1837.] Facsimiles of Ancient Inscriptions. 877 



as Captain Burnes. Finding therefore that M. Court had not 

 since enjoyed an opportunity of following up his discovery, he has- 

 tened on reaching Attock to fulfil the desire I had expressed to obtain 

 accurate facsimiles of the writings at Hound or Hand, a ruinous 

 place situated on the north bank of the Indus, about 20 miles above 

 Attock. 



" I have, however," writes this zealous and active explorer, " not 

 only got facsimiles, but raja Gulab Singh, when he heard of my 

 curiosity immediately sent me the stones themselves, and 1 have 

 placed them in deposit at P4shawer in charge of mulla Naji'b, subject 

 to your commands, that is, if they be found worth sending, they shall be 

 sent to you : they are all on marble, and appear to me to be in the 

 Sanskrit tongue. 



" No. 1, (lithographed on a reduced scale in Plate XLVI.) is an 

 inscription said to be fifteen hundred years old, which had found its 

 way into a moslem building, though originally in a Hindu temple. A 

 follower of the faithful made a mortar of it and thence the round hole, 

 in which the barbarian pounded his massdla, (culinary condiment.) 



" No. 2, (see Plate XLVIL) is an inscription at the base of an 

 idol : but the image has disappeared with exception of his two feet, 

 having been destroyed by the idol-breaking (but-shikan) Mahomedans. 

 I fear it is too much mutilated to shew more than the nature of the 

 writing. 



" Nos. 3 and 4 are ornaments cut upon other stones, the former 

 very neatly in white marble. No. 4 has the addition of a shell, and 

 a monogram," — (the word sri in an old form of Nagari.) 



"As to inscriptions I have got intelligence of three others on the 

 road across Hindu Kush into Badakshdn. There is one, Babel-like, on a 

 brick from a ruin lying between Kuner and Bajour, (see foot of Plate 

 XLVI.) and I have sent a man to copy the whole, as well as for 

 others of which I have tidings, one on the small road between Dur 

 and Arab Khan, and the other in Cashgar. I hope they will all ere long 

 appear in your journal, and I wish any might turn out Greek, but the 

 only Greek article I have yet heard of, is a helmet on an idol in the 

 same neighbourhood which I hope soon to possess." 



Inscription No. Lis, as Captain Burnes supposes, Sanskrit, and 

 had we the stone itself instead of a copy made by hand, I think all 

 that remains on the mutilated fragment might be read : — but, how- 

 ever well executed, it is clear that in the present facsimile the m and * 

 are frequently confounded, also ch, r, and n, which nearly resemble 

 one another. Again the cross line in the sh xj, seems omitted where 

 5 T 



