1895.] 
E. A. Gait —Historical Research in Assam. 
99 
(2) Historical documents drawn up at or about the period to which 
they relate. 
(3) Qwcm-historical puthis written long after the events with which 
they deal. 
(4) Stray historical references in religious works. 
(5) Traditions unwritten, but still current amongst the people. 
I will deal with each of these sources of information separately. 
2 We know the coins of the following 
dynasties: 
Coins. 
(a) Ahom kings. 
( h) Koch ,, 
(c) Kings of Jaintia. 
(d) „ ,, Manipur. 
(e) Kings of Tippera. 
In the Vamgdvali of Laksmi Narayan, it is stated that the king of 
Khairam had a mint, but no coins of his have yet come to light. It is 
not improbable that the Kliyeu kings, who preceded the Koch, also coin¬ 
ed money, bat here again we have at present no definite knowledge ; nor 
do we know anything about the coinage of the kings of Cachar. 
3. The Aliom coins, which are octagonal in shape, are of two 
classes: those inscribed with the old Ahom character, and those on 
which the characters are a kind of modern Kagari. Coius of the second 
class are well known; many of them have been described by Marsden, 
and large numbers can still be obtained. In regard to them, all that 
seems to be needed is to catalogue all known coins with their inscrip¬ 
tions and dates, and to examine as many private collections as possible 
and describe all not already mentioned in Marsden or other numismati- 
cal works. The other class of coins, on the other hand, requires a good 
deal more attention. Until recently, when some deodliais deciphered one 
for me, uone of these coins had been read. The Asiatic Society of Bengal 
now propose to send up all the coins of this class in their collection for 
examination and decipherment, but I do not yet know how many they 
have got. Moreover, as they have been collected without reference to 
their (unknown) mintage, it is doubtful how far they are representative 
of the different monarchs in whose reigns such coins were struck. 
After we have obtained readings of the Asiatic Society’s coins, I think 
we should at once institute a search for the coins of any kings not found 
in the Society’s collection. Of the two coins of which I have obtained 
readings, one relates to Chuklenmung* 
be^“lhl toJeti. C ° in haS ( 1539 A.D.-1552 A.D.). and the other 
to Chupatpha, alias Gadadhar Simha 
(1681—1695 A.D.). The latter must be one of the last coins struck in 
