132 A. F. R. Hoernle — Epigra'pTiical Note on Palm-leaf, etc. [No. 2, 
material, all tlie letters written on it would also be placed on their sides, 
and to obviate this inconvenience, they were again set up straight, but 
now usually facing in the opposite direction. The original practice of 
vertical writing may have had a cause similar to that above suggested 
for the half-turn of the material : or it may have been due to the 
inconvenience of frequent breaks of continuity in writing extremely 
short horizontal lines (parallel to ad iti fig. I). 
This paper was read to the Society in May 1898. Its publication 
was delayed, in the hope that I might be able to add the results of an 
enquiry into another source of evidence. But as my work on the 
British Collection of Central Asian Antiquities will prevent this for 
some time, it seems better to present the evidence as it stands at 
present, especially as it is of such a direct and reliable character. The 
other source I refer to is the occurrence of the names of the Corypha 
and Borassus palms respectively in ancient Indian literature. When 
the date of an ancient work is known, exactly or approximately, one 
would suppose the occurrence in it of the name of the palms should 
be a proof, first, of their existence in India at that time, and secondly, 
of the use of their leaves as writing material. This seems a perfectly 
sound assumption, but there are several pitfalls to be guarded against: 
(1) is the date assigned to the work reliable ; (2) is the passage in which 
the name occurs genuinely old, or possibly a later interpolation; 
(3) is the application of the terms to the palms in question certain ? 
I have not been able to spare time for the examination of this source 
of evidence ; but I may just mention a few instructive cases to illustrate 
its difficulties. 
(1) Professor Kara Prasad Shastri has drawn my attention to a 
passage in the Lalita Vistara (Bibliotheca Indica Ed., p. 526, 1. 12), in 
which the fruit of the Borassus flabellifer is supposed to be referred to. 
As the Lalita Vistara certainly existed as early as the 3rd century A.D. 
(having been translated into Chinese in 308 A.D.), we should thus have 
a testimony to a very early existence of the Borassus palm in India. The 
passage runs as follows : tad-yath=dpi ndma Tdla-phalasya pahvasya sama- 
nantaravrnta-cyutasya bandhari-dgrayak pita-nirbhdso bhavati , evam= 
eva Bhagavato Gautamasya pariguddham muhha-mandalam, etc., i.e., 
“ Just as the exocarp of the ripe fruit of the Tala palm, when it drops 
from its stalk, is of a brilliant yellow, even so is the face of the Blessed 
Gautama perfectly pure.” On referring this passage to Dr. Prain, I 
received the following reply: “My only objection as a botanist to the 
identification of Tdla-phala with either the Tala or Tali palms, i.e., with 
either the Borassus or the Corypha, is that the bandhan-dgraya (exocarp) 
