1833.] Asiatie Society. 549 
through a sold rock 100 feet high. This ghAt which leads from Chandert through a 
sandstone ridge into the adjacent country is in itself a lasting monument of the 
gigantic undertakings of the Musulman sovereigns, but to the modern inhabitants 
even the name of the monarch who accomplished this great excavation is unknown. 
I hope therefore that this inscription will rescue it from oblivion. 
“ The inhabitants of this country view our trigonometrical operations with sus- 
picion and dread. They cannot comprehend the object of burning lights upon the 
summits of distant hills, and they can only atribute it to some black art, or jadu, 
by which we wish to take possession of their country. ‘The weather is getting 
hot, the thermometer ranging between 88° at sunrise, and 108° at 2 Pp. m. in my 
tent. 
18th May, 1833, Camp near Chanderi. 
The inscription, after insertion of the second Swra of the Koran, called Ayet- 
ul-Kursi, sets forth that the lofty gate of Gumti and Kerolf, near the tank, were 
erected by Jaman Khan, son of Shér Khan, by order of the Sult4n-us-Salatin 
GuIAS-UD-DIN, on the 14th Jumdd-us Sdni a. u. 700 (a. p. 1301). 
Physical. 
Lettersfrom Lieut. Burr, Engineer, of Allahabad, dated 26th August, and 
from Lieut. Newsorr, of Malacca, 11th July,were read, intimating that they 
had dispatched shells and geological specimens, which have not yet reach- 
ed their destination. 
Specimens of coal, lignite, pyrites, &c. from Kyook Phyoo, were pre- 
sented in the name of Lieut. Fonry. 
[A note on the subject of Lieut. Fotny’s discoveries will appear in our next.] 
Specimens of the fossil shells discovered by Dr. H. H. Spry, Correspond- 
ing Member, Ph. Cl. in digging a well near Sagar. 
These are the specimens alluded to in a notice published in the July number of 
the Journal (page 376), announcing the discovery of fossil shells, 17 feet below 
the surface, Dr. Spry’s account has not been yet received, it may suffice there- 
fore to state that the shells are of one species, all left-handed, and precisely the 
same as those discovered by Dr. SpitspuRy, silicified in indurated clay, near Jabal- 
pur, and described in the Proceedings of the Society for April, (p. 205) ; these how- 
ever are in their natural state, imbedded in a loose cellular wacken, the white granu- 
lar appearance of which is derived from silex in a white crumbling state, lining the 
numerous cells of the matrix as is often observed in the geodes of zeolite and helio- 
trope. Both above and below the shell stratum are beds of wacken, a basaltic clay, 
becoming harder below, and more earthy above; the surface being the common 
black cotton soil, abounding throughout the trap district. The same shell 
deposit will probably be found to extend over a considerable field. 
On turning to Dr. Voysry’s description of the shell stratum in the Gawilgarh 
hills, a perfect identity is observable in the thickness and nature of the superin- 
cumbent and subjacent beds of wacken and basalt: the shells however are de- 
scribed by him as conus or voluta, but as they were much broken and compressed, 
they were probably not easily recognized, and may have been after all identical 
with the present shells. They bear some resemblance to the common ampul- 
laria of the tanks and jheels of Upper India, described by Mr. Benson, GLEANINGS, 
i. p. 265. The fossil shell however has some specific distinctions, in its more 
