1840.] of the Bactrians and Indo- Scythians, 1225 



left arm to wield the spear ; thus making the goddess of Wisdom left- 

 handed. The legend also is much corrupted, and reads BAHI/lEQE 

 NIKAoToPoS AmYN . . ; the missing letters of the name be- 

 ing the very same that are wanting upon the coin that was stolen from 

 Colonel Stacy. 



In the legend of the reverse, I observe that the initial letter of the 

 name in the corrupted Bactrian Pali characters has a foot-stroke to 

 the left, the same as in Mr. Jas. Prinsep's engraving ; but this stroke 

 does not appear on the plaster cast of that coin, which I have now 

 before me ; nor on a genuine round silver drachma of Amyntas, which 

 through the kindness of Dr. Chapman I have been able to examine. On 

 both of these, the initial letter of the name is the same as is found 

 initial in all the names beginning with the letter A. 



All the circumstances observable about this piece, stamp it at once as 

 a forgery ; its extreme rudeness of workmanship, its corrupted legends, 

 and its having the buckler of Minerva placed in her right hand, all 

 prove it to be a spurious piece ; which its square form, and its identity 

 in size and type with a known copper coin, only serve to confirm be- 

 yond the possibility of a doubt. It was procured at Peshawur from 

 a man who had also a similar piece in gold ; and the latter may very 

 likely be the very piece which is now in the cabinet of Lady Sale. 

 Here then, in addition to the spurious piece already made known by 

 Mr. Raoul-Rochette, we have two more in gold and silver agreeing 

 in all respects, save that of metal, with the copper coin of Amyntas, 

 which was stolen from Colonel Stacy. The same sloping cut which is 

 attributable to accident in the original coin, is here found repeated in 

 all these spurious pieces ; and I have therefore little doubt that they 

 have all been copied from sketches or impressions of that very coin. 



In No. 6, I have given the Bactrian Pali characters of the name of 

 Menander, as I find them upon a beautiful square coin of that prince of 

 middle size. The first letter is m, inflected with the vowel e ; the se- 

 cond is n, with a dot to the left below, which invariably represents the 

 long a; the third character is a compound, the curve at the top thus c , 

 being one-half of the Bactrian character t n ; the middle portion is d; 

 and the foot stroke to the right is r, which occurs exactly in the same 

 way in the name of Eucratides, and in the word putrasa ; and the last 

 letter is s. Thus the four characters read simply according to the 



