1834.] regarding the Topes, near Jeldldbdd. 575 



material, than the work of one who had abundance of the latter, plenty of leisure, 

 and a number of workmen at command. A flight of steps had formerly led up 

 the southern side of this platform, but nothing remained of them except a 

 projecting heap of ruins. On the centre of the platform was the principal 

 building, called by the country people the Burj, the sides of which had been 

 erected on a perpendicular to half its present height. This lower portion of it 

 was headed by a cornice, and was greater in diameter than the upper part of the 

 structure, its top forming a sort of shelf round the base of the latter. Its centre 

 was marked by a semicircular moulding, and the space between the moulding and 

 the cornice was ornamented by a band of superficial niches, like false windows, 

 in miniature, arched to a point at the top, and only separated by the imitation of 

 a pillar formed as before noticed of slate. The upper part of the tower was a 

 little curved inwards, or conical above, but a great deal of its top had fallen off. 

 The effect given to its exterior by a disposition of material was rather curious. 

 From a distance it seemed checked a good deal like a chess-board — an appearance 

 occasioned by moderately larged-sized pieces of quartz, or stone of a whitish 

 color, being imbedded in rows at regular distances in the thin brown slate before 

 spoken of. I had just time, though hurried, to take an outline of its formation 

 on a piece of drawing-paper. 



" The use of these erections next became a matter of speculation, and Mr. 

 Moorcroft, having heard that coins were frequently picked up in various places 

 near them, instructed a man the day after our return to proceed to the neighbour- 

 hood of them, and try if some ancient pieces of money were not to be found. 

 The inhabitants of the Ummur Khail, a small village near them, said, that they 

 learnt from tradition that there had formerly been a large city in this part of the 

 valley, and pointed to some excavations across the K&bul river, which they told 

 us had been a part of it. Of the coins they stated that several had been found 

 of copper, but as they were of no value to them, they had been taken to some of the 

 nearest bunneahs or shop-keepers, and exchanged for common pice. This inform- 

 ation gave a clue to the person in search of them, and he succeeded at two or 

 three visits to some Hindus of Chahar Bagh, Sultanpur, &c. in procuring 

 several. He was also sent back to Jelalab&d, but brought with him from thence 

 only two pieces of Russian money, which were useless. The former were however 

 very valuable and curious, and had on each side of them for the most part 

 impressions of human figures ; but from the frequency with which they were 

 combined with representations of the elephant and the bull, it may by conjectured 

 that they were struck at the command of a monarch of the Hindu, or Buddhist 

 persuasion. The variety was considerable, and there were certainly two or three 

 kinds which might have been Grecian, particularly one that had upon one side 

 of it a bust, with the right arm and hand raised before the face with an authori- 

 tative air. Of this coin there were eight or ten, they were of about the same size 

 as English farthings, and the figure spoken of was executed with a correctness and 

 freedom of the style foreign to Asia, at least in the latter ages. The rust upon 

 them, and the decayed state of the surfaces of two or three, as well as the situation 

 in which they were found proved, that they were not modern. There were several 

 more of the same size, merely with inscriptions in letters not unlike Sanscrit ; and 

 some other inscriptions, on the larger pieces of money, were so legible that a 

 person, acquainted with oriental letters and antiquities, might discover much 

 from them. With regard to the Burjs, or buildings previously mentioned, Mr. 



