xviii Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. QFeb. 1844. 



2nd. You will have the goodness to return the original document when no longer required. 



1 have the honor to be, Sir, 



Your most obedient servant, 

 Fort William, the 27th January, 1844. p. Melvill, 



Under Secretary to Government of India. 



A continuation of Lieut. Baird Smith's Researches on Indian Earthquakes, was 



presented from that gentleman, and will speedily be published. 



Read the following extract of a letter to the Secretary from Capt. Cunningham :— ■ 



Camp via Ambala, ZQth January 1844. 

 " Can you scholars not come to any conclusion about the connection of the present and former re- 

 ligions of the East, as of the Brahmins, the Magi, and the Lamas? — Hom seems common to all 

 under one modification or another. — The Tibetan " Doongten" or " Doongtung" is a place of the dead 

 like the Guebre " Dokmeh" ; and " Lat," a pillar of flame, and also an obelisk in the vernacular of 

 India, is an object of worship in either sense in this country.—" Lat" was equally adored in Arabia, 

 while words resembling it imply divinity or power, or superiority in Tibet and in other places." 



Read the following letter from Dr. McCallum, accompanying the two Works to 

 which it refers : — 



To the Secretary to the Asiatic Society of Literature and Science, Calcutta. 



Sir, — By desire of Nawab Oomdut-ool-Moolk Bahadoor, I have this day dispatched to your ad- 

 dress, two Hindostanee Books translated from the English— one called Ruffee-ool- Bussur, and the 

 other Ruffee-ool-Issahee, and beg you will kindly present them to the Society. The RufFee-ool-Busser 

 is a work not merely a translation, but some additions have been made to it from the Nawab's own 

 observations. 



I beg to remain, Sir, 



Your most obedient servant, 



D. McCallum, 

 Hyderabad, 2d Jan. 1844. Sub-Asst. Surgeon, N. S. 



Read the following letter and note of charges from Mr. Blytb, Curator in the 



Zoological Department : — 



My dear Sir,— I did not think to remind you this morning to send me the letters from F. 

 Wilson and Capt. Cautley, as I wish to forward them to Huffnagle as soon as I can. 



Herewith I send the memoranda I promised you of the expenses of the Zoological department of 

 the Museum for the year 1843, exclusive of salaries. The expenses of last month have been unusually 

 heavy, exceeding Co's. Rs. 200 ; the cost of spirits required being one of the heaviest items. It is 

 only from October last that I have commenced regularly collecting fishes, a branch of zoology that 

 involves the purchase of bottles and of spirit. A considerable number of sundry specimens have been 

 forwarded by me to the Honorable Company's Museum as well as to various other institutions, the 

 collecting and preparation of which enhances the immediate outlay of the Society, although, in the 

 long run, I trust that we shall not be losers by this liberality. From the Honorable Company's 

 Museum, however, to which the greatest number have been sent, and where a host of others are ex- 

 pected from me, I do not expect to receive much by way of exchange. You will also bear in mind 

 that the more successful my exertions are in collecting desirable specimens, the cost of these will 

 always be proportionate or, in the aggregate, about commensurate with that success ; and I have 

 certainly obtained many capital things lately. I may also further remind you, that the assistance 

 liberally rendered by Government of 50 Rupees monthly for taxidermist's expenses, was allowed 





