INDIAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEYS. 341 



and other relics have been occasionally carried off" by officers of Govern- 

 ment, both civil and military,* for their friends and to present to dis- 

 tinguished visitors and tourists, or to adorn their houses and gardens 

 at home, at Simla and elsewhere. The demand and prices offered 

 for such objects have become so great that natives are induced to 

 search for them everywhere, both in British territory and in Swat, and 

 neighbouring sites, where ancient Buddhist buildings of high interest 

 exist, and owing to the random fashion in which the excavations 

 are made, sculptures get raixed up, and their history and meaning 

 are lost. Dr. Burgess mentions a case of three interesting, but 

 practically unknown, statues of royal personages, which were trans- 

 ferred to the mess house at Mardan. Two of them were doing duty 

 as jambs to the fireplace, and had been coated with Day and Martin's 

 blacking to make them shine properly. Dr. Burgess advised an amend- 

 ment of the Treasure Trove Act VI. of 1878, which would make it 

 illegal, as in Greece, Italy, and Denmark, to export antiquities without 

 an official permit. But the Government, on consideration of the ques- 

 tion (see Eesolution and Circular ^ Arch. Proceedings, R. and A., 

 dated 2Sth March 1889), did not see their way to. ad opt so drastic a 

 course,- and decided to call the attention of the local governments to 

 the provisions of the Treasure Trove Act, which permits the govern- 

 ment to claim possession of treasure exceeding ten rupees in value. 

 "With regard to antiquities of interest which could not be brought 

 under the definition of " treasure " in the Act, they advised negotia- 

 tion with the finder with a view to purchase. 



An important appeal had been made to the Secretary of State in 

 July 1873 in the shape of a memorial, signed by many of the most 

 eminent statesmen and men of letters of the day, and urging the 

 necessity of adopting systematic measures for the preservation 

 of historical monuments in India. A few months before, the 

 Government of India had pointed out, in a circular to the Local 

 Governments, that it was the duty of ail executive engineers 

 to report upon the best measures for protecting from decay any 

 public monument or building of interest, whether public or private. 

 With a view to obtaining complete information regarding the 

 architectural and historical monuments of the Bombay Presidency, 

 Mr. Burgess was requested to frame provisional lists for the different 

 collectorates of the Bombay Presidency and for Kathiawar, Gujrat, 



* See Memoranda of Dr. Burgess and Major Keith in the Proceedings of the 

 Government of India (R. and A. Department), No. 3 (Archeology), April 1889, 



