trilingual and pyramidal, of the Sassanian fire-worship. The marginal writing may with certainty be pronounced to be an ancient form of Sanscrit; but I cannot attempt to read it. In figures a, b, c, I have copied the lines from three other coins, and have thus ascertained that

a portion of the legend is the same in all, while the remainder varies. The former doubtless comprehends the regal titles; but in it there is no approach to the ordinary Indian terms of Rája, Rao, &c. The six parallel letters may be read परकृतपस.

Figs. 4 and 5, differ from the preceding in the central device, which now bears a rude resemblance to the human figure. The letters and general execution are very imperfect.

Figs. 6 to 9, are one step further removed from perfection. The legend where best preserved, as in fig. 9, appears a mere repetition of the letter p, with the suffix r, ri, and y. There are three letters behind the head in fig. 7, which may be taken either for corrupted Greek, or for the Pehlevi of the Sassanian coins, ouo. The cen

tral symbol has the form of a trident. Lieut. BURNES informs me that several hundred of these three species of coins were found in Cutch in 1830 in a copper vessel buried in the ruins of Puragarh, 20 miles west of Bhoj, a place of great antiquity, and yet marked by the ruins of a palace and a mint.

Figs. 10, 11, 12, are of a different type, though nearly allied to the former; they are not only found in Gajerát, but at Kanouj, Ujjain, and generally in Upper India. Lieut. CUNNINGHAM has just sent me impressions of five very well-preserved specimens procured at Benares, on which in front of the face are seen some letters very like the Pehlevi character, a'<. The Sanscrit too is not of the elongated form of the upper group, but exactly like that of Mr. WATHEN'S Gujerat inscriptions. Not having yet succeeded in decyphering them, it is needless to copy out the mere letters at present. The symbol in the centre will be recognized as the peacock, sacred to Kumára, the Mars of the Rájputs, alluded to in the preceding observations.

Figs. 13, 14, 15. The popular name for these rude coins, of silver and of copper, is, according to Lieut. BURNES, in Gujerat," Gadhia ká paisa," Ass money, or rather, "the money of Gadhia," a name of VIKRAMADITYA, whose father JAYANTA, one of the Gandharbas, or heavenly choristers, is reputed to have been cursed by INDRA, and converted into as ass. WILFORD, in his Essay on the Era of Vikramáditya, endeavours to trace, in this story, the Persian fable of BAHRAMGÔR's amours with an Indian Princess, whence were descended the Gardabhina dynasty of Western India, (gardabha, being, in Sanscrit.

equivalent to gór*, an ass.) The story is admitted into the prophetic chapters of the Agni Purána, and is supported by traditions all over the country. Remains of the palace of this VIKRAMA are shewn in Gujerát, in Ujjain, and even at Benares! the Hindus insist that this VIKRAMA was not a paramount sovereign of India but only a powerful king of the western provinces, his capital being Cambát or Cambay and it is certain that the princes of those parts were tributary to Persia from a very early period. The veteran antiquarian, Colonel WILFORD, would have been delighted, could he have witnessed the confirmation of his theories afforded by the coins before us, borne out by the local tradition of a people now unable even to guess at the nature of the curious and barbarous marks on them. None but a professed studier of coins could possibly have discovered on them the profile of a face, after the Persian model, on one side, and the actual Sassanian fire altar on the other; yet such is indubitably the case, as an attentive consideration of the accumulation of lines and dots on figs. 13, 16, will prove. The distortion of the face has proceeded from an undue relief being given by the die-cutter to the forehead and cheek: and this has by degrees apparently deceived the engraver himself, who at last contents himself with a deeply projecting oblong button, encircled by dots, (figs. 1618)! Should this fire-altar be admitted as proof of an Indo-Sassanian dynasty in Saurashtra, we may find the date of its establishment in the epoch of YESDIJIRD, the son of BAHRAMGOR; supported by the concurrent testimony of the Agni Purána, that VIKRAMA, the son of GADHÁRUPA, should ascend the throne of Málavá (Ujjain) 753 years after the expiation of CHANAKYA, or A. D. 441.

Fig. 17, is one of several very curious coins in Colonel STACY'S cabinet. The obverse shews it to be a direct descendant of 15 or 16, the “Chouka-dúka” of Colonel STACY; while the Nágarí inscription of the reverse is at once perceived to agree with the second, or Gaur, series of the Kanouj coins. I adverted to this fact before, and stated that it seemed to point to the paramount influence of the PALA family of Kanouj from Gaur in Bengal to Gujerát†. The inscription has the letters श्री सा.. probably Srí Sámanta or Sámara Pála dèva. Fig. 18, is a more modern variety of the Chouka-dúka, on which the fire altar is replaced by Nágarí letters of the eleventh or twelfth century. The reading appears Sri Kanja? but it is more probably Sri Kála, for we find a KÁLA DE'VA in the Gujerát list towards the close of the 11th century, whom WILFORD would identify with VISALA DE VA of Delhi.

....

Figs. 19, 20. I have placed these two novelties from Colonel

*As. Res. ix. 155.

+ See observations in page 682.

STACY'S cabinet, in juxtaposition with the Saurashtra group, because we see in them the evident remains of the fire-altar device of figs. 13, 15. The body of the altar only is removed and replaced by the Sanscrit Sri; the opposite face has the very legible letters raa 8• and y Hásas, 40 or 41. The explanation of in WILSON's Dictionary is the moon (in the language of the vedas ;)" but it would be hazardous to interpret Srí Hásas, as indicative of a lunar worship, or an adoption of a lunar motto, in contrast with the solar effigy and the fire emblems that preceded it. Sri, by itself, is still impressed upon the Shah-Alem coin of Málwá, which is denominated from this circumstance the Srí sáhy rupee*. It is an epithet of the goddess LAXMI', and denotes pure Hinduism in the reigning dynasty.

Hás, taken separately, may be a contraction of Hústinapur, or Hánsí, the place of coinage, and may be Samvat 40 or 41, the year of

reign.

Figs. 21 and 22, should rather have found a place among the Pála coins of Kanouj; for on the reverse of both, sufficient of the Gaur alphabetic characters are seen to enable us to fill up the whole reading as ✯ a za Srí Ajaya dèva. The obverse seems to be a rude outline of a horse or a bull.

At the foot of this plate I have inserted a few miscellaneous coins, which I was doubtful where to place with propriety, or which have reached me since the foregoing plates went to press.

Fig. 23, is in Colonel STACY's collection, a brass coin of unique appearance; on the obverse, a seated figure, adorned with a glory; on the reverse, an urn containing flowers, and across the field, in the ancient form of Sanscrit 4 Vagupati; around the margin, on both sides, is a garland of roses.

Fig. 24, is a recent accession to Colonel STACY's collection: on one side a bull and staff, with the unknown word 5; on the other side, the peacock of Kumára and a palm tree? This coin is evidently allied to those found by Mr. SPIERS, in the Allahabad district, and figured in Plate XXVI. of vol. iii.; two of them are here re-engraved as being more in place. Lieut. CUNNINGHAM has a duplicate of 25, with a fuller inscription in the Allahabad form of Nágarí; I shall take a future opportunity of engraving it.

Fig. 27, is a copper coin found in the parcel lately received from Syed KERAMAT ALI'. It is remarkable for containing the motto of the Rajpút series ¤ ¤ Sri Samagri (or Samanta) dèva, with an elephant instead of a bull; while on the reverse, the rude outline of a horse without rider seems encircled by a Pehlevi legend; a coin

* See Useful Tables, Part I.

nearly similar was engraved in the plate of Lieutenant BURNES' coins, Plate XI., fig 17, page 318 of vol. ii.

Fig. 28, from the same source as the last, is also nearly a duplicate of fig. 14, of the above plate, except that it has the sinha, a lion, for reverse, instead of the horse; the letters correspond exactly, but though individually distinct enough, I can make nothing of the context.

With these I close my present notice, not I fear before I have tired out many of my readers! and it is with some compunctious feelings towards all but the few whose zeal in the cause of Indian numismatology equals or surpasses my own, that I announce my having received fresh materials, from various quarters, wherewith to revive the subject in the ensuing year. Mr. MASSON's second memoir must also find a place in the January number. On some future occasion I hope to be able to strike off a fresh edition of the coin plates, and to gather all that has been written on the subject, into a distinct volume, when the train of discovery shall begin to relax, and the materials scattered through the pages of the journal may be supposed to comprise most of the varieties of the ancient coins of India*.

IV.-Geological Observations made in a journey from Mussooree (Masúri) to Gungotree (Gangautrí). By the Rev. R. EVEREST. Mussooree is situated upon the outermost ridge of the Himálaya mountains, which these ranges is made from N. W. to S. E. nearly, and presents a bold escarpment towards the valley of Dehra, or the Dún, above which it rises to the height of nearly 4000 feet.

This ridge consists of beds of compact limestone alternating with others of a soft slate with an earthy fracture, and exhibits certain characteristics, both in its mineral structure and in its general outlines, analogous to the transition limestone of the north of Europe, and the mountain limestone of England. Its most general colour is bluish black, and from this it passes through grey to greyish white, and again, on the other side to perfect black, not differing there from the lucullite, or compact black marble (as it is called). It is carboniferous: it is highly cavernous. Many varieties emit a fœtid smell, probably of sulphuretted and carburetted hydrogen: indeed where the rock is quarried, the smell is similar to that at the mouth

* I issue with the present number a continuation of the Appendix of "Useful Tables," containing Genealogical Tables of the principal Hindu dynasties, which will assist the reader very much in understanding the allocation of the various series of coins described above: the tables were formed principally with this

of a coal-pit. These carboniferous or coaly varieties have, however, one peculiarity. They are in some places highly vesicular, so much so as to resemble a grey lava; and in this state appear to have partially suffered from the action of heat. Mr. FISHER, in his account of the Mussooree limestone, (see GLEANINGS for May, 1832, p. 194) states that it is "highly crystallized," but I did not meet with any such rock during my stay in the neighbourhood, nor see any specimens of it.

The slate that alternates with the limestone is of various colours, bluish black, grey, greenish grey, brownish red, purplish, and yellow. It is generally soft, and crumbling, and will not split into large plates: but about two miles west of the station, below the peak called Háti-paon and nearly half way down the hill, a bluish black variety is found, hard enough to be used as a roofing-slate. Somewhat to the west of this, on the Dudhillee hill (a station of the Trigonometrical Survey), a trap rock makes its appearance. It is to be met with at the bottom of a small water-course, and may be traced for about half a mile in a direction nearly parallel to the range of the mountains. It is composed in some parts principally of compact white felspar and green diallage, in others principally of hornblende. It was not possible to trace the manner of its connection with the adjacent strata, which are evidently much disturbed, though they had not suffered any change in mineral character by contact with it. Probably it has cut through them as a dyke, and the continuation of it may again be met with about a mile to the eastward, where a black heavy trap is to be seen, containing crystals of bronzite imbedded. The general range of these alternating beds of slate and limestone appears to be nearly parallel to that of the direction of the mountains, but not exactly so, as it approaches somewhat more to a north and south line, the dip being a little to the northward of the east, and the angle of it from 20 to 30°. The slopes are very steep, usually covered with a luxuriant vegetation, and remind us of those in Cumberland and Derbyshire, though, of course, on a much larger scale. In the Mussooree rock, however, there is a great deficiency of mineral veins. As we travelled eastwards from Mussooree to Landour, we found, a short distance beyond the hospital, quartzy-sandstone, of a white and greyish colour lying upon the soft, earthy slate. This appearance continued four miles further on to Soakolly, the quartzysandstone capping the peaks, and the slate underlying it. From Soakolly we descended for several miles, in a N. N. E. direction, over alternating beds of quartzy-sandstone and slate, to the Agilwar river, which runs with a westerly course to the Jumna. The slate,