576 Mr. G. C. Haughton's Account of an ancient Arabic Grave-stone. 



on the stone and its inscription ; and to subjoin a transcript in modern 

 Arabic characters, together with a translation. 



The stone, which is an unhewn misshapen mass, and very hard, is twenty- 

 three inches long and fifteen inches broad, and is of that variety of the trap 

 family of rocks, to which the term clinkstone seems the most applicable.* 

 The surface had never been polished, and the engraver or stone-cutter took 

 advantage of the natural fracture of the stone, as it was sufficiently smooth 

 for his purpose. The letters are so slightly raised, that the hand might be 

 passed over the surface of the stone without the idea being suggested that 

 characters existed upon it. Indeed the rehef is so inconsiderable, that the 

 stone has been little more than abraded by the chisel. 



From the perfect state in which the stone even now is, it is clear that the 

 climate of the country where it has lain must have been most favourable to 

 its preservation, as in some parts the touch of the graver has the freshness 

 of a recent work, a circumstance that would be very conceivable had it 

 been brought from the all-preserving climate of Egypt ; but which we 

 were not prepared to expect on tlie variable shore of the Red Sea. A similar 

 stone exposed in our own climate, would, after twenty years, have shewn 

 more symptoms of decay. 



The inscription is in Arabic, written in Cufic characters, and of that form 

 which is found full one hundred years later on the coins of the Seljuk sove- 

 reigns, as may be seen on referring to the plates of Mr. Marsden's excellent 

 work on Oriental Numismatics. The letters are not of that simple, formal 

 kind that belong to the earliest Cufic monuments, but are varied and 

 twisted into shapes that render them rather puzzling at first sight. 



The inscription consists of fourteen lines, of which the first nine and a 

 half contain what may be considered the usual formulary for such monu- 

 ments, being a passage taken from the Koran. I find the same passage 

 occurring on the tomb-stone of the celebrated MIr Jumlah, which has 

 been just added to the Society's Museum ; and of which I purpose to give 

 a notice at some future period. 



Subsequently to decyphering the inscription, I was favoured by our 

 Secretary with a sort of translation of tlie formulary, written down by his 



* I am indebted for this information to Dr. Mac CuUoch, so well known for his profound ac- 

 quaintance with geology. 



