THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
223 
execution of some useful public work will be a clear gain. I shall hereafter have 
the honor of stating in what manner I would make available the funds which may 
be realized from the sale of the gun. 
With a view of being enabled to estimate the value of the metal with some 
approach to truth, I shall instruct the Commissioner of Revenue and Circuit at 
Agra, to employ, with the sanction of the Commandant, Capt. Boileau of Engineers, 
to separate small specimens of the metal, one to be assayed on the spot, and the 
other at the Calcutta Mint. 
(Signed) W. C. BENTXNCK. 
Camp Gaet, 
March 17, 1832. 
Captain now Major-General Boileau was accordingly employed to examine 
the gun, he reported that it weighed a little over 30 tons, and might be 
worth 32,600 rupees, the valuation adopted by government in 1818, and 
at which they paid prize money to Lord Lake's army having been 39,250 
rupees. Accurate enquiry elicited the fact that about 300 maunds of 
copper (214 cwt.) were consumed in Agra per month, and that the quantity 
was not too much to bring into the market, and finally the Governor- 
General in council directed that it should be broken up into pieces of about 
20 seers (40 lbs.) each, and sold by auction at an upset price of 14 annas 
or 1 rupee per seer. Thus was ignobly dispersed the Dhool Dhanee, 
the Disperser, Scatterer, according to some interpreters, but Oriental 
authorities differ as to the etymology of these words. We are indebted 
to the careful measurements taken by Captain Boileau before carrying his 
instructions into effect, for preserving so much as its form and dimensions, 
which are shewn in Plate IV. 
There were no inscriptions of any historical interest on this gun, five lines 
in Persian on the model record the name of the Shah and perhaps of the 
maker, and the weight of the piece, without ornament. They are not fully 
legible, but seem to read as follows:— 
In the day op Shaii. 
Sultan Muhammad Gulistan. 
- Weight 
-- 19*99 
- Date of year 6, 
but we find a notice of it in the native guide book to Agra,— 
“ One day the Emperor Shah Juhan Ghazu was seated on the Imperial Throne, 
he commanded who had made the gun Dhool Diianee. It was humbly repre¬ 
sented the Raja Ujij Chund, Lord of Kunoj. He commanded* Sooltan Muhammad 
Abd ool Ghufoor of Delhi to make a large gun. 
* In the East as n the West, the words spoken by Sovereigns are commands; the Ring 
when he speaks never says anything, he always orders, commands. 
[VOL. VI.] 
80 
