558 Further information regarding [Nov. 



passes difficult to get through, or at least in places well adapted for a 

 hostile encounter. One thing is certain at any rate, namely, that they 

 are all sepulchral tumuli ; for having myself opened several of these 

 cupolas, I have found in most of them, little urns of bronze, or other 

 metal, or of baked clay, containing funeral ashes, or the debris of human 

 bones; also jewels, and coins for the most part of Grseco-Scythic, or 

 Grseco-Indian types. 



The Muhammedans of the neighbourhood pretend to say, that the 

 tope contained the remains of all the Musulmans who perished in the 

 battle which took place in this place between the Afghans and the 

 army of Raja Man ; but besides, that the religion of Muhammed 

 opposes the erection of monuments to the dead, (?) the antiquity of 

 the building and of the medals it contained prove to be far prior to 

 the time of the Muhammedan incursions. 



The Hindus of the country resort to the spot to offer up the first 

 cuttings of the hair of their male children — a custom which is said to 

 have prevailed anciently in Greece. 



Scattered over the bite of the ruins of Manikyala are seen the 

 remains of fifteen other cupolas ; smaller than the principal one just 

 described. These I have lately been engaged in digging up, and they 

 have furnished some very interesting discoveries. The excavation of a 

 tope situated about a cannon shot distant from the present village of 

 Manikyala to the N. N. E. is particularly calculated to throw light 

 upon these curious monuments of antiquity, since a part of the medals 

 extracted from it bear genuine Latin characters, while others are of the 

 Greeco-Scythic or Graxo-Indian type. Moveover, the stone which 

 served as a covering to the niche which contained them, is sculptured 

 all over with inscriptions in an unknown character, and altogether dif- 

 ferent from that of the coins ? 



This cupola is laid down as No. 2, in my map of the place. It was 

 in a thorough state of dilapidation, so as hardly to be observed ; and it 

 was only after having carefully examined the contour of the founda- 

 tion that I decided upon penetrating it. Its height might be 60 or 

 70 feet. I began by piercing it from above in the centre with a hole 

 of 20 feet diameter. The materials extracted were chiefly a coarse 

 concrete, extremely porous. The nature of the stone reminded me 

 forcibly of the pyramids of Egypt, which are constructed of a lime- 

 stone full of shell impressions, (nummulitic limestone.) 



In my first operations, I found, at the depth of three feet, a squared 

 stone, on which were deposited four copper coins. Below this point, 

 the work became extremely difficult, from the enormous size of the 

 blocks of stone, which could hardly be removed through the upper 



