horns they are much less developed, particularly on the

inner side, and they gradually diminish from the bases of the horns to

the tips, the last five inches being void of them. The curvature of the

horns describes a fine backward and outward sweep, and thence down-

wards and forwards, so as to complete about two-thirds of a circle,

when there is a second retroversion, leaving the points directed forwards

and outwards with an inclination backwards, as though, in old age,

there would be a second spiral curve. The neck is rather thin, the

body full, and somewhat elongate ; the limbs elevated, clean, and strong.

The hoofs, which are very fine, hard and black, are less deep and per-

pendicular than in tame sheep, and rest on longer laxer pasterns. The

hoofs are compressed and scooped beneath anteriorly ; broad, full, and

rounded posteriorly, cr in the position of the frog of solid ungula. The

false hoofs are large, but not salient or pointed, being blunt tubercles

rather. All the four* feet have interdigital pores of good size, in which

some cerous matter is lodged. The small stag-like tail is cylindrico-

conic, clad beneath towards its tip, and scantily furnished with hair,

which seems as though it had been rubbed off.

The pelage, or vesture, consists entirely of hair, without a trace of wool

beneath it. The hair is of the usual coarse, brittle, quill-like, and

internally wavy character, and on the body generally is only three-

quarters to one inch long; on the under-surface of the neck two and a half

inches, and on the limbs and head is close and fine, with not half the

length it has on the body. The elongation of the hair on the abdomi-

nal surface of the neck, extends from the throat to the chest, and is

distinct upon close examination, but not otherwise, for there is no ap-

pearance of a pendant mane. The colour on the dorsal surface of the

animal is saturate dull-brown; on the flanks, entire head and neck, and

fronts of the limbs, the same, but mixed largely with hoary, so as to

create a pepper-and-salt hue almost; on the belly, insides of the limbs,

margins of the buttocks, tail, and a large disc round it, rufescent-white.

There is no black or dark stripe down the vertex ; but the highest part

of the body is the darkest, and is nearly black, the colour being extended

in a line to the tip of the tail, so as to divide the white disc and tail in a

* | am thus particular as to this organ, because there is much yet to be learnt about

it in regard to all the Ruminants: for example, the Mantjac of the Sub-himalayas

(Cervus ratwa) has these digital pits only in the hind-feet, and the Saumer (Cervus

aristotelis) is devoid of them entirely, though the best books say otherwise. I speak by

virtue of old memoranda, having no specimens of these deer now to refer to; but those [

examined were alive, and | think I noted carefully.

1846. ] Description of a new species of Tibetan Antelope. 34]

notable manner, though the disc itself be vaguely defined. Such is the

summer garb. In winter the dark hues are much paler; the back and

flanks being slaty-blue internally, but canescent-fawn on the surface.

The female of this splendid species is worthy of her mate, being little

inferior to him in size, and provided with a fine pair of horns. I possess

two good specimens respectively, of eight and nine years old; and, asa

very slight degree of tension applied to the skin of the larger, (which is

not distended in the curing) gives five and a half feet for the length, and

three feet for the height of the animal, I apprehend that the male can-

not be less than six full feet long, and three and a half high, and conse-

quently, that six and five and a half feet, and three and a half and three

feet, may be safely assigned as the respective sizes of the sexes in length and

height. These females were killed, like the male, in summer,* and they

resemble him in colour and aspect so closely, that it becomes only neces-

sary to add to the subjoined details of dimensions a notice of the female

horns. The horns, then, have the same characteristics as those of the male,

but softened and exhibited on a smaller scale. They are, in fact, about half

the size of the male’s horns, but being less curved, they make a greater

longitudinal show in proportion to the size than his. Their thickness,

like their length, is about half that of the male’s horns. They are very

much smoother, and by their diminished thickness, they are separated

at the bases. Their flat frontal aspect is not extended far up, owing

to the greater compression of the horns; but that aspect, being pre-

sented directly forwards, as in the male, is very palpable towards the

base of the horns, which ascend with a sickle-like bend upwards and

outwards, greatly divergent, but not describing more than a half of the

concentric or circular curve. Thus their points are bent down with

yet a faint indication of the second retroversion, so that there is a slight

obliquity outwards of the blunt downward tips. The suborbital and

interdigital sinuses are very distinct in these females, but the caudal disc

less so than in the male. Their tails are very short, and the chaffron of

the females is perfectly straight, from the setting on of the horns to the

nose. The teats are two.

The following are the detailed dimensions of both sexes :—

Male. Female.

Dieueth from nose (0 anus)/scas.aces'scess ce ee cccercee 0 8 o 4

Height at shoulder,....... vn snotmsiwt es sede peas sees 3 2 2 104

Bara Ce CEUTA G wnt Xtand hewitt Siniaiali'aimislimda dee omntatls ion ies a 1 2

Head to base of horns,........enes-0 Giese tcuseeaeene GU 011

* One of the females still retains enough of the winter garb to show that the winter

colour of the species is slaty-blue, overlaid on the surface with fawn, or pure fulvous.

In the summer garb the dark or black-brown of the upper-parts is extended very low

on the flanks, behind the elbows; and the dark list down the limbs is yery palpable,

though much mixed with hoary.

342 Description of a new species of Tibetan Antelope. (No. 178.

Head, width of, between the outer margins of orbits,. 0 8 O 7%

Head, depth of, from frontal crest to lower edge of 1

jaws O 9 0 0

Head, length of, from nose to fore-angle of eye,..... 0 93 0 83

Fore-leg, top of cannon-bone to tip of hoof, ....e00. 1 23 1 Q2

Hind-leg, ditto ditto, ....' see. avecseeesereece ss tan 1 43 1 2

Wears. ihc. Sis acemten ao eres eter sven wal cinta aisle be einiere'e ns OU apr ee QO 4f

Tail and tuft,....... Se eae niatais\ep emia siclaseseiain sign arene O 24

Length of fore-hoof, ..... occ et erence recsess sescwue UO Og 0 3

Breadth; of ditto, 5 ca sneer dclewect sapeagcncsins comeean Os Oe 0 2

Horns.

Length by curve, ...cccccceres GPictes same susaercn ore ) 7h

Basal, depth of,.......06 cinta jaeten ebNe sicatid ali. oe cae lee 0 2%

Basal, Width-Ol, coscucas wa those chiepme shsesiiacl sen ea ml OE 0 14

Basal interval, .... eee scee ceccevenees uceiee eae of HO + OE O 13

Lerminal interval, so xcjaesg = oes 6 «mcninioteyeiicinisle | nie saan See ] 34

Circumference of base,......- eave erene net 2 Gieeevee POE 0 8

Remarks.—No great while ago only two or three species of wild sheep

were recognised by men of science. But Mr. Blyth has all at once pro-

duced a splendid cornucopia of species,* founding many of them however,

upon an inspection of the horns solely. I question the possibility of so

establishing species or genera in this group ; and, as a proof of the neces-

sity of examining carefully the entire structure of the animals, I need

merely refer to Mr. Blyth’s signal error, already adverted to, in

reference to the organization of Capra or the domestic goat, and to

an oversight equally important to be mentioned presently. A strong

conviction of the necessity of extreme caution in the examination

of the Capridz, while it must serve as an apology for the tediousness

of the present paper, will, I trust, by its results, enable those who

are in possession of Pallas’ Ovis ammon and Dseren, to determine whe-

ther I have, or have not, justly made out the distinctness of my ammo-

noides and Goda. In further proof of the necessity of extreme caution

and of research carried into the entire structure of the Capridz, I may

mention that my Ovis nahoor is, like Tragelaphus, devoid of the sub-

orbital sinus, whether in the scull or skin. In drawing up my original

description of this species, I too easily presumed that these organs were

forthcoming ; but in my amended description I noticed the absence of

all trace of them in the scull, though still without advertence to the

skin. Further conversancy with nature has, however, since then given

me a greater distrust of books, and, having recently procured a fine

specimen of the Nahoor, I ascertained beyond a doubt, that the animal,

though possessed of interdigital, is entirely devoid of suborbital, pits.

Simultaneously I obtained two specimens of Mr. Blyth’s Ovis barhal,

and found them also provided with interdigital, but wanting suborbital,

sinuses, as in the Nahoor, from which species I now incline to regard

* Proceed. Zool. Society, August, 1840.

1846. } Description of a new species of Tibetan Antelope. 343

the Barhal as distinct. And, as these round-horned sheep, void of the

lachrymal pits, unmaned, and furnished with a well developed tail, ap-

pear to form a natural group, distinct from the Argalis, and from Tra-

gelaphus—also a separate type apparently, however misdiscriminated by

Mr. Blyth,—I beg leave to suggest for this group the generic appella-

tion Pseudois (Wevdoc et otc) lest, as has too frequently happened to

me, some closet systematizer, who never was at the pains to examine

nature for himself, should step in ‘‘ to name and classify” (the work of

a moment, as ordinarily done,) my discoveries. ‘The Argalis and Mouf-

flons (not to mention the Tragelaphi) seem to form two striking groups

among the wild sheep: our Nahoor is a complete Moufflon: hence it

occurs to me to ask, if the Corsican animal is, like the Himalayan, de-

void of suborbital sinuses? This query may seem presumptuous; but

any one who will refer to the Proceedings of the Zoological Society for

March 8th, and November 8th, of 1836, may satisfy himself that this

sort of analogical inference led me justly to determine, without having

seen it, the structure quoad hoc of an animal (Cambing ttan), which the

learned of Europe had long been in possession of, and yet had mis-stated

that structure. To come nearer to the point, Mr. Blyth, a professed

naturalist, even while writing a monograph on Ovis, and insisting on

the distinctness of his Ovis barhal, has entirely neglected to notice that

striking structural peculiarity, the absence of the suborbital sinus.

Should the Barhal and the Nahoor prove to be distinct species, and I

now think they may, we shall have, already, two types of Pseudois, and

I suspect the Moufle will make a third. Mr. Blyth’s industrious re-

searches indicate at least, if they do not prove, the existence of many

wild species, which, if substantiated, will doubtless be found to present

several peculiarities of organization of generic or sub-generic value.

That gentleman is still sanguine as to the discovery of more new species :

but I cannot agree with him, when he insists that none of his numerous

wild species can be regarded as the type of the tame animal, because all

varieties of the latter exhibit long tails. Now the several varieties of

the tame sheep in the Sub-himalayas and Tibet, six in number, as known

to me,* have all of them short deer-like tails, and some of them in the

form of their horns resemble ammonoides; and all, like ammonoides,

possess the feet and eye pits. ‘The Highlanders have such a horror of

long-tailed sheep, that they will not even let them graze in their fields!

Wherefore, Mr. Blyth has not far to look for tame sheep with short tails.

* The Hinia, the Péluk, the Silingia, the Barwal, the Cagia, the H4ltk.

344 [No. 173.

Notice of the Nicobar Islands, by the Reverend P. Barsx.

The Nicobar Islands, lying between the sixth and tenth degrees

of north latitude, have for sometime attracted very much the atten-

tion of the public in India, not so much on account of the productive

qualities of their soil, but because of the Islanders having committed

repeated murders on the crews of several vessels under the British Flag.

Vessels sailing from the Coast or from Penang have, for a long period of

years, touched there during the NE. monsoon to take a cargo of cocoa-

nuts, as do also large China junks, Malay prahus, and Burmese boats

from Bassein, Rangoon, and the Tenasserim Coast. Not a single year

has passed without hearing of some vessels or boats being lost. But as

no one suspected the Islanders to be capable of piracy, the loss was

always attributed either to bad weather or to the incapacity of the

captains. It is but a few years since Government has been convinced,

that the Nicobarians, although destitute of real courage and bravery,

have been guilty of the greatest crimes, in murdering peaceful people,

who could not suspect that the natives, whose appearance is so simple

and timid, would ever conceive and dare to execute such treacherous

designs. So there is very little doubt now, that a great part of the

vessels which were supposed to be lost in the Bay, have been cut off

and plundered by the natives of these islands, and their crews found

there a watery grave.

The various islands forming the group of the Nicobars are Chowry,

Teressa, Bompka, Tilhanchong, Karmorta, Nancowry, Katchall, Car-

Nicobar, the Little Nicobar, the Great Nicobar, and some other smaller is-

lands. The SW. monsoon begins in the latter part of May and lasts till Oc-

tober. During that period, rain falls in great abundance, and the wind

blows hard: there is a heavy swell, and it is dangerous to approach the

islands. Few vessels touch there during that monsoon; but in the NE.

monsoon, vessels, and Burmese, Chinese, and Malay boats are seen

there taking a cargo of cocoanuts, betelnuts, and collecting birds’ nests,

trepan or sea-slug, ambergris, tortoise-shell, &c. They give in barter

black and blue cloths, coarse handkerchiefs, red cloth, cutlasses, Bur-

mese daws, silver or German silver spoons, ardent spirits, tobacco, red

woollen caps, old pantaloons and jackets, black hats, &c. When a vessel

reaches the place, the people of the village contract for supplying a cargo

1846. ] Notice of the Nicobar Islands. 345

in so many days, and they seldom fail to fulfil their engagement ; they

take in advance generally the goods given in barter.

The Nicobarians are not very expensive in their dress; a small piece

of blue cloth, from three to four inches broad, and four or five feet long,

tied round their loins, is the covering of a man; sometimes they encircle

their heads and loins with young branches or grass. When the head-

men of the villages go on board the vessels, they are more decently clad:

they have a black hat or red cap, coat, jacket, pantaloon, &c. The wo-

men in opposition to the custom of persons of their sex in other coun-

tries, shave their heads, wrap round their loins grass tied with a

string, about a cubit broad; and on great occasions a piece of blue

cloth over the grass. When they appear in public, they generally

cover their breasts. Men and women use so large a quantity of betel-

nuts, lime, and betel leaves, that their teeth are as black as ink; and the

space between them, being filled with that matter, they appear as a solid

piece, much like the horn invested in the jaws of the tortoise.

It is very difficult to have an accurate notion concerning the origin of

the Nicobarians. They have projecting cheek-bones, flat visages, flat-

tened nose, scanty beard, straight black hair, and Chinese eyes. Their

complexion is dark-olive; they are corpulent, muscular, and well-made;

but their legs are rather short in comparison with the trunk; the lower

extremity being more developed than the upper one. Their general size

is from five feet to five feet two inches. But the inhabitants of Chowry

are of a darker complexion, more muscular, and have an air of indepen-

dence, which is one characteristic mark of the Burmese. I saw some

men and women at Teressa belonging to Chowry, and judging by them,

the general height of these Islanders must be from five feet five inches to

five feet teninches. Although these people appear to hold some relation

to the Malays on account of the resemblance of many of their features, yet

the shape of their eyes, their manners, religion, language, and many cha-

racteristics are so different, that they must be considered as a particular

race. ‘I'he Malays having not settled there, the Nicobarians have pre-

served the pure blood of their ancestors. I am not far from thinking

that they belong to the same race of people who formerly lived

on the sea-shores of Sumatra. When the Malays settled in the

island, they took possession of the whole of the level country, and

compelled the Battas, the original inhabitants, who would not mix with

346 Notice of the Nicobar Islands. (No. 173.

them, to take refuge in the interior of the island, so that race is now

master only of the mountains.

There is a tradition amongst the Nicobarians, that the first stranger

who came to their island, seeing something moving on the sand,

perceived small persons of the size of an ant. He took care of them

till they attained the common size of men, so began the origin of

the Nicobarians. According to another tradition, a man sprung out

from the ground, and taking a bitch for his wife, had two children, who,

in the course of time, peopled the island. A man murdered was

buried, and from his head sprung the first cocoanut tree; sometime

after all the inhabitants were destroyed by an inundation, with the

exception of one man and one bitch, who again peopled the island. In

the course of time a vessel having a prince for captain, visited Teressa,

who on his landing was murdered by the inhabitants; his wife was

taken on shore, and treated with the greatest respect, but the spot

on which was shed the blood of her husband, being always before

her eyes, she was very unhappy. On one night she was advised in a

dream by her mother to remove that bloody spot from Teressa: she did

so, and then Penboka was separated from that island.

The inhabitants of Teressa believe that the people of Nancowry are

the descendants of Malays, who, visiting in their fishing excursions that

island, lost their boats and settled there. The Car-Nicobar people are,

according to them, descendants of the Burmese, who in a revolution

which took place in their country, were obliged to run away from the

Tenasserim Coast, and landed at Nicobar.

The dialects spoken by the Islanders differ more or less; and the

difference does not arise only from pronunciation, but from a great

many words which are not the same; so that the inhabitants of one of

the islands can scarcely make themselves understood by the inhabitants

of another.

The Islanders having no written language, the few words to be

found at the end of this letter, have been therefore orally communi-

cated to me. I wrote them as the sounds occurred to my ear; without

presuming to say that I have succeeded in representing them correctly.

The Nicobarians shew great skill in the building of their houses and

boats. Their dwellings are strongly built; they are supported by

large posts, and are elevated above the ground from eight to nine

1846. | Notice of the Nicobar Islands. 347

feet. The flooring, which is made of planks, has a circular form, and

the roof, which has the shape of a bee-hive, is covered with grass called

Lalung by the Malays, about a foot thick. They are without windows,

nor have they any partition. The entrance is from below: these

houses will last from ten to twelve years without repairs ; and there is

no other furniture but earthen pots, cocoanut-shells to carry water, a

round piece of wood which they use for a pillow, spears, knives, swords,

and the ika, which is their general food.

Their boats vary in size from six to twenty feet long, and from two

to four feet broad, having an outrigging: they are generally safe: two

or three poles support their sails. It is a pleasure to see how well

these natives manage their canoes when meeting the surf.

These Islanders are lazy and inactive, cowardly, treacherous, drunk-

en, and I am sorry to say, that crimes against nature are not un-

known to them. Every evening the villagers meet in one of the houses,

and there they spend part of the night in drinking, singing, and dancing.

Like children, they desire every thing they see, without troubling

themselves whether the object be useful or not. When a vessel arrives,

the headman of the village in his best dress goes on board, accompani-

ed by some other persons, whom he always calls his children. They

offer to the captain young cocoanuts, yams, and plantains. If asked

what they wish to have in return, their answer is—Hahekienten man,

which means, ‘You are my father.’ Although they seem to have no

wish for all that they see, yet they expect to get drink or some-

thing else. The headman then hands the certificate he has received

from former captains. It is impossible to avoid laughing when

the high sounding names of Byron, Smith, Rodney, Nelson, &c. are

given to the bearers of the certificate. If a captain treat some of

them very kindly, and make to them some presents, he is sure that some

of the Islanders will be called after his name. In the year 1832, I saw

at Rangoon two persons from Car-Nicobars ; they paid a visit to the

Italian Bishop who was there, aud they were so much pleased with

some trifle they received from him, that the old man told him, ‘My

name being Captain John, I cannot take your name; but my son not

being Captain yet, he shall be henceforth called Captain Bishop.’ The

Nicobarians have different names. If they go on board an English

vessel, they take an English name; if on board a junk, they take

a Chinese name, &c.

348 Notice of the Nicobar Islands. [No. 175.

The Nicobarians appear to have a great facility for learning languages.

I do not mean to say, that they speak the languages very well; but

they are able to make themselves understood in many. The Portuguese,

spoken in Mergui, is their favourite language; and the respectable

people of the different islands are more or less acquainted with it. The

Malay is well understood by some of the people of Nancowry, and the

Great and Little Nicobars ; some of the people can speak a little English,

Burmese, Chinese, Hindustanee, &c. &c.

In mentioning the character of these people, I have stated that they

are treacherous, and as a proof of it, I shall relate the following facts :—

In 1833, a Cholia vessel was cut off in the false harbour of Nancowry,

and every person on board murdered. In 1839, the pilot of a Whaler

being anchored at the same spot, the captain, some of the off-

cers, and the greater part of the crew, were slaughtered by the na-

tives. In 1844, Captain Ignatius Ventura, from Moulmein, command-

ing the Mary, anchored on the north side of Teressa, at two o’clock in

the afternoon : one hour after, the captain and crew were murdered. In

the same year, Captain Law met the same fate at Karmorta. Another

vessel, three years ago, after having taken part of her cargo at Katchall,

sailed to the false harbour of Nancowry to complete her cargo,

there also the captain and crew were slaughtered by the natives. The

headman of Katchall, who had given a part of the cargo to the above

vessel, related the fact to me. He spoke in the highest terms of the

captain of the said vessel, as likewise of Captain Ventura. I was well

acquainted with the last mentioned person; he was most kind and

honest, consequently incapable of provoking any person. But it appears

that it was not so with the vessel first mentioned, they highly exas-

perated the natives by their conduct.

It does not appear that the Nicobarians have any exact idea of a

Supreme Being. They say, it is true that there is a great spirit, whom

they call Reos. But I suspect that this word they have received from

the Christians of Mergui, who have been visiting these islands during

the last two centuries: the words Deos and Reos are so nearly alike,

that the one appears to be a corruption of the other. They admit the

existence of spirits to whom they attribute sickness, death, and scarcity

in the crops; they offer them pigs, fowls, &c. to propitiate them. Once

in the year, and sometimes when great sickness prevails, they build

a large canoe, and the Minloven, or priest, has the boat carried close

1846. ] Notice of the Nicobar Islands. 349

to each house, and there, by his noise, he compels all the bad spirits to

leave the dwelling, and to get into the canoe; men, women, and chil-

dren assist him in his conjuration. The doors of the house are shut ;

the ladder is taken out; the boat is then dragged along to the sea-shore,

where it is soon carried off by the waves with a full cargo of devils ; those

malignant spirits are effectually prevented from taking their abode

again in the village by a screen made of pieces of cloth, which keeps

out of their baneful sight, the place where the houses stand. This

feast, which takes place at the end of the SW. monsoon, is called by

the Nicobarians Kew Hivee. In the beginning of the NE. monsoon,

all the women are obliged to fast for three or four days. During that

time, they dress as mad persons, and go from house to house singing

and dancing. The Nicobarians have also in their houses idols of the

most ugly shape, representing men and women; some with European

dress, and some with the scanty dress of the natives. They have short

and thin legs, and a large belly, and from their necks hang spoons,

cocoanuts, &c.

The Nicobarians have such a high idea of the power of Europeans,

that to them they attribute the creation of their islands, and they think

it depends on them to give fine weather, nice breezes, &c. They are

convinced that the Minloven, can cure every disease, make people sick,

and also deprive them of life. Should any one be suspected of causing

death, the villagers would immediately kill him: this has been the case

several times. Whenthe French Missionaries were living at Teressa,

the villagers went to them on several occasions, saying: ‘ Senhor Padre,

give us some rain if you please; our yams are dying, we know you can

do it if you like.’ And on one occasion, the priests were threatened

to be murdered if there was no rain. On the following day, fortunately,

a strong shower fell during the night, and the people thanked them

most cordially. One of the clergy, being on board of their canoe in his

way from Chowry to Teressa, the crew told him—‘ Senhor Padre, some

breeze if you please’: sometime after, the wind blowing a little fresh,

‘ basta,’ cried they, ‘it is enough, do not give any more of it, otherwise the

boat will be capsized.’ One day, Gold Mohur, who is the most respected

man of the Laxis, a village situated at Teressa, went to the Missionaries,

telling them—‘ You think perhaps that the inhabitants of this place are

bad people. I will convince you of the contrary ; to-morrow I will

350 Notice of the Nicobar Islands. [No. 173.

take all the inhabitants to you, and by examining their hands, you will

see that there is not a single murderer amongst them.’ When I was at

Katchall, speaking to some of the people about the murder committed

on board of vessels, every one of them showed me the inside of their

hands, saying, ‘Is there any spot of blood on them?’ These people are

convinced that Europeans, by looking into their hands, know if they

have been guilty of some crime.

The population of the Nicobar Islands is from six to seven thousand

souls. The whole of them live on the sea-shore: their villages, which

are surrounded by cocoanut and betelnut trees, are small ; seldom more

than three or four houses are seen on the same spot. The men have only

one wife with the exception of those of Chowry island. The women enjoy

the privilege of divorcing when they think proper; so, should another

man captivate their heart, they send away the first husband, and associate

with the man who has been fortunate enough to please them. Not

having children being considered as a curse, in that case the separation

always takes place. I saw at Teressa, a woman who had been married

on that account nine times. It is the custom for young people to live

one year as husband and wife before the marriage ceremonies take

place. Should they live on good terms, and be happy during that period,

then the couple is united in the presence of the villagers, and of the

Minloven. A feast is given to all the friends and relations ; large pigs

are killed; those that are invited daub their faces with the blood, &c.

Should the husband die, the wife is seldom married again.

The women during their course, daub the whole of their body with

the blood of pigs and fowls; and they drink freely the water in which

they have infused several roots. When enceinte dancing and singing

are not allowed in their village; nor can the relations sell pigs or

fowls to make curry. When a child is born, it is a great rejoicing

amongst them: they feast for several days. When a person is sick, they

hang to his neck young cocoanuts, a spoon, and small carved figures,

to amuse the spirit; small baskets filled with betel leaves are suspended

to the trees, and the Minloven is sent for. He never gives any medi-

cine, but excites friction on the different parts of the body: he binds

the members of the sick in different directions; claps his hands, and

makes a great deal of noise. He gives orders to the relations to cut

some of the trees, and to tie to the posts of the house some of their

1846. | Notice of the Nicobar Islands. 351

branches, with young cocoanuts. Should the person be in his last extremi-

ty, the Minloven gives a song of farewell. Friends and relations never cry

at the death of a person: their mourning is in the shaving of their heads :

the villagers go to the house where the corpse is, and there they drink

till they are intoxicated. A coffin is made of a boat cut in two, and some

hours after the death, the body is carried to the grave, on which they

put cocoanuts and plantains; the Minloven, taking wooden poles, goes to

the sea-shore, and fixes them in the sand in such a manner, that when left

to themselves, they fall; he then takes them again and throws them in

the sea: when he reaches the village, he makes a great noise, and the

villagers throw out immediately the ashes they have in their houses.

If the dead be poor, a few days after the burial the corpse is taken out

from the grave; they bring it to all the houses of the village, and from

thence to the place where are the bones of the persons who died before

him. They hang the coffin between two trees, six or seven feet

from the ground : when the string is rotten, the coffin falls, and the bones

are partly eaten by the pigs. Should the dead be one of the captains,

the corpse remains in the grave for three or four months. Some people

in their best dress go to call relations and friends from the other vil-

lages to remove the bones; the pigs of the largest size are killed, and

singing, dancing, and particularly drinking, are kept up for several days.

When a person dies, the villagers cannot go on that day to the jungle,

fearing to be killed by the Hivie or spirit: they abstain also from the

food to which the deceased was partial.

The Nicobarians give credit to dreams; and are much addicted to

superstition. They will not cross a jungle carrying any box, nor will

they use nails in the construction of their houses. They never bathe

alone; nor will they go to the burial ground; nor will they cut large

trees in the forest, before offering to the spirit, who resides there; nor

will they eat at the same meal, pork and turtle. When in their

boats, after drinking the water of young cocoanuts, they are very

careful not to throw into the sea, the shells. Before they build a house,

the Minloven is called to choose the spot, and by different ceremonies,

he compels the Hivie to leave the place. When a new canoe is to be

launched, a fire is lighted round it to compel the spirit to quit the boat.

These people have the idea, that some have it in their power to cause a

person’s death merely by thinking of it; and should a villager dream

352 Notice of the Nicobar Islands. [No. 1738.

that such a one is doing so, there is no other means to escape but by

going immediately to another island. The greatest part of persons

seen in islands where they are not born, have been compelled to leave

their own on this account. If the dreamer mention his dream to no

one but to the heads of the village, the sentence is passed, and the

eaters of men, as the Nicobarian call them, are taken and fastened to a

tree close to the village, leaving them to perish by hunger: no friend,

no relative, would give them any thing to eat. Some years ago, a young

woman of Teressa was starved on that account, and it was but on the

seventh day that death put a stop to her sufferings.

The Nicobarians never use any thing taken from a vessel on which a

murder has been committed, before the Minloven has, by prayers

and supplications, purified the articles ; being under the persuasion, that

if they did not resort to such expedients, the spirit of the murdered

person would inevitably kill them.

In Nicobar, every one is his own master, even children. Persons who

have been in foreign countries, are respected, and have some authority over

their countrymen. Such is the case also with aged people, and persons

who have a great number of cocoanut trees and many pigs. But there is

not a single person in all the Nicobars, who has it in his power to exercise

controul over, I will not say one of the islands, but even a single village,

should a person be guilty of a grievous offence, or of repeated thefts, he is

compelled to leave the island. Some years ago, a person who had been

sent out of Teressa for robbery, returned thereto; and as he was follow-

ing again his old trade, he was stabbed to death by the order of the head

people of the village. I think that such occurrences are very rare, as it

appears that there is a general good understanding and union amongst

them.

The prevailing food of the Nicobarians are pigs, poultry, turtle, fish,

cocoanuts, yams, ika and fruits.

The pigs, which appear to be derived from the Chinese breed, being fed

on cocoanuts, are very fat, and their flesh is of a superior flavour. Al-

though they are to be found in every island, Teressa is the place where

they abound. Some of the villagers of Laxis, have as many as sixty or

seventy. They are let loose in the jungle; the owner calls them every

day by striking on a plank with a stick; on their hearing the noise,

they run instantly in the direction of the shed where the cocoanuts are

1846. ] Notice of the Nicobar Islands, 353

kept. After they have fared on the allowance, which consists of two

cocoanuts for each, they return to the forest. Although there are many

sheds to which the pigs are called in the same manner, those brutes,

however, never mistake the place where they have to look for their food.

This mode of living, gives to those animals the appearance of wild pigs.

I saw some of the young ones variegated, reddish, and whitish. A large

pig is sold for four or five rupees; but if cloth or knives are given in

barter, then it may be had at half that amount. White pigs are very

scarce. I saw two at Teressa, and the owners would not part with them

on any account. Should the authors of culinary books require a new

system for cooking meat, 1 will gratify them with a receipt on that

imvigor in use amongst the Nicobarians. Having killed the pig, daub

your face with its blood, cut the animal in pieces, put it on the fire

for one or two minutes, until the hair is burned off, then take off

instantly and eat.

The fowls are scarce, and if bought with silver, they give but two or

three for a rupee; but the same number may be had for a common table

knife, old or new.

Although there is plenty of fish about the islands, the natives having

no nets, catch but very few. Their only mode of fishing is with a

basket and harpoon. Great skill is displayed both by old and young

in using this instrument; seldom missing their aim. A part of the fish

caught is generally eaten raw on the spot, and the remainder is taken

home to the family to be eaten in the same plain manner.

Different species of turtle are found at Nicobar; amongst them is the

imbricated turtle which furnish the tortoise-shell: the flesh being un-

wholesome, cannot be eaten. But it is not the same with the green

turtle, whose flesh supplies good food, and whose eggs are fine eating :

they are particularly common at Car-Nicobar. The natives take ad-

vantage of the time when the turtle deposit their eggs in the sand dur-

ing the night, they approach them slowly, and turning them on their

carapans, they leave them in that position till next day, when they

carry them home. These turtles, lay about one hundred eggs at a time.

The group of the Nicobar seems to be the land of cocoanut

trees. 1 have never seen any country where they grow so well and in

such abundance ; the water of the young cocoanuts is superior in flavour

to any I have tasted elsewhere. If Providence had not provided those

354 Notice of the Nicobar Islands. [No. 173.

islands with these useful trees, I know not what would become of the

inhabitants ; and I am sure, that the greatest punishment which could

be inflicted on them, would be the cutting down of these trees, on

which they mostly rely for their subsistence. Having no rice, the

nut is its substitute; and the cocoanut water is their general drink.

Being very lazy, they never climb up the trees to get the ripe fruit,

but let them fall of themselves, leaving them at the foot of the tree till

they are wanted. The only thing which can induce them to climb up,

is to get the young cocoanuts, in order to obtain the water to drink or

the toddy, which, when fermented, is an intoxicating liquor; there is no

house without a supply of it, and the first thing that is offered toa

visitor, is a cocoanut filled with that stuff. Men and women indiscrimi-

nately climb the trees, except at Chowry, where none but persons of the

fair sex enjoy that privilege.

The Nicobar yams have a particular taste and flavour, which they lose

in part when transplanted in other countries. Although very little

trouble and care is necessary for their growth, yet the Nicobarians,

through carelessness and indolence, allow themselves to be deprived of

that wholesome root, during six months in the year.

The eka, or ika, or milor, as it is called by the Portuguese, is a fruit of

the size and shape of the jack; weighing from ten to fifteen pounds. It

grows on a tree which is from twenty to thirty feet high, the trunk is

funili formis, foliis pinearis. The fruit being boiled, the edible part

is separated from the filaments with a shell, which, for greater con-

venience (the women alone perform that work) is held between the

toes. This being done, they make it into loaves, weighing from ten

to twelve pounds each; it will keep for several months. When the

natives take their meals, they cut a slice of it, which being mixed with

the kernel of the cocoanut, affords them substantial food. This bread

resembles much in taste and colour the sweet potatoe. These trees

grow in all the Islands.

The fruits the most common are plantains, papayas, and jacks.

I have seen some oranges and sweet lime, but of an inferior quality.

There is scarcely any marked difference in the soil of the various islands

of the group; and therefore what grows in one of the islands would

equally be found growing in the other. To certain islands, however,

is allowed by natives the privilege of growing certain articles, which is

1846. | Notice of the Nicobar Islands. 355

denied to the other: thus Nancowry is the only island in which paddy

can be sown, &c. These restrictions extend not only to planters but

affect also tradesmen : for instance, boats are to be built at Nancowry:

earthen pots are to be manufactured at Chowry : lime is to be burnt at

Car-Nicobar. The Islanders are obliged to have recourse to the above

mentioned places for those articles. This practice seems to be the

result of a rather sound policy, the object of which is to establish, and

keep up an uninterrupted mtercourse between the people of those

various islands. Who would have suspected the Nicobarians capable of

so wise a political institution ! !!

The Great Nicobar is remarkable for the height of its hills, rising

in succession, and covered with thick jungle. The inhabitants are few

in number, and for their having an almost continuous intercourse with

the Malays, some of them are tolerably acquainted with their language.

The captain of the Steamer Ganges paid a visit to that island, and

having anchored his vessel in the bay on the south-east side of the

island, proceeded in his boat to survey the river as far as twenty miles

up. The soil appeared to him to be very rich, particularly on the left

side. He saw some deserted huts and a few plantations of cocoanuts.

In some places the river was very wide, and he never found less

than two fathoms of water. He reached a place where there was

a fence, about two feet high. A shed was erected inside, but the

inmates having, it appears, heard the noise of oars, had all fled: on the

fire was ika half-boiled, not in earthen pots, as used by the Nico-

barians, but in the broad and thick leaves which surround the betel-

nut, made in the shape of a pot. In the same enclosure were also pigs

and fowls.

The interior of this island is inhabited by a race of people distinct

from those of the Nicobars. It is said that this tribe is barbarous, and

much inclined to warlike excursions to the great annoyance of their

neighbours; they are of a dark complexion, and have curled hair. It

is a great pity that we know so little about a people, who having

had hitherto no intercourse, nor the least communication with any

other race, and being left to their own resources, could give us an idea of

what man is when he has no other guide for his conduct, but the

dictates of his vitiated nature. This tribe, with a dark complexion and

curled hair, whether they are Papawans or Andamans, is a question

356 Notice of the Nicobar Islands. [No. 173.

which no one could answer, except a person who had seen them both.

Some persons have been brought from the Andamans to Penang, and no

doubt has ever been entertained, but they are unquestionably of African

extraction. I had occasion to see at Nancowry a man from Mozam-

bique, who had seen several times persons from the Andamans, and who

assured me that they were people belonging to the same race as

himself. It is not to be supposed that the above mentioned person

could have confounded two races so distinct as are the Africans and the

Papawans. The hair of the last mentioned race grows in small tufts,

each having a spiral twist. The forehead rises higher; the nose is more

projecting from the face; the upper lip is longer; the lower projects

forward from the lower jaw to such an extent, that the chin forms as it

were no part of the face. This description given by Sir Everard Home,

forms a striking mark of the dissimilarity between the two races.

*The Little Nicobar has a beautiful anchorage ; the Steamer Ganges

anchored opposite to a sandy beach, close to Pulo Beloo, at a short dis-

tance from the sea-shore. There is between the hills a beautiful valley,

irrigated by a small river running from the south to the north ; at the

mouth of that river is a cave, in which numbers of the Collocalia fuct-

phaga build their nests: the bottom of the cave is filled several feet

deep with guano. Coal has been found towards the northern point of

the island ; but it appears that the product would not pay the expenses

of working it. The hills, which cover the interior of the island, may be

estimated from one thousand to twelve hundred feet high. The sea-

slugs called ¢repan, which is such a delicacy for the Chinese, abound

in the harbour.

The beauty of the harbour, the safety of the anchorage, and the

fertility of the soil, induced the Danish Government to choose this

island for their head-quarters. The Steamer Ganges, which was

bought for the use of the new colony, went in December last to

Penang, in order to procure coolies; of the forty Chinamen taken on

board, a part of them were unfortunately opium smokers; the conse-

quence was, that when the supply of that drug which they had brought

from Penang, was exhausted, being unable to procure any at Nicobar,

they had no strength to go on with their work: after lingering for

sometime, they fell victims to the deadly effect of that most pernicious

habit. The remainder of the Chinamen have been employed in clearing

1846.] Notice of the Nicobar Islands. 357

a place for the stores, and making roads; they have planted samples

of sugar-cane, coffee, nutmegs, &c. It appears that the luxuriant growth

of these plants exceeds the planter’s expectation.

I entertain very little doubt, that the Danes will finally succeed in

colonizing the Nicobar Islands ; but great patience is required, and much

money is to be expended for clearing the land. The fever, which attacks

the natives, and particularly foreigners trading thereto, especially when

they sleep on shore, is to be no doubt attributed partly to the dense

thick forest covering the ground. Of the four French Missionaries who

lived at Teressa, one of them died of fever soon after his arrival; a

second one, after having been laid up with the same disease for more

than a year, breathed his last at Mergui. ‘The two surviving are still

lingering under the same complaint, although they have left Teressa

almost two years since. The natives of Car-Nicobar, when attacked

with fever, rub themselves all over before a fire with hogs’ lard. I do

not know how far this remedy, which affords relief to those Islanders,

would succeed with foreigners.

Should the Danish Government wish to go on with the colony, the

best plan in my humble opinion would be, to employ Malays or Siamese

to clear the forest; they are the people most fit for that purpose; the

Chinese are most certainly the best cultivators amongst the Asiatics,

but not being accustomed to the clearing of jungle, their work in that

line would not compensate for the high salary which they receive. They,

being accustomed to live on a good and abundant food, would certainly

prove a heavy burden on a new settlement, such as the Nicobar, where

provisions are, with so great a difficulty, to be had. The planters of

Penang, having been annoyed by the importunities of the Chinese la-

bourers, who are never satisfied with their present condition, have partly

employed labourers from the Coromandel Coast; these coolies are a

hard-working people, receive low wages, and are not impertinent towards

their employers as the Chinese commonly are. It would be very easy

for the Danish Government to procure labourers from the Coromandel

Coast: rice and salt-fish being their food, they would be a lesser burden

to the colony. Should Government take a couple of hundred Malays

about the end of October, they would be able to cut down a consider-

able extent of the forest before the end of January: then their services

might be dispensed with. In March or April fire could be set to the

358 Notice of the Nicobar Islands. [No. 173.

wood, then fully dried up; this being done, the planting could com-

mence. There is very little doubt, but the clearing of the jungle

will put an effectual stop to the Nicobar fever. When the English

took Arracan from the Burmese, that place was for some years

called the grave of the troops; but the jungle having been cleared up to

a considerable distance from the station, it is at present as healthy a

place as any station in Bengal. |

Province Wellesley, on the western coast of the Malayan Peninsula,

was so unhealthy twenty years ago, that a European would not venture

in the interior without being almost certain of catching the jungly

fever ; but the province having been in part cleared of jungle, it is con-

sidered by Europeans to be as healthy as Penang Island.

To colonize the Nicobars, a good manager is absolutely necessary,

and much money must be expended at the commencement, and as all

depends on the beginning, so the Government should be prepared to sup-

ply the settlement with means adequate to the undertaking. Should

the establishment be properly managed at first, there is no doubt but the

Malays and Chinese would go and settle there with their families, and

cultivate the ground on their own account, as they do in English settle-

ments ; but on the contrary, were the Danish Government to go on slowly

to the work, then the present settlement will be a failure, as was their

first one at Nancowry. Nothing is to be expected from the natives ;

they are too lazy; they will never work except by compulsion.

The Nicobarians are averse to Europeans settling in their islands ;

this I heard from the most respectable of the Islanders, and but lately

they gave a proof of it by making an attempt on the Government estab-

lishment. The natives being without courage, and not having among

them a person who could succeed in forming them into one compact

body and direct their united efforts, little fear is to be entertained about

their future desultory attacks,

The sight of the south-west entrance to Nancowry harbour, affords a

magnificent spectacle, and inspires the soul with emotion and pleasure.

The passage which is about one hundred feet wide, has on each side a

bare and rugged rock, having in the centre an opening much resembling

the side gates of a citadel; these rocks lie adjacent to the hills rising

from two to three hundred feet above the level of the sea, and are co-

vered with a fine and ever-green vegetation; on entering the harbour,

1846. ] Notice of the Nicobar Islands. 359

which appears as a large basin, the eye meets with some hamlets sur-

rounded by cocoanut and betelnut trees; many of the houses are built

like the Malay huts, and some have the shape of bee-hives. ‘The whole

circumference of the harbour is lined with hills varying in shape, size,

and height: some rising in the form of inclined planes, some towering

perpendicularly ; and some having several escarpments ; these hills, from

four to five hundred feet high, are covered with luxuriant vege-

tation. In vain the eye seeks for cultivated ground to embellish the

scenery ; nothing is to be seen but the savage grandeur of a vigorous

vegetation, which characterises this part of the world. The harbour

communicates with the sea by another entrance towards the east, which

is the general passage for vessels to get in: there stands a village called

Malaca ; when vessels anchor close to it, both of the passages may be seen.

The inhabitants of this village, which has ten or twelve houses, are far

from making a favourable impression on the visitor. By their features

the Nancowry people resemble the Malays so much, that they appear

to have some of the Malay blood in their veins; and there is no doubt,

that if they rightly deserve to be considered as the wickedest amongst all

the inhabitants of the group, it is owing chiefly to their frequent inter-

course with the Malays. Some days previous to my arrival at Malaca,

a young East Indian, William Goldsmith, who had resided there several

years, died in that village. On enquiring about the particulars of his

death, I was far from being satisfied with their contradictory, and on all

respects, unsatisfactory answers. ‘This young man must have known a

great deal about the doings of the natives : it is not therefore improba-

ble that his death had been hastened by the suspicious Islanders who

feared he might make known their mischievous deeds. In the same

village an African Christian, named John, who speaks tolerable Portu-

guese, and was employed as gunner by the Danes when they were in

that island, came on board dressed with a miserable rag which the

natives wear around their loins, he had for a neckcloth a fine panta-

loon, which he received a few days before from one of the Danish offi-

cers. I put several questions to him concerning the inhabitants, but in

vain; he only told me that the natives were very good, with the excep-

tion of the inhabitants of the False harbour.

The first Danish settlement was at Karmorta, opposite to the village

of Malaca; the remains of a few brick houses may be seen still on a

360 Notice of the Nicobar Islands, [No. 173.

rising ground. I do not think that the spot was well chosen for an

European settlement, the harbour being surrounded on every side by

hills with the exception of thé two entrances. This site must have

proved unhealthy to the settlers ; the low ground is very sandy, and the

soil appears to be inferior to that of Nicobar.

Teressa Island appears to be ill adapted to be the head-quarters of a

colony; the south of the island being an open place without a harbour,

is too much exposed to be a safe anchorage, the surf is tremendous, and

the only place for landing, is a small passage amongst sweeps. The

breakers in the NE. monsoon are also terrific. The northern part of

the island is partly protected by Bombaka, a small island, distant two

miles from Teressa, the hills of which rise suddenly from the beach ; but

that side being exposed to an easterly gale, the anchorage is not safe.

The low ground of Teressa is very sandy, and although the hills are

composed of red clay, they are covered in part by a coarse grass called

Lalan, and the vegetation does not appear to be so strong as in some

other islands. Lackshee is the largest village in the island: it is

situated towards the south, and contains seventeen huts, numbering

one hundred and four persons. It is in that village that the French

Missionaries dwelt, living in a native hut. The Islanders would not

allow them to build a house, although they had brought the materials

from Penang; being under the ridiculous impression, that if a house

were built different from theirs, they would all inevitably die. The Car-

Nicobarians have not those prejudices, having allowed the Missionaries

to build a house in 1836 in any shape they thought proper.

The Missionaries entertained at first great hopes of converting the

natives; the Islanders visited their houses frequently, and though they

did not appear to take much interest in their instructions, it was thought

that this might be attributed rather to the unsteadiness of their charac-

ter than to any determined aversion to their becoming Christians.

The priests on becoming better acquainted with their character,

found that the trifles they had brought with them to the Nicobars, were

partly the cause of the seeming affection shewn to them at the begin-

ning. A school was opened by the Missionaries; as children do what

they please, and parents having no controul over them, the school was

attended only by a few, and that for a very short time, so that not a

single boy could derive any benefit from it.

1846. | Notice of the Nicobar Islands. 361

The Jesuits, about two hundred years ago, were the first who brought

to those Islanders, the light of the Gospel: their exertions were crown-

ed with success at Car-Nicobar, but these Missionaries being anxious

to give the same benefit to the other islands, went thither on that pur-

pose. Their zeal was rewarded with the crown of martyrdom. The

neophytes being left to themselves, fell again into their former paganism.

In the beginning of this century, an Italian clergyman was sent from

Rangoon to Car-Nicobar, his zeal, charity, and simplicity of manner in

his living, gained him the hearts of the natives; several of them were

baptized; and there is very little doubt, that the whole island would

have been converted, had he not caught the fever, in consequence of

which, he had to return to Rangoon, where he died shortly after his

arrival.

In 1835, two French clergymen were sent by the Bishop of the

Straits to the same island. The natives were shy at first, but after a few

days of intercourse, they shewed a more friendly disposition, and allowed

them to build a house. ‘I'he Missionaries found that their frequent

communication with foreigners was far from having improved their man-

ners. They were no more that simple, innocent, and harmless people

as they were formerly represented to be. When the natives became

more acquainted with the missionaries, they paid them frequent visits ;

bringing with them trifling presents, such as yams, fowls, &c., some of

them being anxious to learn the Christian religion, went every evening

to their house to be instructed: after a few months’ residence there, the

priest had gained so much the affection of the people, that their house

was crowded every day; and they were permitted to visit all the parts

of the island without excepting even their inland establishments, where

they keep their most valuable articles: a privilege which had never

hitherto been granted to any foreigner. Every thing went on prosper-

ously, until the arrival of a Cholia vessel, whose Nakoda, by misrepre-

senting the character of the priests, withdrew from them the confidence

of the natives. He told them, that the Missionaries were English spies

sent there, for the purpose of enquiring into the produce of the country,

and that in consequence of the information furnished by them, that

Government would soon take possession of their islands. ‘The Nico-

barians having given credit to this tale, would hold no more communi-

cation with them nor sell them any provisions: two of the natives who

362 Notice of the Nicobar Islands. [No. 173.

continued faithful to the Missionaries, told them that the people were

so exasperated against them on account of these false reports, that if

they remained any longer, there was no doubt, but they would become

victims to their rage. As the Missionaries could not succeed in con-

vincing the Islanders of the untruth of the report, and seeing that any

further stay among them was useless, they quitted the place, having

remained in the island about a year. It is impossible to form an adequate

idea of the hardships which the Missionaries underwent during their stay

in the Nicobar Island. They were deprived of every comfort of life ; their

food frequently consisted of nothing but cocoanuts and yams. The Rev.

Mr. Lacrampe, who spent the SW. monsoon at Chowry, had no rice to

eat during his stay; and had it not been for a native who brought

him one yam every other day, and which he was obliged to share with

a servant boy, he would have starved. This gentleman being attacked

with fever, cocoanut-water was the only drink he could procure to

quench his burning thirst. The Rev. Messrs. Chopard and Borie, soon

after their arrival, were taken ill at Teressa, and so seriously, that

they could not render each other assistance ; both were lying on mats

in the same place, without remedy, and receiving no assistance from the

natives, but the hand of Him who had guided their steps in that foreign

land, supported them amidst such trying afflictions. At last Mr. Borie,

though of a strong constitution, fell a victim to repeated attacks of

fever. On that very day, in the evening, Revd. Mr. Chopard was so

very ill, that he was not at first aware of the death of his companion. On

the following morning, having recovered his senses, he then only found

that his friend was but a corpse lying by his side. On the same even-

ing the natives removed the mortal remains to the grave they had pre-

pared: and he, though scarcely able to creep along, attended the funeral.

A worldly-minded person might mistake this pure zeal of the mission-

aries for blind fanaticism; but their conduct cannot but be admired

and praised, when we consider and reflect on the fact, that these mis-

sionaries were led by no possible earthly motives, but guided solely by

the earnest desire of making known the saving truths of the Gospel to

their fellow-creatures. Nothing but a belief grounded on the strongest

evidence, and deeply rooted in their souls would have led them to

the field of their labours, and supported them through the severest

trials.

1846. ] Notice of the Nicobar Islands. 363

Chowry Island, seen from the east, presents a rugged and abrupt

rock, resembling the walls of a citadel or old castle. The other part of

the island is flat. Although cocoanut trees grow well there, the

quantity is not sufficient for the support of the inhabitants; in conse-

quence of which, many are obliged to proceed to other islands. The

emigrants being generally men, it follows, that the female sex are more

numerous ; I suppose this is the cause why the privilege of having

several wives is allowed in that island. No fresh water is to be had

at Chowry ; the inhabitants therefore have no other drink but cocoanut-

water. Vessels or boats touch seldom at Chowry, because there is

no safe place of anchorage; in consequence of which the natives are

the poorest among the Nicobarians; and when they have to buy or sell

any articles, they go to the other islands where the vessels are lying.

In all the group of the Nicobars are found, more or less, birds’ nests,

trepan, ambergris, and tortoise-shells. ‘The first vessel that touches

there, when the SW. monsoon is over, might make good bargains with

the natives, provided the purchasers be well acquainted with the quality

of the articles brought to them.

The Collocalia fuciphaga is smaller than the common Swallow, brown

above, and whitish below. The nest is a whitish gelatinous substance,

arranged in layers and secreted by the salivary glands of that species of

Swift. These birds, common in the Archipelago of Mergui, the Nico-

bars, &c. build their nests in the cavity of the rocks, where it is most

difficult and perilous to have access. The nests are of six qualities ;

the first, of a fine whitish colour, is obtained by taking the nest before

the Swift has layed its eggs. This quality is sold at Penang from

forty to fifty dollars the katee. ‘The second quality of a brownish

colour, is obtained by taking the nest when the bird has layed her eggs.

It is sold at Penang at from twenty to thirty dollars the katee. The

third quality is of a dark colour, mixed with blood and feathers, it is ob-

tained by taking the nest when the young birds have flown; the price

of this sort is very low. The Chinese say, that when the nest is taken

before it is completed, the Swift makes another but of an inferior qua-

lity : and it appears that the bird exhausts itself in building the second ;

the next being spotted with blood. The manner in which the Chinese

prepare the nest is to steep it in water during one night; then with great

trouble they clean it; this being done, they boil it in water to which

3 Cc

364 Notice of the Nicobar Islands. (No. 173.

they have added some sugarcandy, till the whole forms a jelly: one

nest prepared in this manner, is sufficient for one person.

Birds’ nests being very dear, the wealthy Chinamen only can enjoy

this delicacy. The rich opium smokers take in the morning a cup of it,

for the purpose of refreshing and strengthening their debilitated frames.

Persons attacked by consumption, are advised by the Chinese physi-

cians to take these nests; they prescribe the same to those who are

reduced by a protracted illness; and I have seen several persons, who,

having made use of this remedy, declared that they found a temporary

relief from this refreshing and nourishing food.

Formerly, both Malays and Burmese, procured at the Andamans a

considerable quantity of these nests: collecting them themselves, or

receiving them from the Islanders in exchange for their tobacco, &c. I

was told by an old Caffrey, who is still living, that when young he had

been several times at the Andamans; that the inhabitants were then a

harmless people; that they brought on board, trepan, birds’ nests, &c. ;

taking in exchange several articles. The above person attributed the

change in their manners to the misconduct of some Malays and Bur-

mese, who taking advantage of the time in which the natives were on

board their vessels, tied them up and carried them off as slaves. It is a

fact, that several persons at different times have been brought to Ran-

goon as well as to Penang. How could it be expected that the natives

after such treatment, would keep the least intercourse with foreigners.

At present their antipathy to strangers has risen to such a degree, that

it is most dangerous to approach their shores. It is said, that the Anda-

man people are Cannibals; but the assertion is hitherto destitute of un-

questionable proof: and it would appear rather strange, that a people,

who are reported to have been harmless forty or fifty years ago, could

have fallen into such a state of barbarism in so short a time: be that as

it may, it is certain, that peaceful persons who have called to their

island, to procure a supply of water, have been murdered by the natives

without provocation.

Ambergris is found in all the group of the Nicobars; and some years

in such quantities, that this article is scarcely of any value in these islands.

In the various islands I visited, the natives brought me ambergris for

sale; but its having been mixed with the wax of a small bee, which

establishes itself in the trunk of decayed trees, it was of a very inferior

1846. ] Notice of the Nicobar Islands. 365

quality. The genuine amber is sold very dear at Penang. The Chinese

and Burmese use it for medicinal purposes.

The trepan, or bichoo-de-mar, is a leech-like animal, from fifteen to

twenty inches long, to four or five inches broad. Some are of a reddish-

brown, and some of adark-brown colour. These animals lay in the sand or

coral rocks, without shewing any appearance of animation. The Malays

have two ways to catch them; first by spearing, and second when the

water is not too deep, by diving and taking them with their hands. The

Malays are, I think, the only people who prepare the trepan. They

start for the Nicobar Islands in November and December, and remain there

till the end of April. The way of preparing these leeches for the market,

is to boil and dry them in the sun or at the fire ; they are then packed up

with lime, brought to Penang, and sold to the Chinamen, who are the

only people, I think, fond of that delicacy. The price varies according

to the quality; some trepans are sold at the rate of thirty dollars

per pecul, some ata lower price. The Chinese alone have the skill to

find out a difference between the various kinds of trepans. A Malay

boat made last year, fifteen hundred dollars by merely collecting trepans.

Having been in the different islands for a short period of time only, I

eould not ascertain what are the different species of trees growing there,

but judging by those I saw, I think they are, with a few exceptions,

cf the same species as those growing at Penang; the dammer tree parti-

cularly, is very common. The overseer employed by the Danes at Little

Nicobar, says, that teak is found on the island, but I am inclined

to believe that it is a mistake.

The soil on the sea-shore of the Nicobars is sand, coral, lime, and

vegetable mould, more or less thick. The hills are red clay, as the

Penang hills: the rocks are limestone, sandstone, clay and slate. As

rain seldom falls in the months of December, January, February, and

March, I do not know how far the plantation of spices would suc-

ceed.

When at Nicobar, I collected different species of birds which were

sent to the Calcutta museum. I saw at Katchall and at Little Nicobar

monkies of the species Macacus cynomolgus. The natives told me that

several species of snakes were found in the islands, some being very

venomous. ‘The boa constrictor is found also in the islands, particularly

at ‘Teressa.

366 Notice of the Nicobar Islands. [No, 173.

The shells which I collected were the following; ammonites virginea,

conus generalis, cypreea, exenthama, cassidaria chiasphora, ceritheum,

murx tenuispina, pteroceras scorpio, anodon dipsus, cardita caliculata.

Before concluding this notice, I beg to return my most sincere thanks

to Captain R. Ashland, commanding the Danish Steamer Ganges, for

having afforded me, with the utmost kindness, the means of visiting

several of the islands above-mentioned, as also for the unceasing kind-

ness shewed to me when on board of his vessel, both by him and

his officers. I was seventeen days in the group, and I am indebted for

the foregoing detailed accounts, partly to the natives themselves, but

chiefly to the Reverend Mr. Lacrampe, who accompanied me to the

Nicobar Islands. As this clergyman had previously resided for more

than one year on these islands, and was tolerably well acquainted with

the language of the natives, I have unhesitatingly relied on the infor-

mation he so readily gave me.

It is as well to add, that in mentioning the harbours, their entrance,

&c., I may have mistaken with regard to their exact position, but I beg

the reader to bear in mind, that I am not a seaman, and therefore no

one can expect from me that exactness in such matters, which can be

furnished but by persons brought up to that profession, and who are.

supplied with the requisite instruments.

SMALL VOCABULARY OF THE Nancowry LANGUAGE.

Man, Inconhay. Chin, Inknan.

Young man, Maial. Beard, Boyalkiah.

Woman, Ungean. Neck, Kolalah.

Girl, Uiah, Belly, Uhian.

Wife, Incam. Hand, Kanathoi.

Head, Koi. Thigh, Bhoolo.

Hair, Inkoi. Leg, Anhnan.

Ear, Nan. Foot, Huphala.

Nose, Moi. Sea, Kahmala.

Forehead, Lail. Water, Rak.

Eyes, Olmat. Rice, Aroos.

Lips, Mahnoey. Cocoanut, Gnhuat.

Teeth, Kanap. Ambergris, Kampei.

Tongue,

Kealatat.

Birds’ nest,

Akai.

1846. | Notice of the Nicobar Islands. 367

Moon, Khaha. Eat, Hookgnok,

Sun, Han. Drink, Phim.

Star, Lomalay. Go, Ahochoo.

House, Hnee. Come, Kathara.

Fire, Hahoha.

jel aling, 4, Fuan. 7» Hakiati)»10:, -Lam.

2. Hahoo. 5. Thanin. 8. Infuan. 20. Hingian.

3. Looha. 6. Thafool. 9. Inhatta. 30. Loohagian.

Notes on the Fauna of the Nicobar Islands. By K. Buytu, Curator of

the Museum of the Asiatic Society.

The Vertebrated Fauna of the Nicobars, to judge from the collection

with which Mr. Barbe has favoured the Society, and also from a nearly

parallel series of specimens collected and presented to the Society by

Capt. Lewis, would seem to be remarkable for the paucity of terrene

species ; while a large proportion of such as do occur are apparently pe-

culiar to the locality.

MamMMALIA.

Of this class, I have examined four species only, of which three are

Bats.

Macacus cynomolgus: which is also an inhabitant of the Tenasserim

Provinces and Malayan peninsula, but in Arracan is represented by the

allied M. carbonarius. I have been presented with two living specimens

from the Island of Timor, which do not appear to differ from those of

Malacca; the species being everywhere subject to some individual vari-

ation.

Pteropus edulis : Pt. javanicus, Horsf., &c. &c. ‘Three specimens are

alike remarkable for having the throat and front of the neck black, the

head blackish, the nape dull reddish-brown, the back shining black,

flanks and vent dull black, and the rest of the under-parts dull reddish-

brown, much paler in the centre,

368 Notes on the Fauna of the Nicobar Islands. [No, 173.

Cynopterus marginatus, (B. Ham.) Inhabits India generally, as also

the countries eastward of the Bay of Bengal to Malacca, and the great

eastern archipelago.

Hipposideros murinus, (Elliot): vide J. A. S. XIII, 489. Identical

with specimens from Southern India, and from the Malayan peninsula.

In addition to the above, Capt. Lewis informed me of a large Monkey,

evidently a Presbytis (vel Semnopithecus) from his description, of which

he vainly attempted to obtain specimens, from its remarkable wildness ;

also of a large Squirrel, distinct from any in the Society’s Museum, and

therefore probably new, considering the locality.

Capt. Lewis likewise obtained, in the immediate vicinity of the Nico-

bars, an example of Delphinorhynchus rostratus, F. Cuv., as identified

from its skull which he has presented to the Society, and which entirely

accords with that of a specimen captured in the Red Sea.

Sus The Nicobarian Pigs appear to have been derived from the

Chinese domestic species, turned loose upon some of the islands.*

It can scarcely be doubted, however, that several additional species

of mammalia remain to be discovered, as particularly Bats, with proba-

bly more Squirrels, and at least two or three species of small Carnivora,

and perhaps Jnsectivora.

AVES.

Palgornis caniceps, nobis, ante pp. 23, 51. Capt. Lewis obtained a

living specimen of this bird, with the wings and tail mutilated by its

native captor. Dr. Cantor has another and very fine specimen, evidently

a female, with black beak, from the Malayan peninsula.

P. erythrogenys, nobis, ante p. 23. Specimens of this bird were pro-

cured both by Mr. Barbe and by Capt. Lewis; and a living male was

given by the latter gentleman to Mr. Halfhyde, of the Preventive ser-

vice, who, when it died, presented it to the Society. This individual was

in far more beautiful plumage than the specimens previously examined :

it measured eighteen inches and a half in length, of which the middle

tail-feathers were ten and a half; expanse of wings twenty-two inches

and a half; and closed wing seven inches and fiye-eighths: irides dull

greyish. The cheeks and ear-coverts, continued forward to the beak,

* It may be here remarked, that Capt. Lewis has himself turned a pair of Cervus

axis loose, in a locality where they are likely to propagate.

1846. ] Notes on the Fauna of the Nicobar Islands. 369

are of a beautifully bright cherry-red, devoid of the lake or ‘ peach-

blossom” tinge prevailing on the same parts of P. malaccensis, and

which, in the latter species, is continued round the nape: the crown

also is not of the deep emerald-green of that of P. malaccensis ;

the occiput and nape incline to light straw-yellow ; and there is a well

defined black line from the nostril to the eye: all which combine with

its superior size, and other minutiz that might be pointed out, as the

absence of red above the ear-coverts, to distinguish it from P. malac-

censis. Indeed, it holds much the same relationship towards that

species, which P. Alexandri does towards P. torquatus ; and P. caniceps

stands in the same position towards P. pondicerianus ; P. schisticeps, also,

towards P. cyanocephalus.—P. erythrogenys, so far as we are yet aware,

is peculiar to the Nicobar Islands, where it occurs abundantly.

Bulaca seloputo, (Horsfield): Strix pagodarum, 'Tem. Capt. Lewis

informed me of a very beautiful Owl which he obtained, but the speci-

men was lost through the carelessness of a servant: he could not re-

cognise the species among the fine collection of Owls in the Society’s

Museum, but identified it positively from a Malayan specimen belonging

to Dr. Cantor. The present species has been much confounded with

its Indian representative ; which latter has been referred, not very satis-

factorily, to Strix sinensis, Lath. A very large white Eagle was also

shot by Capt. Lewis, but he could not succeed in penetrating the very

dense jungle into which it fell: this was probably Blagrus dimidiatus,

(Raffles.)

Todiramphus occipitalis, nobis, ante pp. 23, 51. Peculiar, so far as has

been yet observed, to the Nicobars.

T. collaris, (Scopoli and Swainson): Alcedo chlorocephala, Gmelin.

Nicobarian specimens of this bird are remarkably brilliant, with much

less of the green tinge than usual upon the crown and back.

Merops philippinensis. Found also throughout India, and in the Ma-

layan peninsula and archipelago.

Collocalia fuciphaga, (Thunberg), vide p. 22, ante.

Gracula javanensis, vide p. 31, ante. Inhabits the southern Islands only.

Sturnia erythropygia, nobis, ante p. 34, Hitherto observed only upon

the Islands.

Calornis affinis, A. Hay, ante p. 36. Upon the average, this bird is

less brightly glossed than C. cantor, of the Malayan peninsula and archi-

370 Notes on the Fauna of the Nicobar Islands. [No. 173.

pelago. It was observed by Capt. Lewis in the central and southern

Islands.

Nectarinia pectoralis, Horsfield: N. eximia, Temminck (nec Hors-

field). Inhabits also the Malayan peninsula and Java, but in the Te-

nasserim provinces and in Arracan is represented by the allied N. flam-

mazillaris, nobis.

Zosterops palpebrosus, (Tem): Sylvia annulosa, var. A. Swainson.

This species inhabits the hilly parts of India, from the Himalaya to

Ceylon inclusive, and also those of Arracan and Tenasserim: but I have

never seen it from the Malayan peninsula, and it is represented in Java

and the Philippines by Z. flavus, the Diceum flavum, Horsfield. The

specimen described as Z. nicobaricus, J. A. S. XIV, 563, would seem

to be merely the young; though I have never seen an Indian specimen

in corresponding plumage. The Society has, however, subsequently

received Nicobarian specimens in the ordinary dress of Z. palpebrosus.

Oriolus macrourus, nobis, ante p. 46. A very distinct species, ob-

served only in the central Islands. I may here remark, that since my

Synopsis of this genus was written (loc. cit.), I have discovered that

females of O. melanocephalus very commonly assume the plumage which

is generally thought to be characteristic of the adult male; and I greatly

suspect that the same obtains in the various other species of Oriole.

Hypsipetes virescens, nobis, vide p. 51, ante. Inhabits the central

Islands.

Geocichla innotota, nobis, MS. (described in the sequel to my ‘ Notices

and Descriptions of New Birds’). Both Mr. Barbe and Capt. Lewis pro-

cured what I infer to be a female of this well marked species ; and Dr. Can-

tor’s Malayan collection contains what I incline to regard as the male.

The colouring is considerably more intense than in G. citrina, and

there is no white upon the wing-coverts; the presumed female only has

a white throat, and the scapularies and interscapularies are olivaceous.

Dicrurus balicassius, (Lin.) A specimen of this common Malayan species

was obtained at sea, by Capt. Lewis, when nearing one of the Islands.

Tchitrea ? A species of Paradise Flycatcher, or Shah Bulboul of

the natives of India, was observed but not obtained by Capt. Lewis.

Myiagra cerulea, (Vieillot). Common.

Treron chloroptera, nobis, XIV, 853. A very distinct species, hitherto

only observed upon the southern Islands.

—————e— ee

1846. ] * Notes on the Fauna of the Nicobar Islands. 371

Carpophaga sylvatica, (Tickell). Nicobarian specimens seem inva-

riably to differ from those obtained throughout the eastern coast of

the Bay of Bengal (from Arracan to the Straits), and also from Java,

Sylhet, Assam, &c., all of which are quite similar, in the green of

of the upper-parts being wholly unmixed with bronze, and the ash-grey

of the head, neck, and under-parts having no tinge whatever of vina-

ceous; the primaries also are devoid of the grey tinge ; and the lower

tail-coverts are much less deeply tinctured with dark vinaceous. Hence

the ensemble, when several specimens of each are examined together, is

conspicuously different. This species occurs in the central group of

Islands.

C. myristicivora, (Scopoli) : Columba alba, Gm.: C. littoralis, Tem.

Both this and the preceding species are very common.

Calenas nicobarica. Found also in the Andaman and Cocos Isles, in

the Mergui archipelago (according to Helfer), and in the Malayan penin-

sula. Two young ones procured by Capt. Lewis have the tail greenglos-

sed black, whereas in adults the tail is pure white. The elongated nuchal

hackles do not exist in the garb of juvenility.

Chalcophaps indicus. This differs from the Indian race in the deeper

ash-colour of the nape, and bluer vinaceous hue of the under-parts ;

while the bands on the rump (so conspicuous in the Indian bird, and

also in its Australian near ally, Ch. chrysochloros,) are very indistinct.

It abounds in the central Islands.

Macropygia rufipennis, nobis, n. s. Most closely allied to M. phasi-

anella of Australia, but rather smaller in all its proportions, and best

distinguished by the uniform bright rufous hue of the entire under-sur-

face of the wings, which occupies the whole of each feather except to-

wards its tip. The primaries are also externally somewhat broadly

margined with the same. There is really no other difference: but

another species, M. amboinensis, of Java and the Moluccas, differs only

from M. phasianella in its much inferior size. Specimens of all three

are in the Society’s Museum, and there can be no doubt of their dis-

tinctness. I have also a living specimen of M. phasianella, caught at

sea about sixty miles from the Australian coast. It is kept in an

aviary with a variety of other birds, and prefers plantain to any other

food: so eager is it for this fruit, that of a morning it will alight on a

bunch of plantains as the latter is carried into the aviary, and when the

3 D

372 Notes on the Fauna of the Nicobar Islands. [No. 178.

plantains are hung up, it combats with the different species of Hurrials

(Treron) and other birds, in a singular manner, to obtain undisturbed

possession of the fruit. Its manner is to hover round them, and not

exactly to strike with its feet, but to push with them the intruder off

its perch, and this it will sometimes repeat two or three times in suc-

cession without alighting. It never descends to the ground, except to feed

on fruit that may be lying there; yet, though so fond of this aliment, it

was fed, when on board-ship, exclusively on maize, and in default of fruit

will thrive on rice and other grain. This bird is chiefly active in

the morning and evening, and scarcely moves from its perch during the

day. Its coo is hoarse, deep, and subdued, a sort of croaking sound,

only audible when very near, and resembling ‘ 0-0-0-0-ah’ repeated sever-

al times successively.* M. rufipennis was observed only in the South-

ern Nicobars.

Turtur suratensis, (Lath) : Columba tigrina, Temminck. Common to

India and the Malayan peninsula and archipelago.

Megapodius nicobariensis, nobis, ante p. 52. Of this very interesting

bird, Capt. Lewis obtained the egg and chick, and Mr. Barbe an adult

pair, with also two eggs, which latter are noticed in my description of

the species, That procured by Capt. Lewis was uniformly tinged with

reddish-brown, which still further bears out Mr. Gould’s description of

M. tumulus of Northern Australia, the eggs of which he describes to vary

somewhat in hue, according to the soil in which they are deposited.t

Demigretta concolor, nobis, x. s. This Demi-Egret was long ago

forwarded from Arracan by Captains Phayre and Abbott, and I am

assured that it also occurs in Assam. In the central Nicobars it would

seem to be not uncommon. From D. asha, (Sykes,) it is readily dis-

tinguished by its shorter legs; the tarse measuring but three inches

instead of three and three-quarters: wing eleven inches, or eleven and

a half, in adults; about an inch shorter in the young: bill to forehead

three inches and a half, and to gape four and a quarter: middle toe and

* This bird is since dead ; its plantain diet by no means agreeing with it so well as

the maize on which it was kept formerly. As for its mode of fighting, 1 lately saw a

pair of Doves (Turtur suratensis) on the ground, which repeatedly flew up and

attacked each other much in the same way.

+ Mr. Barbe informs me that this bird is common on all the Islands; but that he

never saw it perch, as Mr. Gould represents M. tumulus to do, in the back-ground of

his plate. The pair he shot were together, upon a hillock, and upon his shooting one,

the other did not make off, upon which he killed it with his second barrel.

1846. ] Notes on the Fauna of the Nicobar Islands. 373

claws two inches and three eighths, the claws short and much curved.

Colour uniform dark slaty throughout ; some specimens having a white

line on the chin and throat. Adults have narrow lengthened plumes .

on the back and breast, similar to those of Ardea cinerea: the occipital

plumes also are somewhat lengthened, as in Herons generally; but I

have seen no defined occipital crest, and doubt its ever possessing one.

Beak mingled dusky and dull yellowish; and the legs appear to have

been olive-green.

Nycticorav griseus, (Lin.): Ardea nycticoraz, L.

Strepsilas interpres, (Lin.) Common along the coasts of the Bay of

Bengal; and the Society has received a specimen from the Mauritius.

One of the most universally distributed of birds.

Totanus hypoleucos, (Lin.) Excessively numerous in the Bengal

Soonderbuns; and the Society has also received it from Chusan. Of

very general distribution throughout Europe and Asia.

Thalasseus bengalensis, (Lesson). Nearly allied to Sterna velox and

St. affinis of Ruppell (nec St. affinis, Horsf.), to which it would seem

intermediate. Sz. cristata, Sw. (nec Stephens), is also closely allied, but

remarkable for its very pale colour. From the European Th. Boysii,

(Pen.), which it also greatly resembles, this species differs in having the

bill wholly yellow, and the tail uniform grey with the back. Another

allied species, which was procured by the late Dr. Helfer in the Tenas-

serim Provinces, agrees with the description of Sterna poliocerca, Gould,

and is perhaps the St. cristata of Stephens. Th. bengalensis is not un-

common in the Bay of Bengal.

Sterna (?) melanauchen, Tem.: figured in Gould’s ‘Birds of Australia.’

This species breeds abundantly in the Nicobars.

Another species common in the Bay, is the Melanosterna anasthetus,

(Scopoli), v. Sterna panaya, Lath., St. infuscata, Licht., and St.

antarctica, Lesson: and allied to this is a species which is perhaps

St. grisea of Horsfield, and which was obtained by Prof. Behn, of the

Danish expedition, as he was approaching the mouth of the Hoogly.

If new, I am enabled by the politeness of that naturalist to subjoin the

accompanying description of it.* Anous tenuirostris, (Tem.), is also a

* Hydrochiledon grisea ( ? Horsfield): n. s.? H. marginata, nobis. Resembles

Hi. nigra in winter plumage, except in being much larger, and in having the nape

(surrounding the black of the occiput) pure silky white, as are also the entire under-

374 Notes on the Fauna of the Nicobar Islands. [No. 173.

marine species of Tern, which I have obtained in the Bengal Soonder-

buns.*

Phaéton eihereus. The only Tropic-bird, (or ‘‘ Bo’sw’n-bird,”) I have

seen from the Bay of Bengal. PA. candidus abounds near the Mauritius,

and Ph. phenicurus towards Australia.

Pelicanus philippensis. ‘The smaller Indian Pelican, which seems to

be the predominating species throughout the Malay countries.

It thus appears, that of thirty-two ascertained species of birds, procur-

ed either upon, or in the immediate vicinity of the Islands, (which number

includes Bulaca seloputo, Dicrurus balicassius, and Phaéton @ethereus,) as

many as eight are peculiar to the locality,—so far, of course, as has been

hitherto ascertained ; for it is likely that most of them inhabit also the

northern part of Sumatra, and perhaps the Andamans, and the province

of Mergui and its vicinity. These eight comprise several remarkable

and conspicuous species, and are as follow :—Pala@ornis erythrogenys,

Todiramphus occipitalis, Sturnia erythropygia, Oriolus macrourus, Hyp-

sipetes virescens, Treron chloroptera, Macropygia rufipennis, and Mega-

podius nicobariensis.

parts, including the sides of the breast: the mantle is also much paler, and the tail

more deeply forked and differently coloured. Length, to end of middle tail-feathers,

ten inches and a half, or to the outermost a foot; wing nine inches and a half; middle

tail-feathers two and three-quarters ; bill to gape one and seven-eighths ; tarse three-

quarters; middle toe and claw an inch; the webs of the toes more developed than

in H. nigra. Bill reddish-dusky, redder towards base of lower mandible; the interior

of the mouth apparently coral-orange ; and legs, toes, and membranes, the same,

with black claws. Colour above pale ashy, with sullied whitish margins to the

scapularies and wing-coverts; a defined blackish band, half an inch broad, extends

along the outsideof the radius, bordering the upper-part of the wing anteriorly, as in

the winter dress of H. nigra: crown and occiput black, embracing the orbital

region; towards the forehead the feathers become gradually more deeply margined

with white, and the forehead and entire under-parts are pure white, extending on the

nape: the great alars are silvery-ash externally, except the first, which has its outer

web, and half the breadth of its inner web, with the tip, black, tinged with ashy

towards the tip and on the inner web; the extent of the dark ashy tip increases suc-

cessively on the other primaries, the shorter of which have a narrow white border to

their inner webs; while the secondaries are tipped externally with the same: the lesser

coverts of the primaries, with the winglet, are mostly dusky: middle tail-feathers pale

grey, with a whitish tip; the rest white on their inner webs, and successively darker

till they become blackish on the outer: underneath the wings and tail appear

margined externally with blackish-grey.

* The Society’s specimen of this bird is not a very good one; and I can distinguish

it neither from A. melanops nor A. lencocapillus, figured in Gould’s ‘ Birds of

Australia,’

1846. | Notes on the Fauna of the Nicobar Islands. 375

Four others exist as varieties, more or less marked, of species met

with elsewhere : viz. Todiramphus collaris, Collocalia fuciphaga, Car-

pophaga sylvatica, and Chalcophaps indicus.

' Of those which are not peculiar to the Islands, twenty-one are known

to occur in the Malayan peninsula (including Palaornis caniceps and

Geocichla innotata, which were discovered in the two localities about

simultaneously) ; and the remaining three inhabit Arracan, and pro-

bably Tenasserim—certainly as regards Zosterops palpebrosus, the others

being Calornis affinis,* and Demigretta concolor. It is probable, in-

deed, that the whole twenty-four occur in the Malayan peninsula, with

also some of the remaining eight, which appear to have been hitherto

observed only on the Islands.

Of the species found likewise in India, the majority are more or less

aquatic, belonging chiefly to the Zoology of the Bay and its vicinity :

such is Todiramphus collaris, which abounds in the Bengal Soonderbuns,

and along the whole eastern shore of the Bay, but is very rare on the

Coromandel coast of the peninsula: but Merops philippinensis, Zoste-

rops palpebrosus, Myiagra caerulea, Chalcophaps indicus (Ind. var.),

Turtur suratensis, and even Carpophaga sylvatica,t are inland species,

which are pretty generally diffused—though the last is much more com-

mon in the countries eastward (as Assam, Sylhet, Arracan, and Tenas-

serim). Dicrurus balicassius | have only seen from Nepal, it being the

Buchanga annectans of Mr. Hodgson: and the remaining species includ-

edin the Fauna Indica are Nycticorar griseus, Strepsilas interpres,

Totanus hypoleucos, Thalasseus bengalensis, Phaéton ethereus, and Peli-

canus philippensis.

Hence, the data supplied by the highly interesting Ornithology of the

Nicobars, (so far as we have yet the means of judging,) connect those is-

lands with the Malayan Zoological province, as their position on the map

would indicate : at the same time that they possess several peculiar and

remarkable species, not hitherto discovered on the neighbouring lands.

* I have unfortunately retained for the Museum no Tenasserim specimens of Calor-

nis, not having suspected the distinctness of C. affinis from C. cantor, until Lord A.

Hay called my attention to the fact. C. cantor is common at Penang: and I may add

that Mr. Barbe has just assured me that the Tenasserim species is C. cantor, and

not C. affinis.

+ The very small specimen mentioned in XIV, 857, proves to have been from the

Neilgherries ; but whether the race of Southern India is constantly thus diminutive,

I am not yet aware.

376 _ Notes on the Fauna of the Nicobar Islands. [No. 173.

REPTILIA.

My materials for illustrating this class are rather scanty, although

it would appear that the Nicobars possess many species, more especially

of Ophidia.

Of the Testudinata, Mr. Barbe mentions two, recognizable portions of

both of which were brought by Capt. Lewis : viz.—

Chelonia virgata ; the edible Turtle of the Bay of Bengal: and

Ch. imbricata ; the ‘“‘ Tortoise-shell”’ Turtle.

Of the Sauria, Capt. Lewis collected four species :

Monitor salvator, (Laurent): Tupinambis bivittatus, Kuhl; Varanus

bivittatus, Dumeril and Bibron, Hist. des Reptiles, III, 486.

M. nebulosus, Gray: Varanus nebulosus, Dum. and Bibr., Hist. Rept.

Ill, 483.

Both of these species inhabit the Malayan peninsula, and the first

occurs abundantly in Lower Bengal. According to M. M. Dumeril and

Bibron, the second also was sent from Bengal by M. Belanger; but I

have never succeeded in obtaining an Indian specimen.

Calotes ophiomachus, (Merrem), Dum. and Bibr., Hist. Rept. IV, 482.

This agrees sufficiently well with the description cited, save that the

terminal four-fifths of the extremely long tail are white, instead of being

annulated with white. I have no Indian specimen with which to com-

pare it. If truly identical with the Indian reptile, the analogy of other

Nicobarian species that occur also in India, renders it probable that

it likewise inhabits the mainland forming the eastern shore of the

Bay.*

C. mystaceus, Dum. and Bibr., Hist. Rept. 1V, 408. The authors

cited found this species upon a single specimen received from Burmah.

One from the Nicobars accords with their description in all respects as

regards structure ; but the specific name does not apply. As far as can

be judged from the example before me (preserved in spirit), the brilliant

colours of which are now little more than indicated, it would seem that

the entire head and throat, if not also several of the anterior dorsal

spines, had been bright red, or the throat and lower jaw may perhaps have

* Referring to Merrem’s figure, Hist. Nat. des Rept. 111, 361, I cannot hesitate in

considering the Nicobarian species to be the same.

1846. ] Notes on the Fauna of the Nicobar Islands. 377

been orange-red ; while the body has evidently been vivid green : colours

which probably depend partly on season, over and above the change-

ableness of hue which these reptiles exhibit at all seasons. The. Nico-

barian specimen is a male, in apparently the full brilliancy of its colour-

ing indicative of the season of propagation, when no doubt it had the

mishap to be secured.

Of the Ophidia, I can only enumerate three species.

Python (probably P. Schneideri). This was observed both by Mr.

Barbe and Capt. Lewis ; but I have seen no specimen.

Trigonocephalus Cantori, nobis, x. s. A typical member of this genus,

having 169 abdominal plates, and 214 subcaudal scutelle. Length of one

specimen thirty inches. This large one was much injured when it was kill-

ed, and appears to have shrunk considerably from drying before it was put

into spirit; from which causes it is not easy to describe its markings,

but it seems to have been curiously blotched with red—which colour is

not observable in a young specimen, fifteen inches and a half long. Both

have a distinct lateral whitish line, bordering the abdominal scutz and

ceasing at the vent. Scales slightly imbricated. The young appears to

have been dull olive-green above, mottled throughout with a double series

of dusky blotches, semi-alternately disposed, with smaller spots and

blotches on the sides, below which occurs the whitish lateral line : under-

parts greyish, from a freckling of minute dusky specks on a pale ground :

on the head the markings tend more or less to be obsolete; but a whitish

band proceeds backward from below the eye, and in the young is con-

tinued upwards almost at a right angle, and there is also a whitish patch

posterior to the broad angle of the jaws, but unconnected with the lateral

line of the body. The adult appears to be further variegated above, by

scattered white spots composed of one, two, or rarely three scales each.

The young is proportionally much more slender than the adult, and

the triangularity of its head is less strongly marked.

Pelamydes platurus : having a much greater portion than usual of its

tail banded ; the bands diminishing to festoons anteriorly, until they are

gradually lost.

The few Reptilia here enumerated, do not require any comment : three

of them are marine species, viz. the two Turtles and the Pelamydes ;

but the former are, I believe, more nearly connected with the Islands by

depositing their eggs upon the shores of them.

378 Notes on the Fauna of the Nicobar Islands. [No, 173.

PISCES.

The marine Zoology of the Nicobars being properly that of the Bay

of Bengal, it would scarcely be worth while here to supply a catalogue of

well known inhabitants of the Bay, even if I possessed sufficient materials

for the task. The freshwater species would possess more interest in the

present instance; and of those I have not seen any, either vertebrate or

invertebrate, or any land Mollusca. Capt. Lewis, on nearing the Islands,

took a flying fish, which is Exocetus Commersoni ; and in a native hut

he found a rudely prepared skin of Balistes conspicillum, Schn. (B.

bicolor, Shaw) ; he obtained also a fresh specimen of B. rectangulus,

Schn. (v. medinilla, Quoy and Gaymard, and fasciatus of Shaw) ; also a

beautiful wholly green Parrot-fish, allied to Scarus gibbus, Ruppell,

Cuv. and Val. Hist. Poiss. XIV, 231, upon which Mr. Swainson founds

his Chlorurus, ‘ History of Fishes, &c.’ II, 227 (in Lardner’s Cyclopedia).

Capt. Lewis brought also a few specimens, chiefly small fry, from the

myriads which, (like the Scarus last mentioned,) resort to the coral-beds :

and among these the Dascyllus aruanus, (L.), Cuv. and Val. V, 325,

would seem to be particularly common.

Lastly, he procured three species of saltwater Eels, which I have

submitted to the inspection of Dr. M’Clelland, whose valuable labours on

the very difficult group of apodal fishes require no eulogy from me;

examination of them :—

«Two of them are known species, I think; namely, Dalophis geome-

trica, (Ruppell), ‘Fishes of Northern Africa,’ pl. XXX, fig. 3, and Cai.

Journ. Nat. Hist. V, 213,—and Therodontis reticulata, M’Clelland,

C. J. N. H., V, 216, and pl. VII, fig. 1. The third is, I think, a new

species, of which the following will be a sufficient description.

“* Therodontis maculata, M’Clelland. Two rows of distinct dark spots

on either side, of an oval or somewhat oblong rounded form, and placed

' transversely, the rows extending from the head to the caudal extremity ;

also a row of more elongated spots on either side of the dorsal and anal

fins, parallel with the rays.—Ozs. This species bears some resemblance

to Dalophis tigrina, v. Murena tigrina of Ruppell, ‘ Fishes of N. Africa,’

pl. XXX, fig. 2; but is more robust, and the spots are without an areola

as in that species, and differently placed.”

1846. | Notes on the Fauna of the Nicobar Islands. 379

INVERTEBRATA,

The only terrene species pertaining to an invertebrate class, which I

have yet seen from the Nicobars, is the common Scolopendra morsitans.

Of marine species, Capt. Lewis brought a Loligo, and various species of

Testacea common in the Bay: also two species of Asterias, and specimens

of Fungia patella, Tubipora musica, and a few other common corals.

Of Crustacea, he preserved the claws of an extraordinarily large speci-

men of the common edible crab of India (Lupa tranquebarica), with

examples of one of the species confounded under Matuta lunaris, and a

small crab which accords perfectly with the figure and description of Grap-

sillus dentatus, Macleay, in Dr, A. Smith’s ‘ Zoology of S. Africa;’ also

a Pagurus, and a fine specimen of Palinurus ornatus, and one of Thenus

orientalis ; with a small Alpheus, and one or two other minute Palemo-

nide which are probably undescribed.

(To Mr. Barbe, the Society is further indebted for numerous speci-

mens of mammalia, birds, &c. from Penang, and from the Tenasserim

Province of Ye; also from the interior of the Tipperah hills. Among

the Tenasserim specimens are a new Monkey (Presbytis humeralis,

nobis), three new Squirrels (Sciurus chrysonotus, Sc. melanotus and Sc.

Barbei, nobis,—the last being allied to Sc. insignis, M’Clellandii, and

trilineatus),—fine specimens of Ampeliceps coronatus (p. 32, ante), Treron

viridifrons (XIV, 849), and various other species of much interest,

including several that had only previously been obtained further to the

southward, in the Malayan peninsula and Islands.)

380 [No. 173.

Notes, chiefly Geological, from Koompta on the Western Coast (S. India)

by the Devamunni and Nundi Cunnama Passes, Easterly to Cumbum, and

thence Southerly to Chittoor ; comprising a notice of the Diamond and

Lead excavations of Buswaptir. By Captain Nuwszo.p.

Koompta is a sea-port on the coast of North Canara, in latitude N.

14° 26’, about 119 miles travelling distance, northerly from Mangalore.

It stands at the mouth of a river of the same name; into which, from the

shallowness of the narrow passage through the bar which blocks its

embouchure, vessels of more than five corges burthen pass with diffi-

culty. Itis a depot for the produce of Sircy, Yellopur, Hoobly, Darwar,

and much of that part of the Balaghat.

Laterite here forms the surface stratum: the fundamental rocks are

gneiss and hornblende schist.

The town itself contains about 400 houses, inhabited chiefly by Gou-

ras and Halipaiks, Concani Brahmans, Hurkunters, Karins, Gaveets, and

Mussulmans. The Haiga Brahmans live usually in désams scattered

about the country.

The trade is chiefly in cotton, cotton cloths, rice, betelnut, dried

cocoanut, cardamoms, black-pepper, sandal wood, coir-rope, salt, salt-fish,

and cashew-nut.

Near this the river cuts through a bed of rich reddish alluvium,

mingled with decayed vegetable matter, evidently a fluviatile deposit

from the western Ghauts, and from the intervening low jungly country

through which the river passes. This stratum covers an almost flat,

highly cultivated plain, bounded on the north and south by long, low

ranges of laterite hills, which have apparently formed the ancient banks

of a great stream, which is now confined to a small space in its centre.

The cultivation is chiefly rice, sugarcane, betel, and cocoanut trees.

We landed at Oopenputtun, a salt depét, about 4 miles from the foot

of the Ghauts. Here the lateritic banks had closed in towards the river.

Laterite continues to the foot of the Devamunni pass, shaded by thick

jungle.

The temperature of the water in the Oopenputtun river was 78° Fah.,

which was about the temperature of rain water. ‘Temperature of air in

1846.) Notes, chiefly Geological, &c. 381

shade, at noon 79° 6’. Temperature of sea water on the coast at Koompta,

78° 5’,

The temperature of the soil, eighteen inches deep, was 78° 8’, which,

according to Boussingault, would be the approximate mean temper-

ature of the country. The temperature of most of the streams at the

base of the Ghauts I found to be from 78° to 79°.

The month in which these observations were made was August.

The enormous quantity of 144 inches of water is supposed to fall in

Lower Canara, from the end of May to the middle of October.

The Devamunni pass.—This pass in the western Ghauts, from Lower

to Upper Canara, is about three and a half miles from bottom to top.

The formation is much similar to that of the Hossalmucki pass, described

in the paper ‘On the Falls of Gairsuppa.’ The stratification is simi-

larly confused and contorted, and the dip irregular. At the base of

the Ghaut, the strike is N. 20° E. ; the dip 35° E. 20° S. Near the top

of the Ghaut, the strike is N. 5° W., and dip nearly vertical, E. 5° N.

The vallies, at the bottom of the Ghaut, run W. 15° S. towards the

sea, while those on the top have a SSE. direction ; but the transverse

vallies by which they are crossed and drained, run in a NE. direction,

from the great watershed of the Ghauts to the table lands of the

Balaghat, where the course of drainage is again modified by the physical

contour of the country, but following generally the easterly slope of the

peninsula to the Bay of Bengal, where the rivers disembogue.

The contour of the Western Ghauts at the top of this pass, as well as to

the southward, is not that of an escarpment facing to the westward, and

gently sloping off to the table lands of the Balaghat, as supposed by

many, (a feature which is in fact confined to the more northerly portion

of the ridge where the overlying trap affects their configuration,) but

is a series of broken peaks, and ridges running generally in a S. by E.

direction, and crossed by high transverse vallies, the descents of which

are, however, shortened and most abrupt to the western coast, though

rarely precipitous as at Gairsuppa. The height of these passes, on the

line where the abrupt descent to the western coast commences, is rarely

greater than that of the general level of the adjoining table lands from

which they lead; and, in some cases, I am inclined to think, even

lower.

382 Notes, chiefly Geological, [No. 173.

The elevation of the top of the Manantoddy pass, determined barome-

trically by Mr. Babington, is 2,732} feet above the sea. That of the

Devamunni Ghaut, taken approximately by myself, (boiling point)

2,498 feet. This observation was taken at Manjugong, which is proba-

bly a little lower than the true anticlinal line. At the falls of Gairsup-

pa, a little below the summit of the Hossamucki pass, a similar obser-

vation made the elevation 2,235 feet.

The extreme height of the table land of Mysore, at Bangalore, reaches

(roughly) 3,000 feet; at Seringapatam 2,412 feet; Colar 2,7325 feet ;

Mysore 2,695 feet ; Baitmungalum 2,435 feet; Bellary 1,500 feet ; Bel-

gaum 2,500 feet; Poonah 2,500 feet. While the insulated granitic

masses on these table lands frequently vie with those of the Ghauts,

Sivagunga, in Mysore, is calculated at 4,600 feet, and Betrosson, at the

slope of the Ghauts, 6,000 feet. ‘These are only excelled (as far as

known) by the Ghaut peaks of Bonasson, 7,000 feet, and that of

Dodabetta 8,700 feet, and some others of the Neilgherry and Koonda

cluster.

The passes of the eastern Ghauts, as might be expected, have a lower

level than those in the western sierra. One of the highest is that of

Naikenhairy, 1,907 feet. That of its neighbour, the Moogly pass,

from Palamanair to Chittoor, is only 1,6353 feet. (The foregoing mea-

surements are taken chiefly from Dr. Babington’s and General Cullen’s

observations.)

The height of the Heggulla has not, as far as lam aware, been ascer-

tained: it is probably of considerable elevation, since Periapatam, which

stands on the western slopes of the Ghauts, two marches east of it,

has an elevation of about 4,000 feet.

Munjguny.—Between this place and Devanary, which is usually consi-

dered the top of the pass, the Beni river is crossed, which I was assured

be the natives is identical with the Oopenputtun river, below the Ghaut.

If this be the case, the watershed must be east of Devanary, and pro-

bably between it and this place. The stream, swollen by the rains, was

unfordable, but is crossed by a rude bridge, called a sar, constructed

of trunks of trees bound together by leaves, and supported on piers of

large rough stones piled up, and secured from being washed away by

cases of strong hurdle work thrown round them. The stream was

1846. | from Devamunni and Nundi Cunnama passes. 383

about thirty paces broad, and running towards the south with great

rapidity.

Granite is seen in this vicinity outcropping from the laterite.

The black exterior of the rocks I found to be occasioned by a thin

coating of mixed vegetable and ferruginous matter.

The jungle still continues, but is lower than below the Ghauts.

The cinnamon tree is abundant: the natives here class it into two

species, viz. the male and the female: the former they distinguish by the

greater size of its leaf, and the less aromatic and more bitter taste of the

bark. :

From the top of the Ghauts to Sircy.—The hypogene schists, princi-

pally gneiss and hornblende, and a coarse-grained felspathic granite,

appear occasionally from beneath the laterite. The low hill, on which

the ruins of the old town of Sircy are still to be traced, is covered with

a thick stratum of laterite imbedding angular fragments of quartz. The

laterite is here used extensively as a building stone; and the quartz

is pounded into an excellent sharp sand for mortar.

The indented and more abrupt features, which distinguish the anti-

clinal line of the Ghauts, are here softened down into smoothly swel-

ling hills, with round tops, in general thickly covered with wood, and

vallies in which, and on the hill sides, the cultivation of cardamoms,

black-pepper, and the areca nut, is carried on with great success, chiefly

by the Haiga Brahmans. The areca trees are planted in rows on strips

of ground five or six paces asunder, and separated by channels of run-

ning water, two or three feet deep. The pepper vine entwines its cling-

ing tendrils around the tall stems of this graceful tree, covering it thyr-

sus-like, with its foliage; while the long, flag-leafed cardamom shoots

out its string of aromatic seeds along the ground shaded by groves of

plantains, which form a sort of underwood beneath the tall arecas. These

gardens of spices growing in the midst of forests still uncleared, have a

unique and very beautiful appearance. The extreme fertility of the

reddish-grey vegetable mould, (in spots where the woodman’s axe has

not yet been felt,) shows that much still remains to be done.

Sircy is a place of considerable traffic, and a depot for the cotton and

other produce of the Southern Mahratta country, ceded districts, and

part of Mysore, on its way to Koompta on the western coast, whence

384 Notes, chiefly Geological, [No. 178.

it is shipped for Bombay, &c. It is sent down the Ghaut on loaded bul-

locks; the pass not being practicable for bandies.

The present town of Sircy comprises between 5,000 and 6,000 inha-

bitants ; principally Lingayets and Concany Brahmans. The chief

bankers and merchants are of these different sects : about 800 Mussul-

mans, Mahrattas, and a few Jains. The custom-house and betelnut

depét are the principal public buildings. There are three distinct ba-

zaars, with one or two broad but dirty and badly-drained streets (1839).

The better class of houses are tiled, and often double-roofed.

The ruins of an old but small fort, said to have been built by the

Rajas of Soonda, and of a still more ancient one, the work of the

Jaina Skeri Rajas, still remain. On the rising ground in this vicinity,

foundations of houses and numerous wells attest the former existence of

a large and populous town. There is a temple to Virabhadra, and one

to the goddess Mariama, whence a snake, patronized by the Brahmans,

is said to make its appearance twice a day, probably to be fed. I had

not an opportunity of testing this story ; which however is by no means

unlikely. I have often seen offerings of milk and plantains before the

holes of the Cobra, which is held in superstitious veneration by

most classes of Hindus. This is the veneration born of fear, which in-

duced the Egyptians to worship the evil principle Typhon,—produced

the Devil-worship of Ceylon,—and compelled the poor foresters of the

Eastern Isles to make offerings to Thunder and Lightening. Hence the

ancient ophitic worship which prevailed so extensively in Southern India,

the emblems of which may still be seen piled up carved on rude stones

round the walls, or under the trees which shade the older and more

secluded pagodas.

From Sircy to Savantir and Lakiswar.—The face of the country is

undulating and interspersed with low, rounded hills to Savanur, in the

Southern Mahratta country, about forty-four miles NE. of Sircy. The

Canara boundary is crossed about thirteen and a half miles NE. from

the latter place. The country is more open; the Ghauts are left be-

hind, and the table land of the Southern Mahratta territory fairly

entered on,

The intervening rocks are chiefly the softer members of the hypogene

series, as seen at Darwar, viz. argillaceous slate clays, white and vari-

1846. | Srom Devamunni and Nundi Cunnama passes. 385

ously tinted with oxyde and hydrate of iron, and earthy chloritic schists.

Some of these schists are highly ferruginous. Farther south they pass

into the soft, talcose, and chloritic schists, west of Bangalore. Dykes

of basaltic greenstone, with beds of kunker, become more frequent as

Savanir is approached. The latter mineral fills up seams in the sub-

jacent rocks.

The breadth of this band of soft schists extends easterly to the town

of Lakiswar, and from its northerly strike is evidently the prolongation

southerly of similar strata at Darwar already described. The dip at

Savantr was 40° easterly.

Régur was first observed a little to the west of Bankapur ; near which

town the vegetation, peculiar to the Ghauts, terminates abruptly.

From Lakiswar to Gudduck, granite, gneiss, and hornblende schist

are the prevalent rocks, and easterly to Bellary, in the ceded districts ;

but, as the geology of the country between Gudduck and Bellary,

has already been noticed, I shall not dwell farther upon the subject

here, but proceed at once on our easterly journey from Bellary towards

Cumbum.

Bellary to Davankonda.—Gneiss is the principal rock between Bellary

and Davankonda, (a distance of fifty-three miles) basing a plain sloping

northerly towards the Tumbuddra, the surface of which (with a few

interruptions of reddish alluvial patches) is covered with a thick bed of

Régur.

The Hogri river is crossed about twelve miles from Bellary, at the

village of Moka. It is here about 700 yards broad: its bed is now

(May) a dry extent of sand, and its banks barren with the heaps, and

hills of drifted sands. The prevailing westerly winds, cause the dunes

to march in an easterly direction, north of Auspari. The next march

from Moka, the granite is seen bursting through the gneiss in a low

ridge: oxydulated iron replacing the mica in grains and nests: east of

Auspari a large trap dyke is seen running ESE.

Davankonda is situated at the base of one of the granitic outbursts,

on the borders of the Andhra kingdom. Telinghi is much mixed here

with the Canarese, or Karnata, of Bellary.

The soil at the base of the granite is reddish, and sandy to a certain

distance round the base: at the edges of this upper layer the régur will

be found underlying it; and below the régur either the gravel result-

386 Notes, chiefly Geological, [No T73.

ing from the weathering rock, or a bed of kunker. Actynolite, colouring

both compact felspar and quartz in drusy crystals in pegmatitic veins

of red felspar and quartz in the gneiss, is of common occurrence.

Kupputral.—Is a polegar stronghold, formerly of great notoriety in

this country, which bristled with polegar fastnesses and strongholds.

The granite rises here into steep bosses, cliffs, and tors, of no great

height however.

On the summit of a rocky shelf, crowning the rock, and insulated by

a broad fissure in the granite cliff, is perched a small watch-tower,

whence there is a good prospect of the surrounding country, the

features of which to the south and east are savage and rocky. The

nearest approach from Bellary is by rocky ascents and descents, and by

defiles not practicable for acart. On the ascent I picked up a fragment

of a very beautiful rock which may be termed actynolite porphyry, being

composed of a bright green actynolite felspar (compact), imbedding red

felspar crystals.

About a mile east of Kupputral the granite is overlaid by sandstone,

which forms the range of Cowilhutty, supporting a flat cultivated table

land. I had not an opportunity of examining these rocks at their junc-

tion line. A greenstone intersects the granite in the plain.

Codamoor.—At Codamoor, direction SE., fragments of altered sand-

stone abound: the next march the country is a wide plain, watered by

the Hendri river, and studded with bare granitic rocks in small piles and

clusters. Gniess, basaltic greenstone in dykes, and a porphyritic granite

are the prevalent rocks. A little north of the town runs one of these

singular abrupt beds of compact reddish quartz rock, which evidently

belongs to the hypogene series by position, interstratification, and

conformable dip. It forms a short abrupt ridge, apparently about 100

feet high, and passes into a coarse jasper, penetrated with numerous

veins, strangely contorted, of a whiter quartz, with iron glance in nests.

It is also veined with siliceous earth, of a grey or bluish tinge, imbedding

crystals of felspar, and is often porphyritic in structure.

A thin purplish-black enduit, which coated some of the fissures, gave

evident traces of iron, and faint traces of manganese on being fused

with borax before the blow-pipe.

On the western flank of this range, which runs nearly north and south,

a dyke of basaltic greenstone intersects the plain; and near it, one of a

1846. ] JSrom Devamunni and Nundi Cunnama passes. 387

dark chloritic felspar porphyry, which is seen in a section afforded by

a well about 40 feet deep, at the south extremity of the ridge. It is

overlaid by a stratum of kunker ten feet thick, which has evidently been

deposited by water, charged with lime, rising through fissures in the

subjacent rocks, which are often encrusted with kunker.

The Hendri river is forded about a mile to the west of Codamoor. It

is 220 paces broad; banks and bed of silt and sand, imbedding tuface-

ous concretions of carbonate of lime, which encrust the roots of grasses,

&c. The shallow water in the channel of the river had a temperature

of 71° 5’ Fah., which is a little lower than the average temperature of

rain water in this part of the ceded districts. The temperature of the

air in shade at the time of observation was 81°. The great evaporation

going on from the wide, flat, sandy bed, may have diminished the

temperature of the shallow stream which slowly trickled along its

centre. At Codamoor, the temperature of a brackish well, sixteen feet

deep, was 81°; that of a sweet water well, of similar depth, 84°; and

that of a third slightly brackish, and thirty feet deep, 83°.

Kurnool.—F rom Codamoor to Kurnool, at the junction of the Tum-

buddra and the Hendri, extends a plain covered with little interrup-

tion, by régur. In this plain the diamond limestone and sandstone

formation meet with and overlie the hypogene schists; over which we

have so long been travelling. ‘The sandstone is seen in the low hills,

about one and a half miles south of Perla, which lies ten and a half

miles westerly from Kurnool; near this are numerous dykes of basaltic

greenstone and deposits of kunker.

A little to the NE. of Peddapa, five and a half miles westerly from

Kurnool, the limestone was first observed in sitd as a slightly elevated

bed, crossing the Kurnool road, running in a southerly direction, and dip-

ping towards the east at an angle of 35°; while the hornblende schists,

on which it rested unconformably, were nearly vertical.

The limestone is of a reddish-brown colour externally, but internally

of a purplish-red; structure, schistose. It effervesces feebly with acids,

and fuses into a light greyish-green enamel, leaving a white calx of

caustic lime. It passes into cream-coloured, dull yellow, and green

varieties, which were analysed for me by my friend Dr. Macleod, In-

spector General of Hospitals, and found to contain so much magnesia

388 Notes, chiefly Geological, (No. 178.

as to give them the character of dolomite. It often contains translucent

nodules of a siskin green nephrite. In some places, elliptic and tubular

cavities are observed in the massive varieties: the more exposed of which

are generally empty; while others are seen filled with a ferruginous

clay or earth, which is magnetic after exposure to heat. The elliptic

cavities often occur in strings.

A bed of ferruginous sandstone is seen in the limestone, a little fur-

ther eastward.

The hornblende schist has evidently been greatly waterworn near its

contact. Its surface, to the depth of several inches, is much weathered,

and has sometimes crumbled into a dark-green sandstone, cemented by

calcareous matter from the superincumbent limestone ; at others it

assumes the aspect of a rust-coloured siliceous schist, impregnated with

calcareous matter. Many of the loose blocks of hornblende schist have

been much corroded, apparently by aqueous action.

As the edges of the limestone are left behind, and as we advance

soon towards the centre of its area, the disturbance and dip become less,

till near Kurnool, as seen in the banks of the Hendri and Tumbuddra,

the beds are nearly horizontal. Another change of dip, from the nearly

horizontal to the vertical, may be seen in the space of a few yards in

the limestone beds to the right after entering the western, or new gate

of Kurnool fort.

The colour of the limestone at Kurnool is generally a light bluish-

grey, which passes into a deep blackish-blue. Near trap dykes, it often

becomes crystalline, magnesian, and cream-coloured; or speckled and

variegated with green bands, like some varieties of serpentine.

It usually abounds with iron pyrites; and to the right of the

western gate in the fosse of the fort, may be seen to imbed a fine layer

of red jasper, often reticulated by bluish quartz, and calcedonic veins.

This jasper also runs in veins, and occasionally in nodules. Near

this, the limestone strata have evidently undergone plutonic disturbance,

being elevated with waving and bending of the layers into a nearly

vertical position as before mentioned.

From Kurnool to the Eastern Ghauts.—After having forded the Hendri

to the eastward, low rugged hills, the outgoings of a great dyke of

basaltic greenstone, having a westerly direction, are crossed, altering

1846. ] from Devamunni and Nundi Cunnama passes, 389

the limestone and its associated purple shales in a singular manner.

The latter are converted into a compact jaspideous rock, and the

former loses its carbonaceous colouring matter, and becomes siliceous, or

magnesian, or both, and is often coloured, with green bands and specks.

The portions nearest to the dykes sometimes break, when struck by the

hammer into fragments with smooth sides, marked with dendritic deline-

ations.

Beyond these hills, the head of the central sandstone range of Kur-

nool, is rounded to the broad and almost flat valley of Nundial, based

on the limestone and its shales, which are generally of a chocolate and

reddish hue, with thin seams and layers of faint green. The surface soil

is for the most part régur: on a sub-soil of limestone debris, or on beds

of kunker, a poor pisiform iron clay is sometimes found, mingled in the

lower portions of the régur.

Eastern Ghauts.—Having crossed the valley of Nundial, the eastern

Ghauts are approached at Gazoopilly, a pleasant village at their western

base. Their outline is apparently pretty level, continuous, but broken

now and then, by a hog-backed ridge, or the rounded frustrum of a cone,

rising above the general elevation of the central anticlinal range, which

may be about 1,000 feet above the plain; though few of the highest

peaks attain the elevation of upwards of 3,000 feet above the sea. The

base, sides, and most of the summits, are clothed with jungle infested by

tigers.

Lead Mines and Sulphate of Barytes.—After ascending the Nundi

Cunnama pass, about three miles, and crossing the first chain of hills,

we turned from the bullock-road into the jungle on our right, and

ascended a steep rocky hill. The descent on the other side brought us

on the Mahdeopur wood cutters’ tracts, along which we proceeded 4 or

500 yards easterly, passing a small, rough, stone enclosure, formerly used

for washing the diamond alluvium. We now again turned into the

jungle on the right of the path, and passed up the dry channel of a

brook, which ran westerly in a deep defile. After a few minutes’ walk,

two jungle-covered hills rose on each bank from the brook’s margin.

The one on our right was covered with clumps of bamboos, and rugged

from top to bottom with choked up excavations. I traversed an area

thus broken up, upward of half a square mile in extent. These excava-

390 Notes, chiefly Geological, (No. 173.

tions are of irregular shape and size, and vary now from five to fifteen

feet deep.

The formation is the shales and schists of the diamond limestone and

sandstone, here of a dull greyish-blue, and green hue, argillaceous in

character, and veined in all directions by white quartz and chert.

These veins are the matrix of the galena and sulphate of barytes. The

former new mineral occurs in nests and strings of great brilliancy and

purity, but I did not observe any thing like a continuous lode. The

sulphate of barytes is in large masses, nodules, and short veins, associ-

ated with a dull-green crystallized mineral, cale spar, a white mineral

like calamine, iron pyrites, and a faint reddish mineral, sometimes com-

pact, and sometimes approaching saccharine in texture; which, Mr.

Piddington, after analysis, has pronounced to be that rare mineral, car-

bonate of cerium. The quartz composing these veins is often honey-

combed, and its cavities lined with an orange-brown coloured dust, as

we see in the vein stuff of European mines. The excavations are over-

grown with brushwood, and apparently have long been deserted. They

are about six miles east of Gazoopilly, and within a short distance of

the principal coast communication of Nellore with the table lands of

the ceded districts by the Nundi Cunnama pass; and the jungles yield a

cheap and never-failing supply of fuel ; but until the discovery of a con-

tinuous lode, it would hardly be advisable to enter deeply into any

mining speculation in those plumbiferous tracts. However, there can

be no doubt, that these localities have not yet been fairly tested by

European practical skill and experience.

Buswapiir Diamond Mines.—The diamond pits of Buswapiir are still

nearer to Gazoopilly, extending from about quarter of a mile NW. from

the present village of Buswapir, easterly towards the base of the eastern

Ghauts, and covering an area of certainly two square miles. They are

even more overgrown by jungle than the lead mines, and have evidently

been given up at a more ancient date.

About three-quarters of a mile SE. from the modern Buswapur, near

the ruins of the old village, are about twenty other excavations over-

grown with thicket, like the rest; and ten more midway between them

and Gazoopilly, a little to the south of the foot-path to the pass.

These excavations vary from two and three yards to fifteen yards in

1846. ] Jrom Devamunni and Nundi Cunnama passes. 391

length, and from one to four or five yards in breadth: their present

depth (much choked up by rubbish) is from five or six feet to sixteen

feet. The only stratum cut through is a thin layer of reddish alluvial

soil, ito a bed of gravel of unknown thickness in some parts. The.

pebbles composing these gravels have evidently been derived from the

limestone and sandstone hills of the Ghauts, at the western base of

which they immediately lie, and consist principally of cherts of various

colours, quartz, compact sandstone, and a few of basanite. Layers

of sand are occasionally interstratified.

Some of the pebbles are as large as a cocoanut, but the generality not

larger than an orange or walnut; most of them rounded, and lying on

their flat sides, having the major axis in an east and westerly direction.

I cannot find that the rains of present monsoons add to some of these

gravel beds, many of which are situated far from the reach of present

torrents, and through which the streams often cut deep channels; but

am rather inclined to believe, that some of them must have originated

during the elevation of these mountains from the bed of the ocean.

Nundi Cunnama pass.—This pass lies in the direct line of commercial

communication from the coast and ports of Nellore, Masulipatam and

Ramapatam, with Kurnool, the ceded districts, and Southern Mahratta

country. It is steep, and can only be traversed like the Hegulla pass,

by bullocks lightly laden, but is susceptible of great improvement. Yet

with the exception of those of Sidhout, Jungumrazpilly and Yeddedgoo,

the Nundi Cunnama is the most practicable, and certainly in the most

direct line. Loaded bandies are compelled to take the circuitous route

of Cuddapah and the Yeddedgoo pass.

The improvement of the Nundi Cunnama into a road practicable for

bandies, would much improve the trade of the districts to the west of it.

In 1836, from imformation obtained on the spot, about 1,000 bullocks

pass over from the eastern coast laden with its salt and cloths, and

returning with iron for ploughs, the produce of hill furnaces, and cocoa-

nuts, betelnuts, and teak and other timber. Remnants of wells in

the forest, and a small ancient temple to the Bull Nundi, (hence its

name) attest the antiquity of this channel of commerce. The formation

is similar to that described around the lead mines: but the higher ridges

are capped with sandstone. ‘That singular aboriginal race, the Chen-

392 Notes, chiefly Geological, [No. 178.

suara, act as a hill police. I have given an account of them elsewhere.

They may be seen usually at Metta and Pacherla, two police stations

in the forest.

The pass itself is not much more than two and a half miles, but the

breadth of the hilly and jungly tracts from Gazoopilly to Kistnashetty-

pilly, on the eastern side of the range, cannot be less than twenty-three

miles.

Cumbum.—Cumbum is nineteen and a half miles to the eastward of

Kistnashettypilly. The hills near the bund of the large and beautiful

tank, are of sandstone. This fine sheet of water is about five miles

long by three or four broad. It is nearly surrounded by picturesque

hills, and several rocky islets stud its bosom.

From Cumbum to Budwail._—We shall now turn southerly, down the

Cummum or Budwail valley, which is chiefly based on the shales of the

diamond sandstones and limestone formation running southerly, and

containing veins, and large beds of white quartz. Near Yelmacul a mass

of porphyritic syenite is seen rising abruptly through the shales at its

base. A pagoda built on its summit renders it conspicuous. The wells

near its base exhibit the fissures of the shales, encrusted with carbonate of

lime. This is the case also farther south, in the valley at Poormawala,

when the quartz veins frequently imbed iron pyrites. The summits of

the range running down the centre of the valley from Poormawala by

Budwail to the Pennaur, I found capped with compact sandstone, in al-

most tabular masses, associated with arenaceous schists. The lower

parts and base are composed of the shales or slates.

From Budwail to the Auripoya pass.—From Budwail, southerly to the

Auripoya pass, the shales prevail, and become softer and lighter colour-

ed. The soil is chiefly reddish, light, fertile, and generally well water-

ed. Subsoil—a bed of kunker, nodules of which and fragments of

quartz, often honey-combed, are scattered over the surface of the lower

part of the valley.

Auripoya pass.—This is a rugged pass, about eight miles long,

through the Sidhout ranges into the transverse valley by which the

Pennaur passes, through the Ghauts to the maritime plain of Nellore.

Here sandstone and arenaceous schists prevail; angular blocks of

which, and fragments of a white and a grey smoky quartz, encumber

1846. ] From Devamunni and Nundi Cunnama passes. 393

the bottom of the pass; till, at length, it debouches on the sandy bed of

the Pennaur, a little to the east of Sidhout fort.

Sidhout.—The blue limestone is said by the natives to be found un-

der the sands of the river; and it is seen in blocks in the walls of the

fort ; but the hills, which I had an opportunity of examining, were all of

sandstone, and sandstone conglomerate.

A beautifully variegated variety of sandstone is quarried near this.

The Hindu pillars in the fort gateways, which are carved out of it, have

the appearance of an elegantly veined wood. The tints are often waved,

or acutely angled bands of different shades of brown, resembling on

a large scale those in agate.

Diamonds, I was informed, during the rule of the Patan Nawabs of

Cuddapah, who often made Sidhout their place of residence, were dug at

Durjipilly, and, at another place among the neighbouring hills.

The Pass of Sidhout.—The pass of Sidhout is a transverse valley,

as before stated, through which the Pennaur flows from the table lands

of the ceded districts, through the Eastern Ghauts to the Coromandel

Coast. There does not, however, appear to be any great or sudden

lowering of level to the coast-land, as we find that the height of Cudda-

pah, 507 feet above the sea (Cullen), hardly exceeds that of the plain

at the eastern base of the Ghauts. The course of the Pennaur, there-

fore, at Sidhout, from the little inclination of its bed to the eastward,

is not more accelerated than when winding its way over the gently slop-

ing table lands. The general direction of this transverse break in the

Ghauts is easterly ; though, like that of Gundicutta, it makes consider-

able angles. It is about twenty-four miles long, and about two and a

half miles broad at Sidhout. I have not had an opportunity of examining

its eastern exit near the Someswar pagoda; where, I understand,

the river is confined between two rocky ridges, about half a mile

asunder.

From Sidhout to Cuddapah.—The road lies along the valley of the

Pennaur, which opens out to the westward into the horizon-bounded

plains of Cuddapah. The rock seen in the lowest situations, is a bluish

and rather grey crystalline limestone, bounded on either side by the high

sandstone ranges of the easterly ghauts. The limestone is veined with

quartz and calespar, and imbeds cubic crystals of iron pyrites. A few

394 Notes, chiefly Geological, [No. 173.

miles from Cuddapah, it crosses the valley of the Pennaur in a well de-

fined ridge, across which the road lies by a small pass, called the Bundi

Cunnama. ‘The ridge to the south I found to be capped by sandstone.

The limestone here has an external scabrous aspect, owing to the less

rapid weathering of the veins of chert which run through it, and which

project in relief from its surface. At the eastern foot of the pass the

rock has been excavated for the sake of the dark flint-like chert it im-

beds, which was formerly used for gun-flints by the armies of the Cud-

dapah Nuwabs, and by those of Hyder and Tippoo; but the material

is too brittle to make good flints. It is veined with quartz which often

forms a perfect network of cells, lined and stained with an orange-

coloured ochre.

Cuddapah.—The limestone formation in the vicinity of Cuddapah and

the sandstone ranges to its south, have been described in notes from

Madras to Goa. The latter range I crossed to Govincherroo, in the.

plain on the other side, by the Bankrapett pass.

Govincherroo to Rachooty.—At Govincherroo granite is seen in low

bosses and large blocks, in sitéd, at the base of the sandstone range ; and

is thus occasionally seen in tors and logging stones, and in the beds of

nullas, in the plain to Rachooty, about thirty-four and a half miles south

from Cuddapah. Near Rachooty, it often passes into pigmatite; actyno-

lite and chlorite are seen in its veins. This granite formation evidently

extends to the eastward to the bases of the sandstone ranges of Chen-

dorghirry and Tripati, which are seen in picturesque outline, flanking

the plain and bounding the view to the right.

The drainage lines of this part of the plain from Punganore, converge

in aN. by E. direction, to the singular gaps of Mandasir and Cheyair,

in the chain through which they find their way northerly to the bed of

the Pennaur near Sidhout, which we have lately left. It might be

worth while to examine the configuration of these gaps, and the sections

afforded by them. Dykes of basaltic greenstone are occasionally seen in

the granite. .

Rachooty to Chittoor.—The road lies over a flattish valley between

irregular clusters of granite rocks on either side, which occasionally

approach and recede, and sometimes disappear for a while, appearing again

at irregular intervals. Spurs of the rocks occasionally cross the valley or

1846. ] from Devamunni and Nundi Cunnama passes. 395

plain; and also dykes of basaltic greenstone, which were numerous south

of Peelair.

About ten miles from Peelair, and six from Damulcherry, a short and

easy pass in the granitic ridge to the left, leads the traveller almost

insensibly over the great line of elevation, by the village of Damul-

cherry, into the plains of the Carnatic. About seven miles north of

Damulcherry, runs the modern boundary of Cuddapah and Arcot, pre-

cisely on the ancient position of the Andhra and Dravida regions. At

Damulcherry both Tamul and Telinghi are spoken, and the latter lan-

guage I found much in vogue at Chittoor.

At Peelair, gneiss and hornblende schists appear more frequently

near the bases of the granite hills; and, at Damulcherry, the same

rocks, with a leptinitic gneiss veined with eurite and small grained gra-

nite, are the prevailing rocks.

From Damulcherry to Chittoor the floor of the break in the Ghauts,

is an undulating bed of gneiss and hornblende schists. ‘The more

abrupt and peaked elevations on the north and south of the break, ap-

pear to be of granite.

About ten or twelve miles WNW. from Chittoor the descent to

the last is palpable, but easy and gradual, very unlike the abrupt and

-high pass of Naikanairy farther south. The country is open and free from

jungle, which is confined to the ravines and sides of the lofty hills of

gneiss. The latter in their bold, rounded contour, and partially wooded

sides, reminded me of the Pyrenees near Rosas.

In the distance to the north of the foot of this descent, is seen the

high columnar rock of Pillyconda, (Tiger’s hill) a striking object on

the horizon.

Chittoor.—Chittoor stands in the plain at the northern and western

base of a granitic range which runs south-westerly towards the Javadic

ranges, which skirt the eastern flank of the Amboor valley. The gra-

nite composing the rocks, close to the travellers’ bungalow, contains

large crystals of foliated hornblende, sometimes curiously interlaminated

with olive-green mica. The crystals of felspar are usually white, with

red and faint green crystals interspersed. The felspar is occasionally

translucent, and assimilates albite in external characters.

The exterior of many of the large masses of granite, which cover the

hill, abounds with little cavities, from the size of a pea to that of a wal-

396 Notes, chiefly Geological, &c. [No. 173.

nut, occasioned by the weathering and falling out of the nests of mica

and hornblende just mentioned. :

Actynolite, chlorite, and pale rose-coloured garnet were the other

minerals observed in this granite.

The range of hills, having a north and south direction, and though

a break in which the Chittoor river runs easterly to the Poni river, I

found to consist of gneiss often highly contorted and penetrated by gra-

nite in large dykes. Some portions of this gneiss are granitoidal, and,

in hand specimens, would be set down as granite; dykes of basaltic

greenstone also penetrate both granite and gneiss.

Before closing this paper J must remark, that the soil from the plain

of Rachooty to Chittoor, has been generally of a reddish and sandy

nature, evidently the alluvium of granitic and hypogene rocks.

The great sheets of régur end abruptly near Cuddapah, their barrier

to the south in this direction appears to have been the Bankripattah

hills.