82 CEYLON BRANCH— ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, 



ACCOUNT OF SOME ANCIENT COINS. 



BY S. CASIE CHETTY, ESQ. 

 To the Secretary of the Ceylon Asiatic Society. 



Sik, — The accompanying 25 copper coins; which I have 

 the honor to present to the Society, form part of a hoard 

 discovered at Calpentyn, on the 6th of January 1839, by 

 some Moormen, while employed in digging a grave in the 

 burial ground attached to their principal Mosque in the 

 town. They were found in a chatty buried in the earth, at 

 the depth of three feet from the surface ; and their number 

 was upwards of 5,000. I have no reason to suspect them to 

 have been the offerings of devotees to the Mosque, which 

 was founded only since the 'Dutch conquest. It is very 

 probable that they were buried on the spot by the original 

 owner for safety sake, as no practice was at one time more 

 common amongst the natives than that of hiding their 

 treasures in the earth. 



As the Society would, no doubt, wish to be furnished with 

 some account of the origin and history of the coins in ques- 

 tion, I beg to submit a few remarks, which, brief and imper- 

 fect as they are, may possibly tend to assist any further re- 

 searches which may be made. 



The coins in question, are manifestly of very great anti- 

 quity, and appear to have been in extensive circulation, for 

 they are not only frequently met with in Ceylon, but also 

 almost in every part of the south of India. They are found 

 either of gold, or copper. The gold coins, however, are very 

 scarce, and the metal rather inferior, while the copper ones 

 occur in abundance, and the metal is considered so superior, 

 that they are much sought for by goldsmiths for mixing 

 them with gold, in the manufacture of Tambac rings. 



As it is usual with the ignorant portion of the natives to 

 attribute the formation of all things, of which the origin 



