﻿40 Transactions.— Miscellaneous. 



that by well equipped moi'chants and navigators, for he (Marco Polo), in the 

 same chapter, speaks in high terms of respect of their " mariners and eminent 

 pilots." No small compliment this to their skill and entei-prise, when issuing 

 from the pen of one of the most renowned travellers going forth from Yenicc 

 in the height of its power and splendour. 



Independent of the above authority, the natives of Malabar and Coi'omandcl 

 have been known from time immemorial to be skilful navigators, and whose 

 voyages, while extending westerly to Madagascar, also reached easterly as far 

 as Java, Bali, and Ternati. Their system of docking vessels, sometimes 

 exceeding three hundred tons in burden, and raising them high above the 

 influence of the tide, has even claimed the praise of the Anglo-Saxon engineers 

 of modern times — not only for the simplicity of the process, but for its high 

 effectiveness and trifling cost. 



I may here now notice a material proof of connection between South 

 India and New Zealand in the Tamil bell belonging to Mr. Colenso, F.L.S., 

 and found by him in the interior of the North Island. The owner informs us 

 that the relic has a history, so T trust he will have it duly recorded. When I 

 first saw it displayed in the New Zealand Exhibition of 1862, I must confess 

 that I looked upon it with feelings of interest amounting almost to enthiisiasm, 

 so much so that, with the permission of the owner, I had the same photographed, 

 and copies of which were forwarded by me to various parts of India. The 

 photograph, when shown to the Klings or Tamils, was at once recognised by 

 them as exhibiting the upper pai-t of a ship's bell, such as is commonly 

 used by them at the present day, and I had ti'anslations of the inscription 

 returned to me — one from Ceylon, by the favour of Mi-. Edward Cargill, the 

 other from Penang, by favour of a lady friend in that settlement ; both gave 

 the same translation, vi2;., Mohoyidoen Buks — ship's bell ; and the Crannies or 

 Tamil writers of Penang favoured my friend with what they termed to be the 

 modern written language, thus imjjlying that the character of the specimen was 

 ancient. On examining both it is seen that the ancient inscription has twenty- 

 three letters, the modern twenty-one, while there is great difference in the forms 

 of several of the letters, the modema being inclined, and the ancient having no 

 punctuation. The Ceylon Crannies declared the grammar of the inscription to be 

 bad, but may not this be owing to the obsolete style. The boll had been beauti- 

 fully cast, so no doubt the best language of the times would be engraved on it. 

 For instance, let iis select two or three sentences of the good old English from 

 Chaucer, and judge what a modern schoolmaster would think of them. " Bet 

 is (quod he) " " Ne shud he not have daunted " " For al so siker as cold 

 engendereth hayle." These sentences, as they stand, would certainly be declared 

 to be bad English. The style of letters also differs as much as old English does 

 from the modern. When exhibited the bell had all the appearance of being 



