THE EXPEDITION AT TALNI. 27 



Observatory, built by Rajah .ley Singh, about the year 1710. 

 This was, of course, long after the invention of telescopes; but 

 the design of the Observatory is essentially that of one where 

 naked-eye work is alone intended, and though not ancient 

 itself, is thoroughly of an ancient type. Just as at Greenwich 

 the transit circle and altazimuth are considered the two 

 fundamental instruments, so here at Delhi the two chief 

 structures were evidently designed for corresponding purposes. 



The building that first catches the eye is a huge straight 

 steep staircase leading up to nothing. This is the gnomon of 

 a great sundial, the gnomon being 118 feet in length and its 

 height nearly 57 feet. Right and left from the gnomon are 

 great semicircles on which the shadow falls. South of this 

 structure are a pair of buildings which appear as if intended to 

 be reproductions in miniature of the Colosseum at Rome. In 

 the centre of each is a pillar, towards which are directed from 

 the circular wall thirty stone sectors, and their breadth at the 

 wall equals the space between any two sectors. In the spaces 

 between the sectors are three stories of windows through which 

 the altitude of the star or heavenly body can be observed, its 

 azimuth being given by the number from the meridian of the 

 space in which it is seen. The two buildings are not duplicates, 

 but are supplementary, a sector in one corresponding in azimuth 

 to a space in the other. 



Our last station before reaching Bombay was Ahmadabad. 

 Here we stayed with Miss Beatty, at whose house we met Dr. 

 George Taylor, who had seen the total eclipse (at Jeur), and 

 had taken " shadow-band " observations, of which he was good 

 enough to give his report for communication to the Association. 

 Dr. Taylor is also known as being a collector of Indian coins, and 

 as possessing the most complete collection of silver rupees after 

 those at Lahore and Calcutta. This collection he was so good 

 as to show us, and we were specially interested by the Zodiacal 

 rupees of Jahanglr. These were a freak of that rather erratic 

 monarch, and were produced by him in the years 1027 to 1033 

 of the Hegira that is to say, from A.I). 1617 to 1623. The 

 gold mohurs seem to have been chiefly struck at Agra, the 

 silver rupees at Ahmadabad. The selection of the signs of 

 the Zodiac as a design for coinage is extremely unusual, and 

 is rendered more so in the present case by the well-known 

 law forbidding Mahommedans from making representations of 

 natural objects. Jahunglr was, however, by no means too strict 

 in his adherence to the rules of his religion, for one of his coins 

 bears his own portrait, and, dreadful to relate, depicts him in 

 the act of drinking a glass of wine. 



The British Museum, the authorities of which have kindly 

 permitted the reproduction of some of these coins, have a 

 very fine set of the gold mohurs of Agra, all the signs being 



