1842.] collected in the neighbourhood of Herat. 321 



reading (quantum valeatj on their single authority. If it is a correct 

 one, we have before us the signet of some bye-gone potentate, who used 

 it to authenticate his written orders. 



In the numbers which follow, I have given specimens of the ruder and 

 unlettered gems found in numbers in Khorassan, as in the upper part of 

 the plate are shewn various descriptions of lettered gems from the same 

 quarter, giving inscription's in three, if not four, of the forgotten languages 

 of the earth. 



No. 7. — Pink cornelian : it is roughly polished, and drilled for thread- 

 ing. The subject, a stag with branching antlers, is perhaps the com- 

 monest among the devices on such gems. Nos. 10, 14, 17, and 22 

 give proof of it. A solar type is perhaps intended. 



No. 8. — Red cornelian : a lion very coarsely cut, the stone however is 

 carefully shaped and polished. 



No. 9. — Crystal : the subject (?) 



No. 10. — Fine red cornelian, highly polished ; apparently a flower. 



No. 12. — Red cornelian : a humped bull; this stone is rudely perforated. 



No. 13. — Crystal : a horse rudely cut on the convex side of the stone. 



No. 14. — Pink cornelian. 



No. 15. — Ditto, the stone rudely perforated : the subject (?) 



No. 16.— Ditto: a bull. 



No. 17. — Veined brownish cornelian: the stone has been ground 

 down to form a surface, and is roughly perforated. 



No. 18. — Serpentine : a mounted horseman. 



No. 19.— Crystal. 



Nos. 20, 21, 22, 23. — Red cornelian : all these gems are merely 

 given as specimens of the rude emblematic devices found in numbers 

 about the sites of ancient cities in Khorassan. 



No. 24. — Is a lump of white agate, rudely ground down in one place 

 for the reception of the device, and as rudely perforated. A Jotee, or 

 Jain priest, who saw this gem, professed to recognize a Budhist emblem 

 in it, declaring it to be the conventional mode of representing the sruthi 

 sthapojii, or desk-frame from which the Budhist scripture is read : he 

 brought me an ancient Pali illuminated inscription to prove his asser- 

 tion, by pointing out to me a similar device ; but by no means succeed- 

 ed in convincing me of the resemblance. The supposition is however 

 perhaps worth mentioning. 



