Aug. 1844.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. lxxxi 



Read the following letter from Capt. H. L. Bigge, 1st Assistant to the 

 Commissioner of Assam. The curiosities to which it refers were on the 

 table. 



To H. Piddington, Esq., Asiatic Society. 



My dear Sir, — 1 have the pleasure to send a few curiosities from China, which, if 

 you think them worthy the notice of the Members, you will oblige me by putting on 

 the table for the Meeting this evening. 



1 Chinese Pistol, 3-barrelled. 4 Anatomical Drawings. 



1 Cross Bow, ditto. 1 Chinese Tea Urn. 



1 Pipe, 2 Lamps, and J Seal. Mineralogical Specimens. 



1 Deer's Head, (Chusan.) 1 Model of Door Latches. 



Yours sincerely, 

 No. 41, Park Street. H. L. Bigge. 



The Secretary stated, that having written to Mr. Secretary Edwards for 

 the map accompanying Major Mackeson's route to Sirsa and Bahawulpore, 

 of which the report had been sent to the Society for publication by Go- 

 vernment, and was now at Press, he had been informed that the map was 

 now printing at the Government Lithographic Press, and that the Society 

 could be supplied with copies ; in return for which, he had offered to Go- 

 vernment such number of the printed report as it might require, so that 

 the utility of the map would be much increased by distributing the printed 

 report with it. 



He also stated, that Raja Kalee Krishna Bahadoor had sent to the Sub- 

 Secretary for perusal, a private letter from M. Garcin de Tassy, thanking 

 the Raja for having sent him a very rare and valuable Persian MSS. of 

 the Atesch Kada, of which an account had been published in the last No. 

 of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of London, by Mr. Bland. 



Upon enquiry, he regretted to say, that the Raja had not preserved a 

 copy before sending it, and he requested to be authorised to procure one, if 

 possible, for the Society's Library, which was sanctioned. 



J. Owen, Esq. of Assam, presented in addition to his kind donation of the 

 Ayeen Akberry, two balls of the opium-rags as prepared by the ryots of 

 Assam, for sale and common consumption. 



These are small, long, strips of narrow rags, on which the fresh opium 

 being collected from the poppy head is smeared, and the whole rolled up into 

 a ball about the size of a small hen's egg, and carried about for daily use, 



o 



