70 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [March, 



on the expediency of rendering the proposition more definite, Mr. Camp- 

 bell said that if he were to suggest any practical course, it might per- 

 haps be something like this ; that the Council should try to find some 

 qualified member of the Society willing to undertake an enquiry in 

 Cashmere and Chilas ; that, if the Punjab Government be willing to 

 assist, some competent officer — a member of the Educational Depart- 

 ment for instance — might be found, whose health required a change, 

 and who, instead of remaining in enforced idleness at a hill station, 

 might be deputed for a little time to Cashmere — that the Maharajah 

 might be induced to associate with this gentleman a learned and pro- 

 gressive Pundit ; and that such a trio might, in a few months, do all 

 that we could wish. But, as he had said, all this must be left to the 

 discretion of the Council, to whom he could not and would not for a 

 moment pretend to dictate. 



Mr. Atkinson suggested, as an improvement, that after the word 

 Chilas, the words ' and if thought advisable' be inserted in the motion. 



Mr. Campbell was quite prepared to make the alteration suggested, 

 and moved the proposition of which he had given notice in the 

 following form. 



" That the Council be requested to consider the means of obtaining a 

 better knowledge of the languages of Cashmere and Chilas, and, if 

 thought advisable, to solicit the aid of the Government of the Punjab, 

 and of His Highness the Maharajah of Cashmere to that end." 



Dr. Partridge seconded the proposition. The Chairman, in putting 

 the motion, remarked that the importance of a thorough knowledge of 

 a new and living Arian language could not be overrated. Sufficient 

 attention had never been paid in India to the spoken languages, and 

 while many scholars were occupied in the study of the literary languages 

 of India, the vast mine of wealth that lay around us in the numerous 

 provincial languages and dialects had been neglected. He felt sure 

 that the Society would support Mr. Campbell's resolution. 



The resolution was then put and carried unanimously. 



Mr. Riddell desired to express his dissent from the remark of the 

 Chairman, that the provincial dialects had been neglected. Numerous 

 vocabularies, &c. had been prepared, and would be found in the 

 Society's journals and elsewhere. 



Mr. Heeley explained that what he meant to express was, that those 



