1856.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 465 



recommend that the Bibliotheca Indica be brought to a close. 

 The recent orders of the Court, indeed, will render necessary a 

 revision of the rules, which were introduced in 1852, and under the 

 influence of which so many valuable books have been undertaken 

 before any 2nd series of the Bibliotheca can be commenced with. 



(SD.) A. GrKOTE. 



„ J. Long. 



„ Eajendralal Mittra. 



„ W. S. Atkinson. 



The recommendations were adopted. 



Communications were received — 



1. — From Major J. J. Bush, Peshawur, bringing to notice that a 

 regular trade has sprung up at Peshawur and Bawalpindee by 

 which large quantities of spurious Bactrian and Indo-Scythian 

 coins are brought to sale. 



" The following is his letter — 



" Since the articles by Major A. Cunningham on spurious Bactrian 

 and Indo-Scythian coins, published in the journal of the Asiatic 

 Society of Bengal in 1840, there has not been apparently any further 

 notice on the subject, and as the evil has alarmingly increased of late 

 years, it may not perhaps be altogether out of place to call attention 

 to the clever fabrications every where now procurable in the Pun- 

 jab. 



" The forgeries exposed by Major Cunningham were described by 

 him ' of the rudest kind, faint and indistinct in the outline of the 

 figures, want of boldness in relief, utter barbarousness of execution, 

 a full eye to a side face, Greek characters indistinct and corrupt, 

 and the Bactro-Pali jumbled, transposed, imperfect and reversed;' 

 but we now find them of extreme boldness in relief, the legends 

 generally correct and sharply cut in both characters ; many of them 

 of considerable excellence, as works of art, and with but little to 

 denote their utter worthlessness of character as genuine ancient 

 medals. 



" The Bactrian fabrications are now never reproduced in gold, the 

 Indo-Scythian occasionally are in silver ; and the places where the 

 trade chiefly flourishes, are Peshawur and Kawul Pindee. At the 

 former, silver Bactrians can be obtained by bags-full, but these, gene- 



3 p 2 



