170 
HINTS TO COIN-COLLECTORS 
the Hindu mintmen degenerated into a mere design a 
parody on the Persian numerals adorning the reverse.* 
A still more Hinduized edition retains a fair copy of the 
iW^i, but with a sceptre supported by the sun and moon on 
the reverse. In the same way we find some issues in which 
the 5, to which I have alluded above, is reversed, while the 
imitation of a date appears below, the reverse being occu- 
pied by the cross lines so common on the early Hindu 
issues and to which I alluded when speaking of their 
coins. Passing from these we find a coin, possibly struck 
by the officers of the Nawdb, bearing on one side the 'W^^j 
somewhat debased, but with a perversion on the reverse of the 
Tamil ^ (n), the letter being written "J , the converse pos- 
sibly of what I have already described, — a rough attempt of 
a Mahomedan or other non-Tamil chief at striking a coin 
bearing the initial of the Nawdb's title in a foreign language. 
Others again are by no means uncommon which bear on one 
side the initial js properly formed and on the reverse a fish 
or bird or beast, such as occurs on many coins of the Hindus, 
and especially on those of Mysore prior to the Mahomedan 
usurpation, while others have a lingam on a bull's back. On 
several occasions and in different places natives have assured 
me that this ;e stands for the first letter of NawAb, and regard- 
ing it in connection with the sequence I have tried to follow 
out above, I think there is fair reason to accept it. It may 
possibly even have gone further and have been the prototype 
of a series of coins bearing on one side Hindu figures and on 
the reverse a design which I cannot otherwise explain. 
We must now pass to a short consideration of the types 
of European coins minted in Southern India, far the most 
numerous of which, with the exception of those of the English 
(to be afterwards considered), were struck by the Portuguese. 
An instructive little handbook (in four fasciculi) of these 
* See appendix. 
