30 Annual Report. [Feb. 



history or antiquities. They are more linguistic and numismatic than in 

 previous years, but they fully sustain the reputation of the Journal of 

 the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Two linguistic papers by the Revd. Mr. 

 T. Grahame Bailey, B.D., M.A., Wazirabad, are veiy important from 

 many points of view. There are criminal tribes in the Panjab who have 

 peculiar dialects of their own unknown to the peaceful inhabitants. 

 This facilitates the commission of crime and helps the criminals to 

 escape detection. Efforts were often made to enter into the mystery of 

 their dialect, but in vain. Revd. Mr. Bailey has, however, succeeded, at 

 last, in gaining clues to the decipherment of two of these dialects. The 

 Sasis are thieves and the Culuas are cattle-poisoners. Ordinarily they 

 speak the Panjabi dialect, but they use their peculiar dialect only at the 

 time of the commission of crimes. The ^filuas change Panjabi words by 

 the introduction of the syllable ma in the middle of the word, just 

 as skul-skumal, but the Sasi change them in a variety of ways, all of 

 which are equally well known to the initiated. 



But the most important linguistic paper of the year is a sketch of 

 the Ladakhi Grammar compiled by A. H. Francke. It is a complete 

 grammar of the Ladakhi dialect of the Tibetan language, and a know- 

 ledge of the grammar of the classical Tibetan is essential in under- 

 standing the dialectic variety of Ladakh. The verbal system of Ladakh 

 shows an advance on the classical system. The classical verb is more a 

 verbal noun, for the verbal strength of a sentence lies less in the verb 

 itself than in the subject of the sentence, whether that be used in the 

 nominative or instrumental. The utterance of the verb in the Ladakhi 

 dialect rests on this : It can no longer be constructed alternately with 

 the nominative and the instrumental, but that each separate verb takes 

 one or the other case alone. The Ladakhi verb shows three distinct 

 stems : (1) The present stem ; (2) the perfect stem ; and (3) the impera- 

 tive stem. The future is often formed by adding in to the verbs, e.g., 

 cha-in, shall go. 



Mr. Francke has rendered another important service by publishing 

 three original documents in the Ladakhi dialect giving the history of 

 the country from the earliest time up to the settlement of the country 

 under the Rajas of Ka^mlr. They were compiled and translated by 

 the late lamented Karl Marx, a Moravian missionary at Leh, in Ladakh. 

 Mr. Francke, by publishing the Grammar and the three Histories with 

 translations, has brought the Ladakhi dialect within the reach of 

 scholars in Europe. 



Two papers on numismatics by W. Theobald, M.N.S.L., one on 

 Kiirsapana Coinage and the other on the Copper Coins of Ancient India, 

 traverse the entire numismatic work done on these two classes of 



