416 



Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 



[No. 4, 



2. From the Secretary of the Punjab Auxiliary Committee to the 

 Asiatic Society, papers containing a description of Coal in the Khuttak 

 Hills. 



3. From E. XL Barnes, Esq., Meteorological Abstract of Obser- 

 vations taken at Gangarowa, Ceylon, from September, 1863, to Feb- 

 ruary, 1864. 



4. From Dr. C. Williams, Memorandum on the question of British 

 Trade with Western China via Burmah. 



5. From Baboo Gropinath Sen, an Abstract of the results of the 

 Hourly Meteorological Observations taken at the Surveyor General's 

 Office in April. 



6. From Captain W. ET. Lees on the Romanizing of Oriental 

 Alphabets. 



Captain Lees then read his paper above mentioned ; # and at the 

 close of the reading a discussion ensued on the interesting question 

 of which it treated, in which the Lord Bishop, Mr. Heeley, and the 

 author took part. 



The Bishop heartily agreed with Captain Lees that the Eoman 

 character should be used in reducing to writing the languages of the 

 aboriginal tribes of India, and regretted very much that Dr. Judson 

 and the American Missionaries had written the Karen language in 

 Burmese characters. He also rejoiced in the willingness which Cap- 

 tain Lees had expressed to apply the Roman alphabet to Hindustani. 

 But he desired to go further than this, and omitting the consideration 

 of dead languages, as involving many peculiarities which it would be 

 too long to discuss, he would gladly see that alphabet used for all the 

 living languages of India. That a change of alphabet was practicable, 

 he considered certain, for it had frequently occurred. The old Hebrew 

 character, now commonly called the Samaritan, was abandoned at the 

 time of the captivity, and for that alphabet (which had probably been 

 regarded as sacred, certainly as venerable) the square Chaldee letters 

 were substituted, in which we now read our Old Testament. The 

 Mahomedans forced the Arabic letters, as a religious duty, on the 

 nations which they conquered; and they are now used in writing 

 languages as different as Arabic, Persian and Malay. Yet the Persians 

 had a character which they must have regarded at least with rever- 

 ence, and to which they had been accustomed for ages. In Europe 

 * See cmte, p. 345, 



