INDIAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEYS. 365 



The Chief Commissioner of Burma lias been asked to submit a 

 full programme of the archaeological work which has yet to be 

 undertaken in Burma, together with his opinion as to the desirable- 

 ness of starting a survey there upon the lines adopted in India 

 proper. 



In connexion with archaeological and literary research, mention 

 may be made of an important work on the geography of the 

 countries adjacent to North-Western India which during the last 

 fifteen years has been under compilation in England. Major H. Gr. 

 Raverty, known for his translations of Afghan and other Oriental 

 works, as well as for his historical investigation in connexion with 

 Asiatic countries has been engaged in translating, annotating and 

 amplifying with the fruit of his own personal observations a 

 voluminous Oriental manuscript of an unique character. Two 

 copies of this manuscript have come into Major Raverty's possession, 

 but the author's name will not be divulged by the Major till the last 

 chapter of his book is reached. 



Major Raverty's work is entitled, " Notes on Afghanistan and 

 " part of Baluchistan, geographical, ethnographical, and historical, 

 " extracted from the writings of little known Afghan and Tajzik 

 " historians, geographers, and genealogists ; the histories of the 

 " Grhuris, the Turk Sovereigns of the Dihli Kingdom, the Mughal 

 " Sovereigns of the House of Timur and other Muhammadan 

 " chronicles, and from personal observations." 



The backbone of the work, so to speak, is supplied by the 

 translation of the manuscript, which is indicated throughout by 

 inverted commas, but the additional matter contributed by Major 

 Raverty, whether as comment or notes, is quite as voluminous as 

 the original text. Although the native author's name is not given, 

 we are told a good deal about him. He was a man of Mogul 

 descent, of good family and superior education, and possessed a great 

 taste for geographical knowledge. He says he undertook the series 

 of journeys which he narrates for the purpose of describing the 

 appearance and political condition of the countries adjacent to Delhi 

 on the north and north-west, because he found that the historians of 

 his day, even if they possessed such information, invariably omitted 

 it from their records. He was in the prime of life about the time 

 that Ahmad Shah overthrew the Marathas at the battle of Panipat 

 (1761), and subsequently, when Hindustan was in an utter state of 

 disorder, culminating in the blinding of the old king Shah Alam, the 



