passes difficult to get through, or at least in places well adapted for a hostile encounter. One thing is certain at any rate, namely, that they are all sepulchral tumuli; for having myself opened several of these cupolas, I have found in most of them, little urns of bronze, or other metal, or of baked clay, containing funeral ashes, or the debris of human bones; also jewels, and coins for the most part of Græco-Scythic, or Græco-Indian types.

The Muhammedans of the neighbourhood pretend to say, that the tope contained the remains of all the Musulmans who perished in the battle which took place in this place between the Afgháns and the army of Rájá Mán; but besides, that the religion of Muhammed opposes the erection of monuments to the dead, (?) the antiquity of the building and of the medals it contained prove to be far prior to the time of the Muhammedan incursions.

The Hindus of the country resort to the spot to offer up the first cuttings of the hair of their male children-a custom which is said to have prevailed anciently in Greece.

Scattered over the site of the ruins of Mánikyála are seen the remains of fifteen other cupolas, smaller than the principal one just described. These I have lately been engaged in digging up, and they have furnished some very interesting discoveries. The excavation of a tope situated about a cannon shot distant from the present village of Mánikyála to the N. N. E. is particularly calculated to throw light upon these curious monuments of antiquity, since a part of the medals extracted from it bear genuine Latin characters, while others are of the Græco-Scythic pr Græco-Indian type. Moveover, the stone which served as a covering to the niche which contained them, is sculptured all over with inscriptions in an unknown character, and altogether different from that of the coins?

This cupola is laid down as No. 2, in my map of the place. It was in a thorough state of dilapidation, so as hardly to be observed; and it was only after having carefully examined the contour of the foundation that I decided upon penetrating it. Its height might be 60 or 70 feet. I began by piercing it from above in the centre with a hole of 20 feet diameter. The materials extracted were chiefly a coarse concrete, extremely porous. The nature of the stone reminded me forcibly of the pyramids of Egypt, which are constructed of a limestone full of shell impressions, (nummulitic limestone.)

In my first operations, I found, at the depth of three feet, a squared stone, on which were deposited four copper coins. Below this point, the work became extremely difficult, from the enormous size of the blocks of stone, which could hardly be removed through the upper

opening. At ten feet lower down, or at ten from the level of the ground, we met with a cell in the form of a rectangular parallelogram, built in a solid manner, with well dressed stones, firmly united with mortar. The four sides of the cell corresponded with the four cardinal points, and it was covered with a single massive stone. Having turned this over, I perceived that it was covered with inscriptions.

In the centre of the hollow cell stood a copper urn, encircling which were placed symmetrically eight medals of the same metal, which were completely corroded with verdigris. The urn itself was carefully enveloped in a wrapper of white linen, tightly adhering to its surface, and which fell into shreds when I opened the urn*. The copper urn enclosed a smaller one of silver: the space between them being filled with a paste of the colour of raw umber (terre d'ombre), in which the verdigris had begun to form. This pasty matter was light, without smell, and still wet. On breaking it, I discovered a thread of cotton gathered up into a knot (ramassé en au seul point), and which was reduced to dust on handling it. When I attempted to remove the silver urn from within the outer cylinder, its bottom remained attached to the brown sediment, and I remarked that the silver was become quite brittle from age, crumbling into bits between the fingers. Within the silver urn was found one much smaller of gold, immersed in the same brown paste, in which were also contained seven silver medals, with Latin characters. The gold vessel enclosed four small coins of gold of the Græco-Scythic or Græco-Indian type;-also two precious stones and four pearls in a decayed state; the holes perforated in them prove them to have been the pendents of earrings.

From the position in which these several urns were found, an allusion was possibly intended to the ages of the world. The four gold coins were of far inferior fabrication to those of silver. The latter are worn as if they had been a long time in circulation. Whether they are Greek or Roman, I cannot venture to affirm. I would only remark, that if the Greeks before the reign of PHILIP used the Latin alphabet, it might be probable that there were Greek coins, and that they were brought into the country by the army of ALEXANDER. If, on the contrary, they are Roman, they may be of the epochs when the kings of India sent embassies to the Roman emperors Augustus or Justinian. Or, it is possible that they are brought into the country through the ordinary channel of commerce by the Red Seaf.

* The exterior of the copper cylinder of M. VENTURA's tope has the marks of a cloth wrapper well defined on the corroded surface.-ED.

+ While correcting the press of this passage we are put in possession of M. COURT's drawings of the coins, which we will make the subject of a postscript.-ED.

The inscription on the stone is in a character that resembles the writing of the Rájpúts of the Himálaya mountains in the present day. It has also a resemblance to the Ethiopian; and it is well known, that there existed from time immemorial a communication between Egypt and India. I am surprised that my friend General VENTURA did not find an inscription on the stone in the principal deposit of the large tope. On my way to Peshávar, I lately visited the scene of his operations, and searched carefully among the ruins for any such, but without success. This cupola was penetrated by him from above. When the cap was

removed, a square shaft was found of 21 feet deep and 12 feet side, well constructed of squared stones. On the floor of this chamber there were two massive stones, between which was deposited a small box (see page 315). The floor itself was formed of two enormous stones, which were broken to pieces with some trouble before the digging could be continued below. The difficulties were much increased from this point by the frequent occurrence of large blocks of stone locked into the body of the masonry without mortar, which it was necessary to extract by the upper vent. At 27 feet below the first stage, a second was met with, of a less perfect nature, wherein a second discovery was made:—below this, again, before reaching the ground, the most interesting discovery occurred. Hence the miners worked a conduit underground, on the side towards the village of Mánikyála, which facilitated greatly the extraction of materials. This adit is now nearly closed up with rubbish, and can only be entered on all fours.

As the relics found in this cupola have been addressed by my friend to the Asiatic Society of Calcutta, I refrain from any observations on them. I will only remark, that the emblem on the gold medals of Mánikyála, as well as on those of my topes, may be observed in Persia with some slight difference, on the sculptures at Bistaun, near Kermansháh; I think also, the same symbol exists at Persepolis. I can with confidence assert that the monogram exists on the bas-relief of the

gate of the ancient castle of Shastar in Susiana.

I have observed that most of the cupolas of Mánikyála are situated on the ridges of sandstone rock which cross up from the surface of the country.

The neighbourhood is generally strewed with ruins, and traces of a square building can generally be perceived, in the immediate vicinity, of similar construction to that of a Persian caravanserai. If these monuments are the remains of temples, there can be no doubt, that Mánikyála must have been the principal seat of the religion of the country. The ruins of the town itself are of very considerable extent:-every where, on digging, massive walls of solid stone

and lime are met with-and a great number of wells; but almost all now filled up these latter are all built of cut stone. All the neighbouring heights are garnished with tombs; and it is known that the ancient Persians, the Scythians, and even the Hindus selected eminences to erect their tombs on, especially those of their chiefs. They are all adjusted to face the cardinal points of the compass.

The whole country overlooked by Mánikyála must have been once a vast plateau, which in the course of ages, and by the continued action of the annual rains, has undergone a complete change. It is now cut every where into deep ravines, which render it very difficult to traverse. The country is sprinkled with wretched hovels; but the natural aspect of the plains is singularly bare and barren. The immediate vicinity of the hills is, however, varied with the meagre foliage of a thorny shrub.

This district (canton) is now called Patwár. That it was formerly very populous, is proved by the quantity of ruins of old houses. According to the inhabitants, the whole space that now separates Mánikyála from the ruins of Tammiak, which is about 16 kros of the country distant, was so thickly covered with houses, that the two towns might be considered as one. They add, that mulberries and other fruit trees flourished there exceedingly. The devastation now witnessed can only be laid to the account of its being the thoroughfare of all the conquerors who in turns sallied forth to ravage India.

It appears that the aborigines of the country were Hindus, to whom were joined the Pandavas, worshippers of the sun, and the Chandrabansís, worshippers of the moon. Subsequently, a mixture took place with the Persians, the Scythians, and even with the Greeks, for the Ghekhers, so frequently talked of in the country, are nothing more than the descendants of the Greek colony that ALEXANDER left on the banks of the Indus, or perhaps the Greeks of the kingdom of Bactria, of which this district for a long time formed a part. What I here advance is upon good foundation, for the people themselves insist, that the Ghekhers are descended from the Khéïanis, ancient Persians, or from the Rúmís; and it is well known that all Oriental nations apply this last term to Greece: hence we may conclude that Ghekher is but a corruption of the word Greek. Moreover, the numerous medals discovered with Greek legends tend strongly to confirm this idea.

The country appears to have been conquered by the Persians long before the time of ALEXANDER. This is proved by the Persian medals found; further, an ancient tradition of Persia alludes to an invasion that our chronologists refer to the fourteenth century before Christ. It is also known, that under DARIUS, the son of HYSTASPES, this country and all up to the banks of the Indus, formed one of the twenty satrapies of the vast Persian empire.

ALEXANDER traversed it in 326 B.C. At the death of this conqueror, it was annexed to Bactriana, raised into a separate kingdom by the Greeks, who revolted from his successors. It then fell into the hands of the Scythians, who destroyed this latter kingdom.

Splendid collections of coins might be made in this country. They are found principally at Mánikyála, Djlún, Pind-dádan Khán; at Níllí Daulla, Rával Pindí, and in the districts of the Hazárís and Hazáron. They were formerly worked up into lotas and cooking vessels, and ornaments. It was only in 1829, the period when my researches commenced, that the inhabitants began to appreciate their value. The copper coins are most numerous; the fear of being supposed to have dug up a treasure leads the inhabitants to melt up those of silver and gold, which makes their preservation comparatively rare.

The immense store of coins constantly dug up proves that this country was formerly in a flourishing state; and that in consequence of the frequent invasions of India, its riches were constantly hidden by burial, and so preserved. By far the greater portion of the coins are GræcoScythian, or Græco-Indian ; others again are altogether Indian; the latter are the most ancient: they are in a Devanagari character now unknown to the natives*. There are found also Græco-Persian coins, and sometimes pure Persian ones. These last represent the fire altar, with two guards to preserve it. I find that their costume has a striking resemblance to that of the present inhabitants of Patwár, who allow their hair to fall behind the head in large tufts of curls, and wear frequently the ample plaited pantaloon represented on the two warriors of the coins.

Mánikyála is at 40 kurors E.S.E. of the fortress of Attok, and at 34 N. W. of the city of Jilim.

The ruins of the town of Ramma, attributed to Sita- Rám, are at 13 kurors S. S. W. of Mánikyála. Those of Parvala, ascribed to the era of the Pandavas, are at 12 kurors to the north. The traces of the town of Dangéli are at 14 kurors on the east. This last place flourished under the Ghekhers, whose sovereigns fixed their residence there. Makkhyala, near Rotás: Benda and Tamial near Ravel-Píndi are also places formerly occupied by the Ghekhers.

IV.-Note on the Coins discovered by M. COURT. By JAS. PRINSep, &c. Since the above paper went to press, I have received through M. MEIFREDY, the drawings made by M. COURT, of the several coins, and

* I know not to which species of coin the above passage alludes: hitherto the number discovered in those parts with the Delhi character on them has been very small. The Samagri deva and the Canouj coins are numerous, but they are evidently much more recent than the Bactrian and Indo-Scythic.-J. P.