sities for making raids into British territories. On the first occasion, the country of the Durwesh Khels was entered, and on the second that of the Mashoods. These are the two principal branches of the powerful Wuzeeri tribe, and are bounded, the former by Koorum Khost Zadran and the British frontier from Thull via Bunnoo to Noorum; the latter by the Gomul river and our frontier from Noorur to Gomul via the Bihin Durra and the town of Tâk.

During the course of the operations against these tribes, much valuable information was acquired, more particularly of the geography of the country as shown in the maps exhibited to the Society.

A glance at the map is sufficient to explain the plundering propensities of the Wuzeeries. The irrigated lands on which they chiefly depend for their cereals are merely narrow fillets on the edges, and often in the beds of the principal water-courses. Their united area probably does not amount to more than two or three per cent. of the whole district. There is no wonder, therefore, that the fanatic Mussulman mountaineers should readily bring themselves to believe, that there is a wild justice in their favourite pastime of plundering the inhabitants of the rich plains at their feet, and a duty they owe their families in obtaining forcible restitution of the rights which Heaven must have intended for Mussulmans rather than Hindoos, and for stalwart highlanders rather than the puny inhabitants of the plains. The rivers even when of considerable length, are usually dry for the greater portion of the year. There is little moisture to feed them in their parent mountains which are insignificant in mass and altitude compared with the Himalayas, are nearer the tropics and dessicated by heat radiated from the extensive plains east and west. Vegetation is scarce, the soil is dry and arid, pine trees are not to be met with at a lower elevation than 9000 feet, and the climate of any given altitude would find its equivalent in the Himalaya as 2 or 3000 feet nearer the sea level.

The thanks of the meeting were voted to Major Walker for his interesting communication.

The Curator submitted his report, in which were recorded numerous presentations to the Society's Museum, and exhibited a large series of the skulls of the Asiatic species of Rhinoceros. His remarks on this genus of pachyderms have since been embodied in a Memoir for publication in the Society's Journal. The true Rhinoceros indicus, it was

shewn, appeared to be peculiar to the tarai region at the foot of the Himalayas, and valley of the Brahmaputra river; the single-horned Rhinoceros of the Rajmahal hills, of the Bengal Sundarbáns, of the Indo-Chinese region and Malayan peninsula, being identical with Rh. sondaicus of Java and Borneo. The Asiatic two-horned species, Rh. Sumatranus, according to Mr. Blyth, was even more numerous in the Burmese countries than Rh. sondaicus; the range of this species extending northward at least to the latitude of Ramri island, upon the Ya-ma-doung range which separates the province of Arakan from that of Pegu (or the valley of the Irawádi). The Society's museum, as yet, contains not a single specimen of Rh. indicus ; although abundantly supplied with skulls and other specimens of Rh. sondaicus and Rh. Sumatranus.

FOR MARCH, 1862.

The monthly general meeting of the Asiatic Society was held on the 5th instant.

A. Grote, Esq., President, in the chair.

Presentations were received

1. From Dr. T. Duka, through Babu Rajendralal Mitra, two specimens of impressions in baked clay of seals of the Buddhist creed found in an ancient Chaitya near Sultangunj, midway between Bhagulpore and Monghyr.

2. From Captain F. W. Stubbs, a considerable collection of fossil remains of mammalia, and shells from the salt range in the Punjab. 3. From the Under-Secretary, Government of India, two copies of an Andamanese vocabulary.

4. From Dr. Brandis, through Captain P. H. Power, two copies of a list of specimens of some Burman woods sent to England for the International Exhibition of 1862.

5. From the Secretary Smithsonian Institution several Nos. of the Transactions, Reports, and other publications of the Institution. 6. From the Royal University of Norway, several publications of the University.

7. From Dr. T. Anderson specimens of several species of fish. Read a letter from the Under-Secretary, Government of India, forwarding copy of a letter from the Right Honorable the Secretary of State for India declining to comply with the request of the Society

J

that the Zoological catalogues of the India House Museum might be proceeded with.

The following gentlemen duly proposed at the last meeting were balloted for and elected ordinary members :

Dr. F. N. Macnamara, Lieut. J. Johnstone, Capt. D. G. Robinson, Bengal Engineers, Capt. de la Chaumette, Royal Artillery.

Mr. A. Murray, Secretary Royal Horticultural Society of London, was also balloted for and elected a corresponding member.

The following gentlemen were named for ballot at the next meeting. C. U. Aitchison, Esq., C. S., proposed by Mr. Bayley, seconded by Mr. Cowell.

F. A. E. Dalrymple, Esq., C. S., proposed by the President, seconded by Babu Ramaprasad Roy.

Lieut.-Col. H. W. Norman, C. B., Secretary, Government of India, Military Department, proposed by Colonel F. D. Atkinson, seconded by Mr. Atkinson.

Babu Rajkissen Roy, Zemindar of Berhampore, proposed by Babu Gour Doss Bysack, seconded by Mr. Atkinson.

J. A. P. Collis, Esq., M. D., proposed by Capt. F. W. Stubbs, seconded by Mr. Atkinson.

E. G. Glazier, Esq., C. S., proposed by the President, seconded by Mr. Atkinson.

Major H. Raban, Bengal Army, proposed by the President, seconded by Mr. Atkinson.

Communications were received.

1. From the Secretary, Government of India, Public Works Department, the following papers, connected with the appointment of Colonel A. Cunningham, to investigate the antiquities of Behar and other parts of Upper India.

From LIEUT.-COL. H. YULE,

Secy, to the Govt. of India.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETY,

Public Works Department,

General.

Fort William, 21st February, 1862.

Antiquities.

SIR, I am directed by His Excellency the Governor-General in Council, to transmit for the information of the Society and for

publication in their Journal, papers connected with the appointment of Colonel Alexander Cunningham, to the investigation of antiquities of Behar and other parts of Upper India, a task for which he is known to be very highly qualified.

2. Colonel Cunningham has been at work in South Behar since the early part of December, and it is believed that his researches have already been rewarded by some important identifications of localities, mentioned in the ancient Buddhist writings.

I have, &c.,

(Sd.) H. YULE, Lieut.-Colonel,

Dated 22nd January, 1862.

Secy. to the Govt. of India.

Minute by the Right Hon'ble the Governor General of India in Council on the Antiquities of Upper India.

In November last, when at Allahabad, I had communications with Colonel A. Cunningham, then the Chief Engineer of the N. W. Provinces, regarding an investigation of the archæological remains of Upper India.

It is impossible to pass through that part, or indeed, so far as my experience goes, any part, of the British territories in India without being struck by the neglect with which the greater portion of the architectural remains, and of the traces of by-gone civilization have been treated, though many of these and some which have had least notice are full of beauty and interest.

By "neglect" I do not mean only the omission to restore them, or even to arrest their decay; for this would be a task, which in many cases, would require an expenditure of labour and money, far greater than any Government of India could reasonably bestow upon it.

But so far as the Government is concerned, there has been neglect of a much cheaper duty; that of investigating and placing on record, for the instruction of future generations, many particulars that might still be rescued from oblivion, and throw light upon the early history of England's great dependency; a history which, as time moves on, as the country becomes more easily accessible, and traversable, and as Englishmen are led to give more thought to India than such as barely suffices to hold it and govern it, will assuredly occupy, more and more, the attention of the intelligent and enquiring classes in European countries.

It will not be to our credit, as an enlightened ruling power, if we continue to allow such fields of investigation, as the remains of the old Buddhist capital in Behar, the plains round Delhi, studded with ruins more thickly than even the Campagna of Rome, and many others, to remain without more examination than they have hitherto received. Everything that has hitherto been done in this way, has been done by private persons, imperfectly and without system. It is impossible not to feel, that there are European Governments, which, if they had held our rule in India, would not have allowed this to be said.

It is true that in 1814, on a representation from the Royal Asiatic Society, and in 1847, in accordance with detailed suggestions from Lord Hardinge, the Court of Directors gave a liberal sanction to certain arrangements for examining, delineating, and recording some of the chief antiquities of India. But for one reason or another, mainly perhaps owing to the Officer entrusted with the task having other work to do, and owing to his early death, very little seems to have resulted from this endeavour. A few drawings of antiquities, and some remains, were transmitted to the India House, and some fifteen or twenty papers were contributed by Major Kittoe and Major Cunningham to the Journals of the Asiatic Society; but, so far as the Government is concerned, the scheme appears to have been lost sight of within two or three years of its adoption.

I enclose a memorandum drawn up by Col. Cunningham, who has, more than any other Officer on this side of India, made the antiquities of the country his study, and who has here sketched the course of proceeding which a more complete and systematic archæological investigation should, in his opinion, take.

I think it good,—and none the worse for being a beginning on a moderate scale. It will certainly cost very little in itself, and will commit the Government to no future or unforeseen expense. For it does not contemplate the spending of any money upon repairs and preservation. This, when done at all, should be done upon a separate and full consideration of any case which may seem to claim it. What is aimed at is an accurate description, illustrated by plans, measurements, drawings or photographs, and by copies of inscriptions, of such remains as most deserve notice with the history of them so far as it may be traceable, and a record of the traditions that are retained regarding them.