It may be said, that Jamunpur, by which almost all the Hindus call it, and which every pandit affirms to be its real name, is merely a corruption of Jaunpur. I beg to say, that the latter is so of the former. The Mussalmans endeavoured to give the new buildings names as similar as possible to the old ones. Thus the mosque built on the site of the Utala dèwal, is called the Utala Masjid, from a custom of the former princes, who used to place in its court their travelling equipage and baggage. The Bijí Mandal, built by Rájá BIJICHAND, was called the Bidi Manzil, when converted to a Mussalman residence. The change, therefore, from Jamunpur to Jaunpur was not only easy and probable, but perfectly natural and consonant with the custom of its new possessors; more particularly as the date of its pretended foundation is shewn by that name. According to the Abjad, the powers of the letters forming Shahar Jaunpur, are 770.

Little doubt will, I hope, remain as to the city of Jamunpur having been very extensive previous to the Mussalman conquest. The fact of the populace having resisted successfully the Emperor FEROZ and his troops is alone of great weight.

This allowed, it is not improbable that the prince of so large a country should have chosen the spot for his residence. No other Hindu names are preserved to whom could be attributed the building of the mahal, &c. The particulars gathered from my Hindu informants are, I think, more entitled to credit from their having been related to me, diverted of the fabulous and wonderful, with which ignorance and superstition delight to envelope the occurrences of past ages.

I have been unable to discover the former name of Zafferábád. One man informed me, he had once heard it, but could only recollect it sounded like Sompur or Samatpur.

The present town is situated along the western bank of the river Goomty, nearly four miles from Jaunpur. JYCHANDRA'S mahal is a mile and half to the eastward, on the concave bank, on an angle in the river. The bank is very steep and high, but the ruins reach in some slopes to the water's edge. There were very probably gháts from the top. The whole building extended over about six bigas, which is now cultivated. The old fort is to the south of Zafferábád, and contains 11 bigas of land, but may stand on twice that quantity. It is now merely a mound of earth, about 50 feet in height, with the remains of the bastions still visible. All the stones and bricks have been removed to form the various buildings, by which it is bounded on two sides, as well as to supply the fort, bridge, and masjids.

The gold coins in my possession were found in the ruins by the cultivator of the mahal." He brought them to the bazar for sale, but

the goldsmiths refused to purchase them, saying, they were useless, as on account of their bearing the figures of RA'M and SíTa, no one dared cut or work them up. To this circumstance they owe their preservation. They were taken from the villager by two zemindars, in whose possession they remained six years.

They are not exactly similar, though the difference is but slight. The symbols above the right-hand of the female figure are different. The male figures do not agree, but this may be owing to one being more rubbed than the other.

That which is most plain has at the back of his head a bow knot, with the ends long and waving. The armour on his legs is easily distinguished, as also the long robe. In both there appears to have been an inscription on both sides, and some letters within the bow. standard, evidently some bird, is difficult to distinguish. The right hand appears to hold an arrow, the point of which is near the feet.

The

Any further information I may collect, I shall be proud and happy to communicate.

[The gold coins alluded to above are of the ordinary Kanouj type, of which several are depicted in the 17th volume of the Researches, and several more are to be found in MARSDEN'S Numismata Orientalia. The letters are, however, more distinct than usual, and seem to make the words Sri Vikrama. Drawings of them will be given hereafter, but we have thought preferable to publish the particulars at once. We hope Mr. TREGEAR will favour us with a copy of the inscription he states to have found in an ancient character, on an image in a temple near Jaunpur, dated 515 years back. The form of the Nágarí characters at different eras, well established by dates, is a desideratum.-ED.]

III.-Price of Grain at Allygurh, near Delhi, from the year 1804 to 1832 inclusive. By EDWARD STIRLING, Esq. C. S.

In the course of my official duties, having occasion to ascertain the price of grain for some years subsequent to the conquest of this district, I thought it might be desirable to obtain the price of wheat and grain from the period of our first possession of the country to the end of last year. This I have effected, and the accompanying statement contains the result for each month during the last 28 years. In the last column on the right hand will be found stated the average of the year, and at the foot of the table, the average of each month for the whole period.

The prices of grain herein-mentioned have been abstracted chiefly from the Kotwalí records of the town of Coel, and an average for the whole month has been made from the daily prices of these two kinds of grain.

It seems necessary to state the weight of the seer specified. It consists of ninety sicca weight of the old Furukhabad rupee, weighing

about 173 grains, or equal to 86 sicca weight of present standard weight of 180 grains troy, so that one seer equals about two pounds and a quarter, troy weight.

In the present scarcity throughout the Upper Provinces, and southern parts of India, this table will not be perhaps, uninteresting, to those who are desirous to make comparisons of the prices of grain in other parts of the country, and I hope may elicit information of a similar kind, and thereby embody a fund of knowledge that may be found hereafter useful to Government and individuals.

Abstract of a Table of the Prices of Wheat and Gram in the Market of Allyghur, from the year 1804 to 1832. A. D. expressed in seers and chitacks, sold for one rupee.

Average Variation of Price from month to month, the first nine months, for 28 years; the last three, for 29 years.

[The statement above alluded to, was so voluminous, containing the prices of wheat and grain for every month of each year, that it was impossible to set it up for the pages of the Journal; and it has, therefore, been neglected until now, when it occurred that the average prices of each year, and the average variation of price during the twelve months, might in themselves form an useful table for record.-ED.]

IV. On the Nepalese Method of Refining Gold. By Dr. A. CampBELL, Asst. Surgeon attached to the Residency of Nepal.

Gold dust to the amount of two lakhs of rupees or more is annually imported from Thibet into Nepal. It is not reckoned pure, and is bought from the Bhoteahs by the dealers in Katmandu for about 15 rupees* per tola. The greater part of this gold is required for consumption in Nepal. A small portion of it for the Government mint, and the remainder for making female ornaments†, as well as chains and lace for the officers of the Gorkha army, who ornament their turbans with handsome and massive chains, embroider their regimental jackets most richly, and mount their swords and kukries‡ with the precious metal, to a degree highly detrimental to the purse, but eminently advantageous in making a display of splendour so grateful to this enthusiastically military peoples. The process of refining is tedious, but not expensive, nor attended with much loss of the metal : it forms a separate occupation for a few individuals, but is for the most part performed by the purchasers themselves-and is, although rude, supposed to be very effectual, as gold can be purified through its means to an extent that raises its price from 15 to 24 rupees per sicca weight or tola.

The first step of the process is the melting of the dust, when it is cast into uniform plates about the thickness of writing-paper, and a little larger than playing-cards; in this state it is as impure as when in the original form, unless as is sometimes the case, insoluble and insulated particles of sand are mixed with it, which of course become separated during the melting. The plates, if cast too thick, are beat out to

* Nepal currency, about 13 Sa. Rs.

† Every Newar woman who can afford it wears a bar of plain gold, suspended by a ribbon from the neck; it is of a lozenge shape; and weighs generally from two to four tolas. Besides this, the most favorite ornament is a massive gold ear-ring, not suspended from the lobe, but worn in the upper part (helix) of each ear; it is shaped like two cones with a connecting bar. One of the cones unscrews, and when the bar is passed through the perforation in the ear, it is screwed on again. These ear-rings cost generally from 30 to 60 rupees.

Short sword, peculiar to the hills, and worn constantly by every Parbattiah, great or small.

§ Every commissioned officer has his turban nearly covered with gold chains, tastefully arranged; added to this he wears the distinguishing mark of his regiment, which is a small plate of gold worn in the front of the "Pugree." Some corps wear a crescent to represent their " moon-born lineage," others carry the "Lion of England" above their brows. And every soldier of the Katmandu force wears the same of silver alone or gilded. The embroidery so thickly laid on the officers' coats comes mostly from Benares.

the requisite degree of thinness, and treated in the following manner : -The refiner having selected from some ancient ruined building the oldest bricks he can find, and pounding them into fine dust, proceeds to make up his masála or flux, which is of two kinds : in both the old brick dust predominates, and is considered indispensable to the effiacy of the process. One of the mixtures consists merely of brickdust two parts, of common salt one part, intimately mixed up and pounded together: the other and best one is composed of brickdust two parts, muriate of soda (salt) one part, borax th part. The plates of gold being previously smeared over with mustardseed oil, are piled upon one another to the number of 80 or more, between each pair a thin layer of the above cement being placed. Thus treated, the pile of plates is laid on a smooth and hard earthen floor, and covered with a heap of dry cow-dung (gobar), which being set fire to, is allowed to burn slowly to ashes, care being taken that but a limited supply of air has access to the fire; to insure this necessary measure, the process is always carried on in a close room-by which means the fire is so slow and weak, so that fusion of the metal cannot possibly take place. The usual time occupied by the burning of the heap of cow-dung is about 20 minutes, after which, when cold, the plates are removed, and examined. The colour, softness, and shade of yellow left on the touchstone being the guides to their degree of purity.

The process is generally repeated three or four times only, when the ore operated on is tolerably pure, or where only inferior gold is wanted; but is repeated as often as 20 times, when the dust has been of the white or worst kind, or where good dust is under operation, and the purest gold called kundun is required. The plates purified as above described are melted, and cast into small bars, in which form the metal is bought for making ornaments, &c. The dealers have acquired a wonderful degree of correctness in estimating the value of gold through the tests resorted to by them for this purpose. The touch-stonet is the chief one employed, but they rely mainly on the appearance and weight of the metal. They do not use scales, but by merely taking a bar in the hand, experience enables them to give from its weight, a wonderfully correct estimate of its value; and he who would expect from using a hydrostatic balance to outwit the native dealer, will find himself fairly and equally matched by the trained fingers and experienced ken of the Katmandu merchant.

* Most probably having a considerable portion of Tellurium (silver?) in combination with the gold.

†The sacred Saligram is the one most used here; they are very common, which may account for their being employed for profane purposes.