153 
1895.] Alexander E. Caddy— Asoka Inscriptions in India. 
The following is Mr. Caddy’s general report 
Dated Calcutta, the 22nd August 1895. 
From — Alexander E. Caddy, Esq., on Special Duty, 
To—The Secretary to the Government of Bengal, Revenue 
Department. 
I have the honour to submit a general report of the tour I have 
just completed and of the operations connected therewith. 
2. His Honour was pleased to depute me to visit the several sites 
of the Asoka inscriptions in Bengal enumerated below, and to bring 
away plaster casts of each inscription. I was also required to photo¬ 
graph the locale of these inscriptions and other objects of allied in¬ 
terest :— 
I & II.—The two Ghamparan columns, north and south of Bettiali. 
III. —The Sasaram rock edict, in Shaliabad. 
IV. —The dedicatory tablets of the Barabar and Nagarjuni 
caves — seven in number—in the district of Gaya. 
V.—The inscribed rock at Jaugado in Ganjam, in the Madras 
Presidency. 
VI.—The inscribed rock at Bhatili, about 25 miles due south of 
Cuttack. 
VII.—The inscription of Aira Baja in the cave at Udaigiri , about 
6 miles north of Bhauli. 
VIII.—The dedicatory and descriptive tablets in the Udaigiri 
caves—nine in number. 
3. At a committee held in your rooms previous to this appoint¬ 
ment, at which Sir Alfred Croft and Mr. Jobbins were present, it was 
determined that the casts should be in plaster of Paris, and that the 
moulds should be brought to Calcutta and worked out. 
My deputation commenced on the 15th October, and I was provided 
with a staff of two modellers, a plaster man, and khalasi. 
Messrs. Mackintosh, Burn, and Company were to supply me all with 
the gypsum I wanted, as my plaster had to be prepared on the spot. 
4. My first care had been to study the properties of gypsum and the 
several processes of converting it into plaster. Mr. Briihl, of the Civil 
Engineering College at Sibpur, helped me in this considerably, and we 
determined that the Madras method, as described by Dr. Hunter in one 
of the 1851 numbers of an Art journal published in Madras, was the 
best. 
5. I had seen my modellers at work, but not with satisfaction as 
to their method: it took too much time; and I consequently devised 
means whereby a quantity of plaster may be dealt with at once and 
efficiently. 
