The seal illustrated in the accompanying illustrations (Plate I, 1 and 2; Fig. 1, a to c) was recently brought to my attention by Mrs. Sarah Campbell of Dunstaffnage, whose father, Mr. R. O. Ramsay, discovered it in 1931, while supervising canal-digging on the Latifiya estates, some 40 miles south of Baghdad.

The site of the Kuhandiž in Herat is known to scholars because of the two shrines located there. It was first reported by Ferrier, who gave the traditional name of “Thaleh-bengy”, and suggested that it was an artificially raised mound and that it was the site of ancient Herat. He does not give the name as Kuhandiž, nor does he speak of the shrines there, but the location he gives for the site, between the Musalla and the city, corresponds with the location of the Kuhandiž. Furthermore, we will see that “Thaleh-bengy” or Tal-i Bangiyān was another name of the site used in the 19th century. Ferrier speaks of a mosque there and records a tradition of his time that this building was built on the site of a fire-temple. He suggests that it must be the same as the well known fire-temple of Herat, converted to a mosque by the Muslims, and recorded in the Rawḍat al-ṣafā and the Tarīkh-i Ḥabīb al-siyar.

As already observed by one of my predecessors, the ordinary or most usual, and probably also oldest or original kṛcchra, penance or rite of atonement or expiation (prāyaścitta), consisting in bodily mortifications, was in course of time given another name, viz. prājāpatya. The close relation to the creator god Prajāpati suggested by this name was explained by a reference to the Indian tradition according to which this god had as the first “produced his sindestroying secret”, which came to be the model for thousands of other purificatory rites (BDh 4, 8, 5). However, a thorough investigation of the relevant Vedic texts sheds new light upon atonement and expiation as objects of Prajāpati's concern.

The Kadazan (Dusun) people comprise the largest ethnic or community group in the area now known as the State of Sabah, Malaysia; prior to 1963 this territory was called British North Borneo. At about the same time many leaders of this group felt that the name Kadazan was more appropriate than Dusun – a sobriquet that had been bestowed on them by foreigners. Some, however, still prefer to call themselves Dusun. Approximately half of the Kadazans or Dusuns are Christian and about one-tenth are Muslims. Of the remainder some are mainly indifferent to religion, but some are devoted to the traditional forms of their ancient religious practices; and it is this section of the population that is of interest here.

Volume 11 of the Cambridge history of China, the third of the series to appear thus far, is a welcome continuation of Volume 10, which had dealt with the earlier part of the late Ch'ing period. It has been constructed on the same principles as its predecessor, with its contributors, well-known specialists in their field, seeking to present a synthesis of their subject. Hence, it is also basically a collection of essays and thus necessitates a brief mention of each contribution.

The British Library Board has recently approved a proposal to begin compiling within the Reference Division the first stage of a South Asia and Burma Retrospective Bibliography (SABREB). For the purposes of this project South Asia is understood as comprising India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. The Reference Division is uniquely fitted to undertake such a project which will undoubtedly fill a major gap in the bibliographical record of the sub-continent. The combined collections of the Department of Printed Books, the India Office Library and Records (IOLR), and the Department of Oriental Manuscripts and Printed Books (OMPB) are unrivalled outside South Asia and contain a great many rare items no longer, alas, to be found in their countries of origin.