1894.] W. Theobald —'Early Local Silver Coinages in N.-W. India. 75 
symbol, however, on the coins I am dealing* with, there is a complete 
want of symmetry in the fin-like rays, and above all, the marked con¬ 
striction behind the head is quite conclusive that no fish is intended. 
It has occured to me that a ‘ dug-out ’ or fishing canoe, made from the 
hollowed stem of a ‘ Borassus ’ palm may be the object intended. 
In that case the fin-like lines above would represent the supports for 
the net, either of bamboo or rope. This mode of fishing, which may 
be still noticed on the rivers of India, is no doubt very ancient. The 
method adopted is to fix two long bamboos over the side of the boat, 
as a ‘ fulcrum,’ so that they can be tilted downwards beneath the water 
and afterwards raised above it. Between these bamboos a net is 
stretched, which by being lowered into the water by means of its sup¬ 
ports, often captures fish which may have drifted over it. This sug¬ 
gestion is merely hazarded for want of a better ; but we may be sure 
the design represents some object or idea familiar enough in the daily 
life of those among whom these pieces circulated. Below the last 
symbol is another, equally puzzling at first sight, and respecting which 
all that can be safely said is that it is intended to represent some qua¬ 
druped or other, with its head to the right hand. On seven of the 
coins the form of the animal is sufficiently well preserved for a general 
description. The legs are short and merely represented in a conven¬ 
tional manner. The head presents the only character to guide us. 
It is destitute of horns, and therefore no bovine or other ruminant. 
It is massive and set squarely on to the neck, the line of the back and 
the plane of the forehead forming an angle clearly less than a right 
angle. There are no tusks, and it is therefore pretty certain an elephant 
is not intended. This almost reduces our choice to the horse, and the 
tail which is preserved on one or two specimens quite supports this 
conclusion. The horse does not occur (to my knowledge) on any silver 
‘ punch-marked ’ coin, but occurs on the later die-struck copper coins of 
the Satrap Hagamasha, figured by General Sir A. Cunningham among 
Mathura coins. ( Coins of Ancient India, plate VIII., fig. 7). In some 
cases, on this symbol likewise, a small punch-marked depression may be 
noticed, which might be supposed to represent an eye, as was noticed 
in the case of the first-described symbol; but these marks are pro¬ 
duced by a ‘punch,’ and occur on both sides of the coin, and are most 
probably ‘ shroff marks ’ or marks of attestation put on coins by money¬ 
changers through whose hands they have chanced to pass. This system 
of ‘ shroff-marking ’ all ‘ rupees ’ which pass through a money-changer’s 
hands is in fact nothing more than a survival of the earliest mode of 
attesting current money by impressing a ‘ punch-mark ’ thereon, 
though the ‘ punches ’ used by private individuals were smaller and 
