Considerable difficulty has been experienced by Government epigraphists in dealing with the history of the double usurpations of the kingdom of Vijayanagara in Southern India and the dates of accession and death of the various rulers in the period a.d. 1486–1509; and a note on these matters based on a number of inscriptions may have a beneficial effect in somewhat clearing the ground.

The treatise of Jāḥiẓ, of which a translation is given in the following pages, was published at Leyden in 1903 by Brill. The editor was Van Vloten. But he died before completing the work; it was continued and sent to the press by de Goeje. Since then another edition has appeared at Cairo from the “Maẓba'a al-Taqaddum” by Muḥammad Effendi al-Sāsy al-Maghriby. I have used the Cairene edition for my translation. In the Leyden edition there are two other opuscula (rasā'il) besides the one translated here, namely those entitled “The Boast of Black People over White” and “The forming of Squares and Circles”. In the Cairene edition there are eleven rasā'il in all, including the three of the Leyden edition, the titles of the remainder being as follows:—

The Envious Man and the Object of his Envy.

The Superiority of Speech to Silence.

The Praise of Merchants and the Blame of the Work of Government. Love and Women. Keeping One's Promise.

Exposition of the Practices of the “Faction”. Gradations of the Competent.

The subject of Tibetan seals has already been discussed in this Journal in connexion with the seal of the Dalai Lama, the reading of which was first given by Dr. Bushell in JRAS. 1906, p. 476, referring to the illustration of the seal in Colonel Waddell's Lhasa and its Mysteries, in his review of that book. But he gave no examples of the character.

Since publishing my remarks on the date of Kanishka in this Journal, 1914, pp. 973–86, I have succeeded, by the employment of another chemical process, in cleaning still more effectively the silver scroll bearing the Taxila record of the year 136, and I am now able to present a photographic reproduction of nearly the whole of the inscription (Fig. 1). Some fragments, it will be observed, are missing in this reproduction from the upper and lower edges of the scroll. These fragments were too small and friable to be treated further or to be photographed. Another fault of the illustration is the unevenness of the light and shadow on the surface of the metal. This is due to the curved or twisted condition of the several sections and is unavoidable. In order to obtain this illustration, some of the sections of the scroll had to be photographed from three or four different points of view, and the negatives—to the number of nineteen in all—were then composed together into a single plate. Even so, however, it was not practicable to photograph clearly the lettering at the edges of some of the sections, where the latter were bent sharply inwards, and it is for this reason that I have made another hand copy of the record (Fig. 2), so as to show the form of those akṣaras which are not discernible in the Plate.

When spending several weeks at Leh, in 1914, I became interested in certain balcony – like structures containing three mchod-rten each. They were called Rig-dzin-mgon-po (Lords, holders of wisdom) or Rig-gsum-mgon-po (Lords of the three [realms of] wisdom). Besides the three mchod-rten, the balconies contained also Lamaist pictures and inscriptions. Mr. H. Körber, of the Munich Museum, rendered me valuable help in the identification of several of the pictures. The following is a list of the Rig-dzin-mgon-po (the abbreviation Rig. will be used instead of this long word) at Leh and neighbouring places.

Certain passages in the Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra and the reading of the inscription on the Māṇikiāla stone, published in this Journal for 1914 (p. 641), have invited some attention to the question how time was measured, marked, and told for ordinary use in ancient India; and Dr. Fleet has recently discussed the ancient Indian water-clock fully (p. 213 ante), showing how time was measured and marked by it. This paper continues the subject, dealing with the marking and telling of time for ordinary use. I have to thank him for drawing my attention to the passages in the Arthaśātra, the Jyotiṣaratnamālā, and the Divyāvadāna, and to the notice of the Jain muhūrtas, and for some criticisms and suggestions.

The following discussion of the treatment of the Indo-Āryan nasals in Gujrātī is based on materials which I have been collecting with a view to a more complete account of the sound changes of the language, but of which circumstances have delayed the publication.

A Cuneiform tablet in the British Museum referring to the celebrated deity of the Babylonians, Merodach (who is identified with the planet Jupiter), states that he possessed four attendant dogs, and gives their names. It is possible that these represent the four largest of the planet's moons, because instances have been known of these having been discerned with the naked eye.

Marsa Maṭruḥ, the classical Parætonium, lies about 150 land-miles west of Alexandria, on the Marmaric coast. During the winter of 1913–14, with the help of my friend W. J. Harding King, Esq., I made a preliminary archæological survey of the locality, and collected a few notes on the modern inhabitants.

For the sake of clearness I have grouped my discussions under four separate headings, namely: (I) Punctuations, (II) Misreadings of the Chinese Text, (III) Errors in the Text itself, and (IV) Other discussions.

Omitting the various other passages in the Mahābhārata which might be cited to support our thesis, and viewing synthetically the results of our study so far, we find that, to use Hopkins's phrase, “the more important building operations” of the epic are of pronouncedly Persian character. In the excavations of Pāṭaliputra we find that the palaces of Chandragupta were of pronouncedly Persian character, as well. The Mahābhārata ascribes its buildings to supernatural agency. The Chinese pilgrims tell us that the Mauryan halls were built by genii. The general attributes, as well as the very name, of the agent, Asura Maya, are found to be directly reminiscent of Ahura Mazda. It was by Ahura Mazda's grace the Achæmenian monarchs reared the palaces of Persepolis, which served as models for the Mauryan king. The epic tells us Maya wrought his works by magic. Pāṭaliputra is “wrought by magic” in the Kathāsaritsāgara. Moreover, the description which the Asura Maya gives us of the palaces he built agrees most strikingly with the account of Chandragupta's palaces recorded by Megasthenes. Both are inferentially confirmed by the stratigraphical evidences in the soil, and by the general topography of the site, at Pāṭaliputra.

1. asyaca** (asmākam ṛtupateḥ(-s)) svaituḥ(-ur) yāsat((-d), abhi-(-y-)-ā yacchāt, kila, (-ā-) asurāt prārthayāṅ ime ye ('sya) asya vṛjane nivasanti(-āntai)) smad aryam(a)nā; (b) -asya(?), (haye) devāḥ, (kila, haye yūyaṃ, deva-pūjakāḥ (-ā)); madīye, mama, māne, manasi (-y evam) asurasya maitryam (abhi-vṛtam, abhi vriyate, hṛdayabhakti maitryaṃ) sumedhasaḥ(-o) (mahādhaḥ(-s));—

(c) tava (asura, tvadīyāḥ (-ā)) dūtāsah(-o'sa-) asāma; tāṅ (dūre-) dhārayaḥ(-o) ye vaḥ(-o) dviṣanti(-āntai).

The Indian water-clock was an arrangement for measuring by means of water and a jar or bowl the duration of a nāḍī, nāḍikā, nālikā, or ghaṭī, ghaṭikā, the period of twenty-four minutes, one-sixtieth of a mean civil day of exactly twenty-four hours from mean sunrise to mean sunrise, 6.0 a.m. It has existed in two forms.

I feel very grateful to Mr. Suh Hu. for having read my article with such care, and for having pointed out some undoubted mistakes. Unfortunately, there are others that have escaped him, but which have been brought to my notice by my father, Professor Herbert A. Giles, and other scholars, to whom I also tender hearty thanks. In the light of these corrections it seems desirable that a revised translation of the whole text should now be published.

The tablet now published, which belongs to Mr. Alfred E. Knight, measures 42 mm. high by 42 mm. wide. Judging from its form and general appearance, it came from Jokha, the ruins of the city whose name is now generally read Umma. The obverse has five lines of writing, and the reverse three with a space between the first and the second. Both sides are covered with impressions of the cylinder-seal of the scribe by whom the document is attested.

In examining the astrological details of the date in Śaka 380 (p. 482 above), I had to work out the bases for tables, and to make parts of the tables themselves, for finding the mean place of the planet Saturn, that is, his mean longitude, according to the first ārya-Siddhānta and the Original and Present Sūrya Siddhāntas. It has seemed useful to complete the tables and publish them, with examples of the use of them, so that they may be available for any future work of the same kind. At the same time, I seek to give them an interest by attaching some general remarks and showing the bases from which they have been made.

The unsatisfactory modern compositions in European languages which profess to treat of the life and reign of Akbar all omit many things which ought to be mentioned, and fail to give a true view of Abkar's personality. The design of writing a life of Akbar more veracious than any now current has long been present to my mind, but may never be fulfilled, although I have made considerable collections for the purpose. However that may be, it seems worth while to devote a special article to the consideration of the enormous cash reserve accumulated by Akbar, which is one of the numerous facts of importance neglected by historians and biographers.

Meagre and disappointing as it seems, the collection of phrases and sentences that follows has been extorted from the nearly nine hundred specimens of inscribed bone and horn fragments in my possession only after close study during six years. Whether the result is worth the work and the time, it is useless now to ask. But such as they are, I have desired to put before other workers the deciphered extracts from these unusual records for two reasons. The first is that I seem to have reached the limit attainable by my own individual efforts. The second and especial reason is that if other students of Chinese would consent to devote some attention to the texts now presented and translated, I am confident that numerous difficulties would be cleared up, not a few fruitful suggestions elicited, and—it would be too foolish to think otherwise—various errors and ignorances exposed. If all or any of these consequences should follow, much needed light would fall on dark places, and some misty uncertainties be dissipated. I feel fairly convinced that there are things of real interest concealed in the legends on these objects, and I suspect also some surprises.

In my paper on Tibetan Seals in the last number of this Journal (JRAS., 1915, p. 1) I regret that, owing to there not being time for a second revision of the proof, on account of my being in India, there are certain misprints, which I correct below.

For 'abar in line 6 of the inscription of the seal on p. 7, read hbar.

For the top word of the third column of the seal on p. 8, read.

For the second word in the same column, read

For the bottom word in the sixth column of the above seal, read