Bshumaihun ḏ hiia rbia qadmaiia nukhraia mn almia ḏ nhura yatiria ḏ 'lawia kulhun 'ubadia asutha uzakutha hathamta uzarazta unaṭarta rabtia ḏ sharara nhuilia Idilia Plan br Plana uzawai ubnai ubnathai udaurai hikhlai ukulẖ binianai mn hiia umn Manda ḏ hiia asia maraihun ḏ kulhun asawatha 'zha u'tazha aina bishta ukabihta waina zruqtia waina (10) bruqtia waina kbishtia waina qliqtia waina 'kiltia kth abun Bil nsib mia urmẖ lrishia qirib rma 'l kwakiatha unsab tagha wathnẖ brishia uzaina tla '1 kadfẖ huṭra ḏ mura b'dẖ (or b'adia) am qarbala (?) lauma kulẖ bgumra tagha nad unfal mn rishia uzaina nfal mn kadfẖ huṭra ḏ mura nfal mn 'dẖ urishia (20)ṣmar ubarsa nfal gibta ḏ gaubat 'lẖ usilqit [sic] shgibun [sic] bshuba shibiahia kth taghaiun traṣlun brishaihun uzaina tlilia lkadfaiun huṭra ḏ mura nfal mn 'daihun umdabrania lalma kulẖ bgumura huṭra ḏ mura nfal mn 'daihun urishaihun ṣmar ubarsa nfal gibta ḏ gabat 'lh usilqit [sic] upagibun [sic] byama (30) k th mlia mia wazlia mia bgauẖ warbita piria u'nbia u'lania ḏ 'lawia rauzia wamarat kma shapiria yama ushapiria ḏ masgin bgauẖ ḏ 'bdit piria u'nbia u'lania ḏ 'lawiẖ rauzia wamarat kma shapiria yama ushapiria ḏ masgin bgauẖ ḏ rbita piria u'nbia u'lania d 'lawiẖ ṣba gibta ḏ gabat 'lawaihun usilqat pagibun baqnia ḏ hush raiia ushapir bnaiun ubnathun ushapiria baqaria ḏ masgin abathraiun aqnia lgaṭ pumaiun mn miria (40) ubnaiun lgaṭ pumaiun mn mimaṣ waramatha la masgin abathraiun gubta ḏ gaubat 'lawaihun usilqat pagibun btauria ḏ pirun malka ḏ miṣraiia

The Catalogue of the Coins of Ancient India in the British Museum, by Mr. J. Allan, published last year, has made the silver punch-marked coins available to all, and the clear system of classification which Mr. Allan has followed and his scholarly and complete Introduction give all the information about these coins that is at present available, while the large number of the coins which are illustrated in the plates enable the conclusions arrived at in the Introduction to be confirmed or questioned. General thanks are due to Mr. Allan for this important work. As this Catalogue will be the standard source of reference for the consideration and classification of these coins, it is important to note any points that arise from its consideration.

The purpose of the present somewhat desultory notes may be said to be twofold: firstly, to emphasize the necessity of comparing the word stock of one Indo-Chinese language with that of another by word families only, secondly, to make a preliminary investigation into certain variations of a particular type within such families, as there are here certain anomalies of which very careful note will have to be taken in any comparative work along these lines.

The country with which we are concerned—Nubia, Sennār, and Kordofān—is a comparatively recent conquest of Islam, and it does not properly emerge into the light of history before the sixteenth century. Of its state during the Middle Ages we are very imperfectly informed. Nubia had adopted Coptic Christianity in the sixth century, and there were two kingdoms, Maqarra in the north, with its capital at Dongola, and Aiwa in the south, with its capital at Soba near the modern Khartoum. The Arabs twice overran northern Nubia within a decade or two of the Muslim conquest of Egypt, and in their second expedition they sacked Dongola and destroyed its church; but there was no attempt at annexation, and for some five or six centuries the relations between Muslims and Nubians were based on a treaty concluded in 651–2, which precluded either party from settling in the territory of the other; it also imposed on the Nubians an annual payment of 300 or 360 slaves in exchange for gifts of cloth and grain. The treaty was but indifferently observed, and from time to time there were raids and counter-raids, but Nubia preserved its independence and its isolation from the worlds both of Islam and Christendom. Intercourse with the Muslim lands was not entirely lacking, and in the tenth century two Arabic authors composed accounts of the state of Nubia: I refer to the famous al-Mas'ūdī and to a certain Ibn Salīm or Ibn Sulaym of Aswān, extracts from whose work are preserved in Maqrīzī's Topography of Egypt.