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descends until it makes contact with the mercury, closing the regulating current which, in this case acting on an electro-magnet, completes the burin circuit, and causes the withdrawal of the graver.

Lastly the counter of the revolutions of the anemometer cups is recorded. The cups of the anemometer complete the circuit of a branch of the regulating current, once in each revolution; and this current, acting on a ratchet connected with the mechanism below, causes a graduated metallic rod to be pushed up through staples in which it works stiffly, as long as the recording mechanism is not in action. But coincidently with the last part of the revolution of the recording cylinder, a catch, in descending, makes contact with a projection on the graduated metallic rod, brings the latter back into its initial or zero position, and during the time of contact completes the regulating current, which cuts off the engraving current, and allows the burin to engrave a line of length proportionate to the displacement of the rod.

Dr. A. F. R. HOERNLE exhibited some copper coins and some antiquities found in the ruined town of Khokhrakote lying a short distance to the north of the present town of Rohtak and read the following account of their discovery written by Durga Pershad, Tehsildar of Rohtak.

"Although nothing has to the present day been discovered either from inscriptions, engraving or plates, which in ancient times used to be put into foundations of buildings, to shew the year in which the towns of Rohtak, Khokhrákote, Lálpúr and Brahmá were built, tradition gives the following brief account.

"This ruined town of Khokhrákote is situated to the north of Rohtak and thousands of years have passed since it was ruined.

"It is said that the town of Rohtak was founded a few thousand years ago by Rájá Rohtás, son of Rájá Prichand, that it has derived its name from him, and that on the side of Khokhrakote was built an extensive fort with a small population. This population on the foundation of Rohtak gradually disappeared, and the materials of the fort were removed for the construction of another to the east of the town of Rohtak which is now inhabited by Sheikhs.'

"It is also said that this ruined town of Khokhrákote, besides the fort alluded to above, consisted of houses of the employés of the State, a market with a few shops of workmen forming a cantonment, and palaces of petty Nawabs and persons of substance, but that from the time of Rájá Rohtás it has ceased to be inhabited.

"Another tradition says that it was ruined some time before the foundation of the town of Rohtak.

"These two traditions, therefore, almost entirely correspond with one

another, as, if at the time Rohtak was inhabited, there was a fort at Khokhrakote, it is very probable that it must have been dismantled and the materials removed to Rohtak.

"To the west of Rohtak lies the town of Lálpúr, which is said to have been founded by Lálchand Seth a millionaire, and was mostly occupied by money-dealers (Mahájans) and Bráhmans, with a small number of Khatries.

"In Sambat 1772 this town had succumbed to an overflowing of a branch river named "Chomang", owing to the inundation of the Jamna river. The marks as to the existence of the former are still visible in the neighbourhood of maúzás Sánghi and Kheri Ballab, by the presence of a few bridges and the uneven ground on which it flowed. The present Goháná canal which runs towards this ruined town of Lálpúr, into the Rohtak Parganá, has also been constructed on the bed of the said river.

"Large bricks are dug out from the ruined buildings of this town and used in building others at Rohtak.

"With a view to discover objects of antiquity, the Commissioner of the Division and Mr. Wood, Deputy Commissioner, in September or October 1879, inspected these ruined towns and proposed to dig the mound, close to the remains of the old fort, called "Nawabi tilá" by the residents of Rohtak, "by reason of its being supposed to be the site on which the palaces of the Nawabs were formerly situated, and also on account of its being the highest of all the mounds in this ruinous tract.

"In November 1879, the District Committee sanctioned an expenditure for the digging of this mound. It was first dug to a depth of 8 or 10 feet below the surface, when a large quantity of earth, which seemed as if it had been thrown in, was dug out, and then ruined walls were disclosed and a quantity of interesting relics, such as pieces of earthen vessels, bones, and rusty iron, as also a few shells. At about 15 feet lower down, the foundations of the walls were at an end, and again earth as above noted was dug out. The diggings continued for 7 or 8 feet, when a second set of ruined walls was discovered and a small room which contained some decayed jawár grain which on being touched at once became dust. This, and an image which, from being disfigured by decay, could not be made out, but presumably of a deity, the face being very much like the representation of Buddha, were found amongst debris and earth. The foundations of the second set of walls having ended at a depth of about 6 or 7 feet, the remains of a third set of walls appeared at about a depth of 38 feet, and when dug to about 6 feet, a small earthen pot, with the mouth covered over with mud, containing some small coins, was found. On the evening of 3rd January 1881, these coins with other relics, shells &c., that were discovered from the mound in question at Khokhrákote, were produced before His Honor the Lieutenant-Governor when encamped at Rohtak. His Honor

after inspection was pleased to order a few of the coins to be sent to him, together with an account as to their discovery.

"The excavations were carried on to a depth of 60 feet, and the expenditure incurred was Rs. 459."

Dr. Hoernle observed that there was some uncertainty as to the real depth to which the excavations were carried. At the end of the account, it was stated that the depth was 60 feet, but the amount of the depths of the several diggings previously detailed in the account was much larger, about 80 feet.

With regard to the coins, he remarked that they appear to be late IndoScythic. In Prinsep's Indian Antiquities, p. 417 (Plate XXXIV, Nos. 11, 12, 13) they are classed as Indo-Sassanian; but wrongly. They have no trace of the characteristic Sassanian fire-altar, nor of the head of the king in profile. On plate VIII, No. 8 and Plate IV, No. 10 (ibidem), they are classed as Indo-Scythic, which they undoubtedly are, or rather probably late imitations of them. This is shown by the characteristic "Siva and bull" on the reverse, so well known from the coins of Kadphises and Vasudeva (see Ariana Antiqua, Plates X, No. 12, XIV, No. 14). The deterioration from the original type can be distinctly traced, in the present series of coins, on the obverse (see facsimile woodcuts). The coins of Kadphises and Vasudeva have, on the obverse, the full figure of the king with a trident in front.

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The full figure is still clear on No. 1 (compare No. 10 on Plate IV of Prinsep's Indian Antiquities, Vol. I); on No. 2 it has shrunk into mere crude outlines; in Nos 3 and 4 the outlines are still more attenuated; in Nos. 5 and 6 the trident may be seen in front of the skeleton figure, on

the right; in No. 7 the same on the left. The reverse of No. 1 resembles that of No. 2. The reverses of Nos. 4, 5, 7 resemble that of No. 3. In No. 6 the same deteriorating process may be observed on the reverse; the man and bull having been attenuated to mere outlines. It may be noted that on Vasudeva's coins, there is a trident in front of the king on the left, and another in his hand on the right; and further, that the final skeleton (as in Nos. 4 and 5) closely resembles the old Nágarí characters (i. e., in conjunction), which are very much like the characters that are seen under the arm of the king (in full figure) in the earliest Gupta coins (e. g., of Ghatotkacha). This fact would seem to link the present coins on to the Gupta coins.

The antiquities consisted of 16 pieces; viz., 3 images, 2 pieces of rusty iron, 2 pebbles, 3 globular stones, 3 shells (cowries), 4 pieces of "ivory" ornaments. One of the images is a rude, hollow iron figure, broken in 3 pieces representing a squatting man with a top-knot and long pendent ears, another is a very rude full-sized male figure, bow-legged and with arms a-kimbo, unclothed; apparently a votive figure or a mere child's toy. The third is the full male figure of a divinity, cut in low relief on a small flat piece (apparently) of the well-known Agra soap-stone, with head-dress, necklace and sacred thread, both arms turned upwards and each. supporting some conical object. Of the two pebbles one is the exact half of a well-turned globe; the other is in its natural form. The three globular stones are really spindle-whorls made of clay, of the volcanoshaped kind, described and figured by Mr. Rivett-Carnac in the Journal Asiatic Society, Bengal, Vol. XLIX, page 127. The four so-called “ivory" pieces are the broken parts of two armlets. They are not of ivory, however, as described by the finders, but of conch-shell, as pointed out by the Natural History Secretary.

Mr. BALL, Officiating Natural History Secretary, exhibited samples of the sticks used in the hilly districts of Bengal, for producing fire and in connection with them made the following remarks:

Some years ago I exhibited a sample of the fire sticks used by the inhabitants of the Nicobar islands; these were cut from some soft white wood, possibly from a species of Bombax. Subsequently in Sambalpur I found that the inhabitants of the jungles there knew how to make fire in exactly the same way, the sticks used being either of the small solid bamboo or the branches of the pothur tree (Croton oblongifolium). In this case my attention was drawn to the fact by finding sticks which had been so used cast away in the jungles. On asking the coolies with me whether they understood the art, they immediately set to work in the following manner.

Breaking off two pieces of dry bamboo which had about twice the diameter of an ordinary lead pencil, they pointed one of them at one end, and on the side of the other they made a small pit to receive the point; from the pit a groove or notch was cut across on the side of the stick. This second stick being placed horizontally in position on some dry grass and leaves, was held there by the toes of the principal operator who squatted down for the purpose. Taking the first stick between the palms of his hands and placing the point in the pit, by rubbing his palms together the stick was made to revolve backwards and forwards, and the second operator relieved the first by commencing at the top as the other worked down to the bottom. They continued thus alternately relieving one another, till, in an incredibly short space of time, the pit became charred and soon began to smoke, the fine dust resulting from the friction falling down the already mentioned slit formed a small pile on the tinder and caught the first spark. This being carefully nursed and blown upon, soon burst into a flame.

At the ethnological section of the British Association meeting in 1878 I exhibited and described some of these sticks and the communication appeared to excite a considerable degree of interest. This, added to the fact that I have found that even in India many people are not aware that the knowledge of how to produce fire with two small sticks, so far from being extinct, is probably universal throughout some wide tracts in this country has led me to make further enquiries. On the only two occasions upon which I have been in the jungle this year I have asked the first regularly jungly men I met with whether they could make fire; both replied in the affirmative and made good their words by producing a flame in a very short space of time. The first case happened not many miles distant from Deoghur; here the sticks used were the already mentioned pothur (Croton oblongifolium): these are now exhibited. The second case occurred in the centre of the Kharakpur Hills where I came across a tribe of people called Naya. Their headman, who, by the way, was a most curious and amusing individual, on being asked to produce fire sent one of his companions for the sticks to the jungle close by. He returned, not with the pothur, but with the woody stems of a thorny creeper. The thorns having been removed, a pit was made at a node or joint, and then, in the usual way, a very few turns produced a spark; these sticks I also now exhibit. This creeper has three native names, Kumari (or Kumree) Dahnee and Maskanti; although I omitted to get leaves or flowers I am fully satisfied that it is a species of the genus Smilax and in this opinion Dr. Feistmantel agrees with me. Most of the common species of Smilax have scarcely got woody stems, and in this one it is noteworthy that the wood much more closely resembles that of an Endogenous, than that of an Exogenous plant.

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