144 OCCASIONAL NOTES. 
ed the Army in 1827, and was promoted to Captain on the 
toth April, 1842. He was known as an enthusiastic and 
indefatigable student, languages and history at this period 
of his career forming his favourite pursuits. In 1835 a short 
but promising paper, subsequently published in their Transac- 
tions, was laid by him before the Literary Society of Madras, 
entitled ““A Brief Notice of some of the Persian Poets.” The 
next paper from his pen, to be found in the /adras Fournal, 
is on the Genealogy of the Kings of the Mahomedan Dynasty 
in Achin, extracted from a Malayan manuscript—it is print- 
ed in the 2nd and 3rd volumes; and this was followed by a 
short but learned notice, printed in the latter of these, on the 
language of the Batins of Sumatra, with remarks on its 
Hindu affinities. These papers were quite sufficient to 
bring our young linguist into notice, and he at this time 
became member both of the Bengal and Madras Societies, 
and was shortly after appointed A.D.C. to Brigadier-General 
WILSON, then Commanding at Kurnool. In 1838 an elabo- 
rate paper on the Malayan Peninsula was prepared by him 
for the information of General WILSON, and presented by 
that Officer to the Madras Society—it appears in the 7th 
volume of their Transactions. Along with this was pre- 
sented a large collection of Malayan MSS. and_ books, 
accompanied with a valuable note on their contents. In the 
same year he prepared for the press, and despatched to Eng- 
land for publication, his work on the Straits of Malacca—the 
largest of the productions of his pen. It contains a full and 
elaborate account of the British Settlements in the Straits— 
their geography, political and physical, and their civil and 
natural history, together with a vast variety of miscella- 
neous information, such as required the utmost patience, 
labour and care to have collected. He about this time pre- 
pared a Zoological and Botanical Catalogue for the Straits ; 
it was printed and circulated for correction and enlargement, 
but was considered too incomplete for publication. In the 
same year Lieutenant NEWBOLD first appears before the 
world as a geologist—though it is quite obvious, from his 
papers, that the subject had long been familiar to him, and 
that he had attained a high degree of proficiency in the study 
