1859.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society, 263 



Eev. J. Long read a paper entitled Notes and Queries on a 

 visit to Orissa in 1859. 



The thanks of the meeting were voted to Mr. Long for his in- 

 teresting paper. 



With reference to Mr. Long's suggestion that the Cuttack Hills 

 should be examined bj a Botanist, Mr. Samuells remarked that 

 something had already been done in that direction by Lieut. Bed- 

 dome of the 40th M. N. I. an accomplished Botanist, who, during 

 his stay in Cuttack took every opportunity of adding to our botani- 

 cal knowledge of this region. Mr. Samuells feared that Mr. Long's 

 expectation of discovering antiquities in the Cuttack Hills would 

 not be realised. He himself had traversed a considerable portion 

 of them and had found no traces of ancient buildings. From the 

 earliest notices we have of them, they appear always to have been 

 inhabited by a poor and semi-barbarous race of people. 



It was possible as Mr. Long supposed that the Hindu city 

 of Bhubaneswar had been founded on the ruins of a more 

 ancient Buddhist city, but it might be doubted if Buddhism 

 had evsr become the paramount religion in Orissa. The in- 

 scriptions over the caves showed, if he recollected right, that the 

 kiug who recorded his deeds there, had adopted the Brahminical 

 faith on ascending the throne. The site of the ancient city of 

 Kosala did not seem to be quite certain, but Mr. Tumour's Ceylon 

 discoveries showed that it had been a city of note in the Kingdom 

 of Kalinger and that the sacred Book of Buddha had for a time 

 been deposited there. Mr. Samuells confirmed Mr. Long's account 

 of the great beauty of the lintel of the door-way now lying in the 

 sand near the old temple at Kunaruk commonly called the Black 

 pagoda. He considered it far superior to any of the sculptures 

 in the Museum and advised that when a pilot vessel is des- 

 patched to Pooree in the cold weather, the Government be requested 

 to allow her to call at Kunaruk and take the stone on board. He 

 regretted that Captain Dixon's Photographs had not been laid on 

 the table to illustrate Mr. Long's remarks on the caves at Khund- 

 giri, but bore testimony to the fidelity of his descriptions and the 

 general value of his remarks. 



Mr. Cowell read Professor Max Muller's paper on the origin of 

 writing in India. 



