138 Report on the Island of Socotra. [March, 



Christian convert from Buddhism, Ratna-Pala : who repeats both 

 passages in the Pali or Pracrit form from memory — describing the 

 former especially as universally current among the disciples of Buddha. 

 His reading, however, gives upasampadd (Sanscrit ^T^cr^r: profectdsj 

 in the plural. And in the former passage, that of the inscription, he 

 omits the particle hi, and instead of the verb avadat or uvdcha, he reads 

 the synonymous aha. His Pali reading, which will be immediately 

 recognized by scholars as good Magadha Pracrit, is as follows : 



" Ye dharnmd hetuppabhavd, Tesdn hetun tathdyato 

 A f ha tesan cha yo nirodha : Evan vddi mahd samana. 

 Sabba pdpassa akaranan : Kusalassa upasunpadd : 

 Sa chitta paridamanan : Etan Buddhanusdsanan. 



but Ratna Pala says that the latter couplet is not necessarily con- 

 nected with the former. On the contrary another series of verses ge- 

 nerally follows it in the daily service of the Buddhist temples of Ceylon. 

 The compendium of the precepts of Buddha certainly occurs in nu- 

 merous instances without the previous couplet. Thus it is inserted in 

 the Tibetan version of the saint's letter to Ratnavali, given as one 

 of the examples in Mr. Csoma's new Grammar, which will also be 

 found among the extracts published in the third volume of this Jour- 

 nal, page 61 ; and there would have been no reason to suspect that 

 it was implied in the inconclusive sentence engraved on the Tirhut and 

 Sarnath tablets, had not the actual text been found by our learned 

 Hungarian guest, to whose laborious and willing investigation of the 

 volumes which are sealed to all but himself, we are mainly indebted 

 for this probable if not conclusive solution of the enigma. 



IV. — Report on the Island of Socotra. By Lieut. J. R. Wellsted, 

 Indian Navy, Assistant Surveyor. 



The following Report has been compiled from a daily journal, contain- 

 ing copious notices of all that came under my observation during a deputation 

 of two months on the island of Socotra, under orders of Lieut. Haines, com- 

 manding the Palinurus surveying Brig ; but as the admission of minute details, 

 illustrative of either the condition and character of the inhabitants, or the 

 productions, topography, &c. of the Island can scarcely be deemed necessary 

 in an official paper, similar to that which by my instructions is required of me 

 in this instance, I have considered it necessary to condense the whole into as 

 brief a space as has appeared consistent with the objects therein specified, 

 notifying at the same time, that I have preserved the original notes, in the 

 event of Government requiring either more detailed or extended informa- 

 tion on the various points to which my attention has been directed. 



By separating the various subjects contained in this paper into sections 

 under different heads, I trust the Right Honorable the Governor in Coun- 

 cil will be enabled, without wading through any extraneous matter, to seek 

 at once the species of information which he may require, 



