6^ Annual Address. . [Feb. 



it was to find treasure, as it was well known that in the time of Yaqub 

 Beg much gold had been discovered in such ancient buildings. Pro- 

 bably the Afghan also knew that in his own country the excavation of 

 stupas had occasionally yielded golden results. Whether or not they 

 found any treasure is not known, but what they do admit to have 

 found was a large number of manuscripts together with a quantity of 

 bones. The hole which they made into the stupa was excavated 

 straight in, level with the ground, and the manuscripts^ accordingly, 

 would seem to have been found in the centre of the stupa, on the 

 ground level, exactly in the spot where the original deposit of relics is 

 usually met with in such monuments. The two friends divided the 

 spoil between them. The Turki secured as his share the Bower 

 Manuscript, which he afterwards disposed of to Captain Bower in 

 1890. The Afghan received the other moiety of the manuscripts. Of 

 this he gave, apparently in 1891, one portion to the Russian Consul 

 Petrovski in Kashghar. The latter forwarded it to St. Peter&burg^ 

 where specimens of it were published by Professor von Oldenburg in 

 the Journal of the Imperial Russian Archgeological Society. The 

 remainder Dildar Khan took away with him to Leh in 1891. Here he 

 gave one portion of it to Munshi Ahmad Din, who in his turn presented 

 his acquiBition to Mr. Weber, the Moravian Missionary. The latter 

 transmitted it to me, and specimens were published by meinour- 

 Journal in 1893. The remaining portion Dildar Khan took with him 

 to India, where he left it with a friend of his in 'Aligarh. On a 

 subsequent visit to India in 1895, he brought it away a2:ain and pre- 

 sented it to Mr. Macartney. The latter forwarded it in 1896 to the 

 Foreign Office in Simla, whence it was transmitted to me, and speci- 

 mens of it were published by me in our Journal for 1897. 



When I came to examine more closely the manuscripts received from 

 Mr. Weber and Mr. Macartney in order to compare them with those sent 

 to St. Petersburg, I discovered that between them they contained por- 

 tions of the same Buddhist work. This work tells the story of a certain 

 General Maaibhadra, how he visited Buddha, became a convert to- 

 Buddhism, and was taught by him a wonderfully effective charm. 

 With the two-thirds in my hands, and the one-third in St. Petersburg, 

 it will now probably be possible to publish the entire work, and I 

 would suggest that the British and Russian Governments combine 

 to do so. 



The principle of giving suum cuique is one which it is well to 

 •observe on all occasions. Accordingly I have called the manuscripts 

 received by me from Mr. Weber and Mr. Macartney by their names, 

 tlie Weber Manuscripts and the Macartney Manuscripts. Similarly I 



