1865.] , Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 171 



bouring parts of India. He who wishes to understand the style, should 

 at least take care to visit the temples of Bhaniyar ; the Takht-i-Sulei- 

 man (the oldest of all) ; Pandrethan (about four miles above the upper 

 end of the city of Srinagar, in a pond, and hidden by trees, so as to be 

 hard to discover) ; Aventipura, Bhaumajo, and Martund. I would 

 only venture in conclusion to raise a protest against G-enl. Cunning- 

 ham's name of the Aryan style, which seems objectionable for two 

 reasons, as applying the designation of a main division of the human 

 race to the art of an insignificant province, and so founded on a mix- 

 ture of two derivations. Why not the Kashmirian style ?" 



3. From the G-ovt. of India, Public Works Department, the Report 

 of the Archaeological Surveyor to the Govt, of India, for the season 

 1863-64. 



4. From R. H. Barnes, Esq., abstract of Meteorological Observa- 

 tions taken at Gangaroowa in Ceylon, in March, April and May, 1864. 



Mr. Blochmann submitted to the meeting a few queries on the 

 palaeography of India. He said : — 



"It is very curious that nearly all those nations write from the left 

 to the right, in whose alphabets the names of the letters, considered 

 as words, have no meaning. On the other hand, those nations who 

 write from the right to the left, use certain words as names for the 

 letters of the alphabet that have meanings, which, moreover, are in 

 most cases perfectly clear. A Greek on hearing the word ' Alpha,' 

 thought of nothing else, but the first letter of his alphabet. With us 

 also, the words zed, aitch, ef, &c. have no other meanings besides 

 their denoting certain letters. In old Shemitic alphabets, however, the 

 case is different. There, aleph (ox), beth (house), nun (fish), kaph 

 (open hand), &c. signify (1) certain objects and (2) certain letters. 



" On examination of the old Canaanitic alphabets, i. e. the alphabets 

 of the Hebrews, Samaritans and Phoenicians, the following facts will 

 be found to be true. 



1. The words, used as names for the letters of the alphabet, ex- 

 press tangible objects only, never abstract ideas. 



2. Each of these words commences with the letter which the 

 word represents in the alphabet, e. g. ^aleth (door) stands for d. 



3. The oldest symbol for each letter represents a rude, but often 

 very happy, drawing of that object which the name of the letter 



