1871.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 87 
Record of the Calcutta Foreign Office, which was established in 
1783. 
No, 42, contains 21 volumes of Journals and Minutes of the 
administration from 1773 to 1805; this would in all probability 
furnish materials for a fairly complete history of Netherlands’ India 
for that period, 
No. 12 is a packet containing copies of 5 firmans permitting the 
Dutch to trade in the provinces of Oudh, Allahabad, and Agra, 
The dates are not given. 
No. 8 is a packet containing Badia Rie respecting transfer of 
some premises at Dacca from the French authorities to the Dutch 
in 1674. This is, I fancy, the earliest mention that we have of 
the French being settled in Bengal. Tho India House Records 
(calendared by Mr. Bruce) mention the arrival of a French fleet 
under Admiral de la Haye, in the Bay of Bengal in 1675; and 
Stewart says that the French settled here about 1676. 
No. 6 contains two Perwanas under the seal of Vizier Sadoolah 
Khan respecting a house at Patna. 
No. 4 contains documents respecting the acquisition of land at 
Baranagore by the Dutch in 1680, 
No. 3 contains copies of grants respecting lands at Pipley and 
Balasore, in 1676. 
Tn conclusion, I may perhaps be pardoned, if I venture to call the 
attention of the Society to a fact which must have frequently at- 
tracted the notice of many of its members :-—I mean, the immense 
historical value of many of our Mofussil Records (especially those 
preserved at places of historical note like Hooghly, Burdwan and 
Dacca,) which are yearly crumbling away and becoming lost to 
science for ever, through lack of the most ordinary precautions for 
securing their preservation, I believe that in no other country in 
the world, possessing a civilised Government, is so little care be- 
stowed on the preservation of the materials for its history ; and in 
no country is there a greater need for such precautions as can be 
devised by the skill of the archivist. With regard to accessibility, 
our Mofussil Records are practically, for all purposes requiring 
extensive research, absolutely closed to the student; for whilst they 
are scattered in scores of remote and insecure hiding-places, with- 
