1891.] Dr. Hoernlo— An instalment of the Bower Manuscript. 137 
long, there are two holes, at equal distances from the narrow margins. 
The arrangement in the Bower MS. is one-sided and curious. The 
CD 
whole Bower MS. was enclosed between two wooden boards with holes 
through which the string passed. In general appearance, therefore, the 
manuscript resembles Indian MSS. rather than the old Kashmirian. 
The third point is, that the leaves at the time they were written 
on were already in a considerably damaged state. Of the third leaf a 
considerable portion, on the right hand side, is torn out. That this 
gap already existed at the time the scribe wrote his copy is clearly seen 
from the fact, that his lines carefully extend to the margins of the gap. 
There is no portion of the text of the manuscript wanting at this place, 
as it might appear at first sight. This circumstance seems to suggest 
the conclusion that at the place or at the time the scribe wrote, birch 
bark, as a writing-material, was difficult to obtain ; and that he was 
thus forced to employ even very damaged leaves. On the other hand, 
it might be said that in that case he would not have wasted as many as 
four thickness in one leaf. Most of the bark, however, used in the 
leaves of the manuscript, is of a very inferior description; it is in¬ 
tersected by numerous faults in its texture,* which, in most cases, would 
prevent a separation of the layers in unlacerated portions of sufficient 
dimensions to admit of being used as writing material. It appears to 
me plain that, for some reason or other, the scribe was obliged to con¬ 
tent himself with material both of damaged condition and inferior 
nature. The inferiority of his ‘ paper ’ is also shown by the fact, that 
sometimes when he attempted to write across a fault, his letters would 
not form, and he was obliged to abandon a half-finished letter and 
trace it anew on the other side of the fault, thus leaving a more or less 
extended gap in his line.fi Thus on fl. we have fl. 35 6 
fl. 56 2 where the abandoned half-finished letters 
are indicated by brackets. See also fl. 2afi. 
One further point may be also noticed in this connection. The manu¬ 
script shows clear traces of a revision by another hand. In the Pro¬ 
ceedings for November 1890 (p. 223) it is stated that “ the writing is en¬ 
tirely in black ink.” This is undoubtedly correct; still, occasionally, 
letters occur in a very light (apparently faded) ink. A closer examina¬ 
tion shows, that in many cases these light-ink letters indicate corrections. 
# Distinctly shown in the upper leaf of plate III in the Proceedings for Nov. 
1890. 
fi Compare leaf No. 1 on Plate I in Proceedings of April, 1891. 
The large number refers to the leaf, the letter, to the side of the leaf (a = 
obverse, b = reverse), the raised numeral, to the line. Thus 3a 7 = 7tli line on 
obverse side of 3rd leaf ; fl. = folio or leaf. 
S 
