1844.] of the Syrian Christians and Jews of Malabar, 148 



or sacred whelk- shell. The last plate of II. in the two 

 undeciphered characters is plate 8. The first which Buc- 

 hanan called the nail headed has heen rightly conjectured by 

 Mr. Gundert to be Cufic. In the earliest Cufic inscriptions 

 the letters are frequently ornamented with flourishes or run 

 into each by the device called toghra, of which specimens may 

 be seen in the tombstone from Malta engraved in the first 

 volume of the Mines de L'Orient and in the Ceylon inscrip- 

 tion deci phered by Professor Lee in the first volume of the 

 Trans. Royal Asiatic Society p. 545. In the present instance, 

 the extremity of every letter is made to end in a triangle 

 both above and below. It is read as follows and consists of 

 names of certain Arab witnesses. 



jl \ a } & n+'i" 0 t — ^ *H • • • 



j j-airf aij'i j * * * * * 



The first word which is wanting may be \ the reading would then 



be Meimun Son of Ibrahim arranged this for you ? and Muhammad Son 

 of Mania witnessed it and Tai Son of Ali, ditto, and Osman Son of 

 Ali Hazramat ? do. and Mohammad Son of Yahia do. and Omru Son 

 of Ibrahim do. and Ibrahim Son of ***** do. and Bakr Son of 

 Mansur do. and Alkasim Son of Hamid do. and Mansur Son of Eesa do. 

 and Ismael Son of Yakub, do. The name omitted is doubtful. 



The next character is probably another list of witnesses— 

 for the same words recur repeatedly. Thus the first word is 



