44 Address. [Feb. 



that afforded by these manuscripts.* Itsliouldbe a subject of congratula- 

 tion to this Society that as it was the first in the field in bringing to the 

 notice of European scholars the Sanskrit literature of India, it is again 

 the first to open up this new source of knowledge, clearing away yet 

 another cloud from the mists overhanging the history of the dark middle 

 ages of India. I would also notice that the catalogues of the Burmese 

 and Tibetan manuscripts belonging to the Society have been completed, 

 the first has been prepared by Moung Hla Oung, and the second by 

 Babd Pratapa Chandra Gliosha. 



Notices of Sanslcrit MSS. — The ' Catalogue of Sanskrit manu- 

 scripts,' edited by Dr. Rajendralala Mitra, has reached its twenty-second 

 number during 1887. This contains 160 pages with notices of 183 

 manuscripts, making the total of notices in this series amount to 3072. 

 As already observed, this great mass of material requires collation and 

 consolidation with the similar work undertaken in the other Provinces 

 of India. 



Work outside the Society. — Following the practice adopted last year, 

 I purpose very briefly to review the work done outside the Society, 

 and to bring to your notice matters that may interest you as bearing on 

 the objects which the Society itself has in view. My time during the 

 year has been so fully occupied by my official duties that I have not 

 been able to keep myself so well acquainted as I should wish with the 

 progress of research, but, thanks to the kindly aid of my colleagues, f 

 I shall endeavour to tell you something of what has been done to ad- 

 vance our knowledge during the year 1887. 



Survey of India. — Most of the operations of the Survey of India 

 during the past year have been devoted to remunerative work as dis- 

 tinguished from purely scientific investigation. Parties have been en- 

 gaged on the Revenue Survey of Akyab and Bassein in Burma ; parts 

 of Orissa and Dinajpur in Bengal ; Gorakhpur and Basti in the W. W. 

 Provinces ; Jabalpur, Bilaspur, Raipur, Sambhalpur, Sagar, Narsinghpur, 

 Damoh, Seoni, and Chhindwara in the Central Provinces ; Muzaffarpiir, 

 Gurdaspur, Amritsar, and Shahpur in the Panjab, and Darrang in 

 Assam, besides Topographical and Forest surveys in Madras and Bombay, 

 and a 50-feet to an inch survey of Calcutta. In many districts, the 

 survey is cadastral with a record of rights. The Baluchistan parties 

 have done a considerable amount of large-scale work around Quetta and 

 towards the Khwaja Amran range, and are now engaged on the half- 



* See As. Res. XX, p. 393, 1836 : Journ. I, p. 375, 1852. 



t I beg to particnlarly record my obligations to Dr. G. King, Dr. W. King, 

 Dr. Burgess, Dr. Barclay, Mr. Eliot, Mr. H. Risley, and Colonel Thuillierj also to 

 the Secretaries for aid in passing these pages through the press. 



