298 H. Blochmann— Geography and History of Bengal. [No. 3, 
mentioned in the Riyaz, and though we do not know his source, his statements 
have, in several instances, been proved to be correct. In the MS. of his 
work in the As. Soc. of Bengal—the only copy I know of at present—this 
king is said to have reigned three years , which is impossible but Stewart 
found three months in the copy which he consulted. 
The Society’s cabinet possesses a specimen of this king’s coinage, 
struck in 939, A. H., the same year as mentioned in the Kalnah inscription. 
1. Vide PL IX., No. 13. Silver. Weight, 163'215 grains. Husain- 
abdd, 939, A. H. Circular areas. The margins are divided into four 
quadrants, at the beginning of each of which there is the letter nun, and 
in each quadrant there is an arabesque, which looks like the word . The 
same design is given on Marsden’s Nucrat Shah. 
Obverse.— 
Reverse.— <3olkl.vo ^ -vvx sc <xlif &1^. i ^ ^ 
qr<? 
Firuz Shah III. was murdered by his uncle 
XXIV. Ghiya's-uddi'n Abul Muzaffar Mahmu'd Sha'h (III). 
General Cunningham’s Gaur Inscription of this king, dated 911, was 
published by me in the Journal, for 1872, Ft. I., p. 339. 
Our Society possesses a coin of Mahmud Shah of the same type as the 
one published by Laidley. He refers the coin to 933; but the Society’s 
specimen has clearly 913 A. H. The concentric circles contain the words 
hadr i shahi , or ‘ royal moon.’ 
General Cunningham lately sent me the tracing of a Mahmud Shahi 
round copper coin, which has the same inscription on both sides, viz. 
e^- f t But though the phrase ha dr i shahi 
seems to shew that the coin belongs to Mahmud Shah (III.) of Bengal, it 
would be desirable to have specimens with dates or mint towns. 
Mahmud Shah is mentioned in De Barros’ work, from which the fol¬ 
lowing facts are taken. Nuno da Cunha, the Portuguese governor of Goa 
[ ]. sent in 1531 Alfonso de Mello with two hundred men in five ships 
to Chatgaon, which then again belonged to Bengal, in order to effect a set¬ 
tlement. De Mello, on his arrival, thought it wise to send a few of his men 
with presents to Gaur, where Mahmud Shah, who tyrannically held the 
crown, kept his court, in great apprehension of being deposed, but with such 
state that only his women amounted to the number of 10,000 ; but though 
De Mello’s men found in Alfa Khanf a friend, the king imprisoned them, 
* The passage, however, is corrupt. Vide Journal for 1872, Pt. I, p. 339. 
f This is, no doubt, the Alfa Husaim of Baghdad, mentioned by me in J. A. S. B., 
1872, Pt. I, p. 337. 
