126 



Correspondence of the Commissioners 



[Feb. 



Date. 



18th Nov 



19 to 23rd 



24th 



Srinagar Ca 

 pital of 

 Kashmir. 



Halt. 



Vichar -nag. 



Remarks. 



where I completed my drawings of the 

 temple, and made sketches of several gi- 

 gantic columnar fragments, which T be- 

 lieve to have once formed a single co- 

 lumn, 7 feet in diameter, and upwards of 

 50 feet in height. 



I ascended the Tahkt-i-Suliman on my 

 way to the city, and made a ground plan 

 of the temple, and an elevation and sec- 

 tion of the surrounding wall and door- 

 way. This specimen is particularly va- 

 luable, as it is almost certain that the 

 temple was built by Raja Jaloka, about 

 220 b. c. The surrounding wall is ex- 

 tremely simple in its design, and I think 

 I shall be able to show that it is the ear- 

 liest existing specimen of the Kashmi- 

 rian order, from which, by successive ad- 

 ditions and improvements, the beautiful 

 peristyle of Marttand was at length 

 gradually evolved. 



On the 19th I set up the Declometer 

 and the Meteorological instruments which 

 were observed on the following days, as 

 well as the Dipping-needle and Han- 

 steen's Intensity Apparatus. On the 

 22 d I was to have taken leave of the 

 Maharaja, but as he was ill on that day, 

 my visit was necessarily postponed until 

 the 23d, on which day I paid a farewell 

 visit of three hours to His Highness, 

 and received from him a khelat of 13 

 pieces for myself, and a present of three 

 pieces, with a letter for my brother, Capt. 

 J. D. Cunningham. 



I made a short march this day that I 

 might have leisure to inspect the build- 

 ings and ruins about the city. I first 

 visited the tomb of Sultan Zein-al-abid- 

 in's mother, close to which is the sur- 

 rounding wall of an old Hindu temple 

 in good order. From the simplicity of 

 its style, it is undoubtedly of great anti- 



