95 
1891.] A. F. R. Hoernle— On the date of the Bower Manuscript . 
P. S.—Since writing most of the above remarks I have, as already 
stated, read and transcribed nearly the whole of the manuscript. I 
have carefully noted every occurrence of the aksharas ye, yo , yai, and yau. 
In the portions BCD I have found the cursive form (either transi¬ 
tional or modern) used not once. The aksharas yai and yau never occur ; 
the akshara ye occurs 19 times (B 4, C 13, D 2), always with the old 
form of ya. The akshara yo occurs 9 times (B 7, D 2), again always 
with the old form. 
In the portions A and E, the case stands thus : there are altogether 
333 cases of the occurrence of those aksharas, viz., 202 of ye, 125 of yo, 
4 of yai and 2 of yau. In every case of yai and yau the transitional 
form is used. With ye and yo the transitional form is used 227 times, 
and the modern form 16 times. The transitional form occurs 117 
times with ye, 110 times with yo, 4 times with yai, and twice with yau. 
The modern form occurs 12 times with ye, and 4 times with yo. Alto¬ 
gether the cursive form occurs 249 times. The old form occurs 73 times 
with ye and 11 times with yo. The following table exhibits this : 
Aksharas: 
Totals. 
Old ... 
Transitional 
Modern 
ye 73 
„ 117 
„ 12 
UO 11 
„ 10 
„ 4 
yai 0 
„ 4 
„ o 
yau 0 
» 2 
„ o 
84 
2 16 } 249 
Totals 
ye 202 
yo 125 
yai 4 
yau 2 
333 
Now with regard to point No. 3 (see p. 89), there being 233 
cursive forms to 84 old ones among a total of 333 cases, the proportion 
of cursive to old forms is as 3 to 1. With regard to the point No. 
4, there being 233 transitional to 16 modern forms among a total of 249 
cases, the proportion of transitional to modern forms is as (about) 15 to 1. 
In both cases, it will be seen, the evidence of the entire manuscript most 
accurately bears out the evidence of the specimen pages (see p. 91) and 
thus confirms my conclusions based on the latter. I may add with regard 
to the points Nos. 1 and 2, that in the portions A and E, the cursive 
(transitional or modern) form never occurs in any other akshara but those 
four: ye, yo, yai, yau. With the aksharas ya, yd, yi, yi, yu, yu, in every 
case, without any exception, the old form cXf is used. The occurrence 
of these six aksharas, especially of ya and yd is very frequent, and this 
fact all the more accentuates the striking circumstance that the cursive 
form is only employed with the vowels e, o, ai, and au. There must 
have been some reason for this peculiarity,—perhaps one of mere 
