1879.] H. Rivctt-Caraac —On preservation of Antiquarian Remains. 67 
veller himself as from the Philistine class of guides and collectors whom 
the tourist creates. Hangers»on may now be found at many Indian hotels 
who devote a portion of the dull season to grubbing up the antiquarian 
relics of the neighbourhood and who during the tourist months display 
and descant on the value of their spoils in the verandah of Indian hotels. 
There is hardly anything too cumbrous in the shape of an inscription or figure 
for your cultivated tourist to collect, and to my certain knowledge, figures, 
inscriptions and bas-relief, whether of much real value, I cannot say, have 
been carried out and are being carried out of the country by tourists to¬ 
gether with Benares toys, brass trays, and Delhi jewellery. 
It may be held that the above view is somewhat exaggerated, and that 
if anything at all is really carried away, it is of little value and hardly 
worthy of objection. But admitting this, it will not be denied, there is 
some danger for the future, when the demand will most assuredly increase. 
From my own observation, I can state that there is little to prevent any 
one from digging at Sarnath and carrying off and placing to no remunera¬ 
tive use, what in the hands of General Cunningham might be of real value 
to antiquarian research. And what applies to Sarnath, may, so far as I 
know, hold good for many other parts of India, the antiquarian treasures 
of which are only now beginning to be explored. 
As regards coins, the recent Treasure Trove Act now provides for 
some chance of the preservation, examination and publication of coins of 
interest, many of which would otherwise go into the melting pot, or into 
the hands of so-called collectors, who, as I have myself seen, think little of 
piercing the legend in order to utilise the coin as an ornament. But what 
is there to prevent the new class of guides or their myrmidons, when they 
have once realised the market value of such relics, from collecting slabs 
and tablets of more or less interest, for sale to travellers who are not certain 
to be able to appreciate their worth ? And travellers are not the only of¬ 
fenders. Old carvings and sculpturings and inscribed tablets may some¬ 
times, I believe, be seen in the rockeries or ferneries of station gardens. 
At present there is nothing, so far as I know, to prevent me, or any one 
like myself who pretends to take an interest in antiquarian research, from 
digging up a tumulus or demolishing the ruined wall of a temple, and an¬ 
nexing and placing to no real remunerative use, the relics which in the 
hands of an expert might prove of no small value in the determination of 
vexed points in Indian history. 
The Hon’ble Mr. Egerton, C. S. I., the present Lieutenant-Governor of 
the Punjab, when Commissioner of Nagpur, discovered in a field near liam- 
tik an inscribed slab which was found to contain a copy of Asoka s well- 
known edicts ; although the edicts had been discovered in many other parts 
