Cupid asleep on a Cloud, Sir Joshua Reynolds. Prodigal Son, Bassan, 5 ft. by 3 ft. 8 in. Cathedral at Antwerp, Steinwich the Elder, 3 ft. 9 in. by 2 ft. 10 in. Ghat at Benares, Daniel, 5 ft. by 3 ft. 4 in. 2 Views in Venice, Canaletti. 2 Views in Wales, Davies. Head of an Old Man, on pannel, unknown. And the following Portraits :-Warren Hastings, Lord Cornwallis, Lord Wellesley, Lord Minto, Sir G. H. Barlow, Sir E. Paget, Sir W. Jones, Dr. Fleming, Horace H. Wilson, Dr. Hare, the Nawab of Dacca, Col. Duff, Gen. Jones, and Dr. Laird. They are now on their way down by water. The public are not generally aware that the Museum and Library of the Asiatic Society are at all times open to visitors, between the hours of 6 A. M. and 4 P. M. None but members of course have the power of taking books out of the rooms.] Library. The following donations to the library were announced : Lt. A. CONOLLY's Overland Journey to India,-presented by F. Macnaghten, Esq. on the part of the author. Dr. BAIKIE'S Observations on the Neilgherry Hills,—by W. H. Smoult, Esq., the editor. M. EUGENE BURNOUF's Observations sur la partie de la Grammaire comparative de M. F, Bopp, qui se rapporte à la langue Zende,—by the author. Rev. W. D. CONY BEARE'S Report on the Progress, Actual State, and Ulterior Prospects of Geological Science,-by the author. Counsellor JOSEPH VON HAMMER'S German Translation of the Turkish Poet. Fazli's Gul o Bulbul, with the original text in the Nashki character,—by the translator. Annals of Literature of Vienna, Nos. 61, 62, 63, 64,—by the same. C. T. BEKE's Origines Biblicæ, or Researches in Primeval History,-by the author. Archæologia, the 25th vol. of the Transactions of the Antiquarian Society,— by the Society. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, vol. xii. pt. 2nd, and Nos. 1 and 2, of its Proceedings,-by the Society. Anniversary Address for 1834, by G. B. GREENOUGH, President, and Proceedings of the Geological Society of London, Nos. 32, 33, 34, and 35, with Index of vol. I.-by the Society. Journal Asiatique, No. 76,—by the As. Soc. of Paris. The Indian Journal of Medical Science,-by the editors. Meteorological Register for August and September,- by the Surveyor Gene ral. Ditto, kept at Cawnpur, to the end of September, 1834,-by Col. Pollock. The following books were received from the London Booksellers :— LARDNER'S Cabinet Cyclopedia, Arithmetic, Manufacture in Metals, and Middle Ages, 3rd vol. Literary Communications. The Secretary reported receipt of a continuation of the late Mr. GEORGE TREBECK's manuscript journals, (Cashmír to Cabul, May-June, 1823,) presented by his brother Mr. CHARLES TREBECK, who had at length recovered it through Mr. FRASER of Delhi. It is believed that other portions of his and of MOORCROFT's papers still remain up the country. Resolved, that the present portion be despatched forthwith to Professor WILSON, who is now engaged in publishing the former part of MOORCROFT'S Journals, on the part of the Society. A letter was read from the Baron VON HAMMER, dated Vienna, 31st March, 1834, presenting a manuscript analysis and translation in part of a rare and valuable Arabic work entitled 'Mohit,' by Kiatib Rúmí, “After my return from Italy, where I found at Naples, in the year 1825, in the library of the Museo Borbonico, Kiatib Rúmí's Mohit, which contains a treatise on navigation in general, and that of the Indian seas in particular, I redoubled my commissions at Constantinople for this exceedingly rare manuscript, and was last year so fortunate as to purchase a copy of it. "I hasten to transmit some extracts to the Asiatic Society, which if they are thought interesting enough, I shall have great pleasure in continuing." An account of the overland journeys of the same Arabic author, by M. VON HAMMER, appeared in the first part of the Bombay As. Soc. Transactions, in which an allusion is made to the present work. (See also Orient. Mag. I. 233.) A letter was read from W. H. WATHEN, Esq. Secretary to the Bombay Government, transmitting by order of the Right Honorable the Governor in Council, a copy of an inscription found on the Arabian coast at a place called Hasan Ghorab, near Aden, together with a graphic description of the ancient fort, drawn up by Lieutenant WELLSTED of the Indian Navy. [This paper will have an early place in the Journal.] Read a letter from the Rev. J. STEVENSON, on the subject of the Inscriptions engraved on the excavated temple at Karli near Púná, which he has succeeded in decyphering with the assistance of the alphabet of the Allahabad monument published in the Journal As. Soc. [This paper is inserted in the present number.] The continuation of Lieut. FOLEY'S description of Ramree Island was received and read. Extracts of a private letter to the Secretary, from Captain C. M. Wade, Political Agent at Ludiána, were read, enclosing a Memoir in French, by M. COURT, an officer in the service of Mahárájá RANJIT SINGH, detailing his operations on several other Topes in the neighbourhood of that originally opened by General VENTURA; one of them affording highly interesting results. Captain WADE also forwarded a letter from General Ventura himself, who, in continuation of his former important researches, has since collected upwards of five hundred ancient coins, which he has entrusted to M. ALLARD, for the Museum of Paris, politely offering their inspection and examination to the members of the Asiatic Society, as long as M. ALLARD may remain in the metropolis. "Dans la mois de Janvier dernier me trouvant campé entre l'Hidaspe et l'Indus, je me disposais à faire des nouvelles recherches et visiter moimême plusieurs ruines que je savais exister dans ces contreés lorsqu'un coup de paralysie vint m'arreter dans mes dispositions: alors j'envoyais mes gens à la decouverte et je fus assez heureux de les voir retourner avec une collection de belles medailles que je viens de remettre au cher M. WADE qui vous les fera par venir, je le pense, par les soins de M. ALLARD qui se rend à Calcutta incessamment : mais, n'ayant pas été sur les lieux moimême, je ne puis accompagner ces medailles que de quelques notes des endroits où elles ont été trouvées." Physical. Fossil shells, part of the foot of a tortoise, and various minerals, (including coal,) from Ramree, were received from Lieutenant FOLEY. A note to Lieutenant ARCHBOLD respecting the shipment of the mummy from Mocha was communicated. The Malak-ul Bahr was to have brought it, but the crew refused to keep it on board after it had been shipped. A letter was read from Captain CAUTLEY, dated Delhi, the 14th October, descriptive of the collection of fossil bones made by Serjeant DEAN, from the Jumna, and stating, that he was deterred from making further presentations to the Society's museum, on account of the expence of conveyance from so great a distance. In reference to this subject, it was moved by the Secretary, seconded by Dr. J. TYTLER, and Resolved unanimously, "That Serjeant DEAN be remunerated for the expences incurred by him for the transmission of fossils from the Upper Provinces to Calcutta, and that the Society will be happy to be at the further expence of carriage of any other fossils with which Serjeant DEAN may have it in contemplation to favor the Museum, from the same deposit.” Captain CAUTLEY's letter gives the following additional particulars of the fossil bone deposit in the Sewálik hills: and of the subterranean town at Behat. "This is a favorable opportunity of reporting progress on the fossil discoveries of the lower hills (Sewálik), which are going on even more flourishingly than I could have expected, considering that the only means of continuing the search during the rainy months were in carting fragments of the rock from the deposit to my house. The fossils are even now not only numerous, but rich in the remains of a great vareity of species: Saurian and Chelonian, both Emys and Tryonin, are most abundant: of the Saurian, the teeth of two varieties correspond very closely with the existing Alligator (or magar of the natives), and the Gharial (or Gavial of naturalists): there appears to be a third variety of teeth of this order, as well as the jaw-bones of two of a smaller claw of lacertine animals, one specimen of which is exceedingly interesting, consisting of the lower half jaw, with one cheek-tooth, well fossilized. Of Mammalia, three families are very distinct, Solipeda, Ruminantia, and Rodentia, the former in one solitary specimen of an incisor of some animal of the horse species, the second of a variety of teeth of deer, the third of rats; besides these, there are a great variety of teeth, which from want of experience and want of books of reference, I am unable to recognize. Some bones also, about which, for the reasons above mentioned, I can say nothing: two specimens of fishes' vertebræ, and some undoubted teeth of Squalus, or some voracious species, will give some idea of the present state of my cabinet. Laying aside direct geological reasons, which may hereafter be best referred to, the great variety of remains already found in so short a period makes this discovery valuable. A farther search on the line of mountains, of which the Sewálik may be considered the centre, will, I have no doubt, establish the fact of the existence of these remains on the whole line. Lieutenant DURAND, of the Engineers, on a late visit to Nahun, was fortunate enough to meet with the stratum of marle or clay conglomerate on the north face of the mountain upon which the town of Nahun stands; the remains therein discovered, in my opinion, identify it completely with the Sewálik stratum, the position of both being similar and in juxtaposition with the calcareous sandstone. The fossils in the Nahun deposit, which Lieutenant DURAND has introduced us to, consist of tortoise, saurian, mammalia, and fish, exactly of a similar description to those found at the Kalowála Pass, the enamel equally perfect, and the more solid masses of bone as highly impregnated with (hydrate of) iron. Lieutenant DURAND'S discovery is of particular interest, from its having at once established the formation of the Nahun connecting link, as at this point the low line of mountains skirting the Dhera and Karda Dhúns, impinge upon the great Himálayan chain. Since the discovery of these fossils, I have visited the spot, and am satisfied of the identity of this formation with that of the Sewálik, and have every reason to imagine that an active search will not only shew that a similar deposit exists on the Pinjore line of lower mountains terminating at Rúpur; but that equal success may be expected on the left of the Ganges: as this is a mere notice of the progress of these interesting discoveries, it would be out of place to enter upon the matter geologically.—There is a tradition existing, of the remains of giants having been discovered in the neighbourhood of the Pinjore valley, near a village named Samrota, the said giants having been those destroyed by the redoubtable RAMCHANDRA. I have lately seen a tooth and a fragment of a tusk in the possession of Lieutenant W. E. BAKER of the Engineers, which were presented to him by the Nahun Rájá, as the remains of giants, and found near the above village: Lieutenant BAKER will take an early opportunity of sending you drawings of both these fossils, the first a very perfect tooth of an elephant, with the enamel of the flexures in the crown beautifully retained, the other the fragment of a small tusk, I imagine of an elephant also; both of these specimens are completely silicified: and from the appearance of the matrix, small fragments of which are visible in the interstices of the tooth, it would appear to be sandstone, or indurated sand: to those people who have time and leisure to visit Sumrota and the Pinjore valley, what a fine field is here opened out for interesting discoveries of the newer organic remains. I think that the circumstance of the existence of a deposite of this sort, either in or near the Pinjore valley, is mentioned by Dow in his History, from Ferishta; the bones having been found in digging a canal, or in the construction of some work, where excavation was neces sary*. *The passage in Dow's Feristha is quoted in the appendix to Professor BUCKLAND'S note on the fossil bones from Ava. As it is short, we copy it, in hopes of its leading to further inquiries for fossils in the Pinjore valley. "On the King's return to the capital, in the month of Rajeb, 762, (May, 1360,) he heard that in the vicinity of Perwar, was a hill, out of which issued a stream of water "Some days hence I will despatch to the Museum some more relics from Behat. Circumstances have prevented a fair opportunity of continuing the search, but there are a few more interesting coins, one of them bearing a distinct inscription, some rings, and a small idol made of either sandstone or composition: a great quantity of small irregular lumps of iron and slag have been found, with some more arrowheads." Extracts of a letter from Capt. EDWARD SMITH, Engineers,were read, explaining that he had been induced to postpone furnishing the list of the fossils from the Jumna, presented by him to the Society in December last, by having afterwards received further remains of the same kind in great number and variety, which he is now preparing to dispatch. "You are I believe aware of the existence of fossils in the Jumna, in a greater abundance than was at first supposed; but I have, notwithstanding my own expectations to that effect, been surprised at the quantities that the last four or five months bave produced, and the length of course of the river through which they are found. In the observations that have been made of the situations, only beds in which they have been lodged, there may be obtained some conclusions that the former less exact acquaintance with the place of deposit gave no evidence of. Some of these specimens are of such size that I shall have difficulty in finding an early conveyance for them, which however, I will look out for. I scarcely anticipated being able to add so largely to those already in your possession; there having this year been no works on the river in parts containing fossils. It was in descending the river, in March last, that searching on the banks I discovered those which are in preparation for you." that emptied itself into the Setlej river, which the people called the Sursetti, and that beyond it was a smaller stream denominated Selima. "It was stated, that if an eminence which intervened between these streams were cut through, the waters of the Sursetti, falling into the smaller stream, would flow on to Súnam, passing by Serhind and Mausurpur, and that the supply of water would be perennial. "On this information, the King (FEROZ) proceeded in that direction; and causing fifty thousand labourers to be collected, he employed them in cutting through the mound or hill, so as to form a junction of the two streams. In this mound were found the bones of elephants and men. The bones of the human forearm measured 3 gez, or 5 feet 2 inches, in length. Some of the bones were petrified, others resembled bone." We strongly recommend the canal thus cut by FEROZ SHAH, five centuries ago, to a careful elucidation by Captain CAUTLEY. If it still exist, it must afford one of the best situations for studying the direction and nature of the gravel deposits of the lower range, and of their fossil contents. It is seldom that a geologist can command the aid of fifty thousand men to open a section of the Himalayan strata to his view. The fossil deposits of the north-east extremity of the great range are also well deserving of further examination. It was among the mutilated fragments of bone procured by Mr. COLEBROOKE in Kooch-behar, on the banks of the Brahmaputra river, that Mr. PENTLAND discovered traces of the Anthracotherium of CUVIER. It is most probable that the declivities of the lower range in its entire length will afford very numerous tertiary fossil deposits, when it comes to be explored.-ED. |