452 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [August, 1910. 



The Marsden MSS. are not in the Oriental MSS. Room, 

 but in the General MSS. Room. 



The MSS. are not known by the name of Marsden MSS. 

 in the Museum Catalogue, though Marsden' s name is printed 

 on the backs of the volumes. 



No. 9853 consists entirely of Portuguese documents. In 

 some cases, the ink has become very dim, and only a Portuguese 

 scholar, an expert in the deciphering of old handwritings, could 

 make anything of them. 



No. 9854 begins with the well-known letter from Father 

 Rudolph Aquaviva, which General Maclagan gives in translation 

 at p. 56 sqq. of his paper. It appears also, along with the 

 Portuguese original in Father Goldie' 8 book. 1 It is signed 

 Bodolfi,* and is dated " Fattepur ". The date I could not make 

 out this time. 3 There is something like : 2 a carta. The Father 

 signs himself : D. V. R. servo 5 xpo* 



No. 9855 was the most interesting to me of the three volumes, 

 as it contains three Persian documents and also Father Botelho's 

 account in Latin of what he observed during his six years in 

 India. 



The first Persian document is a petition from one Shall 

 'Alau-d din Muhammad to the Signor Padre Superior Jiu, 

 and refers to a disturbance at Chaul in connection with an attack 

 on that town by the Deccanis (?) and the plundering of 'Alau-d 

 din's house. He complains that his house was looted and that 



with 



carried off. 



warned 



and that he came to Agra and was asked by the Portuguese to 

 become surety for the Portuguese prisoners taken at Hugli. No 

 one else would become surety for them ; so he had several in- 

 terviews with 'Asaf Jah, the Khan-Khanan, and procured the 

 release of the prisoners. On this account he asks for favour 

 and the return of his goods. This petition could not have been 

 written earlier than 1633, as it appears from a paper of Mr. W. 

 Irvine that Hugli was taken at the end of September 1632. 



The second document is a petition of the Fathers to Aurang- 

 zeb to be excused the payment of the jizya or poll-tax. It is 

 headed with the titles of Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan, 

 in order to show how long the Mi^ ion had been connected with 



1 Cf. Francis Goldie, S.J., The First Christian Mission to the Great 

 Mogul Dublin, Gill, 1897, pp. 97—103, and App. A, pp. 171 — 178. 



* Father Goldie read: Rodolfo, noting that the last o may be merely 

 a stop. Cf. op cit. y p. 177. 



5 Father Goldie read : Futteptir, oje 27 de z^o 1582, " At Futtepur, 

 to-day, 27 Sept. 1582. " 



4 * 4 Your Reverence's servant in Christ.' ' 



5 Mr. W. Irvine snororftsta that. «* .TiiV la a. HiaWt form, still current 



in the United Provinces, for the Hindi honorific " Ji. 



t * 5 



