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Notes on the Gems found at Beghram. By J. S, Chapman, Esq. 

 Assistant Surgeon, \6th Lancers. 

 My dear Sir, — Having observed in the last number of the Journal 

 of the Asiatic Society, the great interest you have taken in the Gems 

 found in various parts of Afghanistan, and as you there make an 

 earnest entreaty to be furnished with casts or impressions of all Gems, 

 and particularly of those with inscriptions, I have the pleasure to send 

 you a series of these singular relics discovered at Beghram, the locality 

 of which spot has been so fully and ably described by Mr. Masson. 

 For this purpose, my friend Colonel Cureton most kindly gave me 

 free access to his cabinet, and all the Gems which 1 have selected for 

 your notice are his, with the exception of the four last. Some of the 

 specimens from Colonel Cureton's collection are of a superior order, 

 equalling many of the antiquities of this nature found in Greece and 

 Italy. One gem cannot fail in attracting much notice ; viz. that of 

 Abraham offering up his son Isaac ; and there are others which will 

 alFord scope for speculation. Any other relics of this nature I may 

 chance to meet with, I will send casts of the same to you. 



I am, dear Sir, 



Yours faithfully, 

 Meerut, August 22, 1840. J. S. Chapman. 



No. 1. Garnets. A figure apparently intended for Apollo, as neatly 

 and spiritedly executed as many of the ancient Gems of Greece and 

 Italy. 



No. 2. Cornelian. An historical gem of singular interest and value ; the 

 subject, Abraham offering up his son Isaac, is too clear to be mistaken. 

 Genesis, chapter xxii — " And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and 

 took the knife to slay his son. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and 

 behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns : and Abra- 

 ham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering, 

 instead of his son." The cast does not represent the knife and the 

 figure on the altar so well as I could wish. 



No. 3. Cornelian. A figure of Ceres, the style of execution almost 

 equals the Apollo (No. 1.) 



No. 4. White Cornelian. A well-cut head, Buddhist or Sassanian ? 



No. 5. Garnets. A head ornamented with earrings, and an inscription 



