1901.] 
Section III. Manuscripts. 
21 
in No. 3 of Set I, but very thin, and with waterlines parallel to short 
side of leaf. Findplace, script, language, subject and age, as in No. 4 
of Set II. 
No. 6. Pothi. (Plate II, fig. 5). 
Belongs to G. 1. The other of the two fragments referred to in the 
preceding No., and a parallel case in almost every respect. The leaf to 
which it belongs—the only surviving-one of the book—must be the last, 
as one page is blank, and the stringhole is on the left side. Breadth 
complete, 2^-''; full length unknown, but probably about 6 inches ; exist¬ 
ing length 3f ". Stringhole, within a circle of f" diameter, at about 1|" 
from existing left edge; possibly not more than right and left margin, 
with leaf-number, missing. Number of lines on page, 5 ; writing almost 
illegible. Paper, exactly as in No. 5 of Set II. Script, later cursive 
variety of Central Asian upright Gupta ; but very much obliterated. 
Language and subject, unknown. Age, probably 8th century A.D. 
Second Group. Documents. 
The documents of the collection may be divided into two classes, 
according as they are written in a known or in an unknown language. 
First Class. Documents in a Known Language. 
First Set. Chinese Documents. (Plates III and IY). 
This Set comprises three complete sheets and nine fragments of 
paper, inscribed on one side with writing in 
Number, Script and Chinese 
characters, and, therefore, in vertical 
Language. lines or columns, running from right to left. 
The characters are the ordinary Chinese, but in two different hands: 
the book-hand or kyai-shu, and the cursive or tsao-shu. The style of the 
writing according to Mr. Macartney, resembles that of the period of the 
T’ang dynasty, that is, 618-907 A.D.; and this is confirmed by the actual 
dates recorded in two of the documents (Nos. 1 and 3), as well as by the 
circumstance, that some of the characters are more or less obsolete. The 
language is Chinese, but archaisms as well as more or less extensive 
mutilations of the documents offer serious obstacles to accurate transla¬ 
tions. Mr. G. Macartney, Special Assistant for Chinese Affairs to the 
Resident in Kashmir, in Kashghar, and Mr. L. C. Hopkins, H.B.M.’s 
Consul in Chifu, have very kindly supplied me with translations of 
some of them, and Professor F. Hirth in Munich, and M.M. U. Wogihara 
and R. Watanabe with some others. I hope their publication in full may 
be undertaken by some Chinese scholar. Here I must limit myself to 
indicating their general purport. 
