1865.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 165 



3. Photographs of all the sculptures and paintings that are still 

 in tolerable preservation. 



4. Photographs of all interior inscriptions. 



" 6. The great caves on the Bombay side of India are so well known 

 that I consider it needless to offer any remarks regarding the great 

 importance of obtaining photographs of all their sculptures and paint- 

 ings. But the caves of Khandagiri in Cuttack are so little known, and 

 have been so imperfectly explored, that I think it necessary to draw 

 attention to the high interest which attaches to them, not only on 

 account of their great antiquity but also for the superior style of their 

 sculpture, which Mr. Fergusson considers finer than any thing that he 

 had seen in India. Indeed its superiority appeared to him so striking 

 that he expresses a wish that the sculpture ' could be cleaned and 

 casts taken of it.' He compares it to the sculpture of the Sanchi Tope, 

 near Bhilsa, and affirms that ' it resembles European art more than 

 any other.' With this opinion I fully agree, as some of the Sanchi 

 Tope bas-reliefs offer the only sculpture that I have yet seen in India 

 which at all approaches the beauty of European art. 



" 7. I will conclude my remarks with a strong recommendation that 

 the proposal of the Asiatic Society should be carried out at once, and 

 I would suggest that grants should be made for the purpose to the 

 Asiatic Societies of Calcutta and Bombay, which would thus become 

 responsible for the satisfactory execution of this most interesting work." 



The receipt of the following communications was announced — 



1. From Babu Gropinath Sen, an Abstract of the Hourly Meteoro- 

 logical Observations taken at the Surveyor General's Office in May 

 last. 



2. From the Bight Rev. the Bishop of Calcutta, a letter contain- 

 ing a few remarks on some temples in Kashmir. 



The Secretary read the above, as follows : — 



" During a recent tour in Kashmir, I was struck with the fact that the 

 very remarkable interest of its antiquities is not generally appreciated. 

 Those indeed who only know the valley from Lalla Rookh, probably 

 believe that its chief attractions are palm trees and orange groves, 

 unless they have paused to consider whether such vegetation is com- 

 mon between 5,000 and 6,000 feet above the sea, but even we in 

 India, though safe from this delusion, are scarcely aware of the beauty 



