52 Dr. Hoernle — On Early Muhammadan Coins of Bengal. [March, 



bael, who is mentioned in the twenty-third chapter of the Periplus of the 

 Erythraean Sea as the paramount Sovereign of the contiguous tribes of the 

 Homerites and Sabseans, and as having been on terms of friendly alliance 

 with the Roman Emperors. This monarch was probably identical with the 

 Himyaritic king Kariba-el Wattdr Yehan'am, whose name appears on 

 three of the inscriptions discovered by M. Arnaud in the neighbourhood of 

 Marib in 1843, as well as on the coins exhibited to the meeting. The paper 

 concludes with a short sketch cf the Himyaritic monetary system, which 

 may be classified into three divisions, (1) the thick imitations of the 

 Athenian drachma, (2) the thin imitations of the late Athenian tetra- 

 drachma, and (3) the indigenous mintage with two heads, one on the obverse 

 and one on the reverse of the coin (of which, in addition to the coins of 

 Charibael, a few specimens were exhibited to the meeting). This last was 

 probably the precursor of the rare Axumite series in gold, which appears 

 to have remained current until the introduction of Islam into South 

 Arabia. 



This paper will be published in the Journal, Part I, with a Plate. 



4. Comparative Table of the conjugations of the verbs substantive in 

 Eastern Hindi. — By G. A. Grierson, C. S. 



5. On a New Find of Early Muhammadan Coins of Bengal. — By 



Dr. A. F. R. Hoernle. 



(Abstract.) 



This papfcr describes 14 early Muhammadan Coins of Bengal, found in 

 November 1880 near Gauhati in Assam. They consist of 4 coins of Shams- 

 ud-din Altamsh, 2 of Jalalat-ud-din (Riziyah), 1 of 'Ala-ud-din Mas'aiid Shah 

 and 3 of Nasir-ud-din Mahmud Shah, all Emperors of Dehli ; also 1 coin of 

 Ghiyaz-ud-din'Iwazand3of Mughis-ud-din Yuzbak, both independent Sultans 

 of Bengal. Among these the coin of 'Ala-ud-din Mas'aud Shah appears to 

 be unique, being an exact counterpart (barring, of course, the ruler's name) 

 of the coin of Nasir ud-din, No. 60, in Thomas' Chronicles of the Pathdn 

 Kings of Dehli, p. 81. It is further important as showing that the last 

 mentioned coin should be ascribed to the younger Nasir-ud-din rather than 

 the elder. The coins of Mughis-ud-din appear to be new. They are also 

 important inasmuch as they help to determine the period of that Sultan's 

 independence, which seems to have lasted only about three years from A. H. 

 652—655. 



This paper will be published in the Journal, Part I, with three Plates. 



Mr. Gibbs said that the paper a part of which had just been read 

 was an interesting one ; he had been for some years engaged in collecting 

 Pathan and Moghul coins, and had procured many curious and rare speci- 



