1869.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society, 229 



materials, which the earlier stages of man's knowledge did not possess. 

 But in addition to the grinding and polishing and boring of these 

 stones, they have been carefully and very skilfully ornamented. 

 This has been produced by cutting or incising into the cornelian, the 

 pattern which it was intended to produce, and by then inserting 

 into these incised patterns a pigment or enamel. In all the speci- 

 mens now before us, this pigment is white, but I have seen beads 

 similar in general principles of construction in which this enamel was 

 black or coloured. The small amount of this which we possess, has 

 prevented our attempting any analysis of it, with a view to ascertain- 

 ing, if practicable, what the material used consisted of. It appears to 

 me to have been baked, or slightly burnt in. Although hard and 

 durable, it was of inferior hardness to the stone, into which it was 

 inserted, as is proved by the surface being almost invariably worn 

 clown below the ground surface, and in a few cases, it appears to have 

 fallen out, after the completion of the ornament, or during its use. 



I have seen, in the North West of India, beads of greatly more 

 elaborate and finished design and beauty, constructed, generally, in 

 exactly the same way as these now spoken of, but with more advanced 

 skill in the manufacture. These are invariably supposed by their 

 possessors to be not of local make, but are spoken of as Solimani, and 

 as brought from other countries. My colleague, Mr. Theobald, had a 

 fine series of these, and will, I hope, lay them before the Society. 



The metallic disc, which I have noticed above, appears to offer a 

 still more interesting subject of study. At first glance, the general 

 mass of the material of which it is composed appeared to be earthy 

 impregnated with copper. But the weight of the ornament was too 

 great to admit of this idea, and I carefully sawed off a minute portion, 

 , when the fresh cut shewed that the core was copper. On testing this, 

 it was found to be very nearly pure copper, the only other constituent 

 present being earthy impurities. But on this copper core, there has been 

 1 laid a thin plate of gold, which originally covered the whole surface. 

 It is now gone along the broken edges of the little ornament, except- 

 ing just in the indented hollows of the small scolloping of the edge. 

 And it is also seen to be worn off the raised rim round the centre hole, 

 in part exposing underneath the upper core. On the flat surfaces of 

 the face of the disc, the gold plating remains tolerably perfect, broken 



