XVIII. EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM COL. J. LOW. ["Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal," vol. xvii. (1848), pp. 232-34.] PENANG, Jan. 10, 1848. I MAY mention that on a cursory glance at the alphabet which you have kindly copied for me, I find several letters which I think I shall be able to identify with others in the inscriptions here. I could not manage with ink, and at last took the rather tedious and toilsome process of copying by rule and compass. The first inscription which I found was so copied and forwarded to the late Mr. J. Prinsep shortly before his lamented death, so that it is probably amongst other inscriptions (unpublished) lying in your library. He replied, saying he should like to have a facsimile, but I don't think any one could have been more correct than the one I sent. He, however, lithographed the inscription with the Khulsa, which is in the face of the stone, which was apparently formerly the top of a pillar. He said it was in the Sanskrit, not Pali; the style of the letter nearly that of the Allahabad No. 2. Is not that a transition Pali? I have on the other side of the water a copy of the "Journal" containing two Allahabad inscriptions; but the last inscription which I discovered and copied, about a year ago, is in a character somewhat older, I presume. However, I have been floundering in the dark for want of the "Journals" containing the labours of Prinsep, Wathen, &c. I will send you copies of both of these inscriptions, and, if I can manage it, of one upon a coin which I found a few months ago, but which our chief Bráhman of the temple cannot decipher. I have proved beyond doubt that there was a Hindu colony settled in Province Wellesley and Keddah, and I think it had been preceded by a Buddhist population. But I have not yet closed my researches, which have here to be conducted under many disadvantages (beyond our boundary), such as almost impervious jungles, a population who will afford no assistance whatever, and Siamese jealousy. I am engaged on, and have nearly finished, a paper for the "Journal" of the Indian Archipelago, on subjects relating more to our section of the globe than to India. But I have MSS. on my shelves which I hope to be able to send, I *We fear not. We have searched diligently and found none but such as have been published. -EDS. will not promise very soon, to your "Journal." I have been trying to get some Pali scholar among the Buddhist priests to assist me in explaining some MSS. in that language; but they are a sadly ignorant set, and, even as regards their own Deity and his holy places, they are obliged to confess that I know more than they do, and that is not a great deal either. I have little hope that the archæological field of Sumatra will soon be laid open. It is a sealed book. We only now want to have a collection of all the ancient inscriptions extant to the eastward, to decide, on Prinsep's system, the various periods when Buddhists and Hindus migrated there. It seems to me at present that most if not all of these came from Orissa or Kalinga. I cannot get Mr. Stirling's "Orissa." These and the deficient pages of the "Journal" will be highly acceptable when procurable. XIX. INSCRIPTION AT SINGAPORE. ["Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal," vol. xvii. (1848), pp. 154 f.] In the sixth volume of the "Journal," p. 680, there is an interesting account of an ancient and much weather-worn inscription on a rock at the jetty of Singapore. A facsimile was prepared by Dr. Bland, of H.M.S. Wolf, and forwarded by him to James Prinsep, who pronounced the character to be Pali, and though unable to connect sentences or even words, easily recognized many of the letters, and conjectured the inscription to record the extension of Buddhism to the Malayan promontory. On learning from Dr. Montgomerie that this rock had been blasted some years ago, I ventured to solicit the present governor, the Hon. Colonel Butterworth, C.B., to secure any legible fragments that might yet exist, and have since received his kind promise to forward such to the museum of the Society, where I trust the practised eyes of our antiquarians may yet decipher enough of the legend to determine its purport. Colonel Butterworth observes : "The only remaining portion of the stone you mention, except what Colonel Low may have, I found lying in the verandah of the Treasury at Singapore, where it was used as a seat by the Sepoys of the guard and persons in waiting to transact business. I lost no time in sending it to my house, but, alas! not before the inscription was nearly erased. Such as the fragment was then, however-i.e., in 1843-it is now; for I have preserved the stone with much care, and shall have much pleasure in sending it for your museum, having failed to establish one, as I hoped to have done, in Singapore. I am happy in thus far meeting your wishes, and in assuring you that I shall always be ready to forward the views of the Asiatic Society." XX. AN ACCOUNT OF SEVERAL INSCRIPTIONS FOUND IN PROVINCE WELLESLEY, ON By Lieut.-Col. JAMES Low, M.A.S.B. and C.M.R.A.S. ["Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal," vol. xvii. (1848), part ii. (4.) Consists of a group of seven inscriptions now extant on the rather weather-worn and sloping side of a granite rock, at a place called Tokoon, lying near to the centre of the province, or almost directly east of Penang town. The whole probably appertain to one period and the same subject. The rock was pointed out several years ago to Mr. Thomson, the Government Surveyor, by some Malays, but he examined it hastily, as it was covered with jungle and long grass, and it was not until a considerable time had elapsed that I accidentally learned from him of its existence. I had before this passed for years consecutively close to the spot, yet such was the apathy of the villagers, or their ignorance, that no hint was given me about the rock, and this induces me to mention that owing to this indifference, and to the suspicious conduct of the native chiefs, I have been left almost entirely to rely on my personal research, and that of persons trained by me for the purpose, when endeavouring during the past twelve or fourteen years to penetrate through the darkness which shut out from common view the archæology of the countries around me. I had some difficulty in reaching Tokoon, although mounted on my elephant, owing to several almost impassable jheels, or payas, as they are here termed. My people had built a small hut of jungle-wood and palm leaves, and after assuring myself of the value of the inscriptions, men were set to clear away the jungle and to dig up the ground to some distance around the rock. But I was disappointed in my expectation of finding ruins and other marks of temples and an ancient population. The inscriptions were copied by me with the utmost care, the task having occupied the greatest portion of the mornings and evenings of three days. I did not attempt to make a facsimile, as I had no proper materials, and had not succeeded with Capt. Kittoe's plan; but I can safely say that the approach to a facsimile is perhaps as near as it would be possible to make it. The letters are very, indeed unusually, large and thick for ancient inscriptions, but this peculiarity rendered the task comparatively easy. Finely powdered and very dry chalk was cast loosely over the inscription until all the letters were filled. The chalk was then brushed off the surface of the stone with a bunch of feathers, and thus the lines of words became clear and legible. The length of the largest inscription is that of the paper on which it has been copied, and as now forwarded (about ten feet). That the style of letter is of Indian origin seems to me quite obvious, but it contrasts a good deal with the inscription B. (fig.—.) Our Brahman and Buddhist priests here are so stupid that I have not been able to derive any assistance from them, and although I can trace some of the letters, I think, to inscriptions published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, I have not ventured to attempt the deciphering of them. (B.) I discovered this inscription while engaged in excavating some old ruins on a sandy side in the northern district of this province. It has been engraved on a sort of slate, and seems to form part only of a much larger inscription, for that portion of the stone which I have got appears to have been the upper portion of one of those pillars which are set up in the areas of Buddhist temples. I have the pleasure of forwarding a facsimile of this record made with clay, which is perhaps a novel mode. The clay was fine potters' earth and sand well beaten up along with chopped gunnee bag-cloth. The stone was oiled, and the clay was pressed on it, and atterwards dried in the shade. The copy was made by me in the following manner :-Finely pulverized and dry brick-dust was (as the chalk was in the former instance, the stone being then blackish), thrown over the face of the stone, and then lightly brushed off with feathers. The letters now appeared sharp and distinct; over these were pasted (with wafers at the edges) a sheet or slips of the "stylographic manifold writer paper," and the letters were lightly impressed on this paper with a soft pencil, and when the sheet was removed any slight omissions were filled in. |