56 Satis Chandra Vidyabhusana — The S'araka caste of India. [Mar. 



Haraprasad Shastri, Dr. E. D. Ross, Hon. Dr. Asutosh Mukhopadhyaya, 

 Mr. J. Bathgate, Mr. H. E. Kemptliorne. 



Library Committee. 



Dr. T. Bloch, Mr. D. Hooper, Mr. C. W. McMinn, Hon. Dr. Asutosh 

 Makhopadhyaya, Mahamahopadhyaya Haraprasad Shastri, Mr.E. Thorn- 

 ton, Mr. H. H. Mann. 



Philological Committee. 



Maulavi Ahmad, Dr.T. Bloch, Babu Pratapa Chandra Ghosh, Shams- 

 ul-Ulama Mahomed Shaikh Gilani, Hon. Dr. Asutosh Mukhopadhyaya, 

 Major D. C. Phillott, Pandit SatyavrataSamasrami, Mahamahopadhyaya 

 Haraprasad Shastri, Mahamahopadhyaya Chandrakanta Tarkalankara, 

 Dr. G. Thibaut, Babu Nagendra Nath Vasu, Mr. A. Venis, Dr. E.D. Ross, 

 Mr. E. A. Gait, Pandit Satis Chandra Vidyabhusana. 



Coins Committee. 

 Lt.-Col. D. S. E. Bain, Dr. T. Bloch, Hon. Mr. J. A. Bourdillon, 

 Babu Panchanan Mukerjee, Mr. E. Thurston, Mr. M. J. Seth, Mr. H. N. 

 Wright. 



Mr. Burkill exhibited on behalf of Mr. J. T. Tyson a dagger found 

 in the soil of virgin forest near Chalsa, in the Bengal Duars. The ori- 

 gin of the dagger is quite unknown. It is now 14f inches long and 

 before rust ate the tip off was probably about an inch longer. The 

 blade is 6| inches long, has been two-edged and has had a median line 

 down each face. It is 1J inches broad at the broadest part. Where it 

 begins to narrow to fit into the hilt two holes have been bored through 

 the blade ; these holes are \ inch long, J inch broad, and f inch apart. 



The hilt is very small being only 3 \ inches long ; it is in section 

 elliptic, the long axis ^f inch at the middle of the grip and the short h 

 inch. The ends of the hilt are wider than the middle. The blade and 

 the hilt are in the same straight line. The finish of the hilt is good, but 

 the blade fits very badly into it and a great deal of packing must have 

 been put into the joint of the two. The hilt, Mr. D. Hooper finds, is 

 made of an alloy of copper and tin : and the only ornamentation pre- 

 sent consists of two simple lines round it. 



The following papers were read : — 



J. The Saraka caste of India identified with the Serike people of 

 Central Asia.— By Satis Chandra Vidyabhusana, M.A., M.R.A.S. 



(Abstract.) 



The people known as S'araka or S'araka live in West Bengal, Chota 

 Nagpur, Orissa, and even in Assam. The celebrated ethnologist, Mr. 



