3 94 * 
Mr . Cavendish on the Civil Tear 
India. The inscriptions too, found at Salsette and Dehli,* 
confirm the opinions that this manner of dating is in use in 
both those places, as both are dated by the day of the bright 
side of the moon. 
It appears from P. du Champ, and P. Patou illet, and I 
believe I may add Abraham Roger, that in the part of India 
from which they write; the civil year begins at the new moon 
before the beginning of the astronomical year ; -f which seems 
to shew that the Benares manner of dating is in use in great 
part of the coast of Coromandel ; but there is some reason to 
think, that in the neighbourhood of Madras and Pondicherry, 
they date in a manner different from that used either at Be- 
nares or Nadeea : for Mr. Gentil makes the month Chitra 
or Sitterey, as he spells it, correspond with the sign Mesh, in 
which he agrees with an almanac published by an European 
at Madras, which seems to shew that in those places they date 
by solar months, but make Chitra correspond with the first 
sign. 
Mr. Wilkins thinks he has heard of one or two places on 
the east coast of the Peninsula, and in particular Orissa, at 
which almanacs are computed ; but he is not acquainted with 
the nature of them. 
I shall now give a more particular account of the three al- 
manacs. The two Benares patras are preceded by a preface, 
* Asiatic Researches, Vol. I. p. 363, and 379. 
f Narsapour, from which P. Patouillet writes, is near the coast, and in the lati- 
tude of i6°'i N. Chrisnabouram, from which P. du Champ’s Memoir is sent, is in 
nearly the same latitude, but about z° inland, and Paliacat, where Abraham Roger. 
resided, is on the coast, in the latitude of I3°f, or near £ a degree N. of Madras. 
This author, however, has expressed himself so inaccurately, that I am not sure whe- 
ther they begin the year at that time or not. 
