showing the number of minutes taken. These clearly show that his practice in all such cases was to allow an average of fifteen minutes to each mile. On the 5th March, in fact, he has himself added up in the marginal notes the total number of minutes, namely 225, and has divided by 15, getting the quotient of 15 miles which corresponds to 14 miles as approximately recorded item by item in the Journal, and similarly on the 6th March he has allowed 10 miles to 154 minutes, the time actually taken.

A Supplement consisting of 18 pages of "Observations" is attached to the M. S. Journal for Shahabad, an examination of which brings out the interesting fact that Buchanan carried this method of estimating approximate distances much further. The Observations themselves are chiefly concerned with the state of agriculture as noticed on each day's march from November 3rd, 1812, when he started his tour of the district from Koilwar on the river Sone, until February 24th, 1813, when he left the district to enter that of Mirzapur, on his way to Chunar, his headquarters for that year. Day by day, except on December 17th when" watch stopt " is recorded, or during his tour of the hilly districts of Rohtas, Shergarh, etc., a series of figures is set down in columns headed " Rivers (or Water) "; " Hills" ; "Occupied Land "; and "Waste Land "; the totals of which are as follows:

Comparing the individual entries as well as the totals for cach day's march with the corresponding distances recorded in the Shahabad Journal, it becomes clear that these figures represent in every case the time taken, to the nearest half minute, in travelling over the

types of country thus specified. As the corresponding total of approximate distances given in the Journal is 490 miles, the average rate allowed works out as 15% minutes to each mile.

In the daily notes contained in the Shahabad Observations, the "waste land" is as a general rule still further sub-classified in the same way, as the following summary shows :

In all probability Buchanan kept a similar record in each of the districts which he surveyed, and made use of it in preparing his elaborate statistical table showing the soil, situation and manner of occupation of the land in each district, as given for Patna and Shahabad on pages 2 and 44 of the Appendix to Eastern India, Volume I. It is significant at least that, in the Table referring to Shahabad, he estimated that of the "level waste land exempt from floods and of good soil", 343 square miles were taken up with "woods, bushes and deserted villages", and 327 square miles consisted of "reeds, pastures or deserted fields "; a relative proportion which agrees very closely with the corresponding figures of 1,254 and 1,2063 minutes shown in the summary just given.

It is not so easy to check the accuracy of Buchanan's method of estimating distances by comparison with modern large-scale maps as might be supposed,

because there is usually a certain amount of uncertainty regarding the track which he actually followed. The general indications are, however, that for journeys across country or on bad roads the method was accurate enough, but that it led on decent roads to an underestimate of distances, amounting at times to as much as 15 or 20 per cent. For instance, in travelling from Mekra to Patna between October 26th and November 4th, 1811, it seems certain that the old military road which Buchanan used hardly differed from the present road close to the south bank of the Ganges, and that it was in fairly good condition. The exact distance along the present road from Mekra to the site of the eastern gate of Patna City is 43 miles, but according to his estimate it was only just over 36 miles. On the

30th November his route from Gaya to the foot of the Gurpa Hill clearly followed the present District Board road as far as Fatehpur, which is now marked by milestones but was then probably only a rough cross-country track. The correct distance from the "small hill about a mile from the south end of Sahebgunge" (at Salimpur on the east bank of the Phalgu) to Fatehpur is eighteen miles. Adding up the distances recorded in the Journal, Buchanan's own estimate comes to "at least" 10 miles, considerably nearer the truth, although he suspected the reliability of his watch on that day. Another instance of close agreement is shown on the 3rd December, when he made the sum of the distances from the small hummock at Kewali to Koch to be rather more than 13 miles, whereas this distance by milestones on the District Board road from Gaya to Koch is exactly 14 miles.

The references to Patna and Bankipore in the Journal are extremely brief, and I have therefore added in full the account which Buchanan incorporated in his Report. Some of the most interesting passages omitted by Montgomery Martin from this have previously been published by Beveridge in the Calcutta Review, amongst which in recent years attention has

been particularly directed to the story of the recovery of the two remarkable statues which are now in the Calcutta Museum.* Amongst others which have not been previously published may be mentioned the estimates showing the great strength of Sikhism at Patna about 1812, from which it would appear that the number of adherents of both sects, including their families, was well over 50,000; the clear statement that the building on the river bank at Gulzarbagh now occupied by the Government Press was the old English Factory, and not a Dutch building as is generally supposed; and Buchanan's characteristic comment on the Golah at Bankipore. The compiler of the Statistical Account of Patna District, misled as so many others have been by Montgomery Martin's methods of editorship, regarded the omission of any reference to this building in the account of Patna which appears in Eastern India, Volume I, as a sign that Buchanan's work was defective :

"Dr. Buchanan Hamilton was clearly so disgusted with the dust and disorder of the place that he was unable to see any good in it whatever. He has even omitted to describe the Gola, a high dome-like store-house, which is certainly the most striking building in the whole extent included by him in his account of the city." (Volume XI, 1877, page 69.)

This criticism is all the more unjustifiable because the full Report was available at Simla while Hunter's Statistical Account of Bengal was being compiled.

The Journal of Patna and Gaya has been printed from a copy of the original manuscript in the India Office Library which I was permitted by the Secretary of State in Council to make, while on leave in 1911, on the usual conditions as regards publication. I took special precautions to ensure not only that this copy should be verbally accurate, but also that as regards punctuation, orthography, etc., it should be a faithful reproduction

*K. P. Jayaswal, Statues of two Saisunaka Emperors (483-409 B.C.). J. B. O. B. S., Volume V, Part I, March 1919.

of the original. No alterations have been made, in the present text, except a few which appear necessary on grammatical or similar grounds, and these have been indicated in all cases by brackets. The punctuation and the spelling of all ordinary words have been revised, but Buchanan's spelling of proper names has been retained. The latter, however, may not be accurate in all cases, because his handwriting, though apparently distinct enough, lends itself to different interpretations when dealing with unfamiliar words. Numerous examples of possible alternative readings could be quoted, of which " iya" or "uja", uja”, “niar or" snai","srau” or “wan", ","Laur", or " Taur", or "Sanr" are specimens. Such cases have been decided whenever possible by reference either to the Report or to the Index to the Map, in which names of places are spelt phonetically and with much closer resemblance to the Hunterian system.

"

Since this copy was taken, I have made much use of it in various ways, especially in retracing, by such instalments as my ordinary duties have permitted, the greater part of the tour which Buchanan made in 1811-12. My original intention was to apply, as soon as I had completed this work, for permission to publish the Journal together with some observations of my own and all necessary references to the work of archeologists, etc., who have followed after Buchanan. Owing to the interest taken in the matter, especially by Sir Edward Gait and Messrs. Oldham and McPherson, a proposal to publish the Journals through the agency of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society was sanctioned by the Secretary of State in 1916. At the Society's request 1 undertook to edit the present Journal and to supply a series of notes such as I had originally proposed. I must therefore acknowledge responsibility for the regrettable delay which has taken place, but owing to various causes, all more or less

*In his pamphlet on the Aboriginal Races of the Santhal Parganae, Mr. H. McPherson has pointed out that the word " Santhal" itself, spelt Saungtar" by Buchanan, appears, in Eastern India, Volume 2, page 218, in the unrecognizable form of "taungtar ".

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