154 Miscellaneous. [Fee, 



Miscellaneous. 



Extract of a letter from Capt. J. D. Cunninghah, Political Agent, 



Bhopal. 



1 . — Lingam at Bhojpur. 



"I took a run round the other day to Bhojpur, to look at the Lin- 

 gam there again ; for after answering a note of yours in the affirmative 

 about the contemporaneousness (a long word) of the " Achintea deoj," 

 I had some misgivings, and I am now satisfied that it is not original. 

 This circumstance does not of course affect my argument, for whenever 

 written, it was written by a Hindoo, and that is sufficient ; that it is 

 there, is indeed enough. 



The letters are not so evenly cut as they would doubtless have been 

 by the original architect ; neither are they quite in the centre of the 

 stone ; and although we have the example of Roman inscriptions, even 

 on coins, being straggling, I give this one up as contemporary. 



If my former note misled any one besides yourself, pray give the 

 necessary explanation." 



2. — Inscription at Singapore. 



In the sixth volume of the Journal, page 680, there is an interesting 

 account of an ancient and much weatherworn inscription on a rock at 

 the jetty of Singapore. A facsimile was prepared by Dr. Bland of H. 

 M. S. Wolf and forwarded by him to James Prinsep, who pronoun- 

 ced the character to be Pali, and though unable to connect sentences or 

 even words, easily recognised many of the letters, and conjectured the 

 inscription to record the extension of Buddhism to the Malayan pro- 

 montory. On learning from Dr. Montgomerie that this rock had been 

 blasted some years ago, I ventured to solicit the present Governor, the 

 Hon. Col. Butterworth, C. B. to secure any legible fragments that 

 might yet exist ; and have since received his kind promise to forward 

 such to the museum of the Society, where I trust the practised eyes of 

 our antiquarians may yet decypher enough of the legend to determine 

 its purport. Col. B. observes: — "The only remaining portion of the 

 stone you mention, except what Col. Low may have, I found lying in 

 the verandah of the Treasury at Singapore, where it was used as a seat 

 by the Sepoys of the guard and persons in waiting to transact business. 



