ee ae — - ‘ tere iverteos ee ins ai imeneh-9 8* motes - eter ie eagle: ad sh va ¢e TY tees 20s * Sic eed women ee ay ee ao oe ix tie Dy kets Wr ol Lee “ neti bees bated its rabies oe » CP ~ Cory 345 ware 2 a eas eee: oo | Cre Somer sp hs aye he eoteees un Ghptae $ eos te tee hed Ay ¥ oe ot ut ~ as: rites £ fe (ie) - p bree ree Pa 5 en Wow ue sNeeewp ayes 26 a eae Se wget Bon, peered oo eee el oo ce edyk oom wrar me, oe ee . - Pare ; Sinwety 3h “a i> Sais: retin, sane: Reon ae +g 0) med anu ON JOURNAL ASIATIC SOCIETY BENGAL. THE SECRETARY. VOL. XIV. PART II.—JULY TO DECEMBER, 1845. « Nos. 163 to 168. Sy UH LOR ies < A = 2 ae Toa naa eet MOUs ww : Vv DROIT <I, at ee **Tt will flourish, if naturalists, chentt Eats udties; philologers, and men of science, in different g parts of Asia will commit their observations to writing, and send them to the Asiatic Society, in Calcutta; it will languish if such communications shall be long intermitted ; and will die away if they shall entirely cease.’—S1r Wm. JONES. CALCUTTA: BISHOP’S COLLEGE PRESS. 1845. Coutents, PART II, No. 163. I.—Notes on the Pokree and Dhanpoor Copper mines in Gherwal. By Sieg- mund Reckendorf, Esq., Mining Engineer. ., oe oe oe I1.—Report of an Expedition into the Mishmee Hills to the north-east of Sudyah. By Lieut. E. A. Rowlatt, 2Ist Regt. N.I. Ina letter to Major F. Jenkins, Governor General’s Agent, N.E. Frontier, dated Saikwah, Ist January 1845. Communicated by the Government of India. oe eo eo Il1I.—Note on a curious Sandstone formation at Sasseram, Zillah Shahabad. By Lieut. W. S. Sherwill, 66th B.N.I. With a plate. ee ate IV.—Notes, chiefly Geological, across the Peninsula of Southern India, from Madras (Lat. N. 13° 5') to Goa (Lat. N. 15° 30’) by the Baulpilly Pass and Ruins of Bijanugger. By Capt, Newbold, F.R.S., M.N.I. Assistant Commissioner Kurnool, Madras Territory. With a plate. ee ve V.—On the Invention of the Armenian Alphabet. By Johannes Avdall, M.A.S. VI.—Proceedings of the Asiatic Society for the months of July and August, 1840. e No. 164. I.—On the Tenures and fiscal relations of the Owners and Occupants of the soil in Bengal, Behar, and Orissa. By James Alexander, Esq., B.C.S. ou II.—Notices and Descriptions of various New or Little Known Species of Birds. By Ed. Blyth, Curator of the Asiatic Society’s Museum. (Con- tinued from p. 212, ante.) .. oe ee a ee IIl.—A notice of the Alphabets of the Philippine Islands. Translated ee the ‘‘ Informe sobre el Estado de las Islas Filipinas,’’ of Don Sinibaldo de Mas, Madrid, January 1843, Vol. I. p. 25. By Henry Piddington, Sub- Secretary Asiatic Society, &c. &c. With a plate. oe oe se 1V.—Register of Indian and Asiatic Earthquakes for the year 1843. By Lieut &. Baird Smith, F.G.S., Bengal Engineers. .. oe ee No, 165. 1.—On the Buddhist Emblems of Architecture. By Capt. T, Latter, B.N.I. Assistant Commissioner, Arracan, With two plates. .. oe ° Page. 471 477 495 497 022 Ixvii 527, 546 603 604 623 iv Contents. II.—Notes, chiefly Geological, across the Peninsula from Mangalore, in Lat. N. 12° 49’, by the Bisly Pass to Madras, in Lat. N. 13° 4’. By Captain Newbold, F.R.S., M.N.I., Assistant Commissioner, Kurnool. ee ia I1Il.—Account (Part IL.) of parts of the Cabool and Peshawar Territories, and of Sama, Sudoom, Bunher, Swat, Deer and Bajour, visited by Mulla Aleem-ulla of Peshawar, in the latter part of the year 1837. Arranged and translated by Major R. Leech, C.B. Late Political Agent, Candahar, un- der whose instructions the Tour was made. ee oe ee ee Page. 641 660 1V.—Proceedings of the Asiatic Society for the month of October, 1845. .. Ixxxix No. 166. I.—A Thirteenth Memoir on the Law of Storms in the Indian and China Seas ; being the Charles Heddle’s Hurricane in the Southern Indian Ocean, 22nd to 27th February, 1845. By Henry Piddington. With two plates... I1.—Account of the Esafzai-Affghans inhabiting Sama (the Plains,) Swat, Bunher and the Chamla valley, being a detail of their clans, villages, chiefs and force, and the tribute they pay to the Sikhs. By Shekh Khash Alee, a follower of the fanatic Syud Ahmed. Prepared in 1837, under the in- structions of Major R. Leech, C. B., late Political Agent, Candahar. .. I1I.—Report of a Trial for Rebellion, held at Moulmein by the Commissioner of Tenasserim. Communicated by the Sudder Dewanny Adawlut. With a plate. we ee oe ee ee ea eo ay ee oe 1V.—On the Iron works of Beerbhoom. ee ee ee ee ee ve V.—Account of certain Agate Splinters found in the clay stratum bordering the river Narbudda; specimens accompanying. By Capt. J. Abbott, late Assis- tant in Nimarr. ne oe ee oe ae ee a oe oe V1.—Notes, chiefly Geological, across South India from Pondicherry, Lat. N. 11°56’, to Beypoor, in Lat. N. 11° 12!, through the great Gap of Palghaut- cherry. By Captain Newbold F.R.S., M.N.I., Assistant Commissioner, Kurnool. ee ee ee ee oie ee ois oe ee ee VII.—Proceedings of the Asiatic Society for the month of November, 1845. .. No. 167. I.—Review of L’Histoire du Buddhism Indien, par E. Burnouf. By Dr. E. Roer. oe a ve ee “im ee ee ee oe ee ee Il.—On the genuine character of the Hora Sastra, as regards the use of Greek terms. By J. Muir, Esq., C.S. .. ae aie se oe ss ee I11.—Account of the Panjkora Valley, and of Lower and Upper Kashkar, by Rajah Khan of Cabool.e Translated by Major R. Leech, C.B., Late Poli- tical Agent, Candahar, at whose request it was drawn up in 1840. .. ee 1V.—On the Assam Petroleum Beds (In a letter to Major Jenkins, communi- cated by him.) By Capt. P. S. Hannay. or oe ee os ve V.—Remarks upon the occurrence of Granite in the bed of the Narbudda. By Capt. J. Abbott, B.A., Late Principal Assistant Commissioner, Nimarr. «. 703 736 747 754 756 Contents. Vi.—Further Notes respecting the late Csoma de Koréds. By Lieut. Col. Lloyd and A. Campbell, Esq., Superintendent at Darjeeling. ae ee VII.—Narrative of a Tour over that part of the Naga Hills, lying between the Diko and Dyang river, in a letter from Capt. Brodie, P. A. Commissioner to Major Jenkins, Commissioner of Assam. Communicated from the Foreign Department. oe ° ve ve ee oe ve ee No. 168. I.—Drafts for a Fauna Indica, (Comprising the Animals of the Himalaya Mountains, those of the valley of the Indus, of the Provinces of Assam, Sylhet, Tipperah, Arracan, and of Ceylon, with Occasional Notices of Species from the Neighbouring Countries.) By Ed. Blyth, Curator of the Asiatic Society’s Museum, &c. &c. .. ae : ee ee oe IIl.—A Fourteenth Memoir on the Law of Storms in fiadias being the Bay of Bengal, Ceylon, Malabar Coast, and Arabian Sea Storms of 29th Novem- ber to 5th December, 1845. By Henry Piddington, President of Marine Courts of Enquiry. .. ee ee ve ee ee se ee = I11.—Proceedings of the Asiatic Society for the month of December, 1845. .. Vv Page, 823 828 845 878 CXX1 inoex TO PART II. Page. Agate Splinters found in the clay stratum bordering the river Nar- budda; Account of certain. By Captain J. Abbott,.. ae «- 756 Armenian Alphabet ; On the Inven- tion of the. By Johannes Avdall, 522 Assam Petroleum Beds; On the. By Capt. P. S. Hannay, .. o. 817 Buddhist Emblems of Architecture; On the. By Capt. T. Latter, .. 623 Buddhism Indien; Reviewof E. Bur- nouf’s Histoire du. By Dr. E. Roer, .. ap su ae o. 183 Cabool and Peshawar Territories; Account (Part II.) of parts of the. By Major R. Leech, Ac -. 660 Csoma de Ko6rés; Further Notes res- pecting the late. By Lieut. Col. Lloyd and A. Campbell, Esq. .. 823 Earthquakes for the year 1843; Re- gister of Indian and Asiatic. By Lieut. R. Baird Smith, .. -. 604 Esafzai-Affghans inhabiting Sama, &e.; Account of the. By Shekh Khash Alee, ee oe -. 736 Fauna Indica; Drafts for a—Com- prising the Animals of the Hima- laya Mountains, &c. By Kd. Blyth, eo ee eo ee Granite in the bed of the Narbudda; Remarks upon the occurrence of. By Capt. J. Abbott, ab -- 821 Hora Sastra, as regards the use of Greek terms; On the genuine cha- racter of the. By J. Muir, Esq. 809 Iron works of Beerbhoom. On the, 754 Law of Storms in the Indian and China Seas; A Thirteenth Memoir onthe. By H. Piddington, -. 703 Law of Storms in India; A Four- teenth Memoir on the—being the Bay of Bengal, Ceylon, Malabar Coast, and Arabian Sea Storms of 29th November to 5th December, 1845. By H. Piddington, ei! 845 VOL. XIV. Page. Mishmee Hills to the north-east of Sudyah ; Report of an Expedition into the. By Lieut. E. A. Kowlatt, 477 Naga Hills, lying between the Diko and Dyang river; Narrative of a Tour over that part of the. By Capt. Brodie, “ oe -- 828 New or Little Known Species of Birds; Notices and Descriptions of various. By Ed. Blyth, ee 546 Notes, chiefly Geological, across South India from Madras to Goa. By Capt. Newbold, ee oe 497 ——across the Pen- insula from Mangalore to Madras. ———— — By Capt. Newbold, ie -» 641 a from Pondi- cherry to Beyporee By Capt. Newbold, ty on a 709 Owners and Occupants of the soil in Bengal, Behar, and Orissa; On the ‘lenures and fiscal relations of the. By James Alexander, Esq., 527 Panjkora Valley, and of Lower and Upper Kashkar, by Rajah Khan of Cabool; Account of the. ‘I'rans- lated by Major R. Leech... «- 812 Philippine Islands ; A notice of their Alphabets. By Henry Pidding- ton, eo ee oe eo ee 603 Pokree and Dhanpoor Copper mines in Gherwal; Notes on the. B Siegmund Reckendorf, Esq., .. 471 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society, for 1845, es 1xvil-lxxxix-exi-cxxi Sandstone formation at Sasseram, zillah Shahabad ; Note on a curi- ous. By Lieut. W. S. Sherwill, 495 Trial for Rebellion, held:at Moul- mein by the Commissioner of ‘I'e- nasserim ; Report of a. Communi- cated by the Sudder Dewanny Adawlut, o- eo ee ee 747 INDEX TO NAMES OF CONTRIBUTORS TO PART II, VOL, XIV. Paye. AsBoTT, Capt. J. Account of cer- tain Agate Splinters found in the clay stratum bordering the river Narbudda, .. oe a «. 756 — Remarks upon — the occurrence of Granite in the bed of the Narbudda, es -. 82l ALEXANDER, James, Esq. On the Tenures and fiscal relations of the Owners and Occupants of the soil in Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, .«. 527 Biytu, Ep. Notice and Descriptions of various New or Little Known Species of Birds, .. -4 -. 046 Drafts for a Fauna In- dica, Comprising the Animals of the Himalaya Mountains, &c. .. 840 Bropik, Capt. Narrative of a Tour over that part of the Naga Hills, lying between the Diko and Dy- ang river, ae AAMT ac )'42) ComMISsIoNER of Tenasserim, Re- port of a Trial for Rebellion, held —— at Moulmein, BG. biealsh sand a7 Hannay, Capt. P. S. On the Assam Petroleum Beds, .. 817 Jackson, Esq. Welby. On the iron- mines of Beerbhoom, at ae fos JOHANNES AVDALL, Esq. On the In- oo of the Armenian Alpha- et, ee ee ee ee ee KuasH ALLER, Shekh. Account of the Esafzai-Affghans inhabiting Sama, ae os ee ee Latter, Capt. T. On the Buddhist Emblems of Architecture, ee, O20 Leecu, Major R. Account ( Part II.) of parts of the Cabool and Pesha- war Territories, .. aie «. 660 ——————_—— Account of the Panjkora Valley, and: of Lower and Upper Kashkar, ve «. 812 Page. Lioyrp, Lieut. Col. Further Notes respecting the late Csoma de Koros, oe sie eA He PS: Muir, Esq. J. On the Genuine cha- racter of the Hora Sastra, . -. 809 NEWBOLD, Capt. Notes, chiefly Geo- logical, across the Peninsula of Southern India, from Madras to Goa, eo eo eo ee Fee: pd —_————— Notes, chiefly Geological, across the Peninsula, from Mangalore to Madras, «. 641 —_—_——-—— Notes, chiefly Geo- logical, across South India from Pondicherry to Beypore, .. o. 759 Rorr, Dr. E. Review of L’histoire du Buddhism Indien, par E. Bur- nouf, co eo ee ee eo PrippineTon, Henry. A notice of the Alphabets of the Philippine Is- lands,.. eo On ee ee —_—_________—. A Thirteenth Memoir on the Law of Storms in the Indian and China Seas. -. 703 —_—_—_——— A Fourteenth Memoir on the Law of Storms in India; being the Bay of Bengal, Ceylon, Malabar Coast, and Ara- bian Sea Storms of 29th Novem- ber to 5th December, 1845. -. 878 RECKENDORF, Siegmund. Esq., Notes on the Pokree and Dhan- poor Copper mines in Gherwal, .. 471 Rowtatt, Lieut. E. A. Report of an Expedition into the Mishmee Hills to the north-east of Sudyah, 477 SHERWILL, Lieut. W. S. Note on a curious Sandstone formation at Sasseram, zillah Shahabad, -- 495 Situ, Lieut.R. Baird. Register of Indian and Asiatic Earthquakes for the year 1843, .. ee +e 604 783 eGEOv Ie TAT OR Fe rr 2! pee i. Py om ba Wet See P f ’ ae tte. 4 i, vie ‘ , Bis + \ an ve, wat fae eh ee gt . ¥ mebsatosd , sai wT ‘ ¢ ade 2 ” “ os —_ 4 I ‘ i a i 7 ‘ / a pot tt cine lla pint aire + * = J ; 4 ~ =~ ~ 4 } ¢ . > y x L JOURNAL OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETY. Notes on the Pokree and Dhanpoor Copper Mines in Gherwal. By Siremunp Recxenvorr, Esq, Mining Engineer. After the commissioner, Mr. Lushington’s report, Vol. XII. Journ. As. Soc. 1843, little remains to be said about the situation of these mines. Pokree is on the right, Dhanpoor on the left side of the Douliganga, both about six miles horizontal distance from the river, and twelve miles between themselves. From Pokree I saw Dhanpoor distinctly, and it appeared about 1,000 to 1,500 feet higher situated. Putting the com- pass in h. 17 or hs. (15° E. to S. or 15° W. to N.) I had on the bear- ing—therefore in one line—on one side the Rajah’s mine, and (accord- ing to the statement of the people,) several places where the same talcose slate occurs as in the Pokree mine. On the other side, I had a place, called Deehoor, on the road to the valley of the Gunga; and on the Dhanpoor side a place little below the village, both places con- taining the slate. The layer of talcose slate containing the copper ore is therefore a very extensive one, and there is every reason to believe, that the copper goes as far as the slate, and the slate as far as the formation, to which I| consider the slate to belong. Indeed it requires very little attention from an eye, practised in researches after minerals, to see that the whole of the known copper mines from the Nepal teraee in the east, till beyond the Pokree mine in the west, are only parts of one layer of not very great thickness, which perhaps may have been subdivided in two or three thinner layers, by some other oreless layers of slate or limestone No. 163. No. 79, New SeRIzEs. Cae 472 Notes on the Pokree [No. 163. now transformed into Dolomite. In a country where mining is more in use and better known than in India, lakhs of rupees would have been spent upon feebler indications of ores than are here seen. When I was at Pokree there was no work going on, but two or three native women washing old heaps of nearly exhausted rubbish. The ‘‘Khans” were nearly entirely broken down—that in which Mr. Wilkin put in timber, was yet open for about forty yards, but in all these very slight indications of ore, copper pyrites and blue and green carbonate. Since many hundreds or thousands of years that part of the layer has been alternately ex- posed to the access of air and water, and accordingly the copper pyrites has been transformed into sulphate of copper, which is dissolved and carried off by water. ‘That process is going on still, the waters con- taining enough sulphate of copper to cause, by aid of Hanuman or some other old gentleman, the great wonder of metamorphizing—~. e. covering —iron nails, thrown into the water with copper. The natives showed me two of these nails as perfect miracles. It was in this part of the layer where not only the native rulers worked, but also Mr. Wilkin. The slate in it is soft like soap, and very little ore remained, partly as pyrites, partly in sulphate, partly as blue or green carbonate of copper. From Mr. Wilkin’s bad success no conclusions ought to be made, or can be made. An experi- ment on ore from Chili or Kamtschatka would be as decisive for the riches of Pokree mine as Mr. Wilkin’s was, and when I heard that a ‘* sahablok” worked 24 years at Pokree I could scarcely believe it. But I admired Mr. Wilkin’s proceedings, when I saw, from Mr. Lushing- ton’s report, the means Mr. Wilkin had at his disposal, and the object of his labour. I then acquitted Mr. Wilkin of every fault of which I had accused him in my mind when I saw that, with a sum scarcely sufh- cient to open the spot where the ore can be hoped for and collect mate- rials for buildings, he had to decide upon the riches of a mine at first to be created. The layer dips in h. 23 (15° N. to E.). The work to be com- menced was, a gallery 30 or 40 fathoms below the old mines; and not the excavation of ores which area very good additionin smelting better ones, but the smelting of which never would pay. If left to his own judgment, and having the whole sum at disposition, Mr. Wilkin pro- bably would not have produced any ore in the first year and a half, at the end of which he would most probably have been able to show such 1845. ] and Dhanpoor Copper mines in Gherwal. 473 specimens of ore as would extinguish every doubt on the richness of the mine; then, and not before then, was the time to begin experiments ; but also these ought to have been made in another way. Mr. Wilkin could not prepare the ore on hearths and with sieves, as undoubtedly he would have’ done, had there been more money at his command. Furnaces on a scientific system instead of the rough native hearths ought to be made, and these with powerful bellows put in regular motion by water-wheels instead of two goat skins moved by hand. In such fire-hearths, I saw in Dhanpoor two meltings, each continued through about four hours, and from beginning to end the flames (4 to 5 feet high, and 3 to 5 feet diameter) were perfectly green from loss of metal. The natives told me that such was the case in Pokree also! This shows that, 1. The necessary preparations before the smelting could not be made. 2. That the smelting was not properly conducted, the loss being too great.” 3. That the ore used was not the ore which would be the object ‘of mining on a large scale, it being impoverished by the slow metamor- phosis of pyrites into sulphate of copper. It must be confessed, that the Pokree mines are highly wronged by the conclusions made from results shown by any work done till now. It could be objected against p. 3, that the presence of better ore or richer ore, is only a supposition; but it is not so! I found in the Pokree bun- galow a piece of hard rock talcose slate—with a high coloured pyrites of copper, taken from the end of Mr. Wilkin’s ‘‘ Khan.” The ore was from a place where either no water came, or where it stood con- stantly; but all the pyrites from the first 30 or 40 yards had—so said the natives—a greyish-watery colour. This shows that ore in the bowels of the mountain is better preserved than on, or near the out- side; consequently more ore must be there, for it cannot be supposed that an ore which for so many miles continues, and _ has so little thick- ness, should not go, with the layer in which it occurs, to a considerable depth at least. Analogy with thousands of cases leads to the supposi- * In a high furnace a large quantity of metal offers a nearly as little surface to the wind asa smallone. In a high furnace the ore is only exposed to the stream of wind at the moment of melting, but in a hearth both ore and metal are constantly exposed. 474 Notes on the Pokree [No. 163. tion mentioned, that in Pokree and its neighbourhood vast quantities of copper could, with advantage, be produced. And upon observation of analogies and anomalies in nature, hundreds of valuable rules are founded, and most of sciences based. Assisted by these rules mining is no lottery, and not,more hazardous than agriculture and manufactures. I come now to other objections made to these mines,——1. The dis- tance from Pokree to Almorah is perhaps one day’s march farther than Almorah from the plains, to a point where several days’ land-carriage for the metal from the river is required. Sreenugur is yet nearer than Almorah, and even Hurdwar can easily be reached from Sreenugur, by little flat boats steered by one man, loaded with a sufficient quantity of metal. The boats should be of a light construction, and would as wood only sell very well.—2. Articles of bulk are, for the beginning, not required, and should mining become modern in the Himmalayas, roads (which how- ever in these parts are not so very bad, as not to be passable, after very little repair, by mules, horses, and even by elephants,) will soon be made; and in a later period larger articles certainly will be manufac- tured in the hills. Iron ore is plentiful there. 3.—The English copper is cheaper, because it is worse than the native copper. The natives in Sreenugur, Teeree, Hurdwar, etc., told me, they would not use the English wrought copper, but for the great size of the plates. For smaller work they prefer Dhanpoor copper. If the lessee had any difficulty in selling the metal at two rupees, he could easily give it cheaper; but his stores are always so small, that he is sure to sell even at the higher price. From cross-examination of his mookteear, and the miners and smelters, I calculated his profits at thirty per cent., and from the unwillingness of the first to tell me more, I had reason to think that my calculation was right. I told him so, and the result of my reckoning, and how I obtained the data without the reporter’s know- ingit. WhenI had left Dhanpoor, my servant told me that the mook- teear abused the work people for their betraying him, and the people were quite astonished to hear they had done so. The Commissioner, Mr. Lushington, states the way in which the charcoal burners are going on. They will cease to do-this if they hear that from the trees themselves better charcoal can be obtained than from the mere branches, and should they continue the work, nothing remains for the lessee but to send 1845.] and Dhanpoor Copper mines in Gherwal. 475 his own coal-burners for working up such wood as remained from the other burners, saving thus the outlay for cutting down the trees. The lessee would have always charcoal enough, even for a large establishment, or several of them, for if the inhabitants see they can obtain a constant livelihood they will take care not to waste wood: Provision however for the renewal of the forest must always be made for the sake of future cheapness. I think too labor could be obtained cheaper than in England, even if the greater skill and bodily strength and good-will of European workmen is taken in account, The old smelter in Dhanpoor may be compared with the most skilful smelters any where. I believe now to have shown the possibility (and probability) of turning to advantage the riches of Pokree; the copper could support the concurrence of the English copper in the lower hills and part of the plains, and would have ad- vantages over it, in the higher interior, and in such places at the foot of the hills where the English product cannet reach by mere water car- riage. The Dhanpoor mines, or holes, are worked to advantage, and no doubt could be made more so; but perhaps it would take more trouble to find the layer of copper than in Pokree. What till now is opened would under European superintendence be entirely exhausted in the course of one year or two. Itis possible the layer may turn out to bea regular dyke, but I suppose it will not be so, but might be cut off by slate at no very great depth. The working on a large scale would be also more expensive in Dhanpoor than in Pokree, for the ore must be stamped, and washed on moving hearths. However, I will not say, that Dhanpoor mine could not be made, by continued labor, a very rich one. The situation of Dobri mine on the other side of the very same hill range, admits no doubt of the ore’s extension; moreover the steepness of Dhanpoor hill admits shorter galleries and to greater depth. The present mine could not of course be of any use. There are galleries of several fathoms in height and breadth, following upon and preceded by others, which are so low and narrwo, as to admit only children; and the slope goes downwards, then up again for a few yards, now to the right, then to the left; &c. A shaft in the mine is only pas- sable for those who do not mind going about in the dress of Adam on the first day of creation, for only the adhesion of the skin to the nearly 476 Notes on the Pokree and Dhanpoor Copper Mines. [No. 163. polished rock, keeps the passenger in many places from falling down. The tools are only a chisel and a hammer ; blasting of course ought to be introduced. From what is above said, it will appear as my conviction, that in the copper mines of Pokree and Dhanpoor, capital could most advantage- ously be employed. But itis not Government, in my opinion, who should work there. The best writers on national economy agree, that such speculations do not thrive in the hands of a Government. If Govern- ment would give these mines to any private individual or com- pany, for as long a period as they pay regularly a certain duty from the produce, and would allow to any one else to begin mining wherever he could find an ore, in a very short time, certainly, many places where ore is known, would be taken up, and the revenues of Government, now derived from the mines, would be very considerably increased. Districts, “now nearly empty of population, void of cultivation, useless to the trea- sury, would yield revenue, and the population would become acquainted not alone with European luxury, but with European skill and intelli- gence, which would beat first more useful than schools and missionary establishments. As the agriculturist prepares by ploughing the hard soil for the reception of the seed, so we may consider, the becoming ac- quainted with the advanced state of European arts would “ plough” the Paharri’s mind for the acceptance of higher objects, which they might be thought fit for being taught in some future time. And did not nature show her intention of civilizing the inhabitants of these wild districts through mining, by her upheaving such mineral riches which, in their present state of civilization, they cannot appre- ciate ? With regard tothe capital required for the opening of Pokree mine and Dhanpoor mine, I think 40 to 50,000 rupees would be more than sufficient for both establishments, on a footing equal to the advantages which can be expected in the first result of an operation, which may be carried on through hundreds of years. Calcutta, September, 1845. 477 Report of an Expedition into the Mishmee Hills to the north-east of Sudyah. By Lieutenant i, A. Row att, 21st Regt. N. I. Ina letter to Major F. Jenxins, Governor General’s Agent, N. E. Frontier, dated Saikwah, 1st January 1845. Communicated by the Government of India. I now do myself the pleasure of forwarding to you an account of the expedition from which I have just returned, and at the same time beg to submit a map of the country through which I passed, to this I have added some portion of the country more to the north than to where I penetrated, and which is therefore merely laid down from de- scriptions gathered from the Mishmees who have visited those parts. On Thursday, the 21st of November last, I quitted the port of Saik- wah by water, and on the following day being joined by two Sudyah Beekhyahs, Deena Hazaree and Baleah Boca, who were to accompany me during the trip. At the mouth of the Koondil river, where I had remained the night, we took our final departure, myself in a small khail boat, and the rest of my party in the small fishing boats of the country, which, for the sake of ascending the rapids of the Burhampooter, are made particularly light and handy. As it was our first day, we were not able to start very early; and I found that the evening was drawing to a close before we had long pass- ed the mouth of the Tainga-panee. Up to this point the stream continues pretty tranquil, although a perceptible difference is observable in the rate at which it flows; andas from this point upwards the banks and islands are almost entirely formed of stones* washed down from the mountains, the water from hence is most beautifully clear and trans- parent. ' Nov. 238rd.—In pursuance with the directions I had given the previous evening, the boats moved off by sunrise, and by 9 a.m. we reached the Khamptee village of the Kaptan Gohain at Choonpoora, where I stopped for a short time, and again moving forward, arrived by the evening within a short distance of the mouth of the Dhollee river, which I got to early the next morning. Being anxious to see a copper Tem- * These pebbles and boulders are all of limestone, and furnish all the lime used in the public works in Upper Assam, The limestone is a grey crystalirized rock just exactly the same as the marble used as flags in the Government House. I have never seen it in siti.—F. J. 478 Report of an Ex apedivon into the Mishmee Hills. (No. 163. ple that is situated on a branch of this stream called the Sutrung, I ascended the river in the smaller boats, and finding that the water in the Sutrung was only a few inches deep, I was obliged to wade up this stream; but from the jungle having become excessively dense, and having no person with me who knew exactly the position of the Tem- ple, I was obliged to give up the attempt and return to the mouth of the river, unsuccessful and disappointed. The erection of this building is ascribed to a demi-god, edit Pura- houtan, who, falling in love with the goddess Khaisa Kattee, undertook at her commands to build her a temple in the space of one night, which if he succeeded in completing he was to obtain her hand in marriage, but failing in his task was to give himself up to be devoured by her. On these terms, Purahoutan commenced his undertaking, and had completed the Temple with the exception of the doors, when the sun being made to rise before its time he was obliged to fly to the woods; but, being soon after overtaken by his beloved, was then and there devoured as a morning repast. The Temple* is called the Tama-suree, being partly made of copper ; and at so late a period as a little upwards of twenty years ago, two human beings were sacrificed yearly at her shrine to propitiate the good auspices of this sanguinary goddess. Near the mouth of the Dhollee are yet visible the remains of the residence of the Chutteeah Rajas, whose rule is said to have extended over the whole valley of Assam as far as Gowalpara, but which was terminated by the invasion of the Ahoms, who crossed the hills from Moonkong. Nov. 25th.—As we had now fairly got into the rapids of the Bur- hampooter, where it was necessary for the boatmen to be constantly in the water, I stopped to cook before setting off, as the weather being cold the men did not like wading, until they had fortified themselves with some food. I managed, however, to get off by 8 o’clock, and before midday had passed the‘ mouths of the Khairam and Degoroo rivers. The banks of the Burhampooter are here principally wooded with the * A remnant of the priests of this Temple, who call themselves Dolyes, have lately come to Lieut. Dalton’s notice at Luckimpoor. They are of Chooteeah origin: they boast of the human sacrifices, and say the discontinuance of them has been the cause of all the misfortunes of Assam. Lieut. Dalton promises some particulars of these Chooteeahs, the last great race who held possession of the north bank of Upper As- sam at an early date.—F. J. 1845. | Report of an Expedition into the Mishmee Hiils. 479 Sissoo tree, intermixed with Hallecks which, from the beautiful red flower that blossoms on it at this time of year, imparts quite an autum- nal tint to the landscape. This day the patches of cultivation in the hills became quite ap- parent, and the landslips on some of the mountains appeared of such magnitude that the fact of a village being occasionally swept away ought not to be wondered at, and I was told that the village of Macrusu was so destroyed last year, and that many of its inhabitants together with the chief of the village were involved in the destruction. By even- ing we arrived at the mouth of the Sidroo, where we remained the night. Nov. 26¢h.—From this point the river becomes a succession of rapids, so that during the day our progress was but slow. The scenery is, however, very magnificent, and the river abounds with a great variety of the best sorts of fish, amongst which I mention the Silghurreah, Boca, Maikhan, Liun, Sandoees, Advee, &c. &c., which when fresh caught are most delicious eating. At the foot of one of the hills that approaches the Burhampooter at this part, is observable a high white cliff, which the traditions of the natives affirm to be the remains of the marriage feast of Raja Sisopal with the daughter of a neighbouring king, named Bhismak; but she (Rookmunee) being stolen away by Krishna before the ceremony was completed, the whole of the viands were left uneaten, and have since become consolidated into their present form. As we had now arrived within a short distance of the Khamptee village inhabited by the sons of the Rannah and Jow Gohains, I sent in some of my people to inform them of my arrival, and in the mean time made as much progress in the boats as the nature of the stream would allow, but found that the current was too rapid to admit of my reaching the mouth of the Dura river; a short distance from which I therefore remained for the night. November 27th.—About 10 o’clock this morning, the party I had despatched to give information of my arrival made their appearance, bringing with them the sons of the Rannah and Jow Gohains, together with several Mishmee chiefs, and a numerous train of followers both Khamptee and Mishmee, when all were assembled and a conference took place. It was arranged, that I should proceed into the hills guided - by these Khamptee chiefs, who appearing to possess a good deal of 3 U 480 Report of an Expedition into the Mishmee Hills. [No. 163. influence over these Mishmees, I was glad to accept of their escort. I therefore left my boats, and after passing over three or four miles of pebbly beach that lines the banks of the Burhampooter (or Lohit asit is usually called by the people in this part), I reached the road which, lead- ing through the jungle that intervenes between the river and the hills, ascended up to the village which is situated a short distance up the acclivity on a level piece of ground well adapted for such a purpose. The village of these Khamptees consists of fifteen houses, and is placed on a spot of ground that some years ago was the site occupied by the Mishmees, who then called it Maboling, and is watered by a small hill stream named the Toolooah. Their cultivation, which is rather extensive, is scattered around the village, both on the side of the hill and in the plain beneath. This position has now been oc- cupied by these people for the last three years, and in consequence of the protection they afford to the Mishmee tribes in this quarter from the in- roads of the Chullee Cuttia and Myjoo Mishmees, a great many of the more influential chiefs, amongst whom I may more particularly mention Prum Song, the head of the Muroo tribe, have settled in their neigh- bourhood which, being much more productive than the hills in the in- terior and nearer to the plains, with which they are anxious to extend their trade, they find it much to their advantage to cultivate the good- will of these Khamptee chiefs ; for, should these Khamptees remove from this place, the whole of the Mishmees who have settled in their vicinity must again flee to the sterile mountains beyond the river Tiding, and forego all the advantages of trade, which from their proximity to Assam they are at present enabled to prosecute with considerable gain to them- selves. During my stay in this village I ascertained the height at which the Burhampooter issues from the hills, to be 2049 feet above the level of the sea. By the 3rd December all arrangements having been completed, and the necessary number of people collected to carry the baggage, I left the Khamptee village, and again passing down the descent entered on the stony beds of the Burhampooter ; over these we passed for some miles, and found the passage along them any thing but pleasant walking. On arriving at the mouth of the Damai river we ascended that stream, and by evening had reached the path that leads up the first range of mountains. On producing my store of beads, salt, &c., I found that half a 1845. ] Report of an Expedition into the Mishmee Hills. 481 rupee’s worth of these articles was demanded for every day’s work, and as I could not have proceeded without the assistance of the Mishmees, I was obliged to agree to their very exorbitant demands. On the morning of the 4th, after a hasty meal had been despatched, and the several loads adjusted, we quitted the spot we had occupied during the night, and for some time ascended and descended the small hills that line the banks of the Damai. After an hour or two we arrived at the foot of the large range that bounds the view from the plains ; the ascent was rather abrupt, and the path but a bare track up the face of the mountain. By midday we reached a small level piece of ground, where a little water was procurable ; and as the mountain air seemed to sharpen our appetites, a few eatables that we had with us were devoured with great gusto. By 4 p.m. we reached the summit, from which a splendid view of the plains and the surrounding hills is visible: on the right are seen the towering mass of immense mountains that form the country of the Myjoo Mishmees ; and in the plain beneath, the prospect is only bounded by the far distant horizon, within whose limits the endless sea of forest that characterises this part of Assam is the only object that meets the eye. From this point we again descended for a couple of hours, and as the evening was drawing to a close, arrived at a small hill rivulet where, as water is the principal requisite to be sought for in a place for encamp- ing, I determined to spend the night, although nothing but the stony bed of the stream was available to rest on. The weather being cold we found our night’s repose rather uncomfortable, and were glad when the morning broke to arise and set about procuring some breakfast: this being soon accomplished we again set out, but found the road worse than the previous day, as it led over numerous landslips that in this part are met with on every slope; part was therefore over broken ground, and every now and then we had to pass onward by means of single trees that had accidentally fallen across the chasms that intersected the path. As the greater part of this day’s march was descending the mountain we had ascended the day before, and the road improving as we advanced, by 12 o’clock we entered on the scattered cultivation of Saloomgoom, from which the Burhampooter is distinctly visible winding its tortuous way around the foot of the hills beneath. As we approached the village, here and there the houses of the Mishmees became apparent, and as ~ 482 Report of an Expedition into the Mishmee Hills. (No. 163. it is the custom of these people to build separately on the land they culti- vate, a village is spread over a large space, although confined to a few habitations. On reaching the house of the Gam Abasong, I found that the whole of his people were employed in making preparations for the reception of myself and party, and doing all they could to make us welcome. By 10 a.m. of the 6th we left this village, and there being a scarcity of people to carry the baggage, I here deposited every thing that it was possible to dispense with: after passing some cultivation the road led down by a steep descent to the banks of the Tiding river; some dis- tance up this stream a large number of Mishmees, principally of the Malo and Moree clans, are located, who cannot be reckoned at less than a thousand persons. As the river was low, we crossed over by means of the fishing weirs, which extend across the stream; but the usual method adopted by the Mishmees themselves, is by fixing a hoop of cane round the waist, which, passing over a single rope of the same material stretched from bank to bank, enables them to propel themselves forward with their hands and feet, and whatever articles they may have with them are suspended to the bottom of the hoop: in a similar manner both cows and buffaloes are conveyed from bank to bank, being dragged over by other ropes attached to the hoops in which they are carried. In the bed of this river are to be found a great variety of the different primitive rocks: lime is here met with in immense blocks, and granite, serpentine, &c. with numerous metalliferous stones, are mixed together in the greatest profusion. On leaving the bed of the Tiding, the road leads over the spurs of the mountains that continue down to the banks of the Burhampooter, and for some distance passes under the perpendicular cliffs of primitive limestone, from which are visible the pendulous stalac- tites that are peculiar to this formation ; after passing the limits occupied by this rock the soil becomes micacious, and in a few places I observed mica slate to cross out from the surface. Arriving on the banks of the Burhampooter, the only path was from block to block, which being of great size and worn to a smooth surface from the action of the water, the passage over them was thereby rendered both arduous and difficult. The mountains in this neighbourhood are mostly covered with dense tree jungle, of great magnitude, for about two-thirds of their height, above which is grass, and near the summits bare rock ; and in the dells 1845. | Report of an Expedition inio the Mishmee Hills. 483 between the mountains, small hill streams, of beautifully clear water, flow along the hollows until lost in the large rivers that intersect the country. By sunset we reached a Mishmee house, and were glad to avail ourselves of the shelter offered. Dec. 7th.—As rain had continued falling during the night and the greater part of the day, I was unable to proceed further than a few miles ; but contrived to reach the house of a chief, named Heasong, to whose residence most of my baggage had been taken on by mistake the previous day. Dec. 8th.—On leaving this place, and passing through much low jungle where formerly cultivation had been very extensive, we reach- ed the Loolooah rivulet, and crossing which the road lay skirting the banks of the Burhampooter, to the bed of which we occasionally descended ; for the most part the road for these hill tracks was tolerably good, except one place that ran along the side of a low rocky mountain where the footing was unsafe and precarious, from which had any one fallen, he would have been precipitated some thousand feet into the boiling stream of the Burhampooter, the noise of whose waters was just audible from the height we were passing. During this day’s march we passed by an elevated lake of small extent, as well as many streams of minor size, and by 4 p.m. arrived at the house of Rumling, who is the head chief of the Taen tribe of Mishmees, and has established himself near the Pass leading from the country to the south of the Burhampooter, which being inhabited by the Myjoo Mishmees, with whom the tribes to the north of the river are at war, affords thereby a protection against the inroads of these people. As a large pig had been slain by this chief in honor of our coming, a part of which is usually reserved for the inmates of the house, I was much amused to see the manner in which these people cook and feed themselves. The animal being killed the blood is all carefully collected, and with the grain babosa is made into a kind of black pudding; the meat is boiled in a large chaldron, and being cut up into pieces is distributed in leaves amongst those in the house; these pieces being taken up in the hand are forced as far as possible into the mouth, and the remainder cut off close to the lips: when this is disposed of, the mixture of babosa and blood is stuffed down their throats as fast as they are able to swallow it. In this manner their meals are completed ina few minutes, when they 484 Report of an Expedition into the Mishmee Hills. [No. 163. again take to their pipes, which are seldom out of their mouths from morning to night. Many of the cooking utensils used by these people are made of stone; but they also possess some of copper, which are brought over from the Lama country ; in these they boil their water, cook their victuals, and make the liquor of which they consume large quantities ; but as it is drunk in an unfermented state, and therefore is of little strength, a great many quarts are necessary to produce the slightest intoxication. As I was informed by this chief that some people of the Lama country were at a village some distance further on, I determined to proceed to the place they were remaining at, and sent forward a messenger to in- form them of my intention. It was therefore the morning of the 11th December before I quitted this chief's house, and after proceeding some ° distance we arrived at the Dillee river, which is a stream of considerable size, having its rise in the snowy range bordering the Lama country, along whose banks a path to that country exists. After crossing this river we proceeded along the verge of the Burhampooter, and by 4 p. m. reached the mouth of the Doo river, which, although a stream of some magnitude, is yet much inferior in size to the Dillee, and rises also in the same range of mountains as that_river, a little more to the eastward, and is one of the routes by which the trade with the Lama people is carried on. From this point the Burhampooter has a south- © easterly direction, and, winding between the mountains, passes through the snowy range beyond which the valley of Lama is situated. By the route of the Dillee river the road leads out at the village of Glee, and by the Doo at that of Lamai in whose vicinity are also many other villages of the Lama people, all of which are described as situated on the Burhampooter. The village highest up this river is named Lisko, where the Burhampooter is said to be but a mountain rivulet, and on the west side of the same mountain from which this issues likewise pro- ceeds the Dehong river. Dec. 12th.—After quitting our halting place we proceeded up the bed of the Doo river, over large boulders of granite and serpentine, and where from the river passing between perpendicular scarps of rock we were unable to continue along the bed; it was found necessary to ascend the banks of the river, which, as they were very precipitous, was found to be difficult to be accomplished, and in many cases extremely dangerous to 1845. Report of an Expedition into the Mishmee Hills. 485 pass. By 3 o’clock our party reached a flat piece of ground overlooking the river, where it was considered advisable to remain during the night. The several clans in the neighbourhood of this stream consist of the Manneah, Tshee, Dhah, Tummaih, and Mlee, who altogether are a numerous people, but in appearance most indigent and ill provided both in food and clothing, and are as wild a set of unwashed savages as may perhaps be met with in any part of the world. The water of the Doo is by no means good, having a disagreeable taste, and has the property of giving goitre to all those who drink it. Dec. 13th.—On leaving the bed of this river, the ascent up the Dagoom range of mountains is very steep, and in many places where the rain had cut the side of the mountain into deep chasms, the path could only be passed by means of trees thrown from point to point, beneath which a perpendicular scarp of rock was all the resting place that would have been found had an unlucky step or a rotten bough caused any one to fall at any of these places. On arriving at the village of Tuppang, I and my party put up at the house of the Gam, and as the Lama people were staying at a house not far distant, during the afternoon I had an interview with them. It appeared they had come across the snowy range for the sake of trading with the Mishmees for teeta ;* but from the snow having fallen unexpect- edly, had not been able to return to their own country. In appearance these people much resemble the Chinese, and are dress- ed in a loose robe that falls in folds around the waist, and are a fair and tall race of men; some wear the hair plaited in the Chinese manner down the back, while others have the head shaved ; and from their de- scription of themselves, it appears that those who trade with the Mishmees are likewise a hill tribe, and in their manner of life differ very little from the Mishmees themselves. I should however imagine, that the country they inhabit is not very rugged, as on all the cattle brought from thence I observed the marks of the plough distinctly visible on the neckt. * Captis teeta, Wall. -¢ This agrees with a report current in Upper Assam, that during an excessive inun- dation of the Burhampooter, a great number of ploughs and other agricultural imple- ments were brought down by the floods. The Assamese suppose the country they come from to be inhabited by Kotas; of which are the Assamese themselves, as the great body of the Assamese population.— E;, J. ' 486 Report of an Expedition into the Mishmee Hills. [No. 163: After conversing with them for some time, I found they were prohibited by their own Government from visiting the plains of Assam, and not having been to Lassa the capital, were unable to give me any precise information regarding the Tsampoo ; but said that, according to all they had heard, the river flowed into the valley of Assam after quitting the country to the north of the mountains, and is therefore in all probability identical with the Dehong. The view from this village is very grand, as the distance from the snowy range, which was immediately opposite, was only two days’ jour- ney to the summit, and from this point (Tuppang,) I was told by the Mishmees that they were able to reach the village of Lamai in the La- ma country in three days. As no further population is to be met with on this side of the snowy mountains, I determined to retrace my steps from this point, as no advantage could, I conceive, take place by my proceeding any further in this direction ; I therefore on the following morning again left this village, and, varying my route so as to allow of my getting a sufficient set of sights to complete my survey, I arrived again at the Khamptee village on the 22nd of December. From hence I set out to visit the celebrated Teeruth of the Hindoos, called the Brahma Kund, which I reached, and returned from, in two days. This place I found to be merely a bay or inlet of the Burhampooter, into which falls a small stream, that issues from the side of the hill immediately above it; this is considered the holy water in which all the devotees who visit the place bathe themselves, and is reported to have the virtue of washing out all the sins that the person may have previously committed. During the time of the Ahoms, it was necessary for the king on his ascension to the throne to be washed in water brought from this place, and until this ceremony was completed he was not considered fit to take upon himself the reins of government : to insure the benefits of absolution, it is considered necessary, that the person should ever after forego the use of some kind of food; but as this is left entirely to the person’s own choice, such articles are commonly selected as are either not particularly liked by them, or such as are not often procurable. At the point where the water first shows itself, the large stone that covers the orifice as well as those on either side of the stream, were formerly gilt by a Khamptee Raja, 1845. ] Report of an Expedition into the Mishmee Hills. 487 a portion of which gold is yet visible. The water of this streamlet is warmer than that of the Burhampooter, but is of a disagreeable taste. I was told by my guides, that the rains of 1843 ara altered and damaged the place. On my arrival at the Khamptee village I left by boat, and again reached the post of Laikwah, on the 30th December. Religion. —The Mishmees seem to have but a very faint idea of any religion: they, however, worship a numerous set of Deos or gods, a great many of whom do not appear to have a-name; the most to be feared amongst them, is the god of destruction, named Mujeedagrah, who in his attributes much resembles the Hindoo Sheo or Maha-déo. Sacrifices are also offered to Damipaon, who is the god of instruction and the chase; to Tibla, a8 the god of health and disease; and these two last named together with a god called Prepang, are supposed to wander about in company from place to place. When any disease appears in any of their houses, a priest of these people is sent for to drive away the evil spirit. ‘This ceremony is performed in the following manner : The time fixed on for commencing is sunset, when the inmates of the house and the relatives of the person concerned are assembled within the house ; and the priest having placed himself in the centre, he commences chaunting a dismal kind of dirge in a most monotonous strain. After this has continued some time, the priest rises with a fan in one hand, and a box containing pebbles in the other; with these he dances about on a mat, flourishing his fan and rattling his box: after this has lasted some time, he leaves his mat and begins moving up and down the house, continually singing the same tune; and arriving at the door, he pretends to drive the spirit out of the house: this is repeated several times, after which the intended sacrifice is led forth, and after much unnecessary cruelty, is killed by the priest and offered to the supposed spirit. These people do not appear to have any very distinct conception of a future state, but suppose that all, whether good or bad, will go to the same place as their fathers and mothers have before them; and that, if the - friends and relations of the deceased offer up sufficient sacrifices in their name, they will be permitted to return again to the earth, but failing in which, the spirit of the dead becomes an avenging demon, empowered to work all sorts of evil on the heads of the relatives who have omitted to perform the necessary rites. 3 x 488 Report of an Expedition into the Mishmee Hills. [No. 163. Burials. —On the death of any person of consequence, the body is buried, and, according to the wealth of the family, a greater or less number of animals are slain, and the heads deposited around the grave on a frame-work of wood, in the centre of which a circular house is built over the grave itself, in which is placed flesh, both raw and cooked, together with grain, spirits, &c. and all the arms, clothes, and implements necessary for a person whilst living. Should the person be poor, the body is either burnt or thrown into a river if near at hand. Births.—When the time of awoman’s confinement is near at hand, a small shed is erected for her reception in the jungle near the house, in which she remains until the time of her purification is completed. If the child proves a male, this lasts for ten days; but if a female, for only eight from the day of its birth: during this time the mother is fed from the house, and none but her female relations are allowed to visit her. Marriages.—Marriage amongst the Mishmees is perhaps the most singular custom that prevails regarding this ceremony. Alliances are usually contracted by the parents for their sons and daughters ; and on the part of the man, presents to a large amount are required to be given to the father as the price demanded for his daughter, and which are usually proportioned to the rank and beauty of the woman: these pre- sents consist of buffaloes, cows, gongs, salt, &c. &c. with a large quan- tity of dried field mice and fish. ‘The wives allowed to one man are not limited to any number, but do not often exceed four or five. Whena man dies or becomes old, it is the custom of these people for the wives to be distributed amongst his sons, who take them to wife; but the mother of any of the sons is always transferred to one of her husband’s sons by another wife, so that a man is not actually obliged to marry his mother, but merely his father’s wife. Dress and Arms.—The dress worn by the Mishmees consists of a cloth bound round the loins, which passes between the legs, and is fasten- ed in front, and a coat without sleeves that reaches from the neck down to the knees ; two pouches made of fur are used, in which to carry their pipe, tobacco, flint, steel, &c., and on the back is carried a flat shaped basket, which is covered with the long fibres of the Sinwa tree, and ornamented with the tail of a Lama cow; below the knee is bound a quantity of finely split cane. The dress of the women is made of exactly the same material as that of the men, and consists of a bodice which barely — oe Oe a 1845.] Report of an Expedition into the Mishmee Hills. 489 serves to cover the breasts, and a skirt that reaches from the waist as far as the knee; on the head is worn a tiara of silver, and a profusion of beads are suspended around the neck. The principal weapons used are the spear, and a straight sword of Lama manufacture, to which is occasionally added a matchlock or crossbow, from which are projected poisoned arrows. When proceeding on any expe- dition of danger, a strong coat of sufficient thickness to ward off the force of an arrow is added to their costume, as well as a cap of fur, or split bamboo. In person both male and female are disgustingly dirty, and, with the exception of a few of the chiefs, are seldom washed from one year’s end to another. Manufactures.—The clothes worn by these people are for the most part made by themselves, and consist of cotton which is cultivated by them for the purpose, and a few woollen articles made from the fleece of the Lama sheep, and in appearance seem to possess great durability both as to color and material. The hills, however, beyond the first range of mountains bordering Assam not being capable of producing cotton, the people beyond these limits are therefore entirely dependent for dress on the Mishmees bordering Assam, and the Lama people on the north side of the snowy range. In all other branches of manufacture, these people seem to be very deficient, and with the exception of spear heads and a few articles of this description, are capable of producing no kind of utensils that might prove of use to them in ordinary life. Trade.—Trade is carried on by the Mishmees almost entirely by barter, and the tribes to the north of the Burhampooter may be divided into two classes, namely, those who trade with Assam and those who trade with the Lama people; the first usually bring down to Assam, swords, spears, gongs, copper vessels, with small quantities of Mishmee ¢eeta and poison, which they exchange for cattle, salt, and various kinds of cloth, beads, &c.; but most of these articles not being produced by themselves, they are obliged to procure them from the Mishmees who trade with Lama, and for which they give cloths made by themselves, and those they take back from Assam. The second division having nothing to offer in barter but the Mishmee ¢eeta and poison, which is only to be found on the mountains near the limit of perpetual snow; being in great request by the people of Tibet, they are enabled to exchange it for cattle, gongs, 490 Report of an Expedition into the Mishmee Hills. [No. 163. swords, and copper vessels : they also barter a great deal among them- selves, but the difficulty of passing through the country must always in a great degree tend to hinder the advancement of trade, as from the nature of the country it can scarcely be expected that any other mode of conveyance can be adopted, than that of carrying all goods in the baskets at present in use amongst them, which are placed on the back and supported by a band which passes round the head. Houses and mode of Living.—The habitations of the Mishmees are generally, as much as possible, hid from the view by being placed in patches of jungle left for the purpose of concealment; they are usually built apart from each other, and unlike most other people, these Mishmees never congregate in villages. Their houses are all constructed with raised platforms, and vary from 12 to 15 feet in breadth, and 120 and 180 in length: a passage down one side com- municates with the rooms, which are divided off into lengths of from ten to thirty feet long; down the whole length of this passage two bamboos are placed, on which are ranged the heads of all the animals that the owner of the house has killed during his lifetime, and which being constantly exposed to the smoke from the fires, and plastered with blood on the occasion of any animal being slain, turn to a perfectly black color with a fine polish. Above the fires, one or two of which are placed in every compartment, are hung crates of bamboo, ‘which are used for drying and smoking whatever articles are required ; and about these compartments blocks of wood are strewed, which serve the inmates for pillows. The under part of the house is appropriated to the pigs and fowls, in which they are confined by a paling of wood. The staple commodity of food cultivated by these Mishmees is a grain called babosa; it is used both for food, and to prepare an unfermented liquor, which is drunk in a hot state as soon as made. Rice is grown, but in small quantities, and merely by those tribes in the vicinity of Assam, and is not capable of being cultivated on the moun- tains in the interior: they however possess other kinds of grain, such as buck-wheat, Indian-corn, baitnah, &c. ; but should all these fail them, they are capable of existing on the interior part of the Sinwah and Dhainkeeah trees, which afford sufficient nutriment to preserve them from starving, and affords excellent food for their pigs, on which they are commonly fed. | 1845.] Report of an Expedition into the Mishmee Hills. 491 Flesh of all kinds is in great request, and all animals, from a mouse to an elephant, are eagerly devoured by these people, merely with the excep- tion of crows, the black ape, and muster* found in rivers: that of the women is much more limited, being confined to fish, wild birds, and field mice ; but, however fond they may be of animal food, they have not yet paid any attention to the breeding of cattle, but kill and eat whatever they may be able to purchase immediately on arrival at their villages. Customs, Manners, &c. &c.—The domestic economy of the Mishmees does not appear to be burthened with many customs or observances such as are met with in civilized life ; but, nevertheless, some of their habits appear but little adapted to a savage state, amongst which I may mention the practice of not eating flesh, or any thing but plain boiled grain in the houses of their superior relations by marriage, but which does not apply if the case is reversed, as the superior relations are not prohibited from eating whatever may be offered to them in the houses of their inferior relations ; but as marriages and intermarriages are very common, it is but very seldom that a married man is capable of partaking of the rights of hospitality amongst his own or the neighbouring cians, although there may at the time be enough or even more than enough to satisfy all. The whole of the tribes to the north of the Burhampooter as far west as the Degaroo and the source of the Tiding rivers, and to the east as far as the Doo river, may in a political sense be treated as one people, although the divisions amongst themselves into clans are numerous, among which the Taen and Maroo hold the two first places; but, being so intimately connected with the other clans both by the ties of marriage and interest, cannot be regarded as a separate people or distinct from each other in any way except in name: every clan has, however, a nominal head; but the power of their chiefs is extremely limited, and may be set at naught by any person who considers himself sufficiently powerful to assert his inde- pendence. Laws and punishments seem scarcely to exist, and with the exception of murder and abduction, no other crimes against each other appear of common occurrence ; this last is, however, a fruitful source of dissension and quarrel, and when any case of the kind takes place, the person from whom the woman has been taken, demands the amount he * Sic in MS.—Ebs. 492 Report of an Expedition into the Mishmee Hills. [No. 168. paid to her parents for her from the man who has taken her away, which if he gives, the affair is generally ended, as they never take back a woman who has misbehaved in tltis way; but should the man refuse, or be unable to pay the demand, the man who has lost his wife, lies in wait to slay the seducer, and if successful, it then becomes the duty of his relatives to avenge his death. Agriculture appears to be conducted in the most rude and simple manner, and the use of the plough is unknown. When the time of sow- ing approaches, the surface of the ground is merely scratched with a small kind of hoe, which penetrates but a few inches into the earth ; and domestic animals, with the exception of pigs and fowls, are not reared. . Slavery does not exist to any very great extent amongst them, and is chiefly confined to such individuals as they are enabled to purchase from other tribes, although some few instances of persons being sold of their own tribe amongst themselves are to be met with. It is, how-. ever, carried to a far greater extent by the people on the other side of the snowy range, and I am given to understand that whole villages of As- samese are in great numbers in the Lama country. Geography.—The geographical features of this part of the Himalayah range, do not in any very essential particulars differ from those of other mountainous countries: in every direction it is intersected by small streams, which either fall into the Burhampooter or the larger tributaries to this river, the Tiding, Dillee or Doo. The height of the mountains is somewhat less than those more to the west, and with the exception of the snowy range itself, no mountains on the side of Assam are covered with perpetual snow, although during the winter months the peaks of all of them become more or less covered; but even at these heights the fir, which is usually indigenous to mountain tracks, does not exist, being entirely confined to the Lama country, and the part of these hills marked in the map as the Myjoo country. Geology.—As the formation of these mountains is entirely confined to primitive description of rocks, it does not perhaps afford so fruitful a field of investigation into the science as may be found in other parts of the world. It nevertheless must possess some interest to the geologist, as almost every variety of these rocks is to be met with in the greatest profusion ; a considerable part of the first range passed over by myself is composed of dolomite or gypsum, in which also is to be found a great Ee 1845. } Report of an Expedition into the Mishmee Hills, 493 quantity of alabaster. On the left bank of the Tiding, primary limestone prevails; beyond which micaceous formations are numerous, which in the vicinity of the ‘Toolooah river become mica slate. Serpentine abounds in the bed of the Burhampooter, and granite would appear to occupy the higher elevations of the mountains, as I did not perceive any in siti, although boulders were plentiful in all the streams. I however beg to submit these observations with diffidence, and trust that the few specimens forwarded herewith may throw some light on this subject when submitted to more competent judges than myself. My pear Sir,—I have the pleasure to forward two heads of the animal which, in some of your communications you informed me, were supposed to belong to an animal somewhat resembling the African Gnoo.* It however appears, from the descriptions given of it by the Mishmees, to be of the deer [antelope] kind, and is called by them Jakang, and by the Khamptees, Khing. In size the animal is but a little smaller than a buffalo, having an immense chest and shoulder, but small hind quarters ; the fore-legs are large and powerful, but taper off below the knee ; the under part of the neck is furnished with a dewlap that reaches nearly to the ground, and is covered with long hair; the skin is speckled, and on the top of the back and neck is almost black ; the tail resembles that of the deer, being only two or three inches long, and is turned up when the animal is in action. It is only to be found near the snow, and is said to be very fierce and dangerous to approach. The fur cap that accompanies the heads is made of this animal’s skin ; the larger head is of a male, and the smaller of a female ; but the + of both have been as much as possible cut away to enable the hunters to bring themin. I am happy to say, that I have been promised by the Rannah Gohain’s son a complete set of all the bones, together with the skin of the beast, which I hope he may shortly succeed in procuring. The other head is that of a Lama cow.} * This animal is supposed to be as yet undescribed, I will forward the specimens by the first opportunity.—F. J. t Illegible in MS.—Eb. t Most of the specimens here mentioned have arrived at the Society’s Museum, in- cluding a skin of the Takang, and a frontlet and horns; also the,head of the ‘‘ Lama cow,’’ which would appear to be of the hybrid Yak race, termed Yho and Yho-mo, was according to the sex. ‘The Takang, however, cannot well be described until its bones or at least the entire skull, with the skin of the face and the extremities, come to hand.—Cur. As. Soc. 494 Report of an Expedition into the Mishmee Hills. [No. 163. Soon after my return from the Mishmee hills | again left Saikwah, and proceeded by elephant up the Koondil-panee, and after passing the mouth of the Depho-panee, followed up the course of that stream, until I arrived at the foot of the hills; and as the fort I was in search of was said by my Khamptee guide to be between the Depho and Jameesa, I took a direction through the jungle about east, and without much diffi- culty arrived at the fort five days after quitting Saikwah. This fort* is said to have been built by Raja Sisopal, and is situated on an elevated plain at the foot of the hills ; the extent of it is consider- able, as it took me about four hours to walk along one side of its faces: the defence is double, consisting of a rampart of stiff red clay, which, as © the surrounding soil appears of a different nature, must have been brought from some distance. Below this rampart is a terrace of about 20 yards in breadth, beyond which the side of the hill is perpendicularly scarped, and varies from 10 to 30 feet high; the principal entrance, and the de- fences for some distance on either side, are built of brick, and on many spots in the interior I observed remains of the same materials, so that in all probability the houses occupied by the inhabitants must have been built of masonry. As I was unable from scarcity of provisions to remain more than one day at this place, I could not examine it so minutely as I could have wished. It seemed however to be composed of only three - sides, the steepness of the hill at its north face precluding the necessity of any other works. At present the whole of the northern part of it is thickly covered with tea, which extends, according to the Khamptees who know the locality well, in a belt of more than a mile in depth all along the foot of the hill within the fort, and not as marked in my map, which was drawn before I visited the place. More to the west between the Dihing and Dehong is a much larger fort, and, as I believe, entirely composed of brick, as well as a tank of similar construction, surrounding which are numerous hill forts of smail dimensions erected by a Raja named Bhishmuk, and the popular tradition amongst the people of this part of the country is, that on the destruction of the em- pire of these kings by the Hindoo god Krishno, the people who * Of these forts we had very imperfect information before, and 1 believe Lieutenant Ki. is the first officer who ever visited them. ‘hey refer to a time of which we have no history or even tradition, further than frequent traces of the dynasty of the Pals throughout Assam.—F. J. 1845.] Report of an Expedition into the Mishmee Hills. 495 were able to make their escape fled to the hills, and have in the course of time become converted into the present tribes of Abors*. Near these forts a great number of wild Methunst are to be met with, and the whole of the country, from the mouth of Koondil to the base of the hills, presents many indications of former cultivation. On this expedition I was absent nine days. . Dibrooghur, 6th February, 1845.4 Note on a curious Sandstone formation at Sasseram, zillah Shahabad. By Lieut. W.S. Suerwi tt, 66th, B. N. I, With a Plate. At the foot of a hill at Sasseram, zillah Shahabad, which forms the termination of a spur thrown off from the Northern face of the lofty range of the Kymoor Sandstone Mountains, I observed a curious apparent horizontal columnar formation in the sandstone, as shown in Plate 1. The disposition of the sandstone at this spot has all the appearance of a quantity of horizontal columns, of several feet diameter each, and overlying each other to the height of twelve feet, the lower ones much flattened by pressure. At this spot also they have suddenly ceased, ter- minating in a steep bank, from which they protrude in great numbers, - resembling a series of rudely-pointed horizontal obelisks, weather-stained to a very dark hue, with a strong cobalt tinge. Their exposed si- tuation at this spot has tempted the Sasseram ‘stone-cutters, who, with wedges, have cloven blocks from off these columns for building purposes ; but by so doing, have made it evident that they are not solid columns, but a series of spheres ; each sphere composed of a great variety of differently colored and exceedingly hard concentric strata of siliceous sandstones, concentric upon a nucleus, but the strata exceedingly difficult to exfo- liate, the rock being purely siliceous, throwing back the hammer with great force. These spheres are packed closely together, and so inti- * If the Pals were Buddhists, this tradition may allude to their overthrow by the Rajas of the Brahminical faith; but all authentic records of those times appear to be lost, at least in this province.—F., J. Tt Bos. frontalis, or an allied species.—Cur. As. Soc. t I enclose a copy of this letter as a part of Lieut. Rowlatt’s Journal.—-F, J. a Y¥ 496 Note on a curious Sandstone formation at Sasseram. [No. 168. mately joined by some great pressure as to resemble columns ; the pressure that has brought them into contact, whether from below, above, or laterally, has caused them to be much flattened on every side, so much so that they resemble square columns, varying from two to twenty feet in length; but on a closer inspection, the joint of each separate sphere may be traced on the side of the exposed column. The bed, as far as exposed, Fig. No. 2, is about twelve feet in height, the top row of stones generally being nearly perfect circles, of about three feet diameter, the centre ones elliptical, and the lower part of the bed is composed of a series of layers of much flattened spheres, varying from ten to two inches in diameter; and although crushed into so small a space, each individual stratum, however fine or thread-like in its struc- ture, is perfectly preserved and w@exhibited. In Fig. 3, where with the aid of steel wedges I managed to burst open a sphere, the fracture has taken place in the middle of a thin red gravel- like stratum of about one-eighth of an inch in thickness, and not through the whole strata or concentric coats, but leaving a corresponding hollow, from whence the globe containing the smaller strata and nucleus has started: upon chiselling away the outer surface of the protruding ball, another coloured stratum is discovered. In Fig. 4, a flattened globe presents its central group of strata projecting as a cylindroid; the frac- ture here, as is generally the case, has occurred at one of the gravel-red strata, of which nature are all the delicately pencilled concentric rings noticeable on the fractured surfaces of Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 Figs. The intermediate strata are composed of fine white arenaceous particles, in- termixed with red, black, and brown particles of the same nature, The red lines, which in some specimens are almost invisible from their ex- treme fineness, are evidently tinged with the oxide of iron, traces of which are also visible on the outer coating of the globes. Some of these globes, flattened out to an immense size, 1 have calculated must have been six feet in diameter when perfectly spherical, with many hundred “concentric strata, though not all perfect, some running into and crossing each other in great confusion ; but the generality of the well developed strata are perfect. . It is difficult to imagine how such a series of not only concentric lines, but concentric spheres, similar in arrangement to the coats of a bulbous root, could ever have been formed upon so grand a scale, for S32 gut feet hugh — Peppy ores ¥1, Siliceous Sandstone at Sasseram- March-1945— W. S. Sherwill isss Sandstone Formation at Sasseram 1845- March W. S. Sherwill -1845 | Siltceous ) ——— i ta na 1845.) Note on a curious Sandsione formation at Sasseram. 497 in their formation no trace is left of the globes ever having, at any period, been at rest. Had they been so, the point d’appui, or that part pressing or resting on the ground, most certainly would not have had the concentric strata passed under it; that the strata are concentric to a common nucleus | have proved by bursting open many of the globes, the strata invariably exfoliating as in Nos. 3 and 4. The nucleus, whatever it may be, must be an exceedingly small and insignificant par- ticle, as I have fractured through several globes to within a quarter of an inch of the innermost centre, and found nothing ; the strata varying from the fineness of a hair to six inches in depth, and the spheres from six feet diameter to the size of a pea. Having noticed a series of what 1 thought were the projecting edges of small shells running in a straight line nearly parallel to the major axis of one of the elliptical stones, and traversing all the strata, (vide No. 1, fig. a,) I had it broken open in that line ; and in so doing, exposed to view a bed of about a foot in width, of very closely compressed’ blotches, of a delicately soft argillaceous substance, of a pale yellow color, impalpably fine when dissolved in water ; no individual particle being visible under a powerful lens. I traced this curious formation for about two hundred yards along the base of the hill where it suddenly ceases, the sandstone regaining its usual horizontality of stratification. ° Notes, chiefly Geological, across the Peninsula of the Southern India, from Madras, Lat. N. 13° 5' to Goa, Lat. N. 15° 30' by the Baulpilly Pass and Ruins of Bijanugger. By Caprain Newsoup, F.R.S., M.N.J., Assistant Commissioner Kurnool, Madras Territory. Physical aspect of the plain between Madras and the Naggery mountains. The country lying between Madras, and the Eastern Ghaut line of the Naggery hills, is a maritime plain, about 34 miles broad, rising gently towards the base of the mountains. It is watered by the Coom stream, which finds its way to the sea at Madras, and by the Cortelair which, after receiving the Naggery river, communicates with the sea by the salt lagoon of Ennore, about ten miles North of Madras. A few gentle undulations or swells running generally to the S.W. alone interrupt the flat monotony of this great plain, the surface of 498 Notes, chiefly Geological, [No. 163. which is studded with numerous trunks, and often verdant with rice and raggi cultivation. Plantations of the betel-vine and patches of sugar-cane are scattered here and there, and tall groves of cocoa-nuts and palmyras tower over an underwood composed chiefly of the dwarf date, cactus, euphorbia, and mimosa. ‘These form a low jungle covering the higher sterile, dry patches, which intervene between the lower cultivated portions. Soils. The surface soil is usually sandy, and many extensive tracts are entirely covered with a fine sand resembling that of the sea, and lateritic debris. The sandy soil occasionally passes into a silt and fine red clay, largely used in pottery and brick-making. The subsoils are in some situations beds of kunker of various thickness, of mhurrum, or disintegrated rock, and granitic and hypogene rocks; thin beds of grey marl overlie, near the coast, beds of a black clay im- bedding pelagic shells of recent Species, laterite, and a loosely aggre- gated sandstone which passes into slate clays, both white and co- loured, with oxide of iron of various shades. Of the rocks above-mentioned granite, gneiss, and hornblende schists are found basing all the rest, occasionally rising above the surface, but in general thickly covered. The granite near the coast is usually of the variety termed pegmatite, being composed of quartz and felspar ex- clusively ; above the surface it commonly appears in naked bosses, and detached concentrically-weathering blocks. On approaching the base of the mountains these blocks become more frequent, and are mingled with similar globular masses of basaltic greenstone, outgoings of the ~ numerous dykes which prevail in the granite and hypogene rocks. Frag- ments of quartz rock, chert, jasper, and sandstone also occur, more or less rolled, derived doubtless from the Naggery beds. The gneiss usually contains hornblende. Occasional beds of laterite occur. One I observed between Madras and Poonamallee, which passes into a loose sandstone and felspathic shale. Laterite has been employed in the construction of the fort at Poonamallee and in the revetment of the old fort of Tripassore. Eastern Ghauts. The southerly line of Ghaut elevation, appears to terminate on the N. bank of the Naggery river, south of Hodgson pettah, and farther west in the bluff peak of Naggery nose; but it, in reality, — suffers a deflection westerly and southerly, forming a great mountainous ee Ly ee ———— 1845. | across the Peninsula of Southern India. 499 curve by Muddoordroog, Chellumpolliam, and Mymundeldroog to the great break of the Eastern Ghauts at Sautghur. The low hills at the foot of the Naggery chain are of granite, gneiss, hornblende, schist, and basaltic greenstone. The height of the main chain itself near Cumbancumdroog, where it supports a small table- land, is stated at 2550 feet above the sea. The sandstone cliffs by which the chain is crested have a columnar aspect; but those forming the lower part of the ridge clearly proved this appearance to be deceptive, and that the rock rests in thick beds on the granite, having a dip towards the west. The columnar appearance is owing to the nearly vertical fissures which intersect the strata at right angles; and which, in the thicker beds, constitute their most marked feature. A highly illustrative instance of the jointed structure is seen in the mural sand- stone cliffs cresting the sacred hill of Tripati. These cliffs usually support table-lands of greater or less extent. ‘To the east of the chain, between it and the sea, runs a low flat-topped ridge, which for want of leisure 1 was unable to examine. The Naggery hills, as the traveller proceeds in a N.W. direction, lose their peculiar crested appearance, and acquire a smoother outline,—a feature possibly to be attributed to the almost total disappearance of the granite and greenstone on which they rest. The Tripati spur, however, which takes an abrupt turn to the east, resumes this appearance ;* but it again disappears in the hills of Curcumbaddy: the latter, as we ascend towards the table-land, diminish in height, and acquire rounder tops and gentler declivities, in general clothed with vegetation. Tripatt. The approach to Tripati from the south is extremely beautiful, lying over a large and cultivated plain cinctured by an amphitheatre of picturesque hills. The plain gradually slopes to the foot of the holy mountain, at the southern base of which the town of Tripati lies. The mountain itself, with its mural crest of reddish sandstone, the path for pilgrims to the celebrated shrine leading up its steep side, commanded by three antique pyramidal gateways, and the town at the * ] have since heard from Capt. Bell, Engineers, that a porphyritic granite is seen at the western base of this sacred mountain. Greenish and dark coloured whetstones are often used by native barbers all over the country, which are quarried in the argil- laceous beds near Tripati, but aye not so much prized asthe imported Turkey oil stones. 500 Notes, chiefly Geological, [No. 163. foot overlooked by lofty pagodas,—form an interesting study for the pencil. The surface of the plain is covered with a reddish sandy soil. The old boundary of the Tamul and Telinghi kingdoms, the Andra and Dravida-des, is in this vicinity. Curcumbaddy.. From Tripati to Curcumbaddy the road skirts the southern flank of the Tripati hills inan E.N.E. direction to Cur- cumbaddy. ‘The rocks in the immediate vicinity of Curcumbaddy are of a crystalline sandstone passing- into quartz rock of a white or slightly green hue, radiated with red bands. - Baulpilly. From Curcumbaddy the road at first lies over a short table-land, and then descends into the valley of Baulpilly, bounded to the E. and W. by two ranges of hills. The face of the country is covered with a thicket abounding with bamboos. The soil is red, but darker and softer, from the admixture of argillaceous and calcareous matter, than that hitherto seen ; it contains vegetable matter mingled with the alluvium. Bajra, raggi, and culti are cultivated with success. The formation consists of sandstone less quartzose than that of Curcumbaddy, and of the argillaceous shales into which the Cuddapah limestone passes. The lines of cleavage in the latter are nearly vertical, and almost at right angles with those of stratification; but I did not observe them passing into the structure of the sandstone. This may be seen near the rude barrier gate of the Baulpilly Pass. The softer shales are usually found in the lower parts of the valley, and the sandstone cap- ping these summits of the hills. Dykes of basaltic greenstone occur traversing the shales and slates; also veins of quartz. Fragments of _ flinty slate, chert, and jasper are frequent.. The surrounding country is wild and romantic. Codoor. The road passes partly through a bamboo jungle up the | centre of the Baulpilly valley in a north-westerly direction to Codoor, a small village in the Cuddapah collectorate, 108 miles travelling dis- tance N.W. from Madras. Here the hills on either side open out into a delightful plain watered by the Gungama, and smiling with culti- vation, principally of bajra, raggi, culti, and indigo. The Pass of Baulpilly leads over a rocky belt that stretches across the valley, and forms an anticlinal line, from which the Gungama and a branch of the _Calastry river flow in contrary directions ; the first towards the N.W. to the Pennaur, and the latter towards the S.E. by Calastry. The 1845. ] across the Peninsula of Southern India. 501 formation is argillaceous limestone passing into argillaceous shales, capped occasionally by sandstone. Extensive deposits of kunker contri- bute much to the fertility of the soil. Nundaloor. The route from Codoor to Nundaloor, a distance of thirty miles and upwards, lies up the valley of Baulpilly, which is obstructed in many parts by rock spurs from the flanking ranges. Approaching Nun- daloor the hills become barer, more conical and mammiform. Nun- daloor is a small town, about 1374 miles N.W. from Madras, and situat- ed on the left bank of the Baugonuddi or Cheyair stream, which flows northerly to the Pennaur river, east of Sidhout ; and is here three furlongs broad, with a bed of coarse sand. The surrounding formation is argillace. ous and calcareous shales, schist, and sandstone: the soil is sandy ; and pro- duces, among other articles, indigo and a considerable quantity of rice. The rice lands are irrigated by a large tank, situated a little to the west of the village, which derives its supply principally from the rain water that rushes down during the monsoon from the tops and sides of the hills lying to the westward. Palmyras appear to thrive in low situations in the sandy soil. In some of the hills in this vicinity the lines of stratification can be distinctly traced, even at a considerable distance. The strata dip at an angle of 12° to the south of east; the strike of the beds N. by W. The cleavage lines of the shales and schists are much more vertical than the planes of stratification, forming with them an angle of about 45°, but dipping in the same direction. The latter are dis- tinctly marked, even in hand specimens, by alternate parallel light and dark bands. The seams are often filled with friable calcareous in- crustations. From acompact argillaceous slate of a light greyish green with fine chloritic lamine, it passes into white and purple shales. Minute spangles of mica occur disseminated. The sandstone, as we recede from the granite, becomes less crystalline, and acquires argil- laceous matter, though veins of white quartz are still seen traversing it. The light coloured argillaceous slate, held in the platinum forceps before the blowpipe, whitens and fuses into a whitish enamel ; the purple shale after deepening in colour melts partially, and with difficulty, into a number of minute greyish globules. With borax it fuses into a light green glass, which becomes greyish on cooling; and, with carbo- nate of soda, with effervescence, into a glass of a darker green. The soil here is sandy and calcareous ; debris of the sandstone, limestone, and clay 502 Notes, chiefly Geological, [No. 163. slate. From Nundaloor the range of hills flanking the western side of the valley is crossed by a defile to the plains of Cuddapah. The summits of many of these hills are capped with sandstone ; while lime- stone and its associated shales are seen near their bases in the vallies, as at Wontimetta and near Bankrapet. | Cuddapah. Cuddapah is situated at the western entrance of the flat valley of the Pennaur, from which river it lies about six miles south. The height of the plain, in the midst of which Cuddapah is situated, is about 500 feet from the level of the sea. The Pennaur flows at the base of the northern range in an easterly direction towards Nellore, below which it disembogues into the Bay of Bengal. The stream, on the banks of which Cuddapah stands, takes its rise in the hills to the south of the place, and pursues a northerly course to the Pennaur. Other streams of minor note intersect the plain. ‘The soil covering the surface is generally black, mixed with sand and calcareous matter: to the west of the cantonment, a thin stratum of sandy soil overlies a bed of kunker, from one to four or five feet thick; in some places compact like travertine, and in others having a pisiform, tuberose, and tufaceous structure. Some specimens when broken exhibit a crystalline radiated structure; others a concentric form. Below this lies a bed of limestone, generally purple and of ashaly structure, mingled with argillaceous matter. The bed of kunker, however, does not always intervene : the latter rock, where it is tufaceous, has often a concentric appearance resembling stalactite ; and sometimes appears in pisiform concretions both detached and adherent to the subjacent mass. It is still in process of formation from water slowly percolating from below; the stems of the grasses around which it has formed, are often found undecayed. astern Range. Ghauts, North of Cuddapah. On ascending the range, north of Cuddapah, where it overlooks the diamond mines of Chinnoor and Ovalumpully, I found the base and sides to be covered with angular fragments of a very hard ferruginous sandstone. Advancing a little way up the ascent, a narrow bed of a greyish quartz, following the line of bearing, is crossed. Here and there slightly convex plateaus of compact crys- talline sandstone, passing into quartz rock, of various shades of red, are observable amid the loose blocks and vegetation with which the surface is almost concealed. Large amorphous masses of the greyish quartz rock appear at irregular distances on the summit; some of them ten feet high. 1845.] across the Peninsula of Southern India. 503 Fragments of the same are strewed around, partly lying upon, and partly imbedded in, a fine reddish soil resulting from the weathering of the subjacent rock. Near the summit I picked up pieces of a vesicular ferruginous rock with tubular sinuosities, a species of laterite, and ap- parently of the same structure as that on the summit of the Ganjicotta hills. The tops of these, as well as of the other hills in the vicinity, present slightly convex plateaus forming table-lands of circumscribed extent. The relative altitude does not suffer any considerable varia- tion, not exceeding, I believe, 1500 feet above the level of the plain. The sides are deeply indented by abutments jutting out at right angles to the line of bearing. In the ravines that separate them, fine echoes are produced. The sides and summits are thickly clothed with vegeta- tion and low forest. The wells at the base of the range to the south of Cuddapah are cut'through strata, varying from eight to twenty feet in thickness, of compact and tufaceous kunker. Bankrapet Range, South of Cuddapah. Passing the small tank of Ipa- Penta, the ground gradually ascends and becomes jungly. Several rivulets are crossed until a rather high ground is reached, where two defiles branch off; the one to the left or east, leads to the water-fall of the Pedda Garhi, and the other to the right to that of the Chinna Garhi. There I pitched my tent on the right bank of a stream, and proceeded on horseback over a stony jungly path winding through defiles, over- looked by jungly hills and mural precipices of sandstone. The Pedda Garhi is one of those singular fissures through the sandstone, like that of Ganjicotta, cleaving the rocks diagonally across the line of stratifica- tion from the summit to the base. The sides are precipitous rocky facades, narrowing rather abruptly, as the traveller advances southerly, into a fissure two or three yards wide, with salient and re-entering angles. At the base of the western cliffs are pools filled with the clear water, which drips in a perpetual rain from seams in the disrupted strati- _ fied rocks which have a dip of about 8° to the N.E. The precipice on the left, or on the north-east, distils no water. Here we see one of the very few illustrations observed in Southern India of the theory of springs. The water evidently percolates through the porous strata capping the higher adjacent summits to lower impervious beds, where collecting it follows the dip of the strata, and finds an exit in the fissure which-has 3 Z 504 Notes, chiefly Geological, — [No. 163. broken off the continuation ; between the rocks on the right and those on the left, the latter are of course perfectly dry. The cleft in the rock proceeds, according to the natives, to a considerable distance, till at length, from the height and closeness of its high rocky walls, the rays of the sun are excluded. Natives from superstitious motives dread ex- ploring its recesses, and tell many incredible tales of the vengeance with which the Genius Loci has visited intruders. The bottom of the fissure is completely covered with water to an uncertain depth. Hun- dreds of the finny tribe sport in the clear depths of the water, which I could not persuade the guides to attempt to catch, as they hold them sacred. Chinna Garhi. 1 now proceeded to the smaller spring, or the Chinna Garhi. Here the water gushes in a small silvery cascade from a cliff about 200 feet high into a deepish pool among the rocks below, disap- pearing through a narrow cleft, probably a continuation of the principal fissure, to re-appear in the form of a spring below by some fault or dis- location in the strata. In the rains it cannot run off by this outlet as fast as it collects, and a large deep bason is formed, as evinced by the black ferruginous coating with which some of the rocks in the vicinity are covered. The temperature of this pool I found to be 68.5°, three feet below the surface; temperature of air in shade 80°; in sun 86°. The dropping of the thermometer into the water disturbed hosts of the small fishes that rose to the surface, evading all my efforts to catch them. The water is remarkably transparent, sparkling, and agreeable to the taste, probably from containing a large proportion of fixed air. The formation of the range in this neighbourhood is a reddish white, and greenish sandstone, interstratified with shales of various shades of purple and light green, and passing into quartz rock, or arenaceous schists. Large cavities occur filled with beautiful crystals of quartz, and a little hzmatitic nodular and stalactiform iron ore. I observed a furnace for the smelting of this at the foot of the range. The rocks are distinctly stratified, having a dip towards the North and East, varying from 12° to 6°. The joints dip about 70°, and are crossed by others at nearly right angles, separating the masses into cubes and rhombs. The ripple mark is seen very distinctly on the lamina of some of the arenaceous schists. The soil is a light red; and sandy: the vegetation - —— a 1845.) across the Peninsula of Southern India. 505 on the hill sides, luxuriant. Few of the trees or shrubs were seeding or flowering, but amid a multitude of others I observed the Tectona gran- dis, Dalbergia latifolia, Pterocarpus Santalinus, Erythrina indica, the Mimosa Xylocarpa, Carissa spinarum, and the Ixora parviflora used for torches. In the plain are seen the Aloe perfoliata, Euphorbia, Cassia auriculata, Ficus indica, Elate sylvestris, Borassus flabelliformis, Melia azadirachta, Tamarindus indica, and the Asclepias gigantea. The prin- cipal articles of cultivation are saffron, indigo, white juari, raggi, rice, castor oil plant. Among the wild animals frequenting the hills are the tiger, leopard, bear, porcupine, wild bear, several varicties of monkeys, and also the Indian land tortoise. I returned to my tent about 4 p. m., after being nearly twelve hours on horseback, and twenty-four hours without refreshment. Started at three o’clock this morning towards Cuddapah : after about eight miles ride arrived at the Bhuga. This is a sacred spring in a shady Tamarind tope. ‘The Hindus have erected a small Gopar over it, and con- ducted the water from the mouth of a sculptured cow or bull, to be seen at the bottom of the clear pool in which the water collects. In the shade of the tope stands a temple to the tutelar god of the spring, Bhugama fswara ; hard by are five or six other springs bubbling from the rock, and following into the river close by. ‘The temperature of the two springs, which I tried at sunrise, I found to be the same, viz, 88°; of the water in the river 72°, and of the atmosphere 65°. The springs are evidently thermal. The cause of their appearance is a fault in the subjacent sandstone strata. They lie about ten miles N. by E. from the Pedda Garhi. The water appears perfectly pure and well tasted. 3 | Chillumcoor. This village and halting place is about twenty-six miles and a half to the westward of Cuddapah. It comprises about eighty houses, inhabited chiefly by kunbdis, or cultivators. There are also a few Brahmans and Mussulmans. It seems to have once been a place of greater importance, and its pagodas have an air of considerable antiquity : they are dedicated to Iswara and Hanuman. Inscriptions on slabs of red sandstone now lying prostrate, do not afford the date of the building of these structures ; but inform us that the temple to Iswara was endowed by Harihara, king of Bijanugger, in 1305 of the Salivahana era, or 506 Notes, chiefly Geological, [No. 163. about A. D. 1383. The small /ath, or pillar, in front of the temple to Hanuman, according to the inscription, was erected A. S. 1670 by Ram Reddy of Chintalconda, and Chunapa Reddi of Vellipaulum. Cotton, indigo, raggi, juari, bajra, are the staple articles of culti- vation. Soil, principally Regur with saline patches, taken advantage of by natives for the mannfactory of salt. The adjacent country is a plain bounded to the north and south by low ridges of hills. Near the village the limestone alternates with thin beds of sandstone passing into a greenish arenaceous schist. A trap dyke has crossed both rocks ; but, from the deep superstratum of soil the line of junction could not be seen. Fragments of rocks converted into jasper are seen marking the course of the dyke, which is attended by a profuse deve- lopment of kunker. Incrustations of muriate of soda occur between the laminz of the arenaceous schist, as may be seen in the well near the Traveller’s bungalow. A little beyond this, a bed of a granular crystalline limestone is seen in contact with this schist, which, from the massive character of the detached blocks, and the structure and colour of the rock itself, has much the appearance of a grey felspathic granite or trachyte. To the N. E. it passes into a breccia with angular frag- ments of the arenaceous slate, siliceous limestone, chert and jasper imbedded. The presence of the two last minerals indicate the for- ' mation of this bed to have taken place subsequent to the intrusion of the trap dyke, which appears to have broken up the limestone and schist into the fragments now impacted in the crystalline breccia, The following is a section presented by a well in the neighbourhood ; of the village. (See Plate.) The kunker is often dug out in rough square masses, and used in building walls. Blue limestone, with iron pyrites in nearly horizontal strata, is seen in the beds of all the rivulets in the neighbourhood, and also in the bed of the Pennaur, which flows about eight miles to the north of the village. The nearest hills are of sandstone. Chittawarapilly. The road passes for the most part between two ranges of sandstone passing into arenaceous slates of various degrees of fineness and compactness, which generally dip at an angle of 6° to the E.N.E. The higher hills are crowned with thick beds of sandstone supporting table-lands. Vertical joints and fissures often intersect these | i ) Sy - aA -_ SALOAT por beayo0x) ePiOGM 24 ZI?) PF olaM 2 ORG YO LTS Popweksaay | 5s. ae 2. eS) rife /pvou WU? DSIYIS YHAOVVPUGL f . GOL Fu arnlgns fo O 1401}. cod | 2 MY UPYOAG pu Yi go gy 2 ‘ee Um | gee yar eae paras aA vse z " —— ld} Reale Seat sYivii, Link eaieencie a Aspe psi nc Pigtiack ae Sia sini ta ye dy tha Wen el AB vhe jiulbpte 'iay'tis se gird dq. the bee. «1 Bie Pragiiiva (oc flown ee ae Bia ‘niarth of the villege. The imanest hillh ue: HE enndabaeae ee as: - Chibeiamaiapillys Re mika. pinpeeavntive! tig phat colo, eect . ranges of gandetone paiminny into uxcmabedrar eiaten of ‘wom eae froane'e and carapace patqey twit, gpenatelty ign wt: ap. inthe of" oth BN. B,. Pho hidghien OTH Aee epee wiht hacks hetis, of Waaneatns eupporhiogg tas. ade, vane enn fisayres often, ita mx - 1845. | across the Peninsula of Southern India. 507 nearly tubular masses, which give an appearance of a wall of Cyclopean masonry, running in a line with the crest as far as the eye can reach, The lower beds will be generally found schistose, and of smoother out- line. Range to the South of the Bungalow. The eastern extremity of the range to the south of the road has a remarkably rugged appearance, and large masses of rock lie precipitated on its base and sides. On ascend- ing to ascertain the cause of disturbance, I found the hill to have been penetrated by the ramification of a large basaltic dyke. The rock com- posing the dyke passes from a porphyritic to a compact structure. Pale green felspar crystals are imbedded in a crystalline paste of hornblende. Circular and oval cavities, filled with a faint reddish mineral resembling cornelian, and a white mineral resembling prehnite, are found in the greenstone. In the compact varieties augite replaces the hornblende. Near the summit of the hill the basalt appears in four and five sided prisms, about a foot in length, the lower part of the joints convex, fitting into the concave surface of the supporting prisms. A thin incrustation of carbonate of lime occurs between the prisms. The sandstone is highly quartzose, and ferruginous, and acquires a cellular slaggy struc- ture resembling some varieties of laterite. In wandering among the chain of hills to the S. of the Bungalow, I picked up some slabs of laminar sandstone, from the surface of which project oval and circular concentric concretions, from the size of a shilling - to that of a-half-crown in circumference. The outer circle is nearly white, the second darker, enclosing a hard solid nucleus. These con- cretions are harder than the imbedding sandstone, from which they are with difficulty separated, and by weathering less rapidly, project in relief on the surfaces of air-exposed slabs: they penetrated from half an inch to an inch into the substance of the rock. When broken, they do not differ in appearance from the sandstone, except in being a little whiter, and of a finer sand. Some of the more finely laminated slates present on their planes vivid dendroidal delineations. Range to the North of the Bungalow. The sandstone hills to the North of the Bungalow support the table-land of Ganjicotta. Ramifications of a greenstone dyke are seen to run along their base, attended by a profu- sion of kunker deposit. 508 Notes, chiefly Geological, [No. 163. Tallapodatoor. This. village stands in a plain on the right, or South bank of the Pennaur, about twelve miles W. N. W. from Chittawaripilly. The Gundicotta hills flank its North bank, from which they are about three miles direct distance. At their base I found a siliceous greenish slate which, higher up the ascent, is capped by tubular masses of sandstone dipping conformably at a slight angle of about 4° to N. E. The gene- ral direction of the strata, and of the chain itself, is nearly S. E. The lamine of the slates also run S. E., and are intersected by nearly vertical joints at short distances running E.S. E. These fissures pass into the superjacent sandstone. Cavities, which have apparently once been filled with a ferruginous earth or clay, are here frequent in the faces of the sandstone cliffs. . Concretions in the Sandy banks of the Pennaur. The steep bank of the Pennaur near Tallapodatoor is composed of a thick accumulation of sand, silt, quartz, and jasper pebbles, and kunker. The latter is seen often in stalactiform concretions in the substance of the sand and silt, which have been formed by the infiltration of water charged with lime. In many instances these concretions have formed round the stems and roots of grasses, some of which are still vegetating within their stony case; but by far the greater portion have withered, passed into dust, and fallen out leaving cavities or casts. Small dunes of sand are seen in this vicinity on the South bank of the Pennaur drifted by the N. W. winds. Tarputri. At Tarputri, the next march, are two handsome pago- das, dedicated to Chintal Raya and Ram Iswara, elaborately decorated with sculptured bas-reliefs representing the exploits of Rama, and the adventures of the Indian Apollo, Krishna, and other mythological events. Among them is a figure holding a bow, made like the Grecian bow, a form rarely met with in Hindu sculpture. The unfinished gateway of dark basaltic greenstone presents a mass of graceful sculp- ture scarcely excelled, in my opinion, by any thing in the ruins of Bijanugger, or Mahavelipur, though on a much minor scale. The three Sassanams or inscriptions on stone in these temples, which I had copied, were in the Telugu character and language, may bear — date severally 1429, 1431, and 1435 of the Salivahana era, and the name of the then reigning sovereign at Bijanugger, Narsengha Rayel. 1845.] ~across the Peninsula of Southern India. 509 Tarputri is still a considerable place : it is the capital of a taluk, with a population of about 4256 Hindus, (chiefly kunbis) and 2155 Mussul- mans. The language is Telugu. From Tallapodatoor to Tarputri, (about ten miles). The road lies over an extensive plain watered on the north by the Pennaur, cover- ed with regur and a soil of a dark coffee red, except where lime- stone prevails, when it assumes a cineritious colour. The substratum is generally a bed of kunker. Trap dykes are frequently crossed. Tarputri is situated on the right bank of the Pennaur. The only hill in the vicinity is of greenstone, associated with a greenstone slate curiously mottled by dark oval spots. On the summit of this hill, I found kunker -imbedding angular bits of the rock. Beyond Tarputri, near Vaimpully, close to a dyke of basaltic greenstone, masses of calcareous spar with quartz are seen jutting from the surface, many of them incrusted with drusy crystals of quartz. The spar, in some instances, has been pene- trated by the basalt, and coloured of a dull green. Fragments of jasper, flint, chert, brown, green and white, are strewed on the surface. Mounds of kunker are also frequent. Trap dykes continue from Vaimpully to Ryelcherroo. Ryelcherroo. Near this place limestone, sandstone, and sandstone conglomerate prevail, associated with jasper and chert. Tippoo, it is said, dug a considerable quantity of the latter for musket flints. The hill in which the excavations lie, is about 14 mile S. W. from the small fort.. Its base consists of a greyish laminar limestone, with a rugged external appearance, and veined with calcareous spar and quartz. As- cending the hill, the limestone becomes less crystalline, and changes its colour to shades of a greenish blue and pale flesh colour, until the sandstone conglomerate, by which the hill is capped, is reached. A little below the summit amid the blocks of pudding stone and sandstone, lie Tippoo’s excavations for flints ; they are dug out in externally ochreous and rusty coloured, irregularly shaped, blackish, grey and white masses. They are a variety of chert far less tough than the English flint of the chalk formation, splitting easily on a smart blow. The summit of the hill is strewed with pieces of red jasper, and pebbles of a flinty quartz and calcareous spar. A native of the village turns neat cups and vases from a pale yel- lowish and white magnesian limestone, which is procured at a hill in 510 Notes, chiefly Geological, [No. 163. the Pupél jungle near Yengunapilly, about eight or nine miles in a southerly direction from the Bungalow.* It is a low hill, rising abruptly from the Regur or cotton ground at its base, with a gentle slope from the east into low cliffs of limestone which front the west, towards which quarter the hill falls with an abrupt and steep declivity. The surrounding hills are mostly of sandstone. ‘The base is composed of a crystalline bluish grey limestone passing, as the cliff ascends, into a number of beautiful shades of red, yellow, green, and white. Some dark green varieties resemble precious serpentine ; others imbed silvery white, and yellow pyrites. Cale spar, white, fibrous, and pale yel- lowish brown, occurs in veins, and coating fragments of rock. On the eastern slope of the hill is an excavation, whence the Brahmins dig a chalk, which is used for marks of caste, and for white-washing houses. At Putsa Marculpilly a massive asbestus, associated with a white magnesian and calcareous earth, occurs in a bed in the limestone. The former is of a dull greenish grey colour, passing into a mottled yellowish white. It is tough under the hammer, and breaks into fibrous flexible fragments. Junction line of granite with the Limestone and Sandstone formation near Yairypully. A mile or two west from Ryelcherroo, between the granite range north of Gooty on the west, and the limestone and sand- stone hills of Ryelcherroo on the east, extends a plain about a mile broad intersected by a nullah, which I examined in vain for a section showing the junction of the limestone with the granite. The surface of the plain is covered with angular pebbles of quartz, chert, jasper, and of a breccia composed of angular bits of quartz, derived probably from the granite, imbedded in a jaspery paste, and of a sandstone grit imbedding reddish jasper and chert, which is seen in veins in the limestone. The limestone composing the hills on the eastern boundary of this plain is siliceous; so much so, as to afford sparks with steel. It alternates in the same hill with a purple and yellowish shale, and a crystalline sandstone, which is generally found capping the summits. There are a few exceptions, however, where the limestone continues to the summit, the sandstone having been stripped off by denudation. * The Mussulmans, from the supposed qualities of the stone in discovering poison, call it ‘‘ Pad-zahr,”’ or Bezoar stone. By the Hindus on the spot, it is called ‘“* Gurha Putsa Rai.” 1845.] across the Peninsula of Southern India. 511 Veins of calcareous spar and quartz intersect both rocks; the former also occurs in filbert-sized nodules in the looser varieties of the sandstone. The strata dip at an angle of 10° from the granite towards the E. The direction of the sandstone ranges is S. 45° E. The surface of the lime- stone is grooved with furrows, which have a generally south-westerly direction. This surface is uneven, unlike the regular polished surfaces formed by glaciers. Crossing the plain towards the granite, the fragments become more quartzy, and at the base of the nearest granite hill runs a belt of a pale reddish jaspideous rock in an E. 10°S. direction, penetrated by numerous quartz veins. Large beds of quartz occur also in the granite, and are often seen between this and Gooty to form entire hills. The limestone and sandstone terminate in a small hill on the left of the road, a little to the east of Yairypully, about nine miles E. from Gooty. The pebbles of the conglomerate have not been transported from any great distance; the angular ones appear to have once formed part of the jaspery and chert veins, which traverse the limestone; and the rounded pebbles have probably been carried by the stream from the adjacent hills. Their course may also account for the furrows just alluded to, on the surface of the limestone, on the summits of those hills which have not been capped by the conglomerate. Gooty. ‘The limestone and sandstone formation is now bale leave of. From the village of Yairypully, about nine miles east from Gooty, nothing but granitic trap and quartz rocks, associated with gneiss and hornblende schist, present themselves ; the latter form several picturesque peaks to the left of the road. The rock of Gooty is a vast precipitous mass of a sienitic granite, composed principally of reddish felspar quartz, a little mica, hornblende, and actynolite. The actynolite occurs with felspar in thin veins of a lively green, or in drusy surface crystals. At its base, gneiss occurs with beds of a brilliant hornblede schist, dip- ping at an angle of 62° from the hill, z. e. to the west. This schistous bed forms the rising ground on which the Idgah stands : it is penetrated by quartz and granitic veins, which I was unable to trace to the main rock. It imbeds nests and drusy crystals of actynolite. al of basaltic greenstone are numerous. Height of Gooty plain and rock. The approximative height above the sea by the boiling point of water of the plain at the base of the Gooty 4a 512 Notes, chiefly Geological, [No. 163. rock is 1200 feet ; and that of the summit of the latter above the plain, about 900 feet. From the old flagstaff at the top is a fine view extend- ing over a sea Of hills to the East and Northward; and over the great regur plains of the Ceded Districts to the West. To the South the Gooty range is prolonged to the Cuddapah and Mysore frontiers. A dark narrow cavern infested by bats is shown in the granite near the top of the rock, at the bottom of which is a well which the natives affirm, with little probability, communicates with the Paumri stream in the plain below. Gooty is said to have derived its origin from the Rishi Gotama’s residence on the rock. The fort is naturally of great strength, and the favourite abode of the Mahratta chief, Morari Row. Goontacul. Between this place and Gooty, from which it is about twenty miles West, granite, hypogene rocks and basaltic greenstone pre- vail; the latter is seen often in long low black ridges of blocks piled one upon the other like a huge wall of masonry, and penetrating the associated rocks. The blocks and masses seen in the plain North of the village of Guntacul are principally of the usual granite of India, composed of felspar, quartz, mica, and hornblende, and schorl but rarely : the crystals of fel- spar are. large and well defined. ‘This large grained granite is pene- trated by veins of a smaller grained granite with reddish felspar, and a few plates only of mica; veins of compact opaque quartz coloured by acty- nolite, are often numerous. Schorl occurs in the blocks of granite seen scattered near the great tank of Rayelcherroo. We now cross into the ancient Hindu kingdom of the Karnatak from that of Andhra. Both Telinghi and Canarese are spoken here and at Gooty; but a little farther Westward, Canarese prevails. Guddacul. Overlooking the bungalow on a craggy hill, stands a small conspicuous pagoda to Chouri Amma. It is the easternmost of a broken range from the W.N.W. At its Northern base is a thick bedded gneiss, with dark coloured mica in scales. The upper part of the hill is occu- pied by masses of red sienitic granite with thin veins of quartz and felspar coloured by actynolite. The crystals of hornblende disintegrate into a rusty coloured powder, which leaves cavities on the surface of the rock in falling out. ' The rock on which the smail fort stands is also of sienitic granite, penetrated by a greenstone dyke. At its base is an excavation, about eight feet deep, into a greenstone bed or dyke. | 1845.] across the Peninsula of Southern Iudia. 513 It is in various stages of disintegration, which has been hastened and modified apparently by the infiltration of water containing carbonate of lime and muriate of soda. The dark hornblende crystals have been con- verted into the green hue of diallage, which passes into a greenish yellow and feuille morte, and other deeper shades of brown. It is reticulated with seams, filled and lined with kunker. I have seen this singular effect produced on the colour of hornblende under similar conditions, in vari- ous parts of Southern India. It is probable, that the green, or greenish yellow-coloured rock, if analysed by the chemist, would afford different results to those yielded by the hornblende rock prior to disintegration. Thus rocks and minerals often decay only to appear in other and often more beautiful combinations. The sienitic granite here exhibits great variety in structure and colour, from close-grained to porphyritic : flesh-coloured felspar and light green actynolite occur in veins. Bellary. The clusters of rocks on which the fort of Bellary stands, those overlooking the Ball-practice ground, and the Peacock hills in the vicinity are all composed of a crystalline granite containing hornblende in addition to the usual components. The greater proportion of the felspar in this granite is flesh coloured, and imparts a prevailing tinge to the rock. The granite occurs in all its varieties in one mountain mass, compact and porphyritic, red and grey, micaceous and hornblendic. The Peacock hills, and the broad-backed rock on which the fort stands, are nearly covered with loose cubiform blocks and rounded masses of granite, which appear as if shot out suddenly on the ground from some enormous cart. Many rise suddenly from the flat plain, like inverted tea cups on the surface of a table. Such is the aspect of most granite masses of S. India. Tors and logging stones abound in the Peacock hills and on the cluster near the Ball-practice ground, where occurs that singular pile figured in the XIIIth No. of the Journal Reyal As. Soc. in the article on the quarrying granites of Egypt and India, Here also is seen, one of those curious piles of calcareous scoriz, attributed by the Hindus to the Racshasas of old.* * Vide No. XIII, Journal Royal As. Socs, p. 129, &c. 514 Notes, chiefly Geological, [No. 163. Garnetic gneiss and leptinitic gneiss occur around the bases of these granite rocks in contorted strata; and further to the S. and W., rise the hornblende and chlorite schists into the ranges ‘of Boodihal and the Copper mountain. Copper Mountain. 'This dome-shaped mountain is the highest point of a ridge which runs by Jondoor N. Westerly to the Tumbuddra near Hospett, and about five miles Westerly from Bellary. It is said to be 1500 feet above the plain at its base, which at Bellary is about 1600 feet above the sea according to General Cullen’s measurements. The great plain at its Eastern base extends Easterly as far as Gooty, Northerly to the North bank of the Kistnah, and Southerly to the My- sore frontier : it is for the most part covered with a rich sheet of regur, resting either on kunker or the debris of the subjacent granitic and hypogene rocks ; and in addition to the bajra, and other dry grains of red soils, smiles with extensive crops of cotton, wheat, and the white juari. The inferior ridges at the base of the range are chiefly of gneiss, and a reddish and faint greenish quartz rock. The great mass of the ridge is composed of hornblende schist passing into chlorite and earthy ferruginous schists, capped by a wall-like naked ridge of a dark brown rock composed generally of a greyish chert, and brown iron ore, or jaspideous red and brown clay, in alternate layers, and resting ap- parently on their edges; in fact, a ribbon jasper on a large scale. The lamine are often highly contorted and waving. The crest is often broken up by transverse fissures or joints; and, at more than one part of its crest-like course, has suffered manifest disturbance. Its general direction is S. Easterly. A columnar mass, about 50 feet high, crowns the ridge, not far from the copper excavations, and serves as a guide-post to their site, which is nearly obliterated by earth and fragments of excavated rock, and can be hardly found without the aid of a Tulari, or of a person who has previous- ly visited them. A crater-like cavity, on the top of a small mound a few yards in diameter and of little depth, was pointed out as one of the exca- vations for copper made by order of Hyder. I examined the sides and bottom of this cavity, but did not discover any vein of the ore in the rocks composing them, though traces of the green carbonate in their seams and incrustations are seen on the refuse thrown out. On the right 1845.] across the Peninsula of Southern India. 515 of the ridge a little farther to the N. W., is another excavation at the base of the rocky crest of the range. The ore appears to have existed only in these thin incrustations and seams, (for I could not find the slightest trace of any continuous lode or vein,) and the project was shortly given up by Hyder. The imbed- ding rock is a ferruginous slate clay, and the ferruginous quartz rock of the crest. From the vicinity of these excavations rises the dome-shaped summit before mentioned, as the loftiest peak of the ridge. Its summit is flat- convex, and capped with laterite containing much iron. This tubular mass is precipitous onits S. W. side, and contains two apparently na- tural caves situate at the bottom of the precipices, of small dimensions. In one of these stood the shrine of the tutelary deity of the mountain ; and recent offerings of flowers, oil, and cocoa had been made in this rude rock temple. On the roofs and sides of these caverns are partial in- crustations of common salt and alum, which appear to have been deposited by water percolated through the porous mass above, and which contains sulphuret of iron, by the decomposition of which the sulphuric acid has been set free. This peak formed one of the stations of the Trigonometrical survey : a pile of stones on its surface marks the stand probably of the flag. The thermometer in the shade during the hottest part of the day stood at 72° Farenheit only, (July.) Descending the ridge N. of this peak, a large dyke of trap is seen | crossing the mountain in a westerly direction. White potter’s-earth, kunker, and smoky quartz occur in the vicinity. At the base, a small seam of whitish saccharine limestone (marble) is seen in the hornblende rock. The singular ranges and valley of Sondur to the Westward of the Copper mountain, have been described already, (Madras Journal for Sept. 1838, p. 128). Ringing stones of Courtney. A little to the S. E. of the village of Courtney, about ten miles W. N. W. from Bellary, to the left of the road is a low, long, black ridge composed of blocks of basaltic green- stone piled one upon another,—the outgoings, in fact, of a dyke which penetrates and projects from the surrounding granitoidal gneiss rocks. 516 Notes, chiefly Geological, [No. 163, Their piled and separated appearance is entirely owing to that natural process of spontaneous splitting, and concentric exfoliation when ex- posed to the atmosphere, which I have attempted to describe elsewhere. These blocks, like phonolite and other rocks of basaltic origin, give out a metallic sound when struck by a stone or hammer : and here, from the peculiar and often delicately poised position of the blocks, the effect is greatly enhanced. A few years ago an ingenious person in London made a sort of harmonicon from slabs of basalt and other rocks. The course of this dyke is South-westerly. Daroji. From Bellary to the great tank of Daroji, about fifteen miles, the plain is flanked to the westward by the Copper mountain range, which is gradually neared. Granite and gneiss are seen in low hills and masses along its western base. A spur of this range ends at the S. E. angle of the Daroji tank, throwing out a few outliers in the direction of its line, viz. N. W. by N. This natural barrier line of elevation pro- longed by an artificial embankment, or ‘“ bund,’ of stone and earth, nearly three miles long, dams up the water flowing down the sides of — the ranges to the West, North-west, and South. It continues to the village of Daroji, beyond which is another outlier of the Copper moun. tain range. One of the rocks in the line of the tank bund presents a vertical sec- tion of the strata, which do not materially differ from those forming the crest of the Copper mountain already described, and have a similar ver- tical arrrangement of laminz. ‘Traces of the green carbonate of copper also occur in it, and similar incrustations of the sulphate of alumina of an earthy texture, are found at the bottom of a quarry in a small hill crowned by a Hindu temple on the bund of the tank. Small seams in the rock are filled with this mineral. Laterite, associated with a blistery, and mammillary iron ore, occurs in a few small overlying patches. A little to the North of this, beyond the village, lies a small hill of chlo- ritic schist ; and on its flanks, a lofty and extensive outburst of granite forming a chain of naked rugged peaks separated by deep trans- verse gaps or valleys, stretching towards the South. It flanks the plain — West of the tank, and diverging towards the W., is lost in the still loftier elevations of Sondur. 1845.) across the Peninsula of Southern India. 517 At its contact with the chloritic schist the granite loses its mica, becomes a pegmatite, and is.seamed with vertical lines of cleavage. The felspar of the granite becomes more compact, and is of a pale pink colour. Its quartz often acquires a greenish blue tinge, probably from the contiguity of the chlorite, and its structure becomes pris- matic. Dark dendritic markings occur on the superficies of the prism. A few feet from the line of contact the mica reappears in the granite. Thin flakes of chlorite, however, are visible in its structure, which impart to it a somewhat laminar character. Actynolite also occurs in the veins of eurite, quartz, and felspar, with which these mountain masses of granite are intersected. The chloritic schist has been hardened and often converted into jaspi- deous rock at the contact. The smooth surfaces and the prismatic frag- ments into which it splits, on being struck by the hammer, exhibit dark arborescent delineations on a pale greenish yellow ground curiously con- trasted with the dull, greenish blue colour of the schist. Short veins from the granite are seen penetrating the chlorite schist; and it is evident that, at this point at least, as at the celebrated locality of Glen Tilt, the granite must have penetrated this hypogene rock in a liquid or semi-liquid state. Some of the seams in both rocks are lined or filled with calcareous incrustations. Bijanugger. From Daroji to the celebrated ruins of Bijanugger (about fifteen miles) the route lies through low clusters of hills princi- pally of granite and gneiss. The felspar of the granite is usually red- dish, and it is often coloured by actynolite of lively shades of green. From the low grounds between these hills, hornblende and chloritic schists are frequently seen out-cropping, and are the outgoing of numer- ous basaltic dykes, the general direction of which is Westerly and North- westerly. Angular and slightly worn fragments of a coarse variegated jasper, a ferruginous quartz and indurated clay, occur scattered on the surface of the valley along which the road lies, mingled with fragments of the other rocks in sité. It is probable these fragments of jasper have been derived from the Sondur ranges on the left or W. The range on the right, as Bijanugger is neared, assumes the more rugged and indented. : aspect peculiar to granite. 518 Notes, chiefly Geological, [No. 163. The whole of the extensive site occupied by the ruins of Bijanugger on the South bank of the Tumbuddra, and of its suburb Annagundi on the Northern bank, is occupied by great bare piles and bosses of granite and granitoidal gneiss separated by rocky defiles and narrow rugged vallies encumbered by precipitated masses of rock. Some of the larger flat bottomed vallies are irrigated by aqueducts from the river, and appear like so many verdant Oases in this Arabia Petrzea of Southern India. Indeed some parts of the wilderness of Sinai reminded me, but on a far grander scale, of this huddled assemblage of bare granite rocks on the banks of the Tumbuddra. ‘The formation is the same, the scantiness of vegetation, the arid aspect of the bare rocks, and the green spots marking the presence of springs, few and far be- tween in the depths of the vallies, are features common to both loca- lities. The peaks, tors, and logging stones of Bijanugger and Annagund indent the horizon in picturesque confusion, and are scarcely to be distinguished from the more artificial ruins of the ancient Hindu metropolis of the Deccan, which are usually constructed with blocks quarried from their sides, and vie in grotesqueness of outline and mas- siveness of character with the alternate airiness and solidity exhibited by nature in the nicely poised logging stones and columnar piles, and in the walls of prodigious cuboidal blocks of granite which often crest and top her massive domes and ridges in natural Cyclopean masory. The granite clusters of Bijanugger are continued on the opposite or Northern bank of the river to Annagundi and Gungawutti in the Nizam’s territories. On the East they are bounded by the great regur plains of the Ceded Districts, and on the West by those of the S. Mahratta country. The country to the S. has already been described. At first sight these elevations appear to have sprung up confusedly without order or arrangement; but I found, after ascending the loftiest summits, and after a careful examination of the direction of the laminz in the gneiss, interstratified beds, veins, and fissures, on both sides of the river, that the great general line of dislocation nearly follows that hitherto observed, viz. N. N. W. and 8.5. E. and that the rock opening through which the Tumbuddra flows is a cross valley. A few caves, both natural and artificial, occur in the granite. The natural caverns are usually fissures roofed by precipitated blocks, or the 1845.] across the Peninsula of Southern India. 519 spaces left between great superimposed masses of rock, and not, as in limestone, laterite, &c., galleries, or caverns in the substance of the rock itself. ' The rock temple to Rungasami is in a low, dark cavern, formed partly by a fissure, and partly by artificial means. “The marks of the chisel in the granite quarries whence was excavated the material for constructing the great monolith statues, the temples, palaces, walls and aqueducts of this once magnificent city, are as fresh as if only of yesterday. Those in the blocks quarried from Syene in upper Egypt are almost equally as recent looking ; a phenomenon attri- butable.in part, to the great dryness of the atmosphere. About a mile easterly from Nimbapur, a small hamlet in the suburb of Bijanugger, lies an oval-shaped heap of calcareous scoria, about forty- five yards long by about eighteen broad, and from ten to fourteen feet high, partially covered by grass and other vegetation. It is evidently artificial, and of considerable antiquity. The Brahmins aver it to be the ashes of the bones of the Giant Walli, or Bali, an impious tyrant slain here by Rama on his expedition to Lanka (Ceylon*.) After passing a week in these interesting ruins, engaged in having the inscriptions on stone copied, rambling among its deserted temples and collecting the marvellous legends of the few priests that now linger on the principal sacred spots, I proceeded along the western flank of the Sondur hills, on the right bank of the Tumbuddra, towards the ferry into the S. Mahratta country at Humpsagur. With regard to the inscrip- tions it may be remarked, en passant, that the greater part are in the old Canarese character, (but the language is often Sanscrit,) and chiefly dated in the 14th and 15th centuries. One of them is curious, as showing that the bridge over the Tumbuddra was constructed by the Hindu prince Ramnatha, prior to the Bayel Dynasty of Bijanugger; this is in Nagri-character, on a stone at the foot of the mountain on which Hanuman is said to have been born, date A. 8. 1211. Hospett. Hospett lies about five miles W.S.W. from Bijanugger, near the point where the two ranges enclosing the valley of Sondur end, and * For an account of these heaps of ashes, vide Journal Royal As. Soc. No. XIIL. p- 129, &c. 4B 520 Notes, chiefly Geological, [No. 163. nearly meet, being connected by a high and massive embankment of stone and mud. These ridges have already been described, (Madras Journal of Literature and Science.) A dyke of basaltic greenstone crosses the plain between Bijanugger and Hospett in a westerly direction. It forms an eminence, on which is situated an ancient Mahomedan burial ground, alittle tothe W.N.W. of Camlapoor. Granite blocks, with much red eecwilline felspar, are seen in the ditch of the fort of Hospett. Proceeding towards Humpsagur, the road lies along the stone em- bankment just mentioned. Gneiss is seen immediately at the eastern base of the hills, but their bulk is composed of a dull green horn- blende schist, with much silex and argillaceous matter, crested by a jaspideous rock similar to that cresting the Copper mountain. This rock contains nests, and layers of iron ore and loadstone, or iron ore with polarity. This I first discovered in setting down my pocket com- pass on one of the ferruginous-looking masses which project from the surface of the mammiform hill overlooking Hospett, when I was surprised to see the north pole of the magnet whirl suddenly round to the south,— a hint to be careful in selecting spots for taking magnetic bearings, choosing a site for an observatory, or in selecting stones for the fixed stands of magnetic instruments, &c. Quartz, both white and ferruginous, is abundant ; and a white striated mineral resembling tremolite externally. Wallavapur. ‘This place is about thirty miles from Hoapeté: Below the fine anicut (dyke) thrown across the river by the Hindoo princes of Bijanugger, is seen a bed of gneiss penetrated by veins of porphyritic granite, containing much pink felspar in large semi-foliated crystals ; and here and there nests of hornblende and mica. The strata of the gneiss are waved and bent. A dyke of basaltic greenstone crosses the river bed in a westerly direction, compact at the edges: porphyritic towards the centre. The imbedded crystals are of light green felspar augite and hornblende. Gneiss, granite, hornblende schist, and basaltic greenstone continue to Humpsagur, where the ‘'umbuddra is crossed, into the South Mahratta country. 1845. ] across the Peninsula of Southern India. 521 Rock basins. The rocks in the bed of the river, both from Bijanug- ger and still farther east to Humpsagur, afford many instructive exam- ples of the formation of rock basins by the action of water in motion, particularly below the anicut of Wallavapur, where the gneiss is full of them.* The anicut itself is a stone dam, about twenty yards broad, thrown across the river so as to dam up its course, and to throw part of its water into the fields on either bank. On stone slabs in both wings of this anicut are inscriptions in the Hala Canada character, giv- ing the date of its construction, viz. 1443 Anno Salivahana, (about 1521 A. D.), name of Cyclar year, Vicrama; in the month Aswin. Although the floods of this large river have washed over these inscriptions for upwards of three centuries, the characters of the inscription are perfectly distinct and legible. From Humpsagur to the Western Ghauts. From Humpsagur the river crossed into the Darwar, or South Mahratta country, the geology of which by Gudduk and Dammul to the Western Ghauts, has already been described as consisting of granite and the hypogene schists, intersected by greenstone dykes. From Cuddapah to Darwar the Régiir prevails, interrupted only when the rising of these rocks from the surface has covered their bases with a more recent alluvium resulting from their own disintegration. Ghauts West of Darwar. The formation of the Ghauts W. of Dar- war is the same as at Gairsuppa, and their western base to the sea at Goa is partially covered, as at Honawer, by a bed of laterite. Most of the surface buildings and fortifications of Goa are constructed of this rock,and it formed the thick walls of the once tremendous dungeons of the Inquisition, now lying prostrate. The startled snake and glittering lizard glide noiselessly away, scared by the sound of man’s footstep among the rank vegetation which in many places chokes up the ruins. * For a description of the Rock basins of the Tumbuddra, vide Proceedings Geol. Soc. for 1841-42. ' 522 On the Invention of the Armenian Alphabet. By JoHannes AVDALL, Esq. M. A. S. If ancient Hellenic writers assign the palm to Cadmus for having been the inventor or introducer of the Greek letters, Haican historians of antiquity do bestow an equal distinction on St. Mesrop as the author or originator of the Armenian alphabet, the invention of which took place in the commencement of the fifth century, when this emi- nent divine flourished in Armenia, during the reign of Viramshapuh. Anterior to this period the Armenians used the Greek, Syriac and Persian characters. All their ecclesiastical and historical books were written in the two former, while the transactions of their courts of jus- tice, as well as of their civil administration, were recorded in the latter. Although it is true, as it will appear from what I shall have to state hereafter, that about a score of rude letters existed among the Arme- nians long before the day of St. Mesrop, yet their imperfection and consequent inutility was an insuperable bar to the cultivation of Ar- menian literature and to the advancement of knowledge among the sons of Haic. The disadvantage, attendant on the non-existence of a perfect and systematic alphabet, was deeply felt by the Armenian lite- rati of that period. Lazarus Parphensis, a reputed historian of the fifth century, tells us that the books used in the national schools, were written in Syriac characters, and that the Armenian youths were, in consequence, subjected to great toil, perplexity and expense in the prosecution of their studies. The pious and the devout expe- rienced similar difficulties in attending divine service, which was read and performed in books written in Greek or Syriac characters. This was certainly a source of great discouragement both to the pastors and the congregation, and at. this the godly spirit of St. Mesrop was deeply grieved. The foregoing statement is fully borne out by the authority of Moses Chorenensis, who is justly termed the Armenian Thucydides, and is familiar to the learned of Europe by a Latin and French translation of his history of venerable antiquity. «t+ ’A duppumbuby Epuitkpe ot Poupndedy > 63 pape hpSp denuibge > patiyh fist Ep pofdkpsoy hk (tupadintifs « k EG ayy ap Swinhaby op puldbn- tye mp tu ig fubp” quitfuny "6 daqedegagy bbe yumuige ay pbobyry [Aupydaitps:”’’ “ Beatus autem Mesrobes non parvam molestiam 1845. ] On the invention of the Armenian Alphabet. 523 inter docendum ex eo cepit, quod ipse cum lector, tum interpres erat, neque a populo intelligi potuit, si quis forte, eo absente, legisset, quoniam quidem non aderat interpres.” L. IJJ. Cap. XLVII. The heart of St. Mesrop burned with a holy desire to translate the Scrip- tures into the Armenian language, but the want of a perfect alphabet operated as a check to the attainment of the great object he had in view. This insurmountable obstacle tended, in no small degree, to the revival of paganism in some parts of Armenia, the inhabitants of which had embraced Christianity. The mind of St. Mesrop, was, therefore, literally absorbed in the plan of systematizing and complet- ing the Armenian alphabet, fully sensible that on the success of this important project depended the civilization and happiness of his coun- trymen. Moses Chorenensis, referring to the object in view, adds: wet opry bpp inh Stupby quuathy twtw_gfge L2uyng pegqacpu > he wphbusy qubdt’h akombe putin abambe ppnpdhep mudtwhkp=” “ Atque ob eam rem rationem iniit, quemadmodum Armeniace lingue charac- teres inveniret; qua in re dum operam poneret, variis premebatur difficuitatibus.” L. III. Cap. XLVITI. St. Mesrop was eminent for his profound learning, and his know- ledge of the Greek and Syriac languages. His unrivalled qualifica- tions had obtained for him the appointment of Secretary to the King Viramshapuh. Having filled this situation for a certain time, he preferred the quiet of monastic seclusion to the bustle of public life. Urgent busi- ness induced Viramshapuh to sojourn in Mesopotamia, where the absence of his able and experienced Secretary, or of one equally competent to discharge the duties of his office, was a serious impediment to the pro- gress of the transactions of his court. The use of Persian characters in public writings presented many difficulties. Hereupon, a priest or monk, named Abel, offered to the king to introduce Armenian letters, the prototype of which was said to be in the possession of a Syrian bishop, known by the name of Daniel. These letters are mentioned in the annals of ancient Armenian writers by the designation of Dani- elian characters, which, however inelegant and incomplete, were des- tined to be improved, systematized and completed by the genius of St. Mesrop. It is thus evident that Armenian letters were extant prior to the fourth century, but these, like the Hebrew and Arabic alphabets, were 524 On the invention of the Armznian Alphabet. [No. 163. without vowels, the want of which rendered the existing consonants of little avail or practical utility. Koreun, another cotemporary writer, says, that the Danielian characters were considered insufficient to link syllables together, and to form words out of them. Hence these cha- racters were allowed to sink into disuse, and in their stead, the Greek, Syriac and Persian alphabets were used by the Armenians of those days. The Danielian characters were twenty-two, or, according to other writers, tweny-nine in number. The invention of the seven vowels, U, G>» Bs Cos BP» f}> Br is only ascribed by Asolik to. St. Mesrop, while another historian asserts that he invented fourteen letters, of which seven were consonants, and the other seven, the foregoing vowels. Vardan, who flourished in the thirteenth century, says:—‘‘ St. Mesrop invented and introduced the Armenian alphabet, of which twenty-two letters are known by the designation of Danie- Jian characters, which were, from time immemorial, extant among the Armenians. But these Danielian characters had become obsolete, in consequence of their being incomplete and insufficient to combine the syllables of words in the copious language of Haic. The Armenians were, therefore, obliged to content themselves with the use of the Greek, Syriac and Persian characters. St. Mesrop succeeded, by in- spiration from. above, in inventing fourteen letters, of which the form was seen inscribed on a stone by an invisible hand! This sacred gift he obtained on the mount Balu, as Moses had received the Divine tablets on the mount Sinai! To this day vestiges of the stone, bear- ing the miraculous inscription of the letters, are visible on that spot, which is held in veneration by the Armenians.” That there were Armenian letters anterior to the Christian era, was ascertained beyond a doubt during the reign of the Armenian king Leo, when coins were discovered, bearing inscriptions commemorative of the sovereign- ty of pagan Armenian kings. But these letters were both inelegant and imperfect, and our modern Ezra, St. Mesrop, brought them to— perfection. The fact of the existence of Armenian letters, prior to the beginning of the fifth century, is further corroborated by the testimony of fo- reign writers, Philostratus, who flourished during the reign of the em- peror Severus, and who enjoyed the patronage of the empress Julia, 1845.] On the invention of the Armenian Alphabet. 525 thus writes in his history of Apollonius ‘'yaneus:—‘‘ A panther was once caught in Pamphylia, having round its neck a gold collar, on which were inscribed these words in Armenian characters, Upr} Linqmenp maynmmdnsh Lfenkey = King Arsaces to the god Nyseus.” The improvement and perfection of the Armenian alphabet was immediately followed by the establishment of numerous elementary schools and colleges for the instruction of the sons of Haic in scholastic books written in their own characters. The Scriptures were also translafed from the original Greek into Armenian, together with such select Greek works as were calculated to enlighten and elevate the minds of Armenian students. Thus a happy change was wrought, in the beginning of the fifth century, by the introduction of Armenian letters ; and the reign of Viramshapuh, like the Augustan age, is con- sidered as the golden era of the cultivation of Armenian literature. The Armenian alphabet consists of thirty-eight letters, of which twenty-two existed, though in a rude form, prior to the Christian era ; fourteen were invented by St. Mesrop, and two were borrowed from the Greeks in the twelfth century. The following are their forms, names, and sounds. Forms. Names. Sounds. To 4 om ~.. Ibe (as in ¢rébe) A (as in father) - - F Biel, he 2c. BY soft. cee er Kime OS KOLO: ‘hp yf ww .. Tah, Cae ort SOLt, eee ee. Veteh, |. Ye (as in yes.) ae eS... Zan, oils tikes 3 ht OF ew SOLE. (tl ame 5 (as in met.) c. | Cha) inal shat hadi g 2 -- «+ U (as in ws.) eens fe! eh... PE hard. ods ¢.. J. or Zh, .- J- French, oras English S. inthe words pleasure, measure. Peer: .... Innis, , .-- Lor B: L. L peiieet Larine.! 3h) «i 9 (,L. Ju f Ww... Khé, .. .. Ch. German, or as X Greek. Beer fered) Dzabjos.s >... Dz. 526 On the invention of the Armenian Alphabet. (No. 165. The following are their forms, names, and sounds, (continued. ) Forms. Names. Sounds. » woeGhiell, + vone ih.» gaielhards Hiwvohyik. 1p gets 0 Prah, 2 0st cot a eagott! ¢ “Ghahdjil. . Gh oras y Greek. JeorJde, .. IorG soft. Nien lhe eee .. He or Ye,' 7 42 SOE. fs UINOOs ©? oes eee Shah, “2. se ely Wo, an. eo, WO,aS In 20TERE. ) .. Tchah, .. .- Tech or Ch (as in charity ) i SP ONS Se .- TeheorChé,... Ch or Tech soft. Rah... ...+ o0.ylt, nate (eagan. cage ee es Bei WEY 21.7 ec lagesmns, MWe ata) ENO BS icles Ls Ré, see. Pru On. AL 2VOlir a ae om he hard: dim Unes inpraee Pore: pce be OR, Ké, -- «+ K or Ch (as in archangel.) O, ma ks Pha, or Fé, ... Phor F. It is worthy of notice, that a beautifully lithographed folio volume on Armenian Caligraphy was published at Venice in 1834. In this interesting publication is given a great variety of specimens of the Ar- menian alphabet, in nearly thirty different forms, which must certain- ly excite the wonder of orientalists, and the admiration of the lovers of Armenian literature. A similar publication has, it appears, lately issued from the Armenian press at Vienna, but not a single copy of it has as yet reached us in India. | DP prs = ~—i s POETOTHPSPPSPEASO How mr AS spt rHEM an MO g an DANS O & PeRKR TFBS eet FrOser ie su q wr vw Ph — —— si i 2 eet ot ee a ae i ae i JOURNAL OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETY. On the tenures and fiscal relations of the owners, and occupants of the soil in Bengal, Behar, and Orissa. By James ALEXANDER, Esq., B. C. 8. The word Zemindarree, in the time of the Moghuls, signified the particular extent of land over which one zemindar, or landholder, exercised jurisdiction ; the collection of the revenues of that district was one of the chief duties entrusted to him, and the object of the greatest importance to the state. The amount of revenue leviable upon it became the distinguishing character of each zemindarree, and it was the only matter regarding it of which a record was kept in the superior revenue offices. Although the area was entered in some of the registers, yet the information regarding this, or as to the peculiar boundaries or products of each tenure was very defective. When the Perpetual Settlement was effected under the British Rule in Bengal, Behar and Orissa, the same form of record was preserved, and to this day little more is known of a zemindarree than the amount revenue which it is bound to pay thestate. For the actual collection of reve- nue, and better preservation of individual rights, more particular dis- tinctions have become necessary ; but these will be more conveniently treated of under another head. Zemindar. This officer, under the Moghul government, exercised powers as phoujdar, or chief of the armed force, collector of revenue, and civil judge in trifling cases. On the accession of the English, his No. 164. No. 80, New Series. 4c 528 On the tenures and fiscal relations of [No. 164. services were required only as a middleman between the state and the actual cultivators of the soil. Although the zemindar’s office had become by use hereditary, yet it is uncertain whether he had any pro- prietary right in the soil itself. It was, however, found convenient to bestow this right upon him, in order that it might be available | as a security for the payment of the revenues of the state ; and the ze- mindar is now regarded as the proprietor of his zemindarree as long as he makes good the Government revenue leviable from it. Should he fail to do this, his proprietary rights are liable to sale for the realiza- tion of the demand. . It was incumbent on the zemindar, in his character of eollector of revenue, to account to the state for his collections ; his remuneration consisted in a per centage on his collections. The title to office having been received as a right, the same rule held good with reference to these emoluments, insomuch that the incumbents of zemindarrees were held entitled to their allowances or per centage even when they de- clined to perform the duties of their office by undertaking to pay the amount of revenue at which it was assessed.* These allowances so set aside were called Malikana, and averaged about ten per cent. on the gross assessment of an estate ; expenses incurred in the management of an estate are either entered in the account current, and their amount deducted from the gross proceeds, or are regulated by a fixed allow- ance on their account: where this latter plan is adopted, they are cal- culated at from ten to twenty per cent. on the assessment. The original title of the zemindar then consisted in his right to hold the lands under his jurisdiction, on condition of accounting to the state for the net proceeds after deduction of expenses and his own per centage allowances. It is evident, however, that the state had no alternative between placing implicit reliance on the accounts given in by the zemindar or testing them by an annual investigation or assessment of the lands, and that if such took place the value of the zemindarree was entirely dependent on the result. To obviate this, it was determined in the year 1790, under the local Government of Lord Cornwallis, that an assessment should be made of all estates, and that the amount so assessed should be the sum which Government * Shore’s Minute, 18th June 1789, para, 202nd ; 18th September 1789, para. 2nd. 1845.] the owners, and occupants of the soil in Bengal, &c. 529 - might demand every year, and that no further demand should be made for ten years: this period of ten years was subsequently increas- ed to perpetuity ; and all estates, held under assessments so imposed, are called Perpetually Settled Estates, or Zemindarrees. Various causes, however, have operated to prevent or impede the settlement of many zemindarrees. ‘These are disposed of for shorter periods, and called Estates under Temporary Settlement. The condi- tion of tenure of these is asin Perpetually Settled Estates, the payment of the Government demand ; but the period ‘of tenure is limited by that of the lease under which it is held, and at the expiration of this the estate is open to re-assessment. Confirmation by competent authority is essential to the validity of either a perpetual or temporary settlement. It is evident, that when the yearly rent of a zemindarree became fixed in perpetuity, and the payment of it was the only condition of the tenure, the condition of the zemindar was materially altered ; instead of being only interested to the extent of ten per cent. in the increases upon the annual proceeds of his estate, he hada right to appropriate to his own use all surplus proceeds after defraying the Government revenue. Rapid improvements took place in all properties held under this fixed assessment ; the favourable returns from these, together with the lightness of the original assessment, have raised the incomes of proprietors so high, that the term Malckana is no longer applicable to the sums, which they receive in their character of zemindars. These are now designated, generally, as Proprietary Profits; they consist in the net proceeds of an estate after deducting the Government revenue and | the expenses of collection, and will of course vary very much in pro- portion to the capabilities of an estate, and the success of the manage- ment to which it is subjected. A talook is a subordinate tenure within the jurisdiction of a zemin- darree. Talooks were of various descriptions. In some cases the talook- dar had obtained the fee-simple or proprietary right in lands compos- ing their talooks, either from the zemindar or his ancestor, or directly from the state; and his title was indefeasible as long as he paid the Government dues: in others, the incumbency of the talookdar in the subordinate tenure was prior to that of the zemindar in the larger ; in others, the zemindar had never any proprietary right in the lands of 530 On the tenures and fiscal relations of {No. 164. the talook. In all these tenures it was ruled at the formation of the Perpetual Settlement, that the talookdars should have the privilege of entering into engagements, and paying their revenue directly to the state, and that they should be independent of the zemindar. Talooks of this class are called Independent, or *Huzooree Talooks. In cases where the deeds under which the talook was formed only alienated the zemindar’s title to collect the rents without conveying any pro- prietary right in the soil, or where it was evident from the form or wording of the lease that the zemindar contemplated the resumption of his title, the talook was considered dependent, and the rent of the talook was included in the assets of the zemindarree, and paid to the state through the zemindar. Under many circumstances, to be detailed hereafter, the rent on the talook was liable to enhancement . on the part of the zemindar. It was however ruled, that neither loss nor gain on the rents derived from his subordinate tenures, could affect the amount of rent payable by the zemindar to the state. The rents of talooks were either increased or diminished, or new talooks were established at his own risk; and the civil court was in all cases the arbiter of his title to interfere with his talookdars.| | With refer- ence to the establishment of new talooks, it was laid down that he could not alienate lands for a period extending beyond that of his own incumbency ; that this being conditional on the payment of Govern- ment revenue, any failure in this payment would render void his own title, and also that of all other tenants holding immediately un- der himself. The effect of this rule is, that on an estate being sold by auction for arrears of rent, all leases granted by the former proprie- tor since the Decennial Settlement become void, and the lessees liable to an enhancement of their rents under certain restrictions, which will be more fully specified hereafter. The cultivators of the soil in India have acquired various titles and privileges, acquaintance with which is essential to understanding the revenue system. Indiscriminate use of terms has given this part of the * Theword Huzoor signifying literally, the presence, is applied in India to desig- nate the extant supreme authority in the land. The addition of a vowel affix gives it the form of an adjective, and thus a Huzooree Talook comes to mean a tenure having directly to do with the Supreme Government without intermediate lien, or inter- vention.—Eps. tT Clause 8, Section 15, Regulation VII. 1799, 1845. |] the owners, and occupants of the soil in Bengal, &c. 531 question some appearance of intricacy: to obviate this, a mere detail of the titles will be given in this place, and the privileges obtained under those titles will be more fully considered when the rates of rent are discussed ; for it is evident, that in the ryuttee as in the zemin- darree tenure, the rent which it will yield is the distinguishing mark of each sort of tenure, and the only point about it to which interest attaches in a discussion on revenue laws. The exact meaning of the word ryut is not conveyed by the word cultivator ; for a man may be a ryut without being a cultivator: neither is the word resident a proper translation, for a man may be a resident without being aryut. By the word vywt is implied a certain relation towards the community of the village of which a man is a ryut, and towards the zemindar of that village. An artificer or shopkeeper may stand in these relations of citizenship and vassalage, although perfectly unconnected with the cultivation of the lands of a village: in pursuing his occupation or trade in another part of the country he will still call himself the ryut of the particular village, and the particular zemindar with which he is connected as aryut. When he dissolves this connection and becomes the ryut of another village, his rank and title in his new location are completely changed. This discussion appears necessary, because it is not uncommon to observe great misuse of the word syw/, as a revenue term ; whereas it is not, until connected with some other word implying employment in culture, that it acquires any value at all. Thus the terms kudeemee or morousee ryut do not imply a ryut possessed of any peculiar privileges, merely that his ancestors were ryuts in the vil- lage, even a moccurreree ryut may hold only the area of his homestead, and these are the most common sort of moccurrereedars. The proper definitions and distinctions are thod-khasht, pace-khasht, moccurreree khod-khasht, morousee khhod-.khasht, kudeemee khod-khasht, moccurre-. ree paee-khasht, morousee paee-khasht, kudeemee paee-khasht. The several privileges which these various titles confer, will be discussed under the head of Rates. It will be necessary to observe, that the term Jjote is the word which may be most conveniently employed in ex- pressing the land held by each particular ryut. The rent of land is the hire paid for the use of it. The original contract was very much this;—the proprietor of the soil gave the use of it, and the cultivator gave his labor, and the proceeds 432 On the tenures and fiscal relations of [No. 164. or crop were divided between them. Many causes, however, tend to disturb the primitive simplicity of this arrangement ; the degree of labor requisite to ensure a compensating return is liable to great variation. Labor is not the only capital needed: the implements of husbandry, cattle employed in agriculture, seed, the means of protection,—all require outlay, and it soon becomes a question, in what proportion this is to fall on the contracting parties P The landlord must con- stantly observe his tenant to ensure his honesty, and the tenant is discouraged by the reflection that one-half of his labor must be bestow- ed for the benefit of another. The first step towards the adjustment of these difficulties is, generally, a variation in the proportion of the crop receivable by the landlord, calculated with reference to the con- tribution which he makes towards the joint capital employed in the cultivation, whether in the shape of seed, cattle, hired labor, or any thing else necessary to raising the crop. Where the cultivator contri- butes labor only, he receives somewhat less than one-half of the crop; where he contributes both labor and capital, he receives more: the latter is most commonly the case in India, but even after the adjust- ment of the proportions due to either party, difficulties will still re- main, inany scheme of partition. The two most important have already been noticed—the necessity on the part of the landlord, of constantly watching his tenant ; and the discouragement on the part of the tenant, in bestowing extra labor and capital. To obviate these inconveniences, the landlord allows the tenant to redeem the proprietor’s share in the proceeds, and this gives rise to money-rents, or the payment of rents of money. Although a revenue officer in this country has generally the task of discovering and recording the rents actually paid, rather than that of determining what they ought to be; yet it is important, that he should have some knowledge of the various causes which affect the adjustment of money-rents, and indeed his doing so is essential to his understanding the different tenures under which ryuts hold, and the rates at which they are assessed. Soil, stock, and labor, are all three necessary to the production of a crop: if these were all three contribut- ed in proportions of equal value, it is evident that the hire of the soil should equal one-third of the whole produce; but in agreeing to pay an unvarying rent the tenant ensures the landlord against losses by failures of crop, defective seasons, fluctuations in the value of grain and 1845.] the owners, and occupants of the svil in Bengal, &c. 533 labor, and relieves him from all the care and expense of watching over and transporting his own share of the produce. In order therefore to make an equitable adjustment in converting rents paid in kind into money-rents, every one of these points should receive attention ; and although it is probable that these questions were not formerly understood in all their minuteness of detail, yet we find that in prac- tice the cultivator discovered them as it were by experience, and limited his payments in money to the amount at which cash pay- ments were advantageous or not hurtful to his interests:—and here it must be recollected that in the earlier history of a country the pro- ducer and consumer are more nearly on an equality with each other, that it is not until the increased possessions of the latter give him a monopoly over the land that he can dictate its price to the former ; the careful recollection of this fact will afford material assistance in the consideration of the various rates paid by the different classes of cul- tivators inIndia. In discussing these it will also be necessary to bear in mind the distinction between the actual rate or me7x72ck, and the various additions which have been made to it by the avarice of the landlords: This was formerly so well understood, that in the earlier discussions on revenue matters in this country we generally find the term ussul nerick, as distinguishing the actual rent or hire of the land from all extra demands made under other pretences. Although this distinction has been very much lost sight of, yet the careful analysis of the accounts of any zemindarree will shew the total demand of dustur against the ryut is made up of the wssul nerick, and various other extra charges. Although these latter are discountenanced and invalid by law, yet the possession of a monopoly of a necessary of life will always give rise to the disposition to profit by it, and landlords in this country are not more disposed than in others, to place other limit on their desires than that which necessity imposes. The cultiva. tor must have land, and he can afford to pay for the hire of it, the whole surplus proceeds remaining after the deduction of the costs of production, and a sum sufficient for his own maintenance. In England this is so well understood, that the capability of the tenant to pay is the only limit to the landlord’s demand for rent. In this country ancient institutions, new laws, and large tracts of waste land, con- tribute to defeat the monopolizing tendencies of the landlord ; but there is a constant struggle between himself and his tenantry regarding 534 On the tenures and fiscal relations of [No. 164. the share which they are respectively to enjoy of the surplus profits of cultivation. In England there being no general laws for the protec- tion of the tenantry, many landholders have at different times pur- chased peculiar privileges from their landlords, which have descended from father to son, and are in force to this day ; the effective conditions of the judicial institutions rendering any attempt on the part of the landlord to set them aside, useless. The general laws in this country are well calculated to preserve to the cultivators all privileges, which ancient institutions or prescription without any special purchase or individual guarantee have conferred upon them; but various causes have prevented their taking advantage of the protection of these laws. Now, however the necessity of obedience of the law and executive power is becoming daily more apparent, and exactly in proportion as these assert and maintain their authority well, the peculiar privileges of the cultivator receive protection: hence also careful examination of them with a view of understanding what they are, becomes daily more in- teresting and im portant; as the nerzck or rate of rent may be considered the index, or as it were test of the value of these privileges, they will come most conveniently under consideration in a review of the various sorts of rates which prevail in this country. Nerick moccurreree.* A fixed rate of payment secured to the cul- tivator under the guarantee of a written document; it is essential to the validity of tenure at a moccurreree nerick, that the land had been held at fixed rates twelve years previous to the De- cennial Settlement, that the payments should have been uninter- rupted and uniform. Any failure of payment renders the lease void, and proof of increase of payments on former occasions is gene- rally regarded as evidence, that the moccurreree tenure has been broken up. Moccurreree nericks established by zemindars, at any date less than twelve years before the Permanent Settlement, are liable _ to be broken up on the sale of the estate for arrears of revenue, unless granted for specific purposes, or proved not liable to increased assess- ment on the grounds stated in Sect. 51, Reg. VIII. 1793. Leases conveying moccurreree rights need not necessarily specify the rate of rent: they frequently record the total area and total rent, or * Sudder Dewanny Reports, Vol. I. page 102, ‘‘ as no mention of a moccurreree tenure occurred in an authentic document.’’ 1845.] the owners, and occupants of the soil in Bengal, &c. 535 describe the external boundaries of the land, and mention the rent to be paid by the tenant; but documents of this sort will generally be found to bear dates antecedent to that of the Decennial Settlement ; since then the practice of giving moccurreree leases, except for special purposes such as the erection of buildings, &c., has fallen very much into disuse; where the grants have been made for specific purposes at fair rates, they are not liable to enhancement as long as the lands continue to be used for the purposes specified in the leases. These points are specified very clearly in Sect. 27, Reg. XII. 1841. The right to cancel a moccurreree tenure does not convey any title to oust the moccurrereedar, but merely to assess his land at the dis- cretion of the purchaser, who still retains his right of tenancy. (Vide Sudder Dewany Adawlut, vol. 1, 174.) It must be borne in mind, that the date of the Permanent Settlement is that on which each par- ticular settlement received confirmation from competent authority. Although in the majority of cases this occurred on the same day with reference to properties situated in the same tract of country, yet enquiry on this point is always necessary inasmuch as there are many exceptions to the rate. Nerick Mowroosee. Fixed rates to which a title is established by inheritance. Although the term Meeras is commonly employed to denominate tenures at a fixed rent, yet taken by itself it conveys a title of very uncertain value, the heritage must consist of something to be inherited. If this be a lease guaranteed to the descendants of the lessee, the tenures should be more properly considered under the head of Moccurreree, if it be a prescriptive title it should be considered under that head; it is possible that there may be an attempt to found a title on the fact of a series of undisturbed successions, the evidence to this, if not that of documents in the hands of the claimant must be obtained from the public records, or those of the zemindar ; or it may be oral evidence assisted by tradition, but so many diffi- culties lie in the way of this sort of proof, that a Meeras will generally, as before remarked, prove a poor tenure unless supported by docu- ments or prescription. Nerick-i-kudeem. Fixed rates to which a title is established by pre- scription. The nobleman, under whose auspices the Permanent Settle- ment was completed, recorded the following observation on the right 4p 536 On the tenures and fiscal relations of [No. 164. of cultivators: ‘‘ Unless we suppose the ryuts to have been the actual “slaves of the zemindars, every beegah of land possessed by them must “‘have been cultivated under an express or implied agreement, that a ‘certain sum should be paid for each beegah of produce, and no more. “Every Abwad or tax imposed by the zemindar over and above that ‘*sum is not only a breach of that agreement, but a direct violation of “the laws of the country. The cultivator has therefore in such case an ‘undoubted right to apply to Government for the protection of his ‘property, and Government is at all times bound to afford him redress.” This spirit pervades the whole body of law relative to the rights of the agricultural community. His Lordship again declares, ‘“ That the pri- *‘ vilege which the ryuts enjoy of holding possession on the spots of ‘“‘ Jand which they cultivate so long as they pay the revenue assessed “upon them, is by no means incompatible with the proprietary rights ‘© of the zemindars; whoever cultivates the land the zemindars can ‘* receive no more than the established rent, which in most places is ‘* fully equal to what the cultivator can afford to pay. The zemin- dars however may sell the land, and the cultivator must pay the rent to the purchaser.” Now, although it is probable that any at- tempt on the part of the ryut to produce evidence of express agree- ment as to the terms of the original contract under which he broke up the soil, must fail, and although the nature of the implied agree- ment must have been dependent onso many circumstances, in which the lapse of time must have wrought such a change as to leave no trace by which to assist the formation of the judgment regarding them, yet evidence will be generally procurable as to what the rate has been, and in the absence of all proof to the contrary, it is assumed that this is what it ought to have been; and the fact of having held this rate confers on the cultivator a prescriptive title to continue to do so, and in this way atitle to hold rates fixed by time and custom constitutes a good and valid tenure. Then again this title to hold at established rates, may be attached to particular spots of lands, par- ticular villages, particular classes in a village, particular divisions of the country, or peculiar local custom. ‘The first, and in some respects, most valuable is the right to hold particular spots of land on payment of a rent fixed by custom; the land so held constitutes what is known by the name of, Mokuddum ryuttee jote, (answering 1845. } the owners, and oceupants of the soil in Bengal, &c. 537 very much to our English copyhold * ) is transferable by sale, and is undefeasible as long as the rent is paid. In Centra] Bengal where the introduction of Indigo has raised the demand for land, and the pre- sence of Europeans has given greater stability to the interests of culti- vators, these jotes are recognized as valuable properties, and are trans- ferred from hand to hand by sale or mortgage solely at the pleasure of the jofedar without reference to the zemindar, who has no claim except for his rents. In Eastern Bengal where land is more abundant in proportion to the demand, and where the system of underletting exposes the ryut to the ever varying aggressions of new farmers, if confidence in the stability of the rates is not so strong, and tenures held under prescriptive title have not the same value as marketable commodities, neither will the cultivator himself incur the risk of any extensive outlay in the formation of gardens, the excavation of tanks, and the building of houses, unless under the additional guarantee of a lease or other document. The estimation in which it is held in the market, however, does not affect the real validity of the title; a tenure under rates established by prescriptive usage is valid in Eastern Bengal as elsewhere, but there are not the same facilities for asserting it as in Central Bengal, where it has been already recognized as a transferable property. | Nerick Mowza-waree. Prescriptive usage has in some places given the inhabitants of a village a title to cultivate the lands in it at the rates established for each peculiar class of soil ; this title acquires its validity from the inability of the zemindar to levy more than the established rates; he sues a ryut for land which he has cultivated without enter- ing into engagements, although duly served with a notice, under Section X. Reg. V. 1812. The cultivator in defence states, that that notice raised the rates above those of the village ; the questions then to be determined are, what are the village rates, and what title the ryut has to the enjoyment of the privilege of cultivating at those rates? The first is regulated by such evidence as may be procurable ; the se- cond depends very much on local usage ; the nearest approach to a ge- neral rule is, that the cultivator if not duly served with a notice to enter into fresh engagements, cannot at the end of the year be called * Vide Vol. 1V. Sudder Dewanny Adawlut, 274. 538 On the tenures and fiscal relations of [No. 164. on to pay more than he paid the two preceding years, and that a cultivation of two years’ standing is necessary to give him a title to cultivate at the village rates. There is an apparent difficulty, as to whether the cultivation must be of the same spot, or whether the title holds good in the event of any change, but the fact in practice is, that cultivators will never break up new or even fallow soil except at reduced rates: so that the question generally arises in the third year of cultivation, when, the particular spot of land in dispute having become a valuable holding, the zemindar wishes either to dispossess the tenant and let his land to another at increased rates, or to obtain those in- creased rates from the occupant, who then, in the absence of other title, claims to hold at the same rate as other cultivators in the village, or at the village rates. The Nerick.i-Mukuddum is a rate established in favor of particular individuals, who claim to hold land at rates below those of the village, as a privilege of caste or office; where there is sufficient evidence to prove that this title has been previously recognised, it acquires a force from prescription which is not easily set aside, but it has been gene- rally conceded by the zemindar rather than admitted by Government, or the Courts; but still in practice it will be found, where there are Rajpoots in the same village with Goallas, Keords, and Chamars or other low-caste men, that they hold their lands on more favorable terms than these latter; the alleged reason is, that the Rajpoot culti- vator is compelled to employ servants, who see the whole of the labor is performed by the lower caste cultivators with their own hands. It has already been remarked, that this title must be recognised with caution. The Pergunnah-waree Nerick is resorted to, to check the Mowza- warree Nerick in cases where the latter cannot be determined by evi- dence, or when the proper assessment of a village hitherto held at an inadequate rent requires re-adjustment. It is the prevailing rate in the pergunnah, a well known revenue division of the country. The Bundoobustee Nerick is the rate recorded by an officer deputed under Reg. VIII. 1822, to effect the settlement of an estate as the pro- per Nerick of the place; it ought to be either a mere record of the pre- vailing rates fixed with reference to the various titles under which the different cultivators hold their land, or of the rates determined by 1845.] the owners, and occupants of the soil in Bengal, &c. 539 himself with due reference to the prevailing pergunnah rates. Rates thus established are under the provisions of Section XI. Reg. VII. 1822, fixed for ever, as far as concerns the ryut holding under them at the time of settlement; neither can this in propriety be questioned in the Civil Court. Jungle-booree Nerick. The rate at which cultivators enter into engagements to bring jungly land into cultivation. These of course depend on the terms of the specific contract entered into. It may be useful to notice the various circumstances which may affect this. ‘These are, the density of the jungle required to be cleared, the situation of the land with reference to markets, public thoroughfares or rivers, the demand for land in the neighbourhood, the means of irrigation, the quality of the soil and water, the aspect of the ground, and the heal- thiness of the climate. Nayabadee Nerick. The rate at which cultivators enter into en- gagements to bring waste lands into cultivation ; the above remarks are very much applicable to it also. Bheetee Nerick is the rate at which land for building is let. It is generally fixed on each house, and is determined by the eligibility of site, the extent of population, and similar causes ; in almost every case former payments will be the only satisfactory evidence regarding this rate. Nerick Baghan, Nerick Phulkur. These two rates appertaining to orchards or gardens may be considered together. As some outlay is necessary for the preparation of a garden, the cultivator generally secures himself by obtaining a lease of the ground beforehand; where he fails to do this, and has no prescriptive rights in his favor, the zemindar claims some proportion of the produce ; even where this is as low as one-fifth, it is disadvantageous to the ryut, as orchard land requires great care in cultivation, and yields exceedingly high returns. A grove of mango trees standing on five acres will yield four or five hundred rupees if situated near a public road ; in like way the produce of betel gardens, or pawn gardens, is of such value that the highest rate of money rent, will seldom equal more than one-twentieth or twenty-fifth part of theassets. With all these rates the evidence of past payments, or the payments in adjoining fields or properties is the best guide for determining what ought to be paid in each particular case ; where evidence on this head is not procurable, great caution must be 540 On the tenures and fiscal relations of [No. 164, exercised in calculating a money rent from an estimate of raw pro- duce. It will be of importance to ascertain from evidence what pro- portion of this produce local custom assigns to the zemindar, and then carefully to bear in mind the fluctuations of markets, seasons, price, and other points before noticed in the discussion on money rents. Nerick-t-Deh. In parts of the country where the villages are built in rows or streets, and the houses clustered together, the value of all lands is somewhat affected by their degree of proximity to the vil- lage, but the fields in the immediate vicinity of the houses are of peculiar value from the facility with which they are guarded, and the opportunity afforded of irrigating these from the village wells. ‘These are called Deh lands, and are devoted to the more valuable crops, poppy, spices, tobacco, sugar-cane, and all others which require irriga- tion and watching. The rates on these are proportionate to the advan- tages conferred by position, and will generally be found recorded in the village accounts; where these are not procurable, nor appear trust- worthy, evidence of former payments on cultivators of similar land will afford some guide as to what the rates ought to be. In adjusting a money rate, reference must be had to the amount of labor bestowed in raising and gathering the crop, more particularly the latter, when it consists of opium or spices. Nerick Muteherfa. In Behar, the cultivating classes do not pay ground rent for the spaces occupied by their houses ; this however is levied from artizans, and shopkeepers and other residents not cultiva- tors, under the head of Muteherfa. In Bengal the word Chandnee is more commonly used for this peculiar class of rent; local usage, vil- Jage accounts, and evidence of past payments, will afford the best guide in deciding claims regarding this rent. In adjusting a money rent, it is necessary to consider what are the advantages obtained, and what is included in the rent, such as a right of wharfage on the banks of a River, of frontage in a Bazaar, or of participation in the commercial privileges of the place in a large town; all which will affect the rent materially, and will, under peculiar circumstances, raise it to nearly 500 or 1,000 per acre. Nerick-i-Bhatai, is the rate or proportion at which the rents of Jand are levied in kind. Where the simple word Bhataz is used, the produce is usually divided into two equal shares, of which one is 1845.] the owners, and occupants of the soil in Bengal, &c. 54] appropriated by the tenant, the other by the landlord ; it is occasionally, however, levied in other proportions, such as one-fifth and four-fifths, two-fifths and three-fifths, one-third and two-thirds, or such other proportions as may be determined on. Nerick-t-kuitnee. This is rather a legal term than an absolute rate. Where disagreement exists as to the terms of divisions, or when the landlord neglects to assess the standing crop, the cultivator cuts it at his own risk, and if he fail to satisfy the landholder, the latter brings an action at the Nerick-i-kutnee, stating that the crop having been cut he had no means of assessing it, and therefore sued the cul- tivation at the full value of an average crop; this value is generally jaid at twenty maunds per beegah of the standard of Akbur. It becomes necessary to determine through whose neglect no assessment was made, what the terms of cultivation were, what the actual pro- duce was, what the Bazaar rates were at the time of cutting, and what the expenses were; the titles advanced by the cultivators may be just the same as in the case of money rents, evidence of the same nature may be resorted to. Nerick-i-kunkoot. This again is alegal term. The landlord in order to save the expense of watching the crop from the time of its cutting to its being thrashed, assesses it when standing, obtains from the cul- tivator an acknowledgment of the assessment mutually agreed on, and by this the accounts are subsequently adjusted. Where disputes sub- sequently arise regarding this, an action is brought, Kunkoot ke nerick se, or Kunkoot ke hisdb se, to determine what the assessment was, or ought to have been ; if no written acknowledgment was entered into, or if it is disputed, oral evidence regarding the particular crop or those round it is generally all that is procurable. Nerick-t-khaneh shumarree. Where cultivation extends over hills or places not easily accessible for purposes of assessment, revenue is assessed on the families or the males of each family; this mode of taxation is rapidly disappearing. It may be observed here, that tenures which lapse by dereliction or through default of heirs, revert to the zemindar; if a cultivator dies heirless, the zemindar may dispose of his tenure to the best advantage to himself, but if a new cultivator obtain possession without any stipulations as to rent, and retain it for two years, he cannot be ousted, but his title is not to hold the land at 54: bo On the tenures and fiscal relations of [No. 164. the same rates as the former tenant, but at the village rates. Ifa ryut be absent from his cultivation, he may continue his title to it by payment of the prescribed rent, but should balance of rent remain unpaid at the end of any year, the zemindar may proceed against him under the provisions of Sec. XV. Reg. VII. 1799, and having obtained a decree oust him, under Sec. XVIII. Reg. VIII. 1819. Nerick-t-Bunkur is the rate paid for the privilege of cutting wood, grass, or similar products from particular localities ; it is occasionally paid in the shape of rent for the ground occupied, occasionally in that of the price of the articles carried away. Generally a particular tract of country yielding Bunkur produce is let at a fixed rent to a farmer, who levies imposts from the men who carry away the different pro- ducts, according to the quantity which they take; the first descrip- tion of rent will be dealt with simply as any other farm, the second affecting the interests of the ryuts will depend very much on local usage ; although it is doubtful whether this can ever have been so com- pletely established as to constitute any prescriptive right to a fixed rate. In fact it is generally levied rather as a toll at the different points of export than as rent, and it does in reality differ from rent, as being rather the price of the article produced, than merely the lease of the hire of the land, although this latter is included in the price, the land being occupied in the production. Nature herself is the labourer, and the fortunate landholder is permitted to enjoy the fruit of her toils ; but Nature contenting herself with production, has Jeft the appropria- tion or reaping to man; and generally speaking, the labor of collecting and conveying spontaneous produce is far greater than of reaping a crop which is the result of cultivation ; and thislabor which has before been mentioned as calculated to affect rent, will materially influence that of land yielding Bunkur produce. The two distinct operations of col- lecting and conveying, are frequently performed by different classes of labourers; where this is the case, the landlord avails himself of the occasion of the transfer from one to another, as a convenient oppor- tunity of collecting his rent, and perhaps of taking some from each party. The woodcutter brings his log of timber or bundle of bamboos to the purchaser at the outlet of the estate, whatever it may be, the ghat or pass in a mountainous country, the river or roadside in a forest, or an alluvial chur ; the purchaser takes it from each individual, paying some 1845.] the owners, and occupants of the soil in Bengal, &c. 543 portion of the price to the landlord, and adding asmallsum on his own account for the privilege of storing his purchases on the property until they are completed ; the rent here includes the hire of the soil, the value of the product, and in addition to it is charged a rent for the ground on which the collected store is deposited, pending transit. Bunkur literally signifies wood or belonging to the forest, but mineral products, generally speaking, found in woody places, all go to make up Bunkur rents; that is to say, they form part of the assets on which the rent of a Bunkur farm is calculated, such as chalk, coal, stones, chu- nam: these again have separate subdivisions, but the principle on which the rent is to be calculated is the same. With reference to the two latter, labour is bestowed not only in the collection of the article, but in its preparation for the market; this preparation consists in the reduc- tion of the bulk, and the landlord compensates himself for what he loses in not taxing it in bulking by participating to a certain extent in the increased value of the article after it has undergone preparation. For the manufacture of the limestone into lime he makes a charge for the wood consumed in the heating of the kiln, and for the kiln itself; as he has the power of dictation, he generally prefers avoiding the risk of failure from injudicious heating, by taking the kiln accord- ing to the quantity of lime which it is estimated to yield rather than wait for the lime itself, hence this rate is generally levied on the kiln at so much per hundred maunds. Bunkur rates being generally levied as a toll, disputes regarding them seldom come before the Revenue Courts, except when disputes arise between the landholder and farmer, and these will of course depend on the terms of the lease. A Bunkur ryut is seldom a resident on the estate ; in fact, Bunkur estates are gene- rally unfitted for continued residence ; the want of scientific knowledge by which to avail itself of the treasures of the hill and forest have served to depreciate the value of Bunkur property in the estimation of _Natives far too low: as the products become of more importance, laws will become necessary for the protection of each peculiar class, instead of their being left now in indiscriminate confusion, all classed under one unmeaning title, Bunkur. Nerick-1-churhaie, the rate of rent paid for the right of pasturage in extensive forests on waste lands. Trials will come before the Revenue Courts, rather regarding the right to levy, than the rate 45 544 On the tenures and fiscal relations of [No. 164. at which the Jevy is to be made. In deciding cases, care must be taken lest the plaint, and the whole proceedings be fictitious, and lest there be collusion, the object being to establish a title by obtaining proof of having collected, or having been declared entitled to collect, or with a view of evading the resumption laws. Nerick-t-julker, is the rate of rent paid for the right of fishery in particular waters ; it is levied generally at so much a boat, and is modi- fied according to the description of net used. Local usages prevail with reference to this rent, differing in almost every river, and every bend of each river; but litigation is less frequent with reference to these than perhaps any other class of rents. Engagements to cultivate under a lease become void with the ex- piry of the lease itself; but if the zemindar instead of ousting the ryut at once, serve him a notice for the enhancement of his rents under the provisions of Reg. V. 1812, the service of the notice brings the case under the jurisdiction of the Revenue Courts, and if a balance remain unpaid at the end of the year, the zemindar cannot plead this balance as giving him a right to oust the cultivator under the provisions of Section X. Reg. IV. 1840, before the Magistrate ; but having brought himself under jurisdiction of the Revenue Court, must sue for it and obtain a decree under Section XVIII. Reg. VIII. 1819. The oceu- pancy for the year without opposition by the zemindar would appear to give the tenant a title from sufferance, which is defined by Black- stone : “‘ Where one comes into possession of land by a lawful title, but keeps it afterwards without any title at all, as ifa man takes a lease for a year, and after a year is expired continues to hold the pre- mises without any fresh lease from the owner of the estate:” and the reason is, because the tenant being once in by a lawful title, the law (which presumes no man in the wrong) supposes him to continue upon a title equally lawful, until the owner of the land prove it to be wrongful. Now the Magistrate can only support the zemin- dar in the exercise of undoubted rights; he by his own neglect suffered a certain cause for doubt to supervene, and must clear it away by suing for any balance of rent as by his notice may remain due at the end of the year; at the end of the second year the cul- tivator has acquired a title of settlement since the expiration of his lease. 1845.] the owners, and occupants of the soil in Bengal, &c. 545 A resident cultivator considering himself aggrieved by ejectment, has a right to a trial of his grievance. If the ejectment be accompanied with violence he may apply for redress to the Magistrate, who besides inquiring into the violence, will on plaint being made under Reg. IV. 1840, call on the zemindar to prove his claim to the exercise of the right of summary ejectment, and should it appear that the cultivator had no claim, he will permit his summary ejectment ; but should the case appear to be of the nature of those above described, he will either maintain the cultivator in possession, or stay the zemindar from dis- posing of the lands for a fixed period, within which he will instruct the cultivator to bring an action to try the ejectment under the Sth clause, Section XVIII. Reg. VIII. 1819, and the construction put upon it by the Circular Orders of the Dewannee Adawlut, dated 15th November 1833, which states that, ‘‘ The declaration that it is illegal to oust resident cultivators except under circumstances, necessarily implies a remedy in case of the contravention of the rule, &c. &c.” The general laws of the country, if fully enforced, afford a degree of protection to the cultivator which is rather weakened than strengthen- ed by a special contract or lease ; even in the formation of new settle- ments the cultivators will be found unwilling to enter into written engagements, they have a sort of instinctive feeling that it is not their interest to do so; and they dislike the signature of the counterpart of a lease, which renders obligatory on them the annual payment of sums for the realization of which they have no security but the crop dependent on the contingencies of the season: in settlements besides the general laws of the country in their favour, they have the special protection afforded by Section XI. Reg. VII. 1822, and are well aware that if unable to assert their privileges under those general laws, that the mere possession of a pottah will not render them much stronger, but will have very much the effect of a special bond for a portion of a debt, which without affording any additional guarantee for the payment of tle amount included in it, serves to throw doubt on the remainder which is excluded, and will tend to deprive them of the benefit of the protection to be derived from the general law with regard to any privileges not énumerated in it. 546 Notices and Descriptions of various New or Little Known Species of Birds. By Ep. Buyru, Curator of the Asiatic Society’s Museum. [Continued from p. 212, ante. } After the first part of this article was consigned to the press, an opportunity occurred of looking over Gould’s magnificent ‘ Birds of Australia,’ up to the nineteenth number of that work; and a few of the notes I took from it, bearing on the Ornithology of India, may here be introduced. Among the Falconide, a second species of my genus Butaétus* (ante, p. 174,) occurs in the Agutla morphnoides, Gould, P. Z..S. 1840, p. 161; and the slight enlargement and elongation of the central occipital feathers recurs in it, which I mentioned to exist in fine speci- mens of B. pennatus. Falco hypoleucos, Gould, (ibid.), which that naturalist considers to be the Australian representative of the Jer Fal- con of the north, is very closely allied to #. guggur of India, from which it only appears to differ in having a dark forehead, no trace of supercilium, and the broadly white patch on the cheeks greatly dimi- nished. Milvus affinis, Gould, the common Kite of Australia gene- rally, excepting Van Diemen’s Land, appears to be quite identical with M. govinda of India; but in that case the cere and feet are coloured too deeply: I can perceive no other difference whatever. Elanus axillaris (v. notatus, Gould,) is certainly distinct from &. melanopterus of India; and a beautiful new species is figured as £. scriptus. I am also informed by Mr. Strickland, that the Ame- rican &. dispar has the tail wholly white, and a smaller beak than Z. melanopterus : so that four species of this generic form are now esta- blished. A South African specimen of E. melanopterus, in first plu- mage, presented to the Society by Lord Arthur Hay, appears to me to be identical with the bird of India, although his lordship inclines to a different opinion. In the Athene strenua, Gould, we have an Owl of the largest size, yet strictly pertaining to this genus of (generally) very diminutive Owls: and the Athene ? connivens, (Lath.) Gould, Ath. maculata, (V. * This name must yield to Hieraétus of Kaup (1844); which 1 learn from Mr. G. R. Gray’s extremely useful illustrated work on the genera of birds, seventeen num- bers of which are now before me, and from these I shall have occasion to append some notes to the present paper. Mr. Gray merges Hieraétus in Aquila. 1845. ] little known Species of birds. 547 and H.), and Aéh. boobook, (Lath.), evidently pertain to Mr. Hodg- son’s genus Ninox.* Caprimulgus macrurus, Horsfield, is figured as an inhabitant of Port Essington, in North Australia; and the species would seem to be the same as that which I have referred to macrurus, p. 206, ante: the general colour, however, would appear to be scarcely so dark as in the Malacca specimens, and I do not understand the second white mark represented upon the breast of the male. The two sexes are figured, both having the white marks on the wings and tail, but diminished in extent in the female: and looking to a series of specimens of the near- ly allied C. albonotatus, it would seem that the females vary in this respect, many having certainly more or less of this white, which con- firms Captain Tickell’s statement of the sexes of this bird resembling each other. In the common small C. asiaticus of India, the male and female appear always to resemble; and I now suspect that this will prove to be not unusually the case in C. albonotatus, C. macrurus, and C. mahrattensis.t+ To the genus Collocalia, Mr. Gould erroneously refers two species of true Swallow, allied in nidification as well as plumage to Hirundo capensis and H. daurica (v. erythropygia); and a third Swallow is figured by him as H. neoxena, which appears to me perfectly identical with a specimen of HZ. pacifica, (v. domicola, Jerdon,) from the Neil- gherries. A new Cypseline genus—Atticora—is founded on Hirundo fasciata, Gm., and two or three other South American species, to which is added one Australian representative as Aé. leucosternon.t * This group Ninoz is not admitted by Mr. G. R. Gray, who refers as many as forty-four species to Athene! 1 certainly consider the former to be a good division. f Jt may be here remarked, that Cuprimulgus indicus is far from being so rare in Lower Bengal as I formerly supposed ; inasmuch as specimens may be often procur- ed in the Calcutta Botanic Garden. C. monticolus will also probably turn out to be far from scarce when I come to discover its proper haunts, which I suspect are upon open ground. ‘The only two specimens of the latter which I have obtained were both caught alive by bazar shikarrees. Among Sir A. Burnes’s drawings is a figure of a species, (from ‘‘ Lakat,’’) nearly allied to.C. monticolus, but still more uniform in its colouring which approaches to sandy,—this ‘being a tolerably sure indication of the prevalent hue of its haunts ;—but if correctly figured, (and it is stated to be ‘‘ natural size,”’) it would be a smaller bird than C. monticolus, having the wing but nine inches and a quarter long. A skull and feet in Burnes’s collection are, however, quite undistinguishable from those of C. monticolus.—The Society has just received another closely allied species from Java. { Mr. G. R. Gray refers Atticora to the Swallow group; but I have little doubt that he is wrong. Not only is the whole appearance of Mr. Gould’s figure of At. leucos- 548 Notices and Descriptions of various new [No. 164. Acanthylis caudacuta (v. australis), p. 211 and note, ante, would seem identical with the Himaiayan species, only the middle of the back is represented scarcely whitish enough, and the Australian bird is figured to have a white mark above the bill, which does not exist in the Society's Himalayan specimens: but as the nearly allied Ae. gigantea varies in this respect, as shewn by specimens in the Society’s museum, it is evident that no importance can be attached to this slight difference.* Cypselus pacificus, (Lath., v. australis, Gould,) p. 212 ante, from Penang, accords minutely with Mr. Gould’s figure of an Australian specimen (except that the chin is not so purely white), and it may therefore be considered as rightly determined. The Totanus glottoides, Vigors, is still regarded by Mr. Gould as distinct from 7Z. glottis, and is figured by him as Australian: so also is Coturnix chinensis, which is common in parts of India, and seems to be found through all the intervening countries into Australia; and Mr. Gould admits it doubtfully into his Australian genus Synoicus. To Hiaticula nigrifrons, (Cuv.), v. melanops, (Vieillot), must be refer- red the Charadrius russatus of Jerdon. Hamatopus longirostris of ternon quite Cypseline, but he has distinctly represented ¢en tail-feathers, of very Cyp- seline character: whereas all the species of the Swallow group have invariably twelve tail-feathers. ; te Hirundo neoxena Mr. Gray identifies with H. javanica of Vigors and Horsfield, referring them both to H. pacifica of Latham ; and H. domicola, Jerdon, will come in as another synonyme: but H. jewan of Sykes is considered by him to be the true H. javanica of Sparrman, though I suspect its true name will be H. gutturalis, Scop., v. panayana, Lath. ; an identification | owe to Prof. Behn. Mr. Gray agrees with me (I may even say as a matter of course) in referring Mr. Gould’s two supposed species of Collocalia to true Hirundo. Of Collocalia, Mr. Gray enumerates four species, viz. C. esculenta, (Lin.), C. nidifica, (Lath.), C. fuciphaga, (Vhunb.), and C. troglodytes, G. R. Gray, which last he has figured. ‘lhe Nicobar species which I referred to C. esculenta, appears to be the fuciphaga of Dr. Horsfield’s list, but not of Shaw; the latter approaches much nearer to C. concolor, (Jerdon), which last will, I suspect, bear the prior name of brevirostris, McClelland, P. Z. S. 1839, p. 155. The Nicobar species (true fuci- phaga?) is of the same size as C. troglodytes figured by Mr. G. R. Gray, but has a much larger head than-is represented in that figure (doubtless incorrectly), and its upper-parts are dusky-black, slightly glossed with green and purple, the lower brownish with white abdomen. The name fuciphaga is, of course, an absurdity: and on perusal of my remarks on the composition of the edible nests (p. 210, ante), our contributor Mr. Laidley remarked to me, that he had arrived at the same result from chemical analysis, which shewed the constituent elements to be those of inspissated saliva.x—The Society has just received the Nicobar species from Java. * Ac. caudacuta of Australia, and Ac. nudipes of the Himalaya, are enumerated as separate species by Mr. G. Kt. Gray. 1845. | or little known Species of Birds. 549 Australia is distinct from the Indian Oyster-catcher, which has a much longer bill, and I shall describe it by the name H. macrorhynchus. Himantopus leucocephalus, Gould, of Australia and the Malay coun- ‘tries, occurs also in India, but is much rarer than H. candidus. Nettapus coromandelianus of Australia, as figured by Mr. Gould, agrees exactly, both in size and markings, with the common Indian species. In the genera Hylacola and Calamanthus (Praticola, Sw., 1837), a very close approach is shewn to the Indian Pellornium (vide J. A. S. XIII, note to p. 372); but the latter seems sufficiently distinct, being also a larger bird, with a longer bill than in its Australian affines.* Lastly, I shall only notice Sericornis, Gould, exemplified by his S. citreogularis, as a generic type to which a common Himalayan species (sent by Mr. Hodgson with the name Zarsiger chryse@us,) would seem to appertain.| The latter may be described as follows : Sericornis (?) chrysea, (Hodgson.) Length about five inches and a quarter, of wing two and three-quarters, and tail two and a quarter, its outermost feathers a quarter of an inch less: bill to gape three-quar- ters of an inch, and tarse an inch and one-eighth. Male having the entire under-parts, shoulder of wing, more or less of the scapularies, the rump, and basal three-fourths of all but the middle pair of tail- feathers, brilliant yellow; the last being also yellow at base, and there is a narrow supercilium of the same: rest of the tail, and the lores and ear-coverts, black: alars, and their larger coverts, blackish, nar- rowly edged with dull yellowish; and the head and back are dusky olive, with dull yellowish-green margins to the feathers: bill dark above, below pale; and the legs pale. In younger specimens, there is less yellow on the scapularies and wings: and the females have the whole upper-parts uniform dark greenish-olive, with merely a more yellowish shade over the rump; the under-parts sullied yellow; and tail dusky-olive, marked as in the male, but with considerably duller yellow. The young of the year differ from the female in being spotted above like a young Robin. Mr. Hodgson informs us that this bird ‘inhabits the central hills of the Himalaya; is shy, solitary, and bush-loving, constantly descend- * In the sequel (p. 600), I have added a new genus to this group,—Ma/acocincla, nobis. + Other species of Sericornis, however, figured by Mr. Gould, render this generic identification more doubtful. 550 Notices and Descriptions of various new [No. 164. ing to the ground from its perch: it feeds and breeds on the ground, making a compact saucer-like nest of moss. Eggs verditer.” In form it comes very close upon Calliope, and approaches still nearer to Cya- necula, from which its principal structural distinction consists in the more rounded form of its wings and tail, and the somewhat reduced degree of firmness of its plumage; besides which the yellow colouring is a character of the present group. The wings have the fourth, fifth, and sixth primaries subequal and longest, and the first about half their length. Referring again to the first part of this paper (p. 182, anée), it may be remarked that Mr. Jerdon now considers the Scops sunia and Se. pennata there described, to be different phases of plumage of the same. species. Until I obtain further data, I shall refrain from adding to what I have already stated on the subject ; but may remind the natural- ist reader, that I have described three distinct states of plumage of the Sc. sunia,—viz. the first or nestling garb, an intermediate dress in both sexes, and the mature livery which is almost uniform deep chesnut- ferruginous: so that the variation to grey would certainly not appear to be dependent either on age or sex.* Of Syrnium nivicolum (p. 185), a second specimen has been oblig- ingly presented to the Society (with numerous other valuable bird skins), by Mr. L. C. Stewart, of H. M. 39th Foot, believed to be from the Western Himalaya, where many of that gentleman’s specimens were procured. It completely establishes the species, as distinct from S. aluco; and it differs from the specimen already described in the general darker tone of colouring of its upper parts, occasioned by the greater predominance of the fuscous ground-tint, while the scapulary spots are whiter, and there is also an intermixture of white on the facial disk, and the lower parts are less tinged with fulvescent. | It is probably a male, and the other a female. With respect to the species of Brachypternust (p. 194), I find that a third occurs in the Scindian representative of the common Picus ( Br.) aurantius. With the dimensions of the latter, it differs from it in the reduced quantity and intensity of the yellow on the upper parts, * Mr. G. R. Gray identifies Sc. pennata with the European species, and adopts Ephialtes, K. and B., as the generic name. ¢ Lord A. Hay thinks, judging from recollection, that P. micropus is the common species of S. India, P. bengalensis apud Jerdon, 1845.) or little known Species of Birds. 551 which is also quite free from any orange tinge, and the whitish mark- ings on the wings are much more developed ;—distinctions which hold true in both sexes. As I have elsewhere described the species, the present indication of it will here suffice. I am also informed that the P. badius apud Jerdon, of S. India, dif- fers alike from the true P. ( Micropternus) badius of the Malay coun- tries, and from P. (M.) pheoceps, nobis, of Bengal, Nepal, Assam, and Arracan. Accordingly, we now distinguish three species respec- tively of the subgenera Micropternus, Brachypternus, and Tiga ; which certainly confirms the propriety of these groups being thus separated.* Centropus (p. 202). Lord Arthur Hay has obtained a very splen- did bird of. this genus from Malacca, which is evidently the Cuculus bubutus of Raffles’s list, stated to be “not much less than two feet in length ;” but it is not Dr. Horsfield’s Javanese bird, described to be eighteen inches and a half long (Lin. Trans. XIII, 180), which is precisely the length of the Indian species (vide J. A. S. XI, 1099). This fine species may be appropriately termed C. eurycercus, A. Hay: being particularly remarkable for the great breadth of its tail-feathers, each of which measures two inches and three-quarters across. Length about twenty-three inches, of which the middle tail-feathers measure half, the outermost being four inches and three-quarters shorter; wing eight and three-quarters; bill to gape nearly two inches (in a straight line), and three-quarters of an inch in vertical height, being much larger than in C. philippensis; tarse two and a quarter ; the long hind-claw but an inch. Colour as C. philippensis, but the back and wings are of a brighter and more chesnut brown, and the tail is glossed with steel-blue instead of green. C. philippensis and C. Lathami are also met with at Malacca, and both appear to be much commoner there than the present species. I have also lately received certain information of a Centropus, of the alleged size of C. bengalensis, (and doubtless that species, ) occurring in the Calcutta Botanic Garden. My informant brought me C. Lathami from the locality, and stated that he had often there observed the minute species, but was unaware * Mr. Jerdon writes me word—‘' The Picus moluccensis figured in the Planches coloriées is certainly distinct from that of Hardwicke and Gray: the former being of course true moluccensis, and I suspect the same.as your canicapillus.’’—A Javanese specimen just arrived is very doubtfully distinct from that of S. India: and I may add, that in Dr Cantor’s Malayan collection is a superb fourth species of Tiga. 4 F 552 Notices and Descriptions of various new [No. 164. of its being at all a desideratum. It is therefore probable that I shall soon obtain specimens. (C. bicolor, Lesson, has just been re- ceived by the Society, with the specific name celebensis, probably of Temminck. It is a very distinct species.) We may next pass to the paper on Leiotrichane, &c., and Fringillide, Vol. XIII, pp. 983 et seg., to notice some further identifications which have occurred to me. Leiothrix furcatus, v. sinensis, must be designated L. luteus, (Sco- poli). Siva occipitalis, nobis, (p. 937,) makes so considerable an approach in plumage and general character to the Yuhina ? flavicollis, Hodgson, As. Res. XIX, 167, that their near affinity is indisputable; and this brings the latter species, for which Mr. Hodgson now proposes the generic name Jxulus (vide sequel, p. 562), within the confines of the group of Leiotrichane, where the slender form of the bill approximates it to Minla, from which it is barely separable, and it thence carries on the series of affinities to Yuhina and also to Myzornis (J. A. S. XII, 984). The Siva occipitalis, however, differs greatly in the form of its bill from Lavulus flavicollis, that of the former being fully as stout as in Proparus, in which group it might very well be classed: and as re- gards other distinctions, the crown is tinged with rufous, the slightly reverted crest is less developed, the narrow blackish streak from the corners of the mouth does not occur, the under-parts are much more sullied or less whitish, and the wings are longer; yet, notwithstanding these various differences, the resemblance is at first sight not inconsider- able. It may be added, that the name Certhiparus, which Mr. Hodgson wishes to substitute for Minda, is objectionable on other grounds than as concerns the mere alteration; it having been previously applied (apparently by the Baron de la iinet to a group of New Zealand Meliphagide.* * Vide G. R. Gray, in Dieffenbach’s ‘ New Zealand,’ [I, 189 (1843). This na- turalist, by the way, reunites the whole of Mr. Hodgson’s divisions of Leiotrichane under Leiothrix; and he gives four species of Pteruthius, adding as a fifth the Pipriso- ma agilis, which has no sort of relationship to the group. he male of Pt. rufiventer, nobis, is beautifully figured, but the sexes of this species are so different, that the female should certainly have accompanied it. As for his mixing up the Leiotrichane birds with Pardalotus, Pachycephala, &c., 1 am quite of Mr. Strickland’s opinion, that the group Pachycephaline so formed is an extremely forced and unnatural one; and that such is usually the case, when too little attention is paid to the geography of genera thus brought together. 1845. ] 3 or little known Species of Birds. 553 The Parus (2?) minutus, Jerdon, (p. 944,) is probably identical with Erpornis zantholeuca, Hodgson, XIII, 880. 77 ¢- P. nuchalis, Jerdon, is a new species from Southern India. Length about five inches, of wing two inches and three-eighths, and tail two inches; bill to gape nearly half an inch, and tarse five-eighths. Colour black above, as also a broad mesial stripe from throat to vent ; cheeks, sides of neck, and of the breast and belly, with the under tail-coverts, white; a white spot also at the nape, as in P. ater, &c., a band of the same across the wing, and the tertiaries very broadly margined exter- nally and tipped with white; outermost tail-feather white, except its inner border, the next with the outer web and contiguous portion of the inner web white, and the third with the outer web white at tip and for most of its basal half: bill black; and legs plumbeous. Inhabits the Eastern ghauts. Of Ploceus philippinus, (p. 944,) Mr. Strickland writes me word, that the Indian bird, and not Dr. Horsfield’s Javanese species, is the true Loxia philippina of Linneus. It extends its range to Malacca. Passer montanus (p. 947,) proves to be the more common species of Sparrow in Arracan generally, about 60 of this species occurring to one of P. domesticus, var. indicus: Lord Arthur Hay has also re- ceived it from Malaceca;* and hence a doubt arises whether it be not the Siamese Sparrow mentioned by Crawfurd. P. montanus is also the common Sparrow of Afghanistan. - The division Gymnorts, Hodgson (p. 948), I shall now adopt, on the authority of a second species sent on loan by Lord Arthur Hay, and believed to be from S, Africa. . G. superciliaris (2), A. Hay. Length about six inches and three- quarters, of wing three and three-quarters, and tail two and a half; bill to gape eleven-sixteenths of an inch, and tarse three-quarters. Plumage as in G. flavicollis, with the same yellow spot in front of the neck; but there is no maroon colour on the shoulder of the wing, the anterior whitish bar crossing the wing is narrower, there is a conspicuous whitish supercilium, and the dorsal feathers have the terminal third of their inner web dull dusky-brown, imparting somewhat of the streaky appearance common to most Sparrows: the crown and upper portion * I hear that a Sparrow of some species, most probably this one, abounds in Singa- pore.—The Society has just received Ploceus philippinus apud Horsfield from Java. ~ 554 Notices and Descriptions of various new [No. 164. of the ear-coverts are dark brown, contrasting strongly with the whitish supercilium: bill formed exactly as in the other species. To Amadina maja, (p. 949,) should have been added, as a synonyme, Loxia leucocephala, Raffles. A. acuticauda, Hodgson, is the Loxia molucca, Lin., and will therefore range as Amadina molucca. Speci- mens from Malacca are perfectly identical in species with those procur- ed in Nepal by Mr. Hodgson.* For Erythrospiza (p. 952), must be substituted the prior name Carpodacus of Kaup: and for Corythus, Strobilophaga of Vieillot. Carduelis caniceps (p. 955). The Afghan specimen described, was in summer aspect of plumage, when the winter edgings toits feathers had been cast. Its length should have been printed five inches and three-quarters. One from the western Himalaya, in winter garb, is rather smaller, agreeing in length of wing with Gould’s figure, and the plumage has a browner tinge, less relieved with white on the fore-neck and breast than in the Afghan summer specimen, or than in C. com- munis; but the colour is much less dark than in Gould’s figure, the red surrounding the base of the beak is also much less developed, and there is no black streak passing backward from the eye. An oriental species of Zigurinus, or Greenfinch, exists in the Loxia sinensis, Lath., founded on the Verdier de la Chine of Sonnerat. It agrees in size, and in the Goldfinch-like marking of the wings, with L. xanthogrammicus of the Andes. To the species of Bunting enumerated in pp. 957-8, may now be added Fi. melanops, nobis. Length six inches, of wing two and seven- eighths, and tail two and five-eighths ; bill to forehead seven-sixteenths, and tarse three-quarters of an inch. Head, neck, throat and breast, dull green, paler below, and a little streaked with dusky on the crown; lores, chin, and around the eyes, black; belly and lower tail-coverts sulphur-yellow, the flanks greenish with dusky streaks: scapularies and inter-scapularies rufescent, with a black central streak to each feather ; * Lord A. Hay writes me word—‘‘ 1 have specimens of Amadina punctularia v. nisoria from Malacca, and they seem distinct from our Indian bird; being much lighter-coloured, and the markings seem differently formed.’’—Should they prove distinct, the Indian species would perhaps rank as .4m. lineoventer, (Hodgson:) but I remember comparing Malayan with Bengal specimens some time ago, and pane no difference between them. 1845.] or little known Species of Birds. 555 the wings blackish, each feather margined with rufescent, palest at the tips of the greater and second range of coverts: rump plain rufescent-greenish: tail dusky, with the terminal two-thirds of its outermost feather white, except the final third of the narrow outer web; and about a third of the inner web of the penultimate feather is also white, obliquely separated: bill dusky, the lower mandible whitish except at tip; and feet pale. From Tipperah, whence a fine specimen has been presented to the Society by M. Courjon. This can hardly be the male of #. sordida, J. A. S. XIII, 958. It may be that I was wrong in referring a Peshawur female in the collection formed by the late Sir Alexander Burnes and Dr. Lord, to the E. icterzca of Central India, in XIII, 957; for both sexes of the Peshawur bird are figured in a drawing made under Sir A. Burnes’s superintendence ; and though the specimen has certainly every appear- ance of being the female £. icterica, the male is not represented to have any distinct rusty tinge on the head, which is nearly concolorous with the back, except that the pale yellow hue of the under-parts is made to surround the ear-coverts, and thence to ascend on the crown, posterior to the eye, so as to divide the brown of the crown from that of the occiput. Should it prove to be a distinct species, and not merely ictertca represented indifferently, it might bear the name Z&. personata.* The following is a remarkable genus, the affinities of which have puzzled me a good deal, but (now that the Society’s specimens have been mounted, and I can judge better of their characters,). I incline to think, with Mr. Hodgson, that it is really related to the Larks, though tending to assume the character of some of the Crate- ropodine, as Pellornium and itsallies, yet without being truly affined * Since writing the above, Mr. Stewart has favored us with many specimens of Z. icterica from the vicinity of Agra, where the species appears tobe very common; and the females seem to me to be decidedly identical in species with Burnes’s Peshawur female, though the back is less rufescent. Burnes’s specimen is, however, in old and worn plumage, whilst the Agraspecimens have their feathers newly put forth. I may likewise notice here, that Lord Arthur Hay has obtained #. Lathami, male and female, from Hong Kong; thespecies certainly identical with the Indian one. These, and all the other Indian Buntings which I know of, pertain to the division Euspiza of the Prince of Canino, at least according to the classification of Mr. G. R. Gray, which [ am not altogether satisfied with. The type of Euspiza is Emb. melano- cephala of Scopoli; which is distinct enough in the form of its beak. 556 Notices and Descriptions of various new [No. 164. to the latter. Mr. Hodgson terms it ‘“‘a most interesting form, tending to relieve the insulation of the Alaudine.” Heterura, Hodgson. ‘* Bill moderate, strong, compressed, straight, but with the culmen and compressure ¢urved, and gonys ascending ; its base clad with rigid plumes as far as the advanced mares, and the tip for the most part decidedly inclined and notched ; tomie scarpt and trenchant : gape wide and hispid. Wing short, hardly passing the base of the tail, but A/audine in all its details ; the first and fifth quills equal, and somewhat shorter than the second, third, and fourth, which are longest ; centrals notched ; the tertiaries equal to the primaries. Tail rigid, somewhat gradated from sides as well as centre, and the sepa- rate plumes possessing the divaricate structure, with acutely wedged or hastate points. Legs and feet strong, ambulant: tarse plus the middle toe and nail, strongly scutellate to the front, smooth and cultrated tothe back. Toes medial, compresed ;: the laterals equal ; the central sufficiently long; the exterior basally connected to the mid one ;-the hind least ; nails simple, fully curved. ** Hab. Hills only. Not very gregarious : frequent trees, and breed and feed on the ground.” H. sylvana, Hodgson. ‘ General aspect and colours Alaudine, but the body below completely striped. Above brown-black, largely margined with ruddy-luteous [on the sides of the feathers]: below rufescent-luteous, immaculate on throat, but beyond-it streaked cen- trally with more or less wide blackish lines; a dark moustache, and pale brow: lateral caudals more or less albescent: legs fleshy-green; bill horn-colour, with dusky ridge. Length seven inches and a quarter to seven and a half: bill eleven to twelve-sixteenths of an inch; tail two and three-quarters to two and seven-eighths ; closed wing two and seven- eighths to three and one-sixteenth ; tarse under an inch ; central toe to nail thirteen-sixteenths, hind ditto eleven-sixteenths ; weight an ounce.” Inhabits Nepal.* I will next briefly review the Nectariniide, which were last taken in hand in Vol. XII, pp. 969 to 984, inclusive. * The Coryphidea baghaira (p- 961, ante,) is identified by Mr. G. R. Gray with Alauda bruchydactyla, Auct.; and as this constitutes the type of Calandrella, Kaup, the species will accordingly range as Cal. brachydactyla. The form is quite distinct from Alauda, to which Mr. G. R. Gray refers it; as any one familiar with the living bird must at once acknowledge. Mr. Gray’s Indian Alaud@ are in sad confusion. 1845.] or little known Species of Birds. 557 To commence with the genus Arachnothera: my A. latirostris (p. 982) must be referred to A. modesta, (Eyton, p. 981); and of the other spe- cies briefly described by that gentleman, who erroneously referred them both to Anthreptes of Swainson, the Society has now received two fine specimens from Malacca, which may be thus described : A. flavigaster, (Eyton). Length about eight inches, of wing four, and tail two inches ; bill to forehead one and three-quarters ; and tarse seven- eighths. Colour plain olive-green above, paler below, and yellowish on the belly and under tail-coverts: feathers around the eyes, and a tuft near the angle of the jaw, brighter yellow: bill dusky, paler beneath, and the legs have probably been bright yellow. A young specimen is smaller, with the wing three inches and five-eighths long, and the rest in proportion: the plumage is less compact, but the colouring of the upper parts is brighter olive-green, and of the abdominal region much brighter siskin- yellow: in other respects it is similar.* Nectarinia mahrattensis, (p. 978, ) will bear, as its earliest specific name, that of asiatica, (Lath.) It is also the Certhia mahrattensis, Lath., and C. saccharina of Shaw.t The range of this species extends eastward into Arracan, where also the NV. Gouldie is met with ; but not zeyloni- ca, which is replaced by Hasseltiz, as asiatica there begins to be by flammaxillaris, which last, in its turn, is replaced towards the Straits by pectoralis. N. jugularis, Vieillot, apud nos, (p. 979,) is a new species, and may now rank as NV. flammaxillaris, nobis: the length of its tail, misprint- ed “‘ under half an inch,” should have been given as under an inch and a half. The allied . pectoralis, Horsf., is common at Malacca, and in the Nicobar islands: a specimen in spirit from the latter group measuring four inches long, by six in spread of wing. Nect. (v. Anthreptes) phcenicotis, (p. 979,) ascends so high as Tip- perah ; and also certain other Malayan birds (as Calornis cantor{ and Brachypodius melanocephalus) occur there, which do not appear to have been met with further to the west. | Nect. Phayrei, nobis, p. 1008, proves (as I formerly suspected) to * The Society has now two, if not three, additional species of this genus from Java, which require more study than I can at present bestow on them. t+ N. strigula, (Hodg.) is the young. ~ Lord Arthur Hay has pointed out to me some distinctions between the Tipperah and Arracan Calornis, and the closely allied species of the Straits. 558 Notices and Descriptions of various new [No. 164. be WV. Hasseltii, Tem., and is common also at Malacca. It is the Certhia sperata, var., of Raftles’s list. Nect. (v. Anthreptes) frontalis, nobis. Differs from the female of N. lepida (v. gavanica, Horsf.,) in having the bill rather shorter; the up- per parts of a richer, somewhat darker, and more aureous, olive-green ; and the lower parts greenish-grey, without any yellow: the throat, and cheeks especially, inclining to be cinereous: the frontal feathers alone are scale-like, and of a brilliant steel-green. Length about five inches, of wing two and three-eighths, and tail two and one-eighth ; bill to gape three-quarters of an inch; and tarse nine-sixteenths. From Singapore. Diceum chrysochlorum, nobis, p. 1009, extends its range southward to Malacca. D. erythronotum, p. 983, bears the prior name of eruentatum, (l.)* D. Tickelliea, nobis, is the Certhia erythrorhyncha, Lath., a name, however, which is too inaccurate to be retained. Young birds, when they leave the nest, have the beak of a flesh-red colour, except just the tip; and a specimen in this state is figured among Buchanan’s drawings, with the reddish colour of the bill exaggerated; and it was probably upon a copy of this very drawing that Latham founded the species. Being the Nectarinia minima of Tickell (not of Sykes), it might therefore be termed Diceum minimum, (Tickell). The range of the species extends into Tipperah and Arracan. D. ignicapilium of Eyton is the Prionochilus percussus, (Tem.) Strickland; and in form and colouring it bears much the same relation- ship to Piprisoma agilis, (Tickell) nobis, XIII, 395, that the bright- coloured Malayan Dicea do to the dull-coloured species which alone inhabit the peninsula of India. To this genus Prionochilus, Str., P. Z. S. 1841, p. 29, are referred the various Malayan species which M. Temminck has strangely classed in Pardalotus, as his P. thoracicus and P. maculatus, in addition to the percussus: and the so-called Par- dalotus pipra of Lesson’s Traité (stated to be Himalayan), upon which the latter naturalist has since founded his Jdopleura, turns out to be * Dr. Horsfield informs me, in epistold, that the Javanese species which he refer- red to cruentatum is distinct from the Bengal one, or true cruentatum. It is probably, therefore, one the Society has just received from Java, which has the head, neck, throat, breast, whole inter-scapularies, rump, and upper tail-coverts, scarde¢, wings and tail blue-black, and lower parts pale ashy, except the under tail-coverts which are white. D. cruentatum is common at Malacca. EG LR, an Rebtel. a Gees TEL, BE. 1845.] or little known Species of Birds. 559 South American ; which satisfactorily disposes of all the Asiatic species that had been assigned by authors to the very peculiar Australian genus Pardalotus, warranting and confirming our suspicions in other instances, wherein the French naturalists more particularly have strangely inclined to disregard some of the most striking exemplifica-_ tions of the geographical limitation of particular forms. Two well marked species of Prionochilus are now before me, which may be described as follow : I. Pr. percussus, (Tem.): Diceeum ignicapillum, Eyton. Length about three inches and seven-eighths, of wing two inches to two and a quarter, and tail an inch and a quarter; bill to gape seven-sixteenths, and tarse half an inch. Colour dull lavender-blue above, the lower parts bright yellow, passing to whitish on the lower tail-coverts ; a large igneous-red spot on the vertex, and another in the centre of the breast ; and a white streak from the side of the lower mandible, divid- ed from the yellow of the throat by another of the same colour as the upper parts. Bill black above, more or less whitish beneath ; and legs lead-coloured. Mr. Eyton describes the female to be ashy above, with the under-parts yellow irregularly streaked with cinereous; and a red spot on the vertex. The young are olive-green above, paler below ; and it is doubtful, from a specimen before me (which has advanced in its moult), whether there is either coronal spot, or more than a trace of one, or of yellow on the under-parts, in its first plumage. From Malacca. 2. Pr. thoracicus, (? Tem.) The appropriateness of the name leaves little doubt of this species being properly identified ; and it is not un- likely that Pardalotus maculatus, Tem., refers to the female or the young. Length four inches and a quarter, of wing two and _ three-eighths, and tail an inch and a quarter; bill to gape half an‘inch, and tarse rather more. Head, neck, breast, and throat, black, with an igneous- red spot on the vertex, and a very large patch of the same on the middle of the breast ; wings and tail also black, some of the feathers slightly margined with olive ; back greenish-yellow, brightening on the rump, and becoming vivid yellow on the upper tail-coverts, and on the shoulder of the wing ; axillaries, and fore-part of the under surface of the wing, white ; and the remainder of the lower parts yellow, ting- ed with olive on the flanks. A presumed female has the entire upper parts olive-green, with an igneous coronal spot, less red than in the 4G 560 Notices and Descriptions of various new [No. 164. male ; a whitish streak from the base of the lower mandible, separated by an olive-green streak from the slightly yellowish white hue of the middle of the throat; and the under-parts yellow, brightest along the centre, and streaked laterally with olive-green; lores whitish, and the axillaries and under surface of the wing white, as in the male. A presumed young male is olive-green above, the crown ashy, with a central spot of olive-green ; middle of throat white, its sides ashy, with no decided white streak from the base of the lower mandible: the lower parts are yellow, mixed with olive-green, and having an indication of the red pectoral spot of the adult male. Also from Malacca. The mature male here described is in the collection of Lord Arthur Hay. The curious species described as Pachyglossa melanozantha, H., in J. A. §. XII, 1010, is thus characterized by Mr. Hodgson: Pachyglossa, H. ‘General structure of Myzanthe* (J. A. S. XII, 983), but much less delicate. Bill conspicuously short, thick, conic and blunt, with the gonys ascending strongly ; yet typically denticulate on the tomial margins. Tongue as long as the bill, thick, fleshy, with cartilaginous bifid tip. Wings with the first quill very minute and spurious: the three next subequal and longest. Legs and feet as in Zosterops, strong: tarse to sole just plus the middle toe and nail. Toes-short, depressed, unequal ; the fores much basally connected ; the hind smallest, with or without the nails: nails very falcate, stout, equal. “* P. melanozantha, mihi. Length five inches; bill seven-sixteenths ; tail one and three-quarters; wing under three inches; tarse nine- sixteenths; central toe and nail the same; hind three-eighths of an inch. Blue-black, paler below, and a broad white stripe passing from chin to breast, whence to the vent inclusive is rich yellow. Alars and caudals dusky. ‘The extreme caudals with a large white spot near the tips inside. Bill dusky-blue, with fleshy base. Legs plumbeous. Female duller-hued, and more or less shaded with olive. ‘‘These birds are peculiar to the hills. They are shy, and make ingenious pendulous nests, like the Myzanthe. Their food consists of small insects and viscid berries, which latter they swallow entire. The upper mandible is (typically) denticulated.” As many as six generic forms certainly require to be distinguished in this Diceum group, which are as follow :—1l, Myzomela, exempli- fied by M. sanguinolenta and other Australian species ; 2, Diceum, as D. * Unfortunately, this name too closely resembles Myzantha, of the Meliphagide. 1845. ] or little known Species of Birds. 561 eruentatum, D. concolor, D. chrysochlorum, &c. ; 3, Myzanthe, Hodg., ante, as M. hirundinacea of Australia, and M. ignipectus of the Himalaya; 4, Pachyglossa, Hodg., ante, P. melanozantha ; 5, Piprisoma (XIII, 314), P. agilts ; and 6, Prionochilus, ante. The three first differ chiefly in the degree of elongation of the bill,* and the two last are also allied together; and they combine to form a natural and satis- factory group. Of the remarkable form noticed as Myzornis pyrrhoura in XII, 984, I find also the following description by Mr. Hodgson : Myzornis, H. “General structure of Yuhina (As. Res. XIX, 165), but slighter. Bill moderately slender, more or less cylindric, and arcuate with both tips down; the upper conspicuously longer, and furnished with one sharp tooth: nares lineo-lunate, typically large and soft: wings, tail, and feet asin Yuhina; but the feet stronger, and the wings and tail more feeble. Tongue brushed. Hab. North- ern and central hills Lof Nepal. | ‘* WM. pyrrhoura, mihi. Bright parrot-green, more or less merged in rusty on the throat and vent. Outer margins of caudals, and of mid-alars, fiery-red, or carmine: wings tipt with white. Lores black, and black streaks on the crown. Legs fleshy: bill black. Length five inches and a half; bill eleven-sixteenths ; tail one and five-eighths ; wing two and seven-sixteenths ; tarse fifteen-sixteenths ; central toe and nail five-eighths ; hind nine-sixteenths. Remark.—These birds have the manners and general structure of Yuhina: but they want the Bul- boul-like crest common to all the species of that type: their more slender bill is unidentate only, and their tarse is longer, being a third plus the middle toe and nail; it is also stout, and quite smooth. We may here add, that our Szbta is another truly meliphagous form, pro- per to these hills.” Yuhina, Hodgson, since termed by him Polyodon, is re-defined as follows, and a third species described ; the flavicollis, passim, being removed, and regarded as a distinct type, Jaulus. ** Bill moderate, much depressed as far as the large nares, com- pressed beyond. Tip of the upper mandible inclined, with three [minute] teeth on each side: gape bristled, reaching to the eyes: brows soft. Nares large, fossed, membranous; the aperture lunated * This elongation of the bill is, I suspect, merely further carried out in Drepanis, Tem., v. Melithreptus (in part), Vieillot. 562 Notices and Descriptions of various new [No. 164. by the nude soft membrane. Tongue as long as the bill, moderately extensile, cleft nearly to the base, and the prongs convolved and fila- mentous, forming a full brush: wings medial, the fifth quill longest. Tail nearly even and divaricate. Alars and caudals wedged and mucronate. Legs and feet strong and repert. Types, gularts, occipita- lis, and nigrimenta : the two former published ; the last new. ‘ Y. nigrimenta, H. Above olive-brown ; below rufescent-yellow ; cheeks and throat white; tip of chin, and lores, black: crest slaty- blue, legs fleshy. Bill dusky above, ruddy-fleshy below. Length four inches and a half; bill five-eighths of an inch ; wing two inches and one-eighth ; tail one and five-eighths; tarse three-quarters of an inch; central toe and nail half an inch ; hind seven-sixteenths. [Non vidi. | “These birds are genuine Meliphagide, with the brushed tongue of the type of that group. . They feed on tiny insects that harbour in the cups of large deep flowers, such as the Rhododendrons, and to which the birds cling with their strong feet. They also take berries occa- sionally. They are exclusively monticolous, like our Saroglossa (J. A. §. XIII, 367), another Meliphague in the guise of a Stare, and therefore probably related to the Htourneau verdatre.* “‘ Izulus, H. Bill short, as in Brachypus [ Pyenonotus ?], but less stout, and the nares larger and more membranous. Tongue sim- ple. Head crested. Wings rather short, more or less acuminated, the first three quills gradated, and the three next subequal, the fifth being usually longest. Tail moderate, subfurcate. Legs and feet suited for clinging. Tarse elevate, stout, considerably plus the mid-toe and nail. —Anteal toes short, unequal, depressed, and considerably connected at their bases. Hind large, broad, equal to inner fore without the nails, and to the outer with them. Nails Parian. “Type I. flavicollis,” olim Yuhina flavicollis, As. Res. X1X, 167. The near general approximation of my Siva occipitalé to this species has already been noted (p. 552), although the beaks of the two birds are very different. The Indian Zosterops, (XII, 985,) it now appears, has been de- signated maderaspatanus by mistake. ‘ There is properly,” writes Mr. Strickland, ‘‘no such specific name as maderaspatanus for a * I differ from Mr. Hodgson respecting the affinities of the Saroglossa, which I consider to be decidedly a Stwrnidous bird, with meliphagous adaptations.—Cur. As. Soc, 1845. ] or little known Species of Birds. 563 Zosterops. Linnzus only wrote it in his Syst. Nat. by a slip of the pen for madagascariensis, as the bird he called Motacilla ma- deraspatana was from Madagascar, and Gmelin properly corrected the name to madagascariensis.” The Indian species is the Sylvia annulosa, Var. A, of Swainson’s Illustrations, and will now rank as Z. annulosus, (Sw.) It seems peculiar to the hilly parts of the country, from the Himalaya to Ceylon. A second described oriental Zosterops, inhabiting Java and the Philippines, and probably the Malay countries generally, is the Diz- ceum flavum of Horsfield, Lin. Tr. XIII, 170. Dr. Horsfield informs me, that “it is nearly allied to the Indian species, but distinct.” Z. nicobaricus, nobis, is a third common in the Nicobar islands. Length four inches, by six in extent of wings ; closed wing two inches ; tail one and a half; tarse five-eighths of an inch; bill to gape nine- sixteenths. Nostrils covered as usual by a soft impending scale; and the tongue subdivided at tip into a pencil of thin filaments. Upper parts greyish olive-green, greenest on the forehead, wings, and upper tail-coverts: throat and front of neck pale yellowish, the breast and under-parts whitish, except the lower tail-coverts which are light yellow: eyes surrounded, as usual, by silky white feathers ; the lores and beneath the white orbital feathers blackish, the former surmounted by a yellowish line. Bill dusky, the base of the lower man- dible pale ; and the legs albescent-plumbeous. Upon dissection, the muscular coat of the stomach of a bird of this species was found to be considerably more developed than in Nectarinia, and both stomach and intestines contained numerous hard black seeds, about the size of No. 8 shot: these had probably been contained in a pulpy berry; and the fact of their passing the intestines is worthy of notice, as a Thrush fed upon haws invariably ejects the stones by the mouth. There are two or more species of this genus in the Isle of France: viz. Z. curvirostris, nobis. A good deal allied to the last in plumage, but having a more slender and distinctly incurved bill, rather longer than usual in the species of Zosterops; the tongue subdivided at tip into numerous filaments, forming a tolerably large brush. Length about four inches, of wing two inches, and tail one and a quarter; bill to gape five-eighths, and tarse three-quarters of an inch. Orbital fea- thers conspicuously white as usual. Head and fore-part of the neck dull ashy, tinged slightly with green; the rump, wings, and tail, 564 Notices and Descriptions of various new [No. 164. brightish olive-green: under-parts ashy, more or less pure, and pass- ing to rufescent-whitish on the belly; the lower tail-coverts bright yellow ; and the throat whitish, slightly tinged with yellow in one of two specimens: vill dusky, the basal two-thirds of the lower mandible yellowish ; and the legs pale. The true Z. madagascariensis also inhabits the Mauritius: but this, as Mr. Strickland informs me, is a short-beaked species, and therefore cannot be the same as the foregoing; besides that the description of it does not sufficiently apply to Z. curvirostris. Z. (?) borbonicus, (Brisson). This is nearly allied to Zosterops, but is without the white orbital feathers so characteristic of that genus ; it has also much the look of the British Curruca sylviella (upon a superficial view), but has no particular affinity for the latter.* It is probable that some more immediate congeners of this bird inhabit Australia, where not only the genus Zosterops attains its chief deve- lopment of species, but also more especially the great austral group — Meliphagide, to which Zosterops strictly belongs. The present spe- cies is also from the Isle of France. Genus Phyllornis, Boie, v. (subsequently) Chloropsis, Jardine and Selby. The gradual enrichment of the Society's museum enables me now to offer a more satisfactory synopsis of this genus than that at- tempted in XII, 955 e¢ seq. A. With thicker bills, the upper mandible abruptly bent over (more or less so, in different specimens,) and sometimes quite hooked at tip. The shoulder of the wing uniformly green with the rest. Peculiar to the Malay countries. 1. Ph. Sonneratii, (Jardine and Selby): Ph. Mullerit, Tem. ; female, Turdus viridis et Chloropsis zosterops of Horsfield: young male, Chl. gampsorhynchus, Jardine and Selby. 2. Ph. cyanopogon, Tem.: female, (or perhaps young male,) Chio- * By the way, I may here notice that the Curruca sylviella (v. garrula), so called, of 8. India, is conspicuously a larger bird than its European relative, having the wing fully two inches and three-quarters long, and the -rest in proportion: the general tone of colour is also somewhat darker, and the bill and legs are proportionally larger and stronger, the tarse measuring from thirteen-sixteenths to seven-eighths of an inch. As forthe roseate tinge on the under-parts mentioned by Sykes, this is common to fine specimens from either country. 1 certainly consider the Indian bird to be distinct, and shall therefore name it C. affinis. Prof. Behn also informs me, that the species assigned to C. orphea by Mr. Jerdon, is not the true C. orphea of continental Europe. 1845. ] or little known Species of Birds. 565 ropsis mysticalis, Swainson (Menag. p. 296), and described as that of the next species (which was erroneously referred to malabaricus,) in J. A.S. XII, 957. Exactly resembles the preceding except in its much small- er size, the male having rather less black on the throat, but a larger and broader azure moustache: the female has the throat and under-parts yellowish, with the blue moustache less developed Length six inches to six and a half, of wing two and seven-eighths to three and a quarter, and tail two and a half to two and five-eighths ; bill to gape thirteen- sixteenths of an inch, and tarse five-eighths. B. The bill tapering to its extremity, and slightly curved. The shoulder of the wing of an ultramarine colour, more or less extended. Hab., for the most part, India, Burmah, and probably China. 3. Ph. cochinchinensis, (Lath., Gm.), the adult male, and malabaricus apud Latham, the young male; Chl. cochinchinensis, Jardine’s synopsis : Verdin de la cochinchine, Buffon ; Chi. malabaricus apud nos, J. A. S. XII, 957 (nec foem.), and probably of Eyton, P. Z. S. 18389, p. 102; probably also Meliphaga javensis, Horsfield. This is the only species of the present subdivision which I have seen from the Malay countries ; and specimens from the vicinity of the Straits present a considerable approximation in the form of bill to the members of the preceding section, while those from Arracan have decidedly a more tapering bill, less abruptly curved at the tip, and approaching therefore to the Indian type of Phyllornis. lf I am right in identifying the Chi. mala- baricus apud Eyton with the present species (of which I have little doubt), that author states that ‘‘ the female differs from the male in having the markings less distinct :” this is probably the case with the mature female; but what I suspect is a young female from Singapore has the forehead, throat, and region of the eyes, green, and a fulvous tinge on the crown only, not any below; and a presumed young male from Arracan has a strong fulvous tinge on the crown, neck, and breast, while the throat is greenish, with distinct verditer moustache, more developed than that of the female cyanopogon. In any state of plumage, the latter species may be readily distinguished from this other small one, by the total absence of blue on its wings and tail. _ The three foregoing species are all common in the vicinity of the Straits of Malacca, and I doubt if any of the following occur in the Malay countries. The two next are proper to the peninsula of India, No. 4 only extending to the hill regions of Bengal. 566 Notices and Descriptions of various new LNo. 164. 4. Ph. Jerdoni, nobis: Chl. cochinchinensis apud Jerdon, Catal .: the male described as the female of the next, in J. 4. S. XII, 956. 5. Ph. malabaricus, (Gm.); le petit Merle de la céte de Malabar, Sonnerat: Chi. cesmarhynchos,* Tickell ; Chl. aurifrons apud Jerdon, Catal. And the two remaining species inhabit Nepal, Assam, Sylhet, and Arracan ; No. 6 extending into Bengal. 6. Ph. aurifrons, (J. and S.); figured as Chloropsis malabaricus by Messrs. Jardine and Selby, as subsequently corrected by them in their synopsis of the genus. 7. Ph. Hardwickii, (J. and 8.): Chl. curvirostris, Swainson ; Chl. cyanopterus, Hodgson ; Chl. chrysogaster, M’Clelland and Horsfield ; and CAl. auriventris, Guérin. I shall now essay to enumerate the Indian and Malayan Balbouls, which are very numerous, and pertain to various genera. To commence with the genus Pycnonotus of Kuhl, comprising He- matornis of Swainson, nec Vigors. 1. P. bengalensis, nobis: P. v. Ixos cafer, apud nos et og sis ante.} Bengal, Nepal, Assam, Sylhet, Tipperah. 2. P. hemorrhous, (Lath.): Haematornis pusillus et pseudocafer, nobis, J. A. S., X, 841, &c.; cafer apud Jerdon, Catal. Peninsula of India, and Arracan : common about Agra. 3. P. jocosus, (L.): Gracula cristata, Scopoli; Lantus emeria, Shaw. * This unmeaning name, cesmarhynchos (apud Tickell), v. casmarhynchos (apud Gray), is merely a misprint for gampsorhynchus of Jardine and Selby: vide Griffith’s ‘Animal Kingdom,’ VI, 391. + Ina letter lately received from Lord Arthur Hay, his lordship says—‘‘ I have been inspecting Buffon’s figure of the true cafer from the Cape, and it does not agree in the least with the Bengal bird.”’? Mr. Strickland, judging from the admeasure- ments alone (in the An. and Mag. N. H., Vol. XLV, 47), concluded them to be the same. ‘The wide difference of habitat, however, would lead to a pre-supposition of their distinctness ; and presuming that they do differ, I now propose for the com- mon Bengal species, the specific name bengalensis. This name is, indeed, better applicable than such terms usually are, since it is very doubtful whether more than two species of the genus exist in Bengal, this and the jocosus, and the present one is by far the more abundant of the two. It is closely allied to P. hemorrhous, from which it differs in its larger size, and the greater extent of the black colouring, which spreads over the whole neck (excepting the ear-coverts, which are brownish), and low upon the breast, the back and belly also being much darker than in P. hemorrhous, but the feathers of these parts are similarly margined with greyish. Length nine inches anda half, by twelve and a half in spread of wing ; the closed wing four inches, and tail the same. 1845.] or little known Species of Birds. 567 India generally, extending eastward to Tipperah and Arracan, and thence southward to Penang and even Malacca.* 4. P. monticolus, (M’Clelland and Horsfield), Proc. Zool. Soc. 1839, p. 160. Said to differ from the last by having “‘a scarlet ring about the eye, but no tuft beneath this organ.” Kossia mountains, Assam. It rather requires verification. 5. P. crocorrhous, Strickland, An. and Mag. N. H. 1844, p. 412: Muscicapa hemorrhoussa, Var. B., Gm.; Turdus hemorrhous, apud Horsfield. Java. 6. P. bimaculatus, (Horsf.), Lin. Tr. XUI, 147. Java. 7. P. goiavier, (Scopoli): Muscicapa psidii, Gm.; Turdus analis, Horsfield. Malay countries generally. 8. P. leucotis, (Gould), Proc. Zool. Soc. 1836, p. 6. Common in Scinde, and I am informed also in Guzerat. It is likewise enumerated in a list of birds “ collected in the north-western provinces of the Bengal presidency, in north latitude 29° to 31°, and east longitude 77° to 88°”, and consisting chiefly of inhabitants of the plains, but with a few from the Himalaya, in P. Z. S§. 1842, p. 92.T 9. P. leucogenys, (Gray), Hardwicke’s Il/, Ind. Zool. Common in the Himalaya, and in Kashmir. 10. P. flavirictus, Strickland, An. and Mag. N. H. 1844, p. 413: Tricophorus virescens, Tem., apud Jerdon. Southern India. 11. P. plumosus, nobis. Length about seven inches, of wing three and a quarter, and tail three inches; bill to gape three-quarters of an inch; and tarse the same. This bird is remarkable for the extra- ordinary density and copiousness of its rump plumage, which has suggested the name bestowed on it. Colour of the upper parts darkish olive-brown, shaded with dull green, the wings and tail margined with ‘brighter green ; coronal feathers rounded and scale-like, of a cinerascent hue, slightly margined laterally with greenish: under-parts pale brown, lightest on the throat, and the lower tail-coverts slightly ochreous. Bill * I have not actually compared Malayan with Bengal specimens, but have an im- pression that the crimson ocular tuft is considerably less developed in the former. t In this list are several names, which, I suspect, require to be corrected: viz. ‘‘ Hir- undo riparia?’’ probably H. sinensis ; ‘‘ Oriolus galbula,’’ probably O. kundoo; ** Malacocercus striatus,’’ probably M. terricolor ; ‘‘Ianthocincla leucocephaia,”’ doubtless Garrulaz leucolophos ; ‘* Megalurus palustris, Sykes,’ probably Pellorni- um ruficeps, which is Megalurus ruficeps, Sykes; and ‘‘ Centropus sirkee,’’ pro- bably Taccocua infuscata, nobis. 4a 7 568 Notices and Descriptions of various new . (No. 164. dusky, and feet appear to have been reddish-brown. Two specimens are perhaps distinct, though very closely allied. In these the greenish tinge is wanting, even on the wings and tail, and there is no ashy tinge on the head, the feathers of which are much less scale-like; the lower tail-coverts also have a less decided tinge of ochreous, and the throat is much less albescent. In other respects they are similar. These are from Malacca, and the former from Singapore. Should they prove distinct, the second may bear the specific name of brunneus.* One or both are probably alluded to as one of two varieties of P. gotavier, (v. Turdus analis, Horsf.,) mentioned by Sir Stamford Raffles. 12. P. flavescens, nobis. So like the next in its general charac- ters and colouring, that it might be supposed to be the female of that species, differing from the male in wanting the yellow spots on the throat, and the yellowish colour on the crown, were it not that the tail is always considerably more graduated, its outermost feathers measur- ing three-quarters of an inch shorter than the middle ones ; whereas in P. Finlaysoni the difference is but half as much: it would, besides, be contrary to the analogy of all its congeners, for the sexes to pre- sent so marked a difference. Length about seven inches and three- quarters, of wing three and a quarter, and tail four inches; bill to gape seven-eighths of an inch, and tarse three-quarters of an inch. Colour dull greenish-olive above, the crown darker, with broader and more rounded coronal feathers than in P. Fin/aysoni ; alars margined with brighter yellowish-green, and caudals less decidedly : under-parts paler, mingled with dull yellow, imparting a streaky appearance; the vent and lower tail-coverts bright yellow, paling on the belly: lores blackish, surmounted with yellowish-white. Bill and feet dark. Hab. Arracan, where much less common than the next species. 13. P. Finlaysoni, Strickland, An. and Mag. N. H., 1844, p. 411. Common in Arracan. 14. P. zantholaimus, Jerdon, MS. Length seven inches and a quarter and upwards, of wing three inches to three and a half, and tail three and a quarter to three and a half; bill to gape three-quarters of an inch to thirteen-sixteenths, and tarse three-quarters to seven- eighths. Upper parts ashy, tinged with green on the wings and tail, the crown yellowish-green, and throat and fore-neck pale yellow; * Since the above was printed, I have received from Lord Arthur Hay a specimen of this brunneus, labelled by his lordship Brachypus modestus, A. Hay. . 1845.]| _ or little known Species of Birds. 569 lower parts of a lighter ash-colour than the back, the tibial feathers and under tail-coverts pale yellow, and all but the middle tail-feathers tipped with yellowish-white, increasing in quantity to the outermost : bill and feet dark. Hab. Southern India. 15. P. melanocephalus, (Gray), Hardwicke’s Ill. Ind. Zool.: Bra- chypus plumifer, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1837, p. 1387; Vanga flavi- ventris, Tickell, J. A. S. I], 578. Himalaya, Assam, Sylhet, Tippe- rah, and Arracan; also Central India. All the above are in the Society’s museum, with the exceptions of P. crocorrhous, P. bimaculatus, and the somewhat dubious P. monti- colus. Also a common Chinese species, the P. sinensis, (Lath.), founded on le Gobe-mouche verddtre de la Chine of Sonnerat, and figured as Turdus occipitalis, Tem., by MM. Eydoux and Gervais, in the ‘Voyage de la Favorite’. Dr. Cantor procured this bird in Chusan, and the Society’s specimens are from Macao. That figured by the French naturalists cited was obtained at Manilla. In general, how- ever, the ear-coverts have a central whitish spot, instead of being wholly -blackish, as represented in the coloured figure adverted to. Another common Chinese species, which is in the collection of Lord Arthur Hay, is le Gobe-mouche @ téle noire de la Chine of Sonnerat, v. P. atricapillus, (Vieillot).* The following Malayan species are, 1 presume, to be added to those already noticed. 7 | Ixos virescens, Tem. (p. c. 382, fig. 1), which would seem to be allied to P. plumosus. I. chalcocephalus, Tem. ( p. c. 453, fig. 1). Lanius xanthogaster, Raffles, Lin. Tr. XUI, 309. This, however, is more doubtful as a true Pycnonotus. Also two species from Southern India (in the Mysore district, bor- dering the Neilgherries), which Mr. Jerdon procured, but unfortunately * Since writing the above, P. atricapillus has been received on loan from Lord A. Hay. Its place in the series is between P. jocosus and P. leucotis, but with the crimson lower tail-coverts of the first, though more brilliant. Length nearly nine inches, of wing three and three-quarters, and tail four inches ; bill to gape seven-eighths, and tarse the same. Colour of the upper-parts light brown, with greyish edgings to the feathers, the upper tail-coverts and the entire under-parts brownish-albescent ; cap glossy black, the feathers not much elongated ; chin, lores, and beneath the eyes, also black ; wings deep brown, the feathers margined paler; and tail dusky-black, gra- dually deeper on the terminal half, the caudal feathers being all tipped with white : bill black, and legs dusky-black. 570 Notices and Descriptions of various new [No. 164. lost the specimens before he took a description of them. Coloured draw- ings of them, however, were taken by a native painter in Mr. Elliot’s service, and from these Mr. Jerdon drew up the following notices. Vide ‘ Madras Journal’, No.(XXX)p. 168. They were about six and a Half or seven inches in length, the second being rather the smaller. ‘“« Yellow-eared Bulboul. Above yellowish-green, beneath yellow; ocular region black ; a plume of soft loose feathers over the ear tipped with yellow. « ‘*‘ White-eared Bulboul. Above light green, beneath greenish-yellow ; head, neck, and breast, dusky grey; ear-spot white.” Lastly, as a very aberrant species, I shall provisionally refer to this genus the bird considered by Mr. Jerdon to be the Zurdus indicus, Gm., and ranged by him in the same division with Pycnonotus flavi- rictus ; but which Mr. Strickland thinks is considerably too small for Gmelin’s indicus, and has therefore given it a new name, describing it as Criniger ? ictericus, An. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 1844, p. 411. The only specimen in the Society’s collection, and which was presented by Mr. Jerdon, accords in its dimensions with those given by Mr. Strickland; but Mr. Jerdon gives the length as from seven and a half to eight inches, wing four inches, and tail three and a half, which last admeasurement only, holds true in the Society’s specimen: and if the species ever attains those dimensions, I think there can be no objec- tion to identifying it as the indicus of Gmelin.* Alcurus striatus, (Blyth) Hodgson, J. A. S. XI, 184. This differs little from Pycnonotus in form of bill, but its large size and thick heavy body ally it to Criniger (v. Tricophorus), in which genus I ori- ginally placed it, while Mr. Hodgson first assigned it to Pycnonotus. It does not, however, range well with any other species known to me, and at my recommendation Mr. Hodgson applied the name Alcurus to it, which I here adopt. Genus Criniger (subsequently Tricophorus), Temminck. 1. Cr. ochrocephalus, (Gmelin) : Tricophorus crispiceps, nobis, J. A. S. XI, 204. Malay countries generally, and the Tenasserim provinces. It is a favorite cage bird with the Malays. * It is remarkable that a common African Bulboul (Pycn. chrysorrheus) has recently turned up in Ireland. Vide An. and Mag. N. H. 1845, p. 308: the whole group of Bulbouls being, otherwise, extra-European, and there is nothing approaching to the form in all America. Neither do I remember a single Bulboul genus in Australia. 1845.] or little known Species of Birds. 571 2. Cr. flaveolus, (Gould), Proe. Zool. Soc. 1836, p. 6. Common in the Himalaya, and in the hill ranges of Assam, Sylhet, and Arracan. An allied South African species is figured by Dr. Andrew Smith, as Tricophorus flaviventris. 3. Cr. Tickelli, nobis: doubtfully referred to Jaxos virescens, Tem., by Capt. Tickell, J. Ad. S. II, 5738, but evidently a distinct species of the present genus, allied to the preceding one. From near Midnapore. (Non vidi. ) 4. Cr. gularis, (Horsfield), Lin. Trans. XIII, 150. Allied in plu- mage to Cr. flaveolus, but crestless, and the beak remarkable for its Vanga-like, or Lophocitta-like, form, with the tip of the upper man- dible abruptly bent over. Malay countries generally. NV. B. I may here remark, that the genera Lophocitta, Vanga, and Prionops, form together a peculiar group of Bulbouls, of which the only known oriental species is Lophocitta galericulata, (Cuv.), common near the Straits of Malacca: but the Lanius coronatus, Raffles, Lin. Tr. XIII, 306, would seem to be nearly allied.* The habits of Prio- nops talacoma, as described by Dr. A. Smith, are quite those of the ordinary Bulbouls. Spizixos, nobis, n. g. General structure of Pycnonotus, but dif- fering greatly in the shortness and (for a member of this group) extraordinary thickness of the bill, the lateral outline of which approaches that of Conostoma emodius, Hodgson, J. A. S., X, 856, except that the tip of the upper mandible curves more decidedly down- ward over that of the lower mandible, being also pointed and dis- tinctly notched, with a sinuation corresponding to the notch in the lower mandible: as viewed from above, however, the resemblance to the beak of the Conostoma ceases, for that of the present bird narrows evenly to a point from a tolerably wide base: the ridge of the upper mandible is obtusely angulated, and it is distinctly arched, rising at base where concealed by the feathers of the forehead. Rest as in Pycno- notus, but approaching to Crinzger. Sp. canifrons, nobis. Length about eight inches, of wing probably * Mr. G. R. Gray, I observe, gives, as synonymes of Lophocitta galericulata, the Lanius scapulatus, Licht., L. coronatus, Raffles, and Vanga cristata, Geoff., figured in Griffith’s ‘ Animal Kingdom’; but the figure adverted to has a much flatter bill, which is coloured white, and the primaries are coloured rufous. Mr. G. R. Gray refers Lophocitta to the Jay group, in which I cannot agree with him.—The Society has now received Lanius coronatus, Raffles, which is obviously the female of Loph. galericulata. ? (how «ql beds Osa Shak + 572 Notices and Descriptions of various new (No. 164. three and three-quarters (but the first primaries were growing in the specimen), and of tail three and a half: bill to forehead a little exceed- ing half an inch, and to gape three-quarters ; tarse also three-quarters of an inch. General colour bright olive-green, becoming yellowish- green and more vivid on the rump and margins of the primaries, and inclining also to yellow on the belly and more decidedly on the lower tail-coverts: forehead and chin pale ashy; the nape, with the sides and front of the neck, somewhat darker, passing into blackish on the throat ; and the crown black, its feathers lengthened to form a crest nearly an inch high: tail-feathers largely tipped with blackish. Bill yellow ; and legs brown. Hab. Cherra Poonjee, or the hill ranges bordering on Sylhet to the northward. Hemixos, Hodgson, n. g. “ Bill to gape rather longer than the head, { moderately slender, | inclining to arch, with terminal notch, and erect, entire, trenchant tomze. Tongue cartilaginous, and simply bifid. Rictus bristled. Nares lunate, lateral, shaded above by a small unarched nude membrane, which is set over by small nareal bristles. Legs and feet very short, but stout: the tarse strong and smooth. Toes short, very un- equal, depressed ; the fores basally connected, the outer one as far as the joint, the inner less so. Nails strong, acute, and highly curved. Wings medial, round, acuminate; the fifth quill longest: the first two much, and the two next slightly, gradated. Tail ample, very firm, even, but inclining «to furcation. “A, flavala, mihi. Length eight inches and a third ; expanse twelve inches; closed wing four inches ; tail three and a half; bill to gape an inch; tarse (to sole) thirteen-sixteenths ; central toe nine-sixteenths ; outer seven-sixteenths; inner three-eighths; hind five-sixteenths. Weight 1 oz.” General colour ashy, with dusky wings and tail, the former having the secondaries and tertiaries, with their great range of coverts, broadly margined with bright greenish-yellow, and the tail a little tinged with the same externally: throat and lower tail-coverts white ; the belly greyish-white, and the breast of a paler ash-colour than the back: lores and streak from base of lower mandible black; the ear- coverts brown, and crown dusky-greyish, the coronal feathers lengthen- ed and pointed, as in Hypsipetes. Bill black, and legs plumbeous. ‘“ This type,” remarks Mr. Hodgson, ‘is compounded of the charac- ters of Hypsipetes and of those of the Bulbouls, between which it claims a place. Its manners, like its form, are intermediate. It feeds mostly 1845. ] or little known Species of Birds. 573 on pulpy berries, but likewise takes soft and imperfect insects. It does > not sing, nor is caged ; and it seems to be wholly confined to the hills, being unknown below. The sexes arealike in colouring, but the male is rather the larger bird. The stomach is muscular, and of consider- ably unequal thickness in its outer coat ; the inner being tough and striate. Intestinal canal eight inches and a half, the coeca very small and rudi- mentary. Contents of stomach commonly berries, rarely soft and im- perfect insects, and also some perfect and hard ones chiefly in winter.” (Hodgson’s MSS.) It appears to be very common along the sub- Hi- malayan ranges, extending to those of Assam, Sylhet, and Arracan. Tole, nobis, J. A. S. XIII, 386. This distinct form, I am now satisfied, falls under the Bulboul group, being allied to the preceding, and to Hypsipetes. The coronal feathers are pointed, as in both; and the beak is that of Hypsipetes, shortened and widened, and thus de- viating in the Flycatcher direction ; the whole form being also a ened, or as in an ordinary Bulboul.* I. olivacea, nobis, J. A. S. XIII, 386. Common at Malacea. Fine “ specimens attain a length of seven inches and a half, wing three and a half, and tail three and a quarter. I. virescens, nobis. Length about six inches and a half, of wing three inches, and tail the same; bill to gape seven-eighths of an inch, and tarse eleven-sixteenths. Colour olive-green above, paler and more yellowish below, the throat inclining to albescent, and the lower tail- coverts tinged with ochreous, as is also the tail: a slight shade of the same prevails upon the crown, Back, and wings. Bill dusky above, pale below ; and feet light brown. Younger specimens have the throat more yellowish, and the coronal feathers are less pointed and distinct. Com- mon in Arracan. I. cinerea, A. Hay. For the loan of an example of this fine species | I am indebted to Lord Arthur Hay. It has the Hypsipetes character of the coronal feathers more developed than in either of the others. Length about seven inches, of wing three and three-quarters, and tail three and a quarter; bill to gape seven-eighths, and tarse three- quarters of an inch. Upper parts cinereous-brown, the forehead and * This species will have been named by M. Temminck, as also my Tephrodornis grisola, J. A. S. XII, 180, Pheenicura leucoptera, X11, 962, and Muscicapula metlanoleuca, (Hodg.), XII, 940; as all of these have now been received by the Society from Java. 574 Notices and Descriptions of various new [No. 164. above the eye ashy, which also margins the pointed feathers of the crown ; throat, middle of belly, and lower tail-coverts, white, the flanks and across the breast pale ash-brown. Bill and feet dusky, the latter having apparently been brown. From Malacca. Hypsipetes, Vigors. The species of this genus exhibit a consider- able gradation: the first two being typical, with sub-furcate tail, a character which is less marked in the second. These have also coral- red bills, ashy plumage, and black crown. 1. H. psaroides, Vigors. Common in the Himalaya, extending to the hill ranges of Assam, Sylhet, and Arracan. 2. H. neilgherriensis, Jerdon. Neilgherries and Ceylon. 3. H. ganeesa, Sykes: figured in the 2nd series of the ‘ Illustrations of Ornithology’, by Sir W. Jardine and Mr. Selby. This species I have never seen. It is proper to Western India, and is probably com- mon in the Mahabuleishwa hills. | 4. H. McClellandii, Horsfield. Bill dusky, paler below : wings and tail green, the latter nearly square, but having its two or three outer- most feathers successively a trifle shorter. This species takes the same range as 4. psaroides. From the above, we pass to more aberrant species, with the bill stronger, and the tail shorter and more rounded. 5. H. philippensis, Strickland, An. and Mag. N. H. 1844, p. 413. 6. H. malaccensis, nobis. This approaches nearly to the descrip- tion of the last, but has the crown of the same olive-green with the back, and no trace of rust-colour on the cheeks and chin. Length about eight inches and a half, of wing four inches, and tail three and a half, its outermost feathers a quarter of an inch less: bill to gape an inch and one-eighth ; and tarse three-quarters of an inch. Upper parts dull olive-green, the wings and tail brownish-dusky, margined with the colour of the back: throat and breast ashy, with whitish centres to the feathers, the abdomen and lower tail-coverts dull white: bend of the wing underneath, and the axillaries, pale yellow. Bill and feet horn- coloured. Feathers of the crown pointed, but this character is less deve- loped than in the more typical species. In two specimens, some old unshed secondaries and wing-coverts have a rufescent tinge, but there is no trace of this in old birds. The rictal bristles are considerably more developed than in the typical species, (as in Hemixos and Tole,) while in H. McClellandii they are intermediate. Common at Malacca. 1845. ] or little known Species of Birds. 575 A specimen from the Nicobars is perhaps the young, having the wing but three inches and a half long, and the secondaries, terti- aries, and edges of the primaries, rufous-brown ; tail slightly tinged with the same : coronal feathers tinged with dusky-ash, and less pointed ; the throat and fore-neck white, tinged with yellow ; and the rest of the under-parts mixed yellow and white, with olive on the sides of the breast : bill also shorter, tinged with yellow, and approaching in form to that of the next group, as indeed does the whole figure of the bird ; so much so, that if the above characters prove to be permanent, I would propose for it the name Jxocincla virescens. A form requiring, I think, distinction from Aypsipetes, may be designated Ixocincla, nobis. It differs from Hypsipetes, in its more bulky form, stouter and more meruline bill, and in the greater size of the legs and toes ; but in other respects is nearly allied. x I. olivacea, (Jardine and Selby); the female erroneously figured as Hypsipetes ganeesa, in the Ill. Orn., Ist series, pl. CLXVIII, and (as I am informed) subsequently named Hyps. olivacea in the second series of the same work, where a figure of the true H. ganeesa is given. This bird has a much more meruline aspect than in true Hyp- sipetes, and it is known as the Merle to the colonists of the Isle of France. Length eleven inches and a half, of wing five and three- eighths, and tail four and five-eighths ; bill to gape an inch and three- eighths, and tarse an inch. Male having the upper-parts dusky, the feathers margined with dark dingy greenish; wings and tail uniform dusky-brown, the tertiaries slightly margined with ashy: cap blackish, the feathers pointed as in true Hypsipetes ; lores deeper black, and a slight grey supercilium from the nostrils to the occiput, lighter- coloured from the nostrils to the eye: under-parts uniform dusky ash- colour, purer on the throat, and paling on the belly and under tail- coverts, which last have a faint tinge of ferruginous : bill bright orange- yellow; and the legs appear to have been yellowish-brown. Female paler, with the greenish margins to the feathers much more developed, and the ash-colour confined to the throat, ear-coverts, and front of the neck. Turdus borbornicus, Lath., is perhaps a second species of this type. The generic name Brachypus, it seems, must now be abandoned, at least in Ornithology, and it appears never to have been employed in a very definite signification. At all events, very different forms of Tie aleed maT fin, Cag Al Me. Fem - FT 3 G8 576 Notices and Descriptions of various new + [No, 164. Bulbouls have been brought together under this appellation. Swainson gives Turdus dispar, Horsf., as the type; and Gray and Gould. have applied it to species of true Pycnonotus ; viz. Br. leucogenys and Br. melanocephalus, Gray, in Hardwicke’s ‘ Illustrations,’ and Br. plu- mifer, Gould, a synonyme of the second species cited: P. leucotis, however, is referred by Gould to vos ; and his Br. gularis would seem to be a true congener of Br. dispar, (Horsf.,) Sw. To the type of the two latter species, I shall now provisionally give the name Rubigula ; and then there remains that of Lantus melanocephalus, Gm., and its congeners, for which I can find no appellation, and shall therefore de- signate Brachypodius. Rubigula, nobis. There is unfortunately no specimen in the mu- seum from which I can define this group, but of the present series it makes the nearest approach to Pycnonotus, and has the ramp uniformly coloured with the back, and a subquadrate tail, unlike the next form. The species (at least in the male sex) are remarkable for the brilliant ruby, or sometimes orange-ruby, hue of the throat, the feathers of “which are rigid and glistening. Three species would appear to have been ascertained. 1. R. dispar, (Horsfield), Lin. Tr. XIII, 150. Malay countries. 2. R. gularis, (Gould), Proc. Zool. Soc. 1835, p. 186: Brachypus rubineus, Jerdon. Southern India. Ad lie PLL Si she , (Temminck), p. c. 382, fig. 2, as noticed in Griffith’s ‘ Animal Kingdom,’ VI, 390. Java. 7 Brachypodius, nobis. 1. Br. entilotus, (Jardine and Selby), Ll. Orn, 2nd series. (Non vidi.) Hab. Malacca. 2. Br. poiocephalus, (Jerdon). Southern India. 3. Br. melanocephalus, (Gmelin): Turdoides atriceps, Temminck. Malay countries, extending northward to Arracan and Tipperah. 4. Br. cinereoventris, nobis. Differs from the last in having the nape and under-parts to near the vent of a deep ash-grey, and in its tail-feathers being less deeply tipped with yellow, which is also less bright, while the green of the upper parts is darker and much less yellowish. Length of the wing three inches and a quarter. Inhabits Tipperah. 5. Br. tristis, nobis. Also allied to Br. melanocephalus, but remark- able for its very plain brown colouring. Length about seven inches, or 1845.) . or little known Species of Birds. 577 nearly so, of wing three and a quarter, and middle tail-feathers three . inches, the outermost five-eighths of an inch shorter; bill to gape three-quarters of an inch, and tarse half an inch. Colour plain brown above, darkest on the crown, wings and tail, the caudal feathers being dusky, with pale tips to the outer ones; under-parts paler, especially on the abdomen and throat: the plumage of the rump copious, as usual, and of a dusky colour, with dull yellowish-brown terminal fringes: bill deep horn-colour, and legs brown. For permission to describe this species, I am indebted to Dr. Theodore Cantor, whose very ex- tensive collection of Malayan birds, &c. when these come to be un- packed and examined, will doubtless yield other novelties. Br. trastis inhabits Penang, where it is not very common. Lastly, as a very aberrant species, may be provisionally ranged 6? Br. ? criniger,* A. Hay. The beak in this bird is vertically much less high than in the others, and altogether the species has a good deal the character of an Alcippe (nobis, J. A. S. XIII, 384), excepting in its very small tarsi and toes. Length about six inches, of wing two and seven-eighths, and tail the same, its outermost feathers a quarter of an inch less; bill to gape eleven-sixteenths, and tarse nine-sixteenths, the middle toe and claw but half an inch. Colour olive-green above, the coronal feathers, wings and tail, brunnescent ; lores, ear-coverts, and the whole under-parts, yellowish, brightest on the belly and lower tail- coverts, passing to whitish on the centre of the throat, and mingled with olive-green on the breast and flanks: three outermost tail-feathers slightly tipped with yellowish on their inner webs. Bill dusky above, and pale bélow: legs and claws white. The coronal feathers are rounded, and of very different texture from those of the back ; the rictal setz are well developed; and there is a remarkable nuchal tuft of eight or ten straight black hairs, the longest of which are an inch and five- eighths in length in the specimen examined. Inhabits Malacca. Microtarsus, Eyton, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1839, p. 102. This is nearly allied to the preceding group. 1. M. melanoleucos, Eyton, ibid. Common at Malacca. Finally, Zxodia, nobis. Allied to the last genus, and in its squared tail to Rubigula. Bill small and compressed, widening very little at base, the tip of the upper mandible but faintly emarginated, and the gape * Can this be the Setornis criniger of Lesson, the description of which I have not seen? It certainly ranges most properly as a distinct division. 578 Notices and Descriptions of various new (No. 164. unarmed. Rest as in Microtarsus ; the head being crestless, and the coronal plumage uniform in texture with the other feathers. The lower tail-coverts of the only ascertained species are bright yellow, as in various species of Pycnonotus. Ix. cyaniventris, (nobis, ) J. A. S.,X1,792: Turdus, No. 6, Raffles, Lin. Trans. XIIF, 311. Common in the vicinity of the Straits of Malacca. The next is a very remarkable group, which begins now to ex- hibit a variety of species, and of generic modifications of form, which will ultimately indicate its true place in the system. Not long ago, its only ascertained representative was the Paradoxornis flavirostris of Gould: but the following may now be referred to it. 1. Conostoma emodius, Hodgson, J. A. S. X, 856. Nepal. 2. Paradoxornis flavirostris, Gould, P. Z. S. 1836, p. 17; Mag. Zool. and Bot. 18388, p. 513; Icones Avium, pl. V1: Bathyrhynchus brevi- rostris, McClelland, Znd. Rev. 1838, p. 513. Especially characterized, generically, by the deep sinuation of the tomiz of its mandibles. Hab. Eastern Himalaya, and the mountains of Assam, 3. Heteromorpha unicolor, Hodgson, J. A. S., XII, 448. Nepal. 4. H. ruficeps ; Paradoxornis ruficeps, nobis, J. A. S., XI, 177. Bootan mountains, and those of Arracan: Darjeeling. Chleuasicus, nobis, n. g. Nearly allied to Suthora, Hodgson ( Ind. Rev. 1838, p. 32, and J. A. S. XH, 449), from which it is dis- tinguished by the considerably larger proportionate size of the legs, and by the rather larger and decidedly broader bill, the outline of which (as seen laterally) is still more tuntid and anomalous-looking. Rest as in the other genera of the group. 5. Chl. ruficeps, nobis. Length five inches and a half, of which the tail measures two and three quarters; wing two and five-eighths; bill to forehead (through the feathers) three-eighths of an inch in a straight line; and tarse seven-eighths; the latter, with the toes and claws, thicker and stouter than in Suthora. Colour as in my Heteromorpha ruficeps, but the under-parts white, or less tinged with rufescent: 7. e. the head and neck are bright ferruginous; the rest of the upper parts olive-brown, more or less inclining to ferruginous, especially towards the shoulder of the wing; and the entire under-parts are white: bill whitish horn-colour, apparently tinged with green in the recent spe- cimen ; and the legs appear to have been greenish-plumbeous. From Darjeeling. 1845. ] or little known Species of Birds. 579 6. Suthora nipalensis, Hodgson. Nepal, Darjeeling. 7. S. fulvifrons, Hodgson. Length five inches, of which the tail measures two and a half, its outermost feathers an inch and a quarter less; wing two inches and one-eighth; bill to forehead (through the feathers) a quarter of an inch; and tarse three-quarters. Upper parts light rufescent-brown, inclining to fulvous on the forehead, throat, and breast, with a broad pale duskyish streak along each sinciput ; secon- daries, and base of caudals, broadly margined with bright chesnut-ful- vous; the belly and flanks albescent-greyish. Bill pale, dusky along ridge of upper mandible; and legs light brown. From Nepal. In XII, 443, I expressed an opinion that the division Heteromorpha, Hodgson, should merge in Paradoxornis; but I have since seen Mr. Gould’s figure of P. flavirostris in the Icones Avium, which induces me now to follow Mr. Hodgson’s arrangement, and also to refer No. 4 of the above list to his genus Heteromorpha. The Indian Nuthatches and Tree-creepers may be enumerated as follow :— 1. Sitia formosa, nobis, J. A. S. XII, 9388, 1007. Darjeeling. Beak scarcely at all compressed, and tapering almost evenly from the base, as seen from above. 2. S. himalayana, Jardine and Selby, Jil. Orn. 1st series, pl. CLXIV ; to which I suspect must be referred S. citnnamoventris, nobis, J. A. S. XI, 459, though it does not quite accord either with the figure or description. The sexes differ as in S. castaneoventris, but the under-parts of the male are not quite so dark as in the cor- responding sex of that species; and the deep. rufous-brown colouring extends up to the throat, and in some specimens leaves little white on the chin, but the sides of the throat over the jaw are always white, as equally in §. castaneoventris. S. himalayana is stated to have the tail black, except its middle pair of feathers, the rest having “the basal half (probably a mistake] of the inner webs white; on the outer feather there is an oblique white bar, and the second has a round white spot on the tip of the inner web.” In S. cinnamoventris, the outermost tail-feather has an oblique white bar towards the middle of its external web, and a larger white spot near the extremity of its inner web; and the next two feathers have each a successively smaller Spot on their inner webs; the bill also is much longer than that of S. fumalayana is represented in the figure, and is black with more or 580 Notices and Descriptions of various new [No. 164, less white at base; and the legs are certainly not yellow, as those of S. himalayana are coloured in the plate, but appear to have been plumbeous, with yellow on the soles. Another discrepancy of S. cinnamoventris with the figure of S. himalayana, consists in the black of the loral region not extending upon the forehead, whereas it wonld appear represented to do so in the figure of the other. Nevertheless, I still suspect that they will prove identical. As for the Indian Nuthatch of Latham (Gen. Hist. IV, 73), it is not very clear to which species this is to be referred. The beak of S. cinnamoventris is dis- tinctly compressed, but broad and stout. It appears to be peculiar to the Himalaya. 3. S. nipalensis, Hodgson, J. A. S. V, 779. Himalaya. A small species, with remarkably short bill, tapering evenly from the base, as viewed from above. 4. §. castaneoventris, Franklin, P. Z. S. 1831, p. 121; J. and S, Ill. Orn. 1st series, pl. CLXV. Hilly regions of the Indian peninsula, extending to the Ltajmahl district of Bengal. Bill very much com- pressed and narrow. 5. Dendrophila frontalis, (Horsf.) Swainson: Széta corallina, Hodg- son, J. A. S. V, 779. Hilly parts of India generally, from the Himalaya southward, and also of the Malay countries: common in Arracan.. A D. flavipes is likewise alluded to by Mr. Swainson in his ‘ Classi- fication of Birds’, p. 318, citing “ pt. V, No. 130,” it may be presumed of Temminck’s Planches coloriées. 6. Tichodroma muraria, (L.) Illiger. The Rock or Wall Creeper of Southern Europe. Common in the Himalaya, as also in Western Asia. Mr. Vigne remarks, that it ‘“‘is found throughout the Alpine Punjab, displaying the delicate scarlet patch upon its grey wings, as it flits over the perpendicular banks, with the movements of a butterfly ra- ther than of a bird.” Travels in Kashmir, &c. II, 20. 7. Certhia himalayana, Vigors, P. Z. S. 1831, p. 174. 8. C. discolor, nobis. Distinguished by having the entire under- parts uniform dingy brown, or very much sullied albescent (inclining in some to whitish on the abdominal region), and no ferruginous on the flanks, but only on the lower tail-coverts ; whereas in the preceding species the under- parts are pure white, tinged with ferruginous on the sides of the breast, and the flanks as well as the lower tail-coverts are deep ferruginous: the upper-parts also are a shade less rufous than in 1845.5 or little known Species of Birds. 581 C. himalayana, and the pale central spots to the feathers are more diffused (2. e. much less defined), especially those of the head. Upon a first view, it might be thought that the under-parts of C. discolor are merely dirty; but the colour is not to be washed out, and five specimens before me are all quite similar, while in three Nepal spe- cimens of the other the white is alike pure, and the flanks deep ferru- ginous. It is indeed possible that neither of these is the true C. himalayana, 'in which case the Nepal species might be designated C. nipalensis, Hodgson. CC. discolor is common at Darjeeling. There is a Certhia spilonota, Franklin, P. Z. S. 1831, p. 121, with * tail soft and flexible (!), in which respect it differs from the type of the genus, but it agrees in all others.” It therefore cannot, however, be properly classed in Certhia, and requires to be re-examined. Neither Mr. Jerdon nor myself have been able to identify it. “ C. supra gri- seo-fusco, albo maculata ; capite albo graciliter striato ; gula abdomine- que albidis, hoe fusco fasciato ; cauddé albo fuscoque fasciatd. Longi- tudo 54 une.’ Major Franklin’s specimens were collected on the Ganges between Calcutta and Benares, and in the Vindhyian hills between the latter place and Gurrah Mundelah, on the Nerbudda. Accentor mollis, nobis. This fourth species of Himalayan Accentor (vide J. A. S. XII, 958 e¢ seq.,) is about six inches long, of which the tail occupies two and a half; wing three and a quarter; bill to frontal feathers five-sixteenths of an inch ; and tarse three-quarters of an inch. Colouring soft and delicate. Upper parts a rich brown, passing into pure dark ash-colour on the head and neck, and into maronne on the scapularies and tertiaries, and less deeply on the hind part of the back ; coverts of the secondaries pure dark grey, those of the primaries, with the winglet, black, as are also the primaries, these last having their unemarginated portion externally bordered with pale grey; tail grey- ish-dusky ; frontal feathers to above the eyes margined with white, the - lores blackish, and the entire under-parts slightly embrowned deep ash- colour, as far as the vent, which is pale and tinged with ferruginous, the under tail-coverts being deeper ferruginous, and the hind portion of the flanks dark ferruginous: bill blackish ; and feet pale, having pro- ably been tinged with yellow. From Darjeeling. “‘ The species of this genus,” remarked Mr. Yarrell not long ago, “are very limited in number, only five, I believe, being at present known, Two are figured in this work [‘ History of British Birds,”] as belonging 582 Notices and Descriptions of various new [No. 164. to England [one of these, however, being there only known as an exces- sively rare straggler]; two others are found in the north and east of Europe* ; and a fifth has been received from the Himalaya mountains. M. Temminck includes 4. alpinus in his catalogue of the birds of Japan.” The discovery of four Himalayan species, all different from those of Europe, is accordingly no small accession to the known spe- cies of the present group; and it is likely that the mountain ranges of Central Asia will be found to yield several more. Locustella rubescens, nobis. Without having a specimen of the British Z. Rati for comparison, I sufficiently well remember that bird (of which I have shot many) to be enabled to state that the pre- sent one is a true Locustelle, having merely a rather shorter tail, and the legs (I think) are somewhat stouter than in its British congener. The general characters, however, are quite the same. Length six inches, by seven and three-quarters in spread of wing; the closed wing two inches and a half; and tail two inches, its outermost feathers half an inch less; bill to gape three-quarters of an inch, and tarse seven- eighths. Irides dark hazel. Bill dusky horn, pale at base of lower mandible; and legs light brown. Colour of the back ruddy-brown, with black centres to feathers; of the crown dusky, with olivace- ous lateral margins to each feather; sides of neck plain olivaceous, as are also those of the breast; throat and belly white, the front of the neck tinged with fulvescent-brown, which is likewise the hue of the flanks ; lower tail-coverts fulvescent-brown, the longer of them darker with whitish tips; rump and tail dark ruddy-brown, all but the mid- dle feathers of the latter slightly tipped with grey, with traces of barred markings of the same underneath; wings dusky, the coverts margined with olivaceous, and the large alars with ruddy-brown ; tips of the tertiaries a little albescent; a narrow whitish line from bill to occiput, and slight medial dusky lines on the hindmost feathers of the flanks. A single specimen of this bird was shot in the neigh- bourhood of Calcutta, in the month of March. On dissection, the muscles of its legs were observed to be very thick, with stiff rigid tendons, as in the British Locustelle. * Surely that of northern Europe here alluded to, is not the so-called A. calliope of M. Temminck, v. Calliope camtschatkensis, (Lath.)?: a bird common in Low- er Bengal during the cold season, but certainly: having no particular affinity for Accentor. 1845.] or little known Species of Birds. 583 Tribura luteoventris, Hodgson. Nearly allied in form to the pre- ceding, but the tail much more graduated (as in Locustella Raii), and the bill rather more compressed, with the ridge of the upper mandible more decidedly raised and acute towards its base. I suspect that it pertains to the division Pseudoluscinia, Bonap. Length about five inches and a half, of which the middle tail-feathers measure two and a half, the outermost being an inch shorter; wing two inches; bill to gape nine-sixteenths of an inch, the latter quite smooth (as in Locustella) ; tarse three-quarters of an inch; claws fine, and but moderately curved, the hind-claw measuring half an inch. Upper parts uniform olive-brown ; the lower paler, except the flanks, which are also a little rufescent; throat and middle of the breast and belly inclining to whitish ; bill dark horn-coloured above, and pale below; and legs light brown. Inhabits the Kachar region of Nepal. Mr. Hodgson gives the following generic characters of his 7’ribura. * Bill equal to the head (measured to gape), straight, compressed, at base high as broad, with the ridge raised and keeled between the oval nares: tip of upper mandible very slightly inclined, but distinctly (though minutely) notched: rictus quite smooth. Wings short and rounded, the two first quills conspicuously and equally gradated, the three next subequal and longest. Tail somewhat elongated and gra- dated equally throughout, rather cuneated than fan-shaped. Tarse medial, stout Lor rather, of moderate strength], smooth, longer than the middle toe and nail: toes and nails slender and simple, compressed and elongate ; inner lateral with its nail exceeding the outer; the hind toe least, and not broad. Feet of terrene model,”—being much as in the British Locustelle, which bird 1 have seen on the ground, among furze bushes, I think with an ambulatory gait. Dumeticola, nobis, n. g. A specimen sent by Mr. Hodgson with the MS. name Salicaria affinis, would fall under M. Temminck’s division of Bec-fins aquatiques, but would scarcely have been referred by Mr. Selby to his Salicarta (now dismembered, and its component species assigned to previously established divisions). Nearly allied to the last species, it departs further from the Salicaria model, and approaches more to that of Prinza, and especially of Horetées (hereinafter describ- ed): having comparatively full and puffy plumage, and a less cuneated tail, inasmuch as the three middle pairs of feathers graduate but slightly ; the first primary is also rather shorter, and the second rather 4x 584 Notices and Descriptions of various new [No. 164. longer, than in Zvribura (v, Pseudoluscinia ?) luteoventris. The bill is shaped somewhat ‘as in Cinelus, but is proportionately shorter, with the peculiarities of that form less developed ; the nareal apertures are quite basal; and the gape smooth, as in the preceding: feet also similar, but the claws slightly longer and straighter. D. thoraciea, nobis. Length five inches, of which the tail measures two inches, its outermost feathers seven-eighths of an inch less; wing two and one-sixteenth; bill to frontal feathers three-eighths of an inch, and to gape above half an inch; tarse three-quarters, and hind claw five-sixths of an inch. Upper-parts dark olive-brown, with a faint ruddy tinge on the lower part of the back; throat and above the lores white, passing into ashy on the breast, which, with the fore-neck, is marked with largish round dusky spots; lower portion and sides of the breast plain brownish-ashy, the medial portion of the belly white, and the flanks fulvescent-brown; under tail-coverts dark olive-brown, with whitish tips: bill dusky, and legs and claws pale. Inhabits Nepal. Horornis, Hodgson, is placed by that naturalist as a subgenus of his Tribura ( Pseudoluscinia 2? Bonap.), having ‘‘ the bill feebler, and the tarse sometimes distinctly scutellated : wings and tail as in Mivicola” (note to p. 585).—I have a hasty note of the second species below de- scribed, (from a specimen taken to England by Mr. Hodgson, ) as being ‘intermediate to Prinia and Tesia, having the bill slender and com- pressed, much as in Locustella, with the rictorial hairs scarcely percep- tible ; tail rather short, and much graduated ; wings the same, the first quill but half the length of the second, the fourth and fifth equal and longest, a little exceeding the third and sixth.” Hi. flaviventris, Hodgson. ( Non vidi.) ‘* Above olive-green, below pale yellow; chin and line over eye albescent; legs fleshy; bill dusky-brown. Length four inches and three-eighths ; bill half an inch; tail an inch and five-eighths ; wing under two inches; tarse thirteen- sixteenths ; central toe and nail eleven-sixteenths ; hind nine-sixteenths. Hab. the Cachar, or juwta-Himalayan region of the hills.” | Hl. fortipes, Hodgson. ‘“ Bill slender, with notch and inclination distinct; rictal hairs distinct. Tail broad, soft, fan-shaped. Legs strong, and frequently smooth. Wing as in Zribura, more or less pointed, and not absolutely rounded as in Horeites. Above olive- brown; below white: the flanks, vent, and eye-brows, yellowish. Legs and bill fleshy-white ; the bill more sordid. Length four inches 1845.] or little known Species of Birds. 585 and five-eighths; bill half an inch; tail under two inches; wing two and one-sixteenth ; tarse above fifteen-sixteenths ; central toe and nail eleven-sixteenths ; hind nine-sixteenths. Hab. the Cachar.” Hodgson’s MSS specimen before alluded to. Length about four inches and a quarter, The following description was taken by myself from the of wing two inches, and tail an inch and a half, its outermost feather half an inch shorter: bill to gape five-eighths of aninch; and tarse three-quarters of an inch. Colour uniform dark olive-brown ‘above, below pale ochraceous-brown, approaching to albescent; flanks and lower tail-coverts dark brown, the latter margined paler; bill dusky above, below paler ; legs also pale. Horeites, Hodgson. ‘“ Bill shorter than head, quite straight, usually distinctly notching ; nares covered with a scale. Wing as in Prinia. Tarse high, as in Prinia, but the toes less repent, ambulant in fact, with the laterals equal and freer, and the central longer; nails slen- der and Sylvian, not Parian as in Orthotomus. Tail short [or rather, I should say, of moderate length], narrow [I should rather term it somewhat broad], rounded as in Orthotomus, but without the Merops-like elongation of the centrals.” Hodgson’s MSS.—Ac- cording to my ideas, these birds approach a good deal to the genus Tesia, particularly to 7. flaviventris; but have a more slender bill, a well developed, cuneiform, broad and soft, tail the feathers of which are much graduated, and the general character tends distinctly to- wards Pseudoluscinia and its allies’ Mr. Hodgson describes two alleged species, ‘‘ exclusively confined to the northern region of the hills, near the snows.” ) , H. brunnifrons, Hodgson. ‘“‘ Above olive-brown, [slightly] redder on wings and tail; cap red-brown. Below sordid white [pale ashy], pure centrally. [Bill dusky above, pale beneath ; and the legs pale. ] Length four inches; bill half an inch; tail an inch and five-eighths ; wing the same [varying from this to nearly two inches] ; tarse three- quarters ; central toe and nail five-eighths ; hind seven-sixteenths.” H. pollicaris, Hodgson. ‘ Above dark olive, below and the eye- brow yellowish. Legs and bill fleshy-grey. Length three inches and a half; bill seven-sixteenths ; tail an inch and five-eighths ; wing the same; tarse thirteen-sixteenths; central toe and nail five-eighths ; hind half an inch. Hasa slender, Regulus-like, bill, and very short, extremely rounded, wings. Its tarse is remarkably elevate, and scutellate 586 Notices and Descriptions of various new —_[No. 164. to the front, and its toes are compressed and ambulant, but with a remarkably large thumb for such a foot.” From a specimen taken to England by Mr. Hodgson, I took the following note.—‘* Probably only the young of H. brunnifrons, from the adults of which it differs in the colour of the head being uniform with that of the back, and the under-parts less albescent and devoid of any ashy tinge, being slightly washed with yellowish. ‘These birds constitute a mzvicolan or northern hill group, representing the Prinze of the plains of India.” Hodgson’s MSS.* Tesia, Hodgson (February, 1837): Microura, Gould (August, ~ 1837). Of this curious genus, the following species may now be enu- merated. 1. J. eyaniventer, Hodgson, J. A. S., VI., 101: Saxicola ? olivea, McClelland and Horsfield, P. Z. S., 1839, p. 161. Bright olive-green above, slaty below. Nepal, Darjeeling, Assam. 2. T. castaneo-coronata, (Burton), P Z. S. 18385, p. 152: T. flaviventer, Hodgson, 1837. Bright olive-green above, vivid yellow below, with the crown and ear-coverts a lively reddish-chesnut. Nepal. 8. 7. squamata, (Gould), Leones Avium: var. A, T. rufiventer, Hodgson, J. A. S. VI, 102; Var. B, 7. albiventer, Hodgson, ibid. ; Var. C, 7. concolor, Hodgson, MS. I believe these to be all different phases of plumage of the same species, and therefore venture upon * The following, to judge from specimens presented to the Society by Mr. Hodgson, so far from being generically different, appears to me to be identical in species with Horeites brunnifrons, presenting at most but an individual diversity, such as may commonly be seen in different specimens of Prinia inornata, or Cysticola cursitans, shot out of the same little society ; but 1 nevertheless give Mr. Hodgson’s diagnosis, as follows :— Nivicola, Hodgson, ‘* Bill still shorter, feebler, Reguwlus-like,with the notch evanescent: wings and tail broader, firmer, ampler than in any of the above: tail fan-like. Wings not absolutely round; the fifth quill longest; the two first nearly, the next little, and both ater se equally, gradated. ‘arse medial: toes simple, ambulant. Habitat the Cachar, near the snows. ‘« N, schistilata, H. Above olive-brown, below white, and laterally pale slaty-blue. Legs fleshy, bill pale. Cap on crown brunnescent. Coloured very like our Horeites brunnifrons, but decidedly different in structure, with longer wings, broader and firmer tail, and more ambulant feet, of which the central digit is long, the laterals equal and nearly free, and the hind least and compressed. Length four inches and a quarter; bill half an inch; tail two and one-sixteenth; wing one and fifteen- sixteenths ; central toe and nail ten-sixteenths; hind half an inch, or less.’’ Hodgson’s MSS. Ll & J ¥ ; > 1845.] or little known Species of Birds. 587 adopting the specific name bestowed by Mr. Gould; in preference to either of those given by Mr. Hodgson, as being alone applicable to the species generally. However stringently rules may be drawn up, such as the very excellent “Series of Propositions for rendering the Nomen- clature of Zoology uniform and permanent,” adopted as the Report of a Committee appointed by the ‘British Association’ for the consider- ~ ation of this subject, cases will still arise, now and then, in which a naturalist must rely upon his own judgment, and indeed the present one may be brought under § 11 of the ‘ Propositions,” by which “a name may be changed when it implies a false proposition which is likely to propagate important errors.” For a precedent, I cite the Neomorpha Gouldit of Mr. G. R. Gray, it having been ascertained that the J. acutirostris and N. crassirostris of Gould were merely the different sexes of the same bird. At the same time, I most fully con- cur in the remark, that “this privilege is very liable to abuse, and ought therefore to be applied only in extreme cases, and with great caution.” In the present instance, it may be justly urged in favour of Mr. Gould’s specific name, that the bird having been figured by that naturalist as Microura squamata, it is already better known by that denomination than by any other, and that the proposed alteration, so far from being likely to induce confusion, is, on the contrary, calculated to remove a source of error, such as would result from the exclusive adoption of either of Mr. Hodgson’s appellations to the species in all its phases. I might even have hesitated in proposing an entirely new name for the bird in question; but that given by Mr. Gould has not only already obtained currency, but was besides very nearly contemporaneous with the partially applicable ones bestowed by Mr. Hodgson. Certainly, the characters and dimensions of the three alleged species correspond exactly; and it will be seen that Mr. Gould’s second figure represents a specimen just midway between T. albiventer and 7. rufiventer, while an example presented to the Society by Mr. Hodgson of his 7. concolor, is of a uniform brown colour all over, with a slight ashy shade on the under parts; but retains two or three white-margined feathers on the breast resembling those of ordinary albiventer, with which it quite accords in all other particulars, and is decidedly of the same species. A second specimen is plain brown above, with white throat, and white margins to the feathers of the breast and belly, decreasing on those of the flanks. A 588 Notices and Descriptions of various new [No. 164. third has pale terminal specks on the feathers of the upper parts, larger and elongated on those of the head, and the white of the under- parts much as in the last, but rather more developed. This variation of plumage is instructive, and a knowledge of it may prevent a mul- tiplication of factitious species. Inhabits Nepal, and Darjeeling. 4. T. pusilla, Hodgson, n. s. Size and proportions of the next, but the bill rather longer, and the tail barely exceeding half an inch, In general aspect it much resembles the rujiventer variety of the last. Upper parts dark brown, the wing-coverts having terminal pale dots : lores and under parts of a light wood-brown, the feathers slightly mar- gined with black; those of the flanks chiefly dark, with brown mar- gins, and the extreme edge black, like the rest. Bill dusky above, and legs horn-brown. Inhabits Nepal. 5. T. caudata, nobis. Length three inches and five-eighths, of which the tail measures an inch, being considerably more developed than in the other species of analogous tone of colouring ; wing an inch and three-quarters ; bill to forehead seven-sixteenths, and tarse eleven- sixteenths. Upper parts dark and rich olive-brown, the feathers very slightly margined with black, and having also black shafts; throat ferruginous, paling on the breast, where the feathers have black centres and are further tipped with black; the belly similarly marked with dusky-black and white: wings uniform dark reddish-brown; and tail inclining to the same, being also very soft and flexible: lores and orbital region ash-grey: bill blackish ; and legs brown. From Darjeeling. To these may be added the Zroglodytes microurus of Ruppell, which shews the form to be likewise African. Mr. Hodgson proposes to restrict Zesia to T. cyaniventer and T. fiaviventer, and applies a new name to the others, which, however, if deemed separable, would rank under Microura of Gould: unless, in- deed, the latter be pre-occupied, in which case the name Pnoépyga, Hodgson, would be admissible. The two species cited have a more developed tail ; but so has my 7. caudata, which nevertheless decidedly belongs to the Microura section; and Mr. Hodgson further points out that 7. cyaniventer has the bill flatter at base, while in 7. flaviventer the nareal scale, conspicuous in the others, is barely traceable: neverthe- less, I do not see that they can be justifiably separated. According to the same naturalist, ‘these singular birds are solely mountaineers, dwelling in humid retired woods, where under-cover abounds. They 1845.] or little known Species of Birds. 589 are solitary and silent; and they breed and nestle on the ground, and feed on insects and small seeds. Stomach a perfect gizzard.”* Troglodytes nipalensis, Hodgson. Differs from the European Wren in its much darker colouring, in having the back a great deal more barred, the under-parts throughout distinctly barred, and more closely so than the upper- parts, and the bill somewhat shorter and a little more widened at base. Length of wing an inch and seven-eighths. Nepal. T. punctatus, nobis. Size of the European species: the bill shorter, and vertically much deeper. Length of wing an inch and three-quar- ters, and of tail an inch and a quarter. Upper parts fuscous-brown, with a pale speck at the extremity of each feather, some of these specks being white or nearly so; tail barred as in the European Wren, but the feathers softer and more graduated ; tertiaries comparatively broad, their ground-colour a dark mahogany, as is likewise the colour of the bars on the outer webs of the primaries. | Under-parts delicately mottled, a good deal in the manner of the scapularies of a Wryneck /( Yunex torquilla), but the pale spots much more numerous on the breast, and nearly obsolete on the belly, which last has a ful- vous tinge. Bill dark horny; and the legs appear to have been pale. Inhabits Darjeeling. Orthotomus cineraceus, nobis. This nearly approaches the Orth. edela, (Tem., v. Edela ruficeps of Lesson, and Motucilla sepium of Raffles, nec Orth. sepium, Horsf., vide J. A. S. XIII, 378), except that the upper-parts are pure ash-grey, without any tinge of green, whereas in Orth. edela, according to Raffles, the ‘‘ back, wings, and tail,” are ‘‘dusky green.” The forehead and sides of the head are light ferruginous, palest on the cheeks, and there is a slight tinge of the same upon the chin; crown tinged with olive-brown ; lower parts white, passing to light ashy on the sides of the breast ; tail somewhat brownish, with terminal dusky band, and whitish extreme tips to its * There is an allied (orrather, analogous, ) South American form, which, I understand, is the Leptorhynchus of Menetries, but which name is pre-occupied ; and the following species of it appears to be undescribed, in which case it may bear the specific name sub- luteoventris.. Length two inches and seven-eighths ; of wing one and five-eighths; tail five-eighths: bill to gape nearly five-eighths; and tarse the same, being with the toes much smaller than in Yesia. Upper-parts black, the feathers laterally margined with light brownish-yellow; lower-parts clear yellowish-white, whitish on the throat : a dark line from base of lower mandible; and central dark lines to the feathers of the sides of the neck, and of the fore-part of the breast. Bill dusky above, pale beneath ; and legs albescent-plumbeous. Probably from Guiana. 590 Notices and Descriptions of various new [No. 164. outer feathers; tibial plumes rust-coloured, the tarsi and toes red- brown, and bill dusky above, the lower mandible pale. The middle tail-feathers are not elongated: in the only specimen under examina- tion. Length about four inches and a half, the wing an inch and thir- teen-sixteenths, and tail one and five-eighths; bill to gape three-quar- ters of an inch, and tarse five-eighths. Common at Malacca. Prinia, Horsfield. Of this genus, I have no species to describe additional to those noticed in Vol. XIII, p. 376, but may remark that Mr. Jerdon considers that two or three are at present confounded under Pr. tnornata: considerable variation, however, certainly obtains in individuals shot out of the same flock; and it may be noted that this bird extends its range into Arracan. Pr. Franklinii, nobis, (v. macroura, Franklin, nec Latham), being the Sylvia longicaudata of Tickell, J. A. S. II, 576, will now bear that as its specificname : and Pr. cursitans, Franklin, as Iam informed by Mr. Strickland, ‘is decidedly congeneric with the Kuropean Cisticola schenicola, but dif- fers in being more rufous, &c. I have compared them,” he adds, and it may be further noticed that the cursitans is common in Lower Bengal.* Neornis, Hodgson. This name was applied by Mr. Hodgson to my Culicipeta (J. A. S. XII, 968), but he has since referred to it two alleged species as aberrant representatives of the form, which appear to me to have an obvious claim to typify a distinct genus, in deno- mination of which I propose that the above name should be retained. General form of Prinia, but with the bill and the colouring of Phyllos- copus, and long hair-like rictal sete. NV. flavolivacea, Hodgson. ‘‘ Above olive-green ; below and the eye- brow, luteous-yellow [dull pale yellowish]. Length five inches; bill half an inch; tail two inches and three-eighths ; wing two and five- sixteenths ; tarse five-sixteenths ; central toe and nail five-eighths ; hind nine-sixteenths.” Hodgson’s MSS. Bill dusky, base of lower mandible pale ; legs brown, the tarse pale externally. Nepal. N. cacharensis, Hodgson. ‘‘ Above luteous-olive ; below buff; eye- brow pale. Length four inches and three-quarters ; bill nine-six- teenths ; wing two inches: tarse seven-eighths; central toe and nail * Since the above was written, I have seen three specimens of Pr. socialis from Agra, which, though similar in plumage, are smaller than one sent by Mr. Jerdon from S. India, and have the bill considerably smaller.—A species very closely allied to (if indeed different from) Pr. sylvatica, Jerdon, has also been received from Java. 1845. ] or little known Species of Birds. 591 five-eighths ; hind half an inch.” /oid. N. B. I greatly suspect that this is merely the young of the preceding, from comparing a specimen sent by Mr. Hodgson of the latter, with a description I took of the former from a specimen which that naturalist took with him to England. The Prinia olivacea and Pr. icterica, Strickland, P. Z. S., June, 1844, are two species from Fernando Po, which are probably referable to this type. ; Phylloscopus, Boie. This genus is greatly developed in India, and the species may be ranged into three sections. Firstly, those immediately allied to Ph. trochilus, &c. of Europe, of which I have already described six, as occurring in the vicinity of Cal-~ cutta during the cold season. These are,—1. Ph. fuscatus, nobis, J. A. S. XI, 113. Of this I have now obtained several specimens, and one or two have been forwarded from Arracan,—2. Ph. javanicus, (? Horsf.) ; Ph. magnirostris, nobis, J. A. S. XII, 966. Rare in the neighbour- hood of Calcutta, and occurs likewise in Arracan,—3. Ph. lugubris, nobis, XII, 968. Common, and also occurs in Southern India,— 4. Ph. viridanus, nobis, XII, 967. Very common, and abundant also ‘in the Himalaya and in Arracan,—5. Ph. tristis, nobis, XII, 966. Common in swampy places, wherever there is Jungle; and diffused generally over India,*—6. Ph. nitidus, nobis, XII, 965. India gene- rally. To these may now be added— | 7. Ph. brunneus, nobis. Length about four inches, of wing two and three-sixteenths, and tail one and three-quarters ; bill to gape exceed- ing half an inch, and tarse three-quarters. A plain brown species, distinguishable from Ph. tristis by. the more cinerascent shade of its upper parts, by the absence of any yellow on the axillaries and beneath the shoulder of the wing, which is replaced by faint rufous, by the pale colour of the lower mandible and of the legs, and by the shape of its tail, of which the outermost feathers are a quarter of an inch shorter than the middle ones ; lower parts brownish-albescent. From Arracan, where procured by Captain Phayre. 8. Ph. affinis, (Tickell), J. A. S. II, 576: Sylvia indica, Jerdon. Indian peninsula. (Non vidi, and the identification of these is due to Mr. Jerdon.) * | also found this species in great abundance in a mango tope near Hooghly, where there was no marshy ground in the immediate vicinity. a 592 Notices and Descriptions of various new [No. 164. There are others in the Himalaya, which I formerly considered identical with Ph. trochilus and Ph. rufa of Europe; but I had no specimens of the latter to compare them with. Ph. trochilus is stated by Mr. Gould to have been received from Western India, and by M. Temminck from Japan; and Ph. sibilatrix is enumerated in Dr. Royle’s list, but the allied Ph. nttedus may have been mistaken for it. The species of this genus require very minute examination. Mr. Hodgson separates those which have a pale coronal mesial line, and, in some instances only, rather a thicker bill, approaching in form to that of Phyllopneuste, by the same Abrornis. I can only regard them as forming a slight section of the genus: and the next might form an analogous third section. Ph. schisticeps, (Hodgson). Resembles Culicipeta Burkii (J. A. S. XII, 968, v. Muscicapa bilineata, Lesson, v. Cryptolopha auricapilla, Swainson,) in colouring, except that the head and nape are uniform deep ash-grey; having the rest of the upper-parts bright yellowish- green, the entire under-parts deep yellow, and the two outer tail-fea- thers white on their inner web: the bill, however, is not depressed, as in the Culzezpeta, but is thicker than usual (approaching in this respect to Phyllopneuste), and comparatively short: the claws also are shorter, stronger, and more hooked, than in Culiczpeta, better adapted for clinging, as in other Phylloscopi. Length about four inches and a quarter, of wing two inches to two and one-eighth, and of tail an inch and five-eighths ; bill to gape half an inch; and tarse five-eighths : colour of bill blackish above, yellow below; and of feet yellowish. The young have looser plumage, and all the colours less intense. Inhabits the Himalaya, and the mountainous parts of Arracan. Of the species with pale mesial coronal streak, I have already de- scribed Ph. reguloides, J. A. S. XI, 191, and XII, 963,—and Ph. modestus, (Gould), zbid.,—both of which occur likewise in the Hima- laya and in Southern India, and the latter in Arracan. To these may now be added— Ph. pulcher, (Hodgson). Allied to Ph. modestus, but larger, and distinguished by having the three outer tail-feathers wholly white, with the exception of the terminal half of their outer webs, together with the tip of the inner web of the ante-penultimate, and slightly of the penultimate feathers. Colour of the upper-parts dark olive-green, with a rufous cast, and two pale rufescent bars across the wings; 1845.] or little known Species of Birds. 593 beneath dingy pale green; a light streak over the eye, and trace of another upon the centre of the crown. Bill dark above, and pale beneath; the feet brown. Length about four inches and one-eighth, of which the tail measures an inch and five-eighths; wing two and three-eighths, the space between the tips of the first and second pri- maries three-quarters of an inch: bill to gape half an inch ; and tarse nearly three-quarters. Inhabits Nepal. Abrornis castaniceps, Hodgson. ‘ Above vernal-green: belly, vent, and croup, deep yellow. Chin to belly white, passing laterally to soft plumbeous. Top of head chesnut, bounded by black to sides. Legs and bill pale. Length four inches; bill three-eighths; tail an inch and five-eighths ; wing one and fifteen-sixteenths ; tarse three-quarters ; central toe and nail seven-sixteenths ; hind five-sixteenths of an inch.” Nepal. (Non vidi. ) Phyllopneuste, Meyer, 1822: Ficedula, Koch, 1811. The latter term, though having the priority, is objectionable as conveying the idea that these birds are fruit-eaters, like the Fauvettes, which deci- dedly is not the case. Ph. indicus, nobis. Nearly allied to the European Ph. hippolais, termed Hippolais salicaria by the Prince of Canino, and Sylvia po- lyglotta by Vieillot. Length about five inches and a half, or nearly so; of wing two and five-eighths to two and three-quarters, its first primary measuring three-quarters of an inch, and the second an inch and one-eighth more, and reaching to within three-eighths of an inch of the extremity of the wing; tail two inches and a quarter ; bill to gape five-eighths ; and tarse three-quarters of an inch. Colour dark olive-green above, a little infuscated, especially upon the crown, with a well defined dull pale yellow supercilium ; breast tinged with ashy, mingled with dull pale yellowish, the rest of the under-parts dull yellowish-albescent ; a slight band on the wing formed by the pale yellowish tips of some of the greater coverts: bill dusky above, and in part below, the rest yellowish, with conspicuous hair-like rictal sete ; and the legs appear to have been pale leaden. Sent from Nepal by Mr. Hodgson, and from Southern India by Mr. Jerdon. 2. Ph. occipitalis, Jerdon. Smaller and paler, with a light yellow- ish mark on the middle of the occiput, flanked on either side with blackish, and then with pale yellowish-green, continued as a superci- liary streak from the bill; the first of these markings corresponding 594 Notices and Descriptions of various new [No. 164. with the termination of the coronal streaks of Culicipeta Burkii, of Phylloscopus reguloides, and of certain other species of the latter genus. Colour ashy-green, purer green on the wings and rump; a slight whitish cross-band on the wing, formed by the tips of the greater coverts ; lower-parts dull albescent throughout; shoulders of the wings infe- riorly, with the axillaries, yellow: bill duskyish above, pale yellow be- low; and legs yellowish-brown. Length four inches and three-quar- ters, of which the tail is an inch and seven-eighths ; wing two inches and three-quarters; bill to gape five-eighths ; tarse eleven-sixteenths. Southern India, where discovered by Mr. Jerdon. 3. Ph. rama, (Sykes), P. Z. S. 1832, p. 89. Common in Southern India.* Calamoherpe, Boie (1822). Three species of this genus are com- mon in Bengal, and it would seem over India generally; visiting the plains, however, only during the cold season. ‘1. CG. arundinacea, (? Lin.)t: Sylvia turdoides, Tem.; Agrobates brunnescens, Jerdon. This bird requires, however, to be actually compared with European specimens. Length of a female seven inches and three-quarters, by ten and a half in expanse; wing three and five- eighths ; tail three and three-eighths; bill to gape an inch and one- sixteenth ; and tarse one and one-eighth. 2. C. montana, (Horsfield). Very common, and comes a good deal into gardens, frequenting pea-rows and the like. In wilder marshy districts, such as the swampy thickets in the vicinity of the salt-water lake near Calcutta, not one is to be met with, while both the other species abound; and the next is rarely seen in the haunts of C. montana. Prinia flaviventris and Phylloscopus tristis frequent the same places as C. agricola, but keep more to the higher jungle where there happens to be any ; and I have observed no other Phylloscopus or Prinia in the localities proper to those above mentioned. C. montana measures five inches and three-quarters, by seven and a quarter; wing * I have just been looking over the series of these birds with Lord Arthur Hay, and it is his lordship’s opinion that nitidus should be referred to Phyllopneuste, (in which case I believe that the British sibilairiz should accompany it, ) and that reguloides and pulcher should rank in Culicipeta ; which, I think, would certainly bring schisticeps into the same division. His lordship does not quite agree with me in referring modes- tus to Phylloscopus, but I cannot bring myself to accede to placing this last bird as a Regulus. T Prof. Behn assures me, that this is certainly distinct from Turdus arundinaceus, Lin., of Europe ; in which case it must stand as C. brunnescens, (Jerdon). 1845.] or little known Species of Birds. 595 two inches and a quarter to two and three-eighths; tail two and a quarter: bill to gape three-quarters; and tarse seven-eighths of an inch. As compared with the British C. salicaria, (Sylvia arundinacea, apud Temminck,) the tinge of the upper-parts, breast and flanks, is much less brown, and the beak is less compressed, although verticaliy deeper. The next species has a nearer affinity for the British bird, both in form and colouring ; but is smaller, with a distinctly smaller bill, and the supercilium is carried backward beyond the eye, which is not the case in C. salicaria. 3. C. agricola, Jerdon. Less than the preceding, with a propor- tionally smaller bill, and more rufous colouring. Length four inches and a half, by six and seven-eighths; wing two and a quarter; tail the same; bill to gape five-eighths; and tarse seven-eighths. A specimen procured at Cabool by the late Sir Alexander Burnes agrees perfectly with others obtained near Calcutta and in Southern India. Arundinaz, nobis. This genus was first detected by Mr. Jerdon, among a number of specimens of Calamoherpe arundinacea (?), which the only species as yet ascertained a good deal resembles, on a superficial view. Several specimens were soon after procured by myself in the vicinity of Calcutta; and Captain Abbott also sent it from Ramree, Arracan. Its true affinity, however, is with Sphenura and its allies, and not with the preceding group. The bill is somewhat more pro- duced and tapering, slenderer and less laterally compressed, than in Sphenura, with barely discernible emargination of the upper mandible, -and the rictal bristles are smaller and more siightly curved ; rest as in Sphenura, but the tail-feathers narrow and much graduated. Ar. olivaceus, nobis. General aspect of Calamoherpe arundinacea (?/, but at once distinguished by its shorter and thicker bill, and much more graduated tail-feathers. Length eight inches, of which the mid- dle tail-feathers measure three and three-quarters, the outermost an inch less ; wing three and one-eighth; and tarse an inch. Colour uni- form olive-brown above, a little rufescent towards the tail; throat whitish, and the rest of the under-parts tinged with fulvous- brown ; lores also pale: bill dark brown, the lower mandible pale carneous ; and legs plumbeous. My impression is, that the sexes are equal in size, as are all the specimens before me, —unlike the sexes of Sphenura and ‘Megalurus ; but I have omitted to uote down the fact. 596 Notices and Descriptions of various new [No. 164. Gampsorhynchus rufulus, nobis, J. A. S. XIII, 371. Four speci- mens of this curious bird are now before me, of which two are from Darjeeling, and the others from the mountains of Arracan: and it is remarkable that all of these appear to be partially affected with albinism. All four resemble in having the under-parts vivid white, with a tinge of ferruginous on the flanks; and the upper are bright olive-brown in- clining to ferruginous, the tail-feathers tipped paler: all, too, have more or less white on the shoulder of the wing, though reduced toa single feather upon one wing only, of one of them, while another has about half an inch of the shoulder of each wing white, and the rest shew a greater or less admixture of white on the same part: but the crown varies most remarkably, being either pure white or bright ferruginous, or the two variously intermixed, and without either depending on age or season, as new feathers may be seen growing of both. In its aftini- ties, this genus exhibits a very close approach to Sphenura, more so than I had recognised upon the examination of the first specimen only ; but the more developed bill, and distinctly notched and hooked upper mandible, with the diminished curvature of the rictal bristles, which however are equally rigid, and longer and more tapering, fully autho- rise its separation from the form of Sphenura striata, though it is likely enough that species will eventually be found to connect them by intermediate links. Maes ? We have accordingly now the following Indian genera of this group :—Sphenura, Licht. (v. Dasyornis, Vig. and Horsf.) ;—Gamp- sorhynchus, nobis ;—Arundinaz, nobis ;—Laticilla, nobis (olim Bury- cercus, J. A. S. XIII, 374, which name cannot be retained, as it was previously applied to a genus of EHntomostraca by Dr. W. Baird, io the An. and Mag. Nat. Hist., February, 1843, p. 88);—and Schenicola, nobis, XIII, 374: all these being distinct from the extra-Indian (so far as at present ascertained) Spheneacus, Strickland, which again is closely allied*: so also is Megalurus, Horsf. (vide XIII, 372); and we * If le Fluteur of Levaillant, which is the type of Mr. Strickland’s Spheneacus, be correctly figured by Mr. Swainson (who terms it Malurus africanus), it would have a much thicker bill than Sph. gramineus, Gould, figured in the ‘‘ Birds of Aus- tralia,’? so much so that the two could scarcely range together in the same minimum group, though in other respects they would seem to resemble very closely. The Cin- clorhamphus cruralis of Gould, founded on the Megalurus cruralis, Vig. and Horsf., is ajform nearly allied to true Megalurus, and like the latter and also Sphenura, the female is very much smaller than the male, this disparity being even greater than in its Indian affines. I have never had an opportunity of observing the habits of Mega- 1845.] or little known Species of Birds. ; 597 have the Malacocercus caudatus, (Dumeril, v. Timalia chatarrhea, Franklin, and Megalurus isabellinus, Swainson), and the Suya criniger of Hodgson, connecting the present group respectively with the long- tailed Malacocerci, and with the Prinie. Indeed, I hardly consider Suya to be separable from Prinia. The genus Malacocercus treated of in XIII, 367 et seg., has since been further developed by Mr. Jerdon, in the second No. of his ‘ Illus- trations of Indian Ornithology’; and this naturalist now considers that the species which he formerly referred to Somerville: of Sykes, and which I followed him in so doing in XIII, 368, is distinct from Col. Sykes’s bird ; for which reason he has given it the name malabaricus. The proposed genus Orthorhinus, nobis, J. A. S. XIII, 371, - proves to have been founded on a young example of a new species of Pomatorhinus, and must therefore be cancelled: but the species will stand as Pomatorhinus hypoleucos, nobis. Adults, received from Tipperah and Arracan, merely differ from the young before described in the firmer texture of their feathers, and in the elongation and curva- ture of the beak, as in the other species of the genus to which it is now referred: but the beak is less curved and less compressed than in the majority of the species, in which respect, as in size and colouring, P. erythrogenys makes the nearest approach to it. Colour above olive-brown, a little cinerascent on the head, and a_ rufous streak commences behind the eye and expands into a patch on the sides of the neck beyond the ear-coverts: lower-parts white, mar- gined with ashy on the sides of the breast; and the flanks wholly ashy, with a tinge of brown: wings and tail a little rufescent, the lower tail-coverts more deeply so. Bill dusky, with more or less of its terminal portion horny- white ; and the legs appear to have been greenish. Length ten to eleven inches, of wing four and a quarter, and tail four inches; bill to gape one and three-quarters; and tarse one and a half. P. ferruginosus, nobis. This beautiful species measures about nine inches long, of which the tail is four and a quarter; wing three and a quarter ; bill to forehead an inch to one and one-eighth; and tarse an inch and three-eighths. Colour greenish olive-brown above, the lurus palustris, but am informed that it keeps much more to the reeds than seems to be the case with Cinclorhamphus australis, though it, in like manner, mounts singing into the air. 598 Notices and Descriptions of various new [No. 164. cap black in the male only ; lores and ear-coverts also black in both sexes, extending a little along the sides of the neck; a long white su- percilium, tinged with rufous on the sides of the forehead in the male ; throat, towards the chin, also white, but the rest of the under-parts bright ferruginous, fading on the belly: bill deep coral-red; and legs dusky-brown. It is unusual, if not previously unexampled, for the sexes in this genus to present any marked difference of colouring. The species inhabits Darjeeling, and the mountains of Arracan. Here, then, are two more species of Pomatorhinus, to be added to the ten (or eleven) enumerated in J. A. S. XIII, 946. I may remark, also, that specimens of P. schisticeps from Tipperah and Arracan have the rufous sides considerably brighter than any I have seen from the Himalaya, though this difference may, after all, be merely sexual ; and that there seem to be two marked varieties of P. erythrogenys, one having white under-parts with merely faint traces of darker spots, the other with the throat and breast densely mottled with greenish-olive, much as in the darker specimens of P. rujicollis, though the latter species has always a white throat. } Genus Garrulax, Lesson. A more satisfactory reduction of the de- scribed species of this extensive genus may now be offered, than that given in Vol. XII, 948; but as there is no occasion for repeating here the synonymes which are there brought together, I shall merely put the word ante as a reference to them. 1. G. Belangeri, Lesson, ante. Tenasserim and Pegu. 2. G. leucolophos, (Gm.): probably Zanthocinela leucocephala, Gould, mentioned in P. Z. S. 1844, p. 92. Himalaya, Assam, Sylhet, and Arracan. | 3. G. perspicillatus, (Gmelin), ante. China. (Non vidi.) G. chinensis, (Scopoli) : G. auritus, &c., ante. China. . G. albogularis, (Gould), ante. Himalaya. G. gularis, (McClelland). Assam. (Non vidi.) G. Delesserti, (Jerdon), ante. Neilgheries. 8. G. pectoralis, (Gould): var. G. melanotis, nobis, ante. Hi- malaya, Arracan. In the latter prevince, black-eared and silvery-eared individuals occur commonly in the same flock, with every intermediate grade; but I have only seen the silvery-eared variety from the Himalaya. 9. G. moniliger, (Hodgson). Himalaya, Tipperah, Arracan. 10, G. MeClellandii, nobis, ante. Assam. (Non vidi.) DO 1845. ] or litile known Species of Birds. 599 11. G cerulatus, (Hodgson). Himalaya: not rare at Darjeeling. 12. G. ruficollis, (Jardine and Selby): G. lunaris, (McClelland), ante. Darjeeling, Assam, Sylhet. 13. G. rufifrons, (Swainson), Menag. p. 290: G. rubrifrons, Les- son. Java. (Non vidi.) 14. G. ocellatus, (Vigors). Himalaya. 15. G. rufogularis, (Gould), ante. Himalaya, Sylhet.. 16. G. squamatus, (Gould), ante. Himalaya. 17. G. subunicolor, (Hodgson). Young, described in J. A. i XIT, note to p. 952, and again in An. and Mag. N. H, May, 1845, p. 326. The adults are as follow :—Length ten inches, of which the tail measures four and a half, its outermost feathers an inch and a half less ; of wing three inches and a half; bill to forehead five-eighths, and to gape seven-eighths ; tarse an inch and three-eighths. Upper parts as in G. sqguamatus, but slightly greener, the feathers of the crown dashed with dusky-cinereous, and but very slightly margined darker; lores blackish ; the ear-coverts and feathers immediately below them a little margined with silvery-ash : under-parts nearly resembling those above, but the breast and belly paler, with the dark margins to the feathers less intense: outer primaries and the emarginated portion of the rest narrowly edged with pale ash, the rest broadly with bright yellow, as in G. chrysopterus and some others: tail aureous olive-green where seen above, the remainder of the feathers blackish with narrow white tips: bill dusky, and legs brown. Common at Darjeeling. 18. G. affinis, (Hodgson). Himalaya. 19. G. chrysopterus, (Gould). Himalaya. 20. G. erythrocephalus, (Vigors). Himalaya. 21. G. variegatus, (Vigors). Himalaya. 22. G. pheniceus, (Gould), ante: probably erythropterus, Hodgson, mentioned in XII, 954, note. Himalaya. 23. G. cachinnans, (Jerdon), ante. Neilgherries. 24. G. lineatus, (Vigors): Cinclosoma setiferum, Hodgson ; proba- bly C. striatum of Royle’s list. Himalaya. 25. G. imbricatus, nobis. Bootan. Of the above list, twenty of the species are illustrated by mostly very fine specimens in the Society’s museum: the desiderata are the Neilgherry G. Delesserti, the Assamese G. gularis and G. Mc Clel- 4M 600 Notices and Descriptions of various new [No. 164. landiz, the Javanese G. rufifrons, and the Chinese G. perspicillatus, which last Mr. G. R. Gray identifies with G. Belanger?, though I sus- pect erroneously. In my former synopsis, are included also a G. Rein- wardti and G. capistratus ; but the former has proved to inhabit Sene- gal (vide Swainson’s ‘ Birds of W. Africa’, I, 276, Nat. Libr.), and the form of this species, which is the type of Crateropus, Sw., would ap- pear intermediate to Garrulax v. lanthocincla, and Malacocercus, Sw., so that Janthocincla appears to have been erroneously identified by Mr. Swainson with his Craéeropus, and the two groups are recognised separately by Mr. G. R. Gray ;—and the latter species, or G. capzs- tratus ( Cinclosoma capistratum of Vigors,) proves also to bethe Sibia nigriceps of Hodgson, the Hypsipetes gracilis of McClelland and Hors- field, and it is in all probability the Cinclosoma melanocephalum of Royle’s list ; wherefore it will now range as Sibia capistrata, ( Vigors). It may here be added, also, that Letocinela plumosa, nobis, J. A. S. XII, 953, is the Actinodura Egertonii of Gould ; and that Cincloso- ma ? nipalense, Hodgson, v. Sibia nipalensis, H., though allied to Ac- tinodura, will not range therein (as has been suggested), but remain as the type of Jxops, Hodgson (XII, 958), connecting Actinodura with Sibia. Accordingly, the four supposed species of the latter genus enumerated in XII, 958, are now reduced to two, from the ejection of the first, and identification of the second and fourth; nor are the two species that remain very closely allied to each other. The following is a Crateropodine genus, allied to Pellornium, and bearing some vague resemblance to the Malacopteron group. Malacocincla, nobis. Bill as long as the head, rather stout, high, much compressed, the tip of the upper mandible pretty strongly hook- ed, but indistinctly emarginated, and its ridge obtusely angulated to- wards the base, the remainder scarcely angulated; gape but little widened, and feebly bristled; nostrils large and subovate, with oval aperture to the front, a little removed from the base of the bill: tarse of mean length and strength, as long as the middle toe with its claw ; the claws suited for perching, compressed, and moderately curved, that of the hind toe rather large. Wings moderate, with the first primary reaching to about their middle, the second much shorter than the third, and the fourth longest: tail rather short, weak, and even, except that its outermost feathers are a little shorter than the rest. 1845. ] or little known Species of Birds. 601 Plumage full and lax, the coronal feathers somewhat elongated and of ‘a spatulate form. M. Abbotti, nobis. Length about six inches, or a trifle more; of wing three inches; and tail two and one-eighth: bill to gape not quite an inch, and tarse the same. Colour plain olive-brown above, tinged with rufous on the rump and tail, the upper tail-coverts ferru- ginous-brown: under-parts paler, the throat and middle of the belly white, the ear-coverts, sides of the breast, and flanks, rufescent, and the lower tail-coverts weak ferruginous. Bill chiefly pale horn colour- ed; and legs light brown. Discovered by our industrious contri- butor, Capt. Abbott, in the island of Ramree, Arracan ; and since sent by Capt. Phayre from other parts of the same province. Aleippe Phayrei, nobis. This genus is defined, and four species of it described and others indicated, in J. A. S. XIII, 884. The present one is most allied to A. potocephala, (Jerdon,) and also to Siva nipa- lensis, Hodgson, of the Leiotrichane series: but is distinguished by its much less rufescent hue, especially on the tail and its upper and lower coverts, which are devoid of such a tinge, or the upper tail- coverts retain it only in a very slight degree. Length about five inches and a half, of wing two and three-quarters, and tail two and a half; bill to gape under three-quarters ; and tarse seven-eighths of an inch. Upper-parts slightly fulvescent olive-brown, the crown ashy, and wings, particularly the large alars, margined with somewhat deeper fulvescent; lower-parts fulvescent-whitish, whitest on the throat and middle of the belly: bill dusky above, below pale; and legs light-coloured : outermost tail-feather five-sixteenths of an inch shorter than the middle ones. Inhabits Arracan, where discovered by Capt. Phayre. In naming the two preceding species, I have merely rendered homage due to two gentlemen who have made great efforts to investi- gate the Natural History of the districts which have been placed under their administration. It is a kind of honour which is in the power of the naturalist to award; but it has been so much and so egregiously abused, that the distinction is no longer a very marked one, such as originally it was intended to be. The evil, however, it is to be hoped, is now working its own cure: and there is reason to believe that natu- ralists in general begin to feel the impropriety of underrating their 602 little known Species of Birds. [No 164. privilege of perpetuating the remembrance of the benefactors of their science, and especially of those who have contributed largely to the stock of materials from which information is derived ;—a privilege which assuredly should be exercised charily, and with due judgment and discrimination ; such as would really render it an honorable and covet- ed distinction, and be understood to serve for a lasting memorial and acknowledgment of services that had been done for science. fora, Horsfield. In J. A. §. XIII, 380-1, I indicated three de- scribed species of this genus, which had been erroneously considered identical; but at the time of writing that notice, I was acquainted only with the female of Z. scapularis, which alone is figured and described by Dr. Horsfield. Both this and J. typhia are common in the vicinity of the Straits of Malacea—the male L) scapularis having the throat and fore-neck dark green, uniform with the upper parts, and no yellow except on the orbital feathers. According to Mr. Strickland, Dr. Hors- field has lately obtained a new Jora equal in size to the small Orio- lus xanthonotus; and Mr. Strickland regards this approximation of size as tending to corroborate his opinion that the genus Jora is allied to -Oriolus,—an opinion to which, however, with all deference, I do not feel disposed to accede. To the synonymes of J. zeylonica (which speci- fic name was based on the Ceylon Blackcap of Brown’s Illustrations,) . must be added Muscicapa melanictera, Gm., founded on Brown’s Yellow- breasted Flycatcher, also from Ceylon. Chrysomma, Hodgson: founded upon T%malia hypoleuca, Franklin, v. I. Horsfieldi, Jardine and Selby. With reference.to Mr, Frith’s statement (J. A. S. XIII, 360,) of there being a second species of this form in Bengal, differing from the common one in being about half larger, I may remark that Chr. hypoleucos is subject to some variation of size, and especially of depth of colouring, more particularly upon the crown ; some having this part dusky-vinaceous, with a tinge of the same on the rest of the upper parts, while others have the whole upper parts paler, and of an uniform rufescent-brown, brightest on the wings : the latter, however, appear to be younger birds, and certainly are not dif- ferent in species from the dark-headed ones. Chr. hypoleucos appears to be very generally diffused throughout India. August, 29th 1845. ( To be continued. ) a Cee <7 aye Re za] re 4 FG 2 graf AL, ay, cam we ‘* bad ‘ 3 mon le Oi Cap FNS Rt Pema T ce PET IG ae eT eB ya | |e pee wages ED OT i CQCOY WER VEL OT w tat vb = RNS ea MY FAV Zest ae ae a ey Dae Wester CO Il Sael| bys a p abe: ay (APSZ IIOP SZ uly me ae | Dw de bs boy, 1 P| eA co} y aa en 7 eae Tee LoPS PCI ALVARO SD. || (C0! eel |) Fick GY Al 2) T| jl « ” sf ee YW eloNr7 |< | eo pF 4 WE awe Wee V3 s He yee ea (G2|| te O) » D) u,v 23| 29] Jw) Ot} ne whe spestontaived reife, elena, Crd ont vl Om dl w), Gt Dis ead bee he dob is bilby PERE ae ; 24 AL, , 603 A notice of the Alphabets of the Puitippiny Istanps. Translated from the ‘‘INFORME SOBRE EL Esrapo DE Las Isuas Fiuirinas,” of Don Sinipautpo bE Mas, Madrid January 1843. Vol. I. p. 25. By Henry PippinetTon, Sub-Secretary Asiatic Society, &c. &c. With a plate. The Indians were not strangers to the art of reading and writing. I give (fig. 1. of the annexed plate) some Alphabets of different pro- vinces which I have procured. It will be seen, at once, that they have all a common origin, or rather that they are one andthe same. The little communication amongst these people for many years or ages, intro- duced alterations in their caligraphy as in their language, which was also probably at first but one stock. Father Juan Francisco de San Antonio says, that they write like the Chinese, in perpendicular lines, and this error was copied by Father Martinez Zuniga, M. Le Gentil and others, who have written on the Philippines. Nevertheless, by documents which I have had in my pos- session, particularly from the archives of the convent of St. Augustin, in Manilla, I have ascertained that it is read from left to right, like our own. In fig. 2, isrepresented a fragment of a transfer of landed property, written in Bulacan in 1652, on Chinese writing paper : And in fig. 3, two signatures with their equivalent renderings of the names, in our characters. To this same family of written characters would appear to belong (fig. 4) an inscription cut ona plank, which was found in 1837, by a detachment of Troops, in the mountains inhabited by the savage tribes called Igorrotes. But withal, no books nor any kind of literature in this character are to be met with, except a few amatory verses written in a highly hyper- bolical style, and hardly intelligible. It would appear, that their letters partook of this oriental redundancy. 604 Register of Indian and Asiatic Karthquakes for the year 1843. By Lieutenant R. Barry Situ, F.G.8., Bengal Engineers. 1. Earthquake of the 2nd January, 1848.—This shock was experi- enced at Manilla, at a quarter-past one on the morning of the 2nd Ja- nuary. It consisted of two distinct vibrations with a very short interval between them, the first having a duration just perceptible, the second lasting nine seconds. I include in this Register all shocks in localities connected with the great Volcanic band of the Moluccas, because the northern extremity of this band is found in our own Territories, and the whole becomes thus connected with India Proper. The shock under notice appears to have been slight, but it was the forerunner of a series, one of which was of great violence. 2. Harthquake of the 4th January, 1843.—This earthquake occurred at Singapore, about midnight of the 4th, and on the same date and about the same hour two shocks were experienced at Malacca. My information relative to these shocks is very limited, being confined to a notice of their occurrence. 3. Harthquake of the 6th January, 1843.—The greatest force of the shock of the 6th January, so far as our information extends, was felt at Pulo Nias, in the vicinity of Java and Sumatra. For the following ex- tract from the ‘‘Singapore Free Press,’ detailing the effects of the earthquake, I am indebted to H. Cope, Esq. Singapore. Below will be found an account of an earthquake at Pulo Nias, translated from the ‘‘ Java Courant,’ which we have received from our correspondent. It will be observed, that this earthquake occurred about the same time with the shocks which were experienced in Manilla, Singapore and Penang; but that it was of a much more violent nature, and attended with disastrous circumstances, which were happily unknown in other instances. In this case the phenomenon partook of all those fatal and violent effects which have usually been the accompaniments of similar convulsions of the earth in Java and Sumatra. Account of an Earthquake at Pulo Nias. (Translation from the Java Courant, April 5th, 1843.) Ignorant of the dismal scenes on which it would rise next morning, the sun set peaceably behind the Goenong (mountain) Sie Foli, (Island of Nias) on the evening of the 5th of January last. 1845. ] Register of Indian and Asiatic Karthquakes, 1843. 605 At 6 p.m. the Thermometer (Fahrenheit) marked 83°, the sky was clear, the sea calm, the air pleasant and mild, only a breeze from the Westward (a circumstance of rape occurrence in these parts) was felt. The inhabitants of Nias, not aware of the fate that awaited them, were enjoying the repose of sleep, when at or about midnight they were roused by heavy shocks of the earth, which at first were felt in a slight degree from the wind shifting to the Northward, but became every moment more violent ; so that no fixed direction could be given to them, the shocks subsiding into a complete trembling of the earth, so that at every instant it was expected the whole Island would disappear. The shocks continued without intermission during nine minutes, the ground was moved up and down, like the rocking of a swing; to stand up or to walk was alike impossible; houses were destroyed, burying beneath their ruins the ill-fated inhabitants. A portion of the Mount Horiffa, close to Goenong Sie Foli, together with the fortifications of the Benting and the other Government build- ings, with the exception of the barracks and Commandant’s house, were totally destroyed; Coco and other large trees which for upwards of a century had withstood the hand of Time, were torn up by the roots, and the ground divided itself, shewing deep yawning chasms from which trickled a blackish frothy liquid. No subterraneous noises were heard, being probably drowned by the dreadful din of falling mountains, houses and trees, joined to the thril- ling shouts of the population. About nine minutes passed in the fear of immediate destruction, the inhabitants began gradually to recover from the trance in which they lay plunged by this sudden calamity, people appearing from beneath the ruins of a house, or from an abyss into which they had been plung- ed; the one to save an aged mother, the other his helpless child. The dreadful scene was lit up by the most beautiful sky and spark- ling stars. Not long the unfortunate Islanders were permitted to exult in the hope of their miraculous escape. Again, the earth began to tremble, and repeated shocks were felt with new force. Suddenly a tremendous wave rose from the South-East, and with awful noise, spreading itself over that part of the Coast, bore every thing before it, sweeping away men, women, cattle, houses, and even whole villages ; 606 Register of Indian and Asiatic Earthquakes LNo. 164. so that in a single moment, the same spot where cattle were grazing, had become the abode of fishes. The large Campong Mego, about one Dutch mile, South of Goenong Sie Foli, was entirely washed away by the wave; and many days after- wards the dead bodies of the victims of this woeful destruction might be seen on the beach. The same wave penetrated into the neighbourhood of Goenong Sie Foli with such violence, that the prows lying in the river were thrown upon the shore, 100 or 160 paces from their anchorage ; among the number was the Government Cruising Schooner, No. 23. The new Bazar, consisting of wooden houses, and situated on the left side of the river, was also entirely washed away. The inhabitants who escaped fled to the Benting, 60 or 100 feet above the sea, to implore the succour of others as miserable as themselves. This phenomenon continued until half-past four in the morning, the shock being felt at intervals of two minutes, when another earthquake was experienced, which was more violent than the first one, and continued for about six minutes. The shock generally came from the West, going to the North, changing however directly to the South. The trembling of the ground, although more slightly, was felt for several days after- wards. The authorities here have immediately caused the necessary measures to be taken, and despatched a Government vessel to give assistance to the unfortunate inhabitants of the island of Nias.—D. F. 8. Padang, 23rd March, 1848. Pulo Nias, the seat of the catastrophe just detailed, is a small island off the West Coast of Sumatra, in about 2° N. Lat. and 98° E. Long. The intensity of the Earthquake, however great in Pulo Nias, would appear to have diminished much at a short distance from it, since no notice of its effects on the adjoining coast of Sumatra is given, and from the silence of the writer of the above account, we are led to infer that the shock if felt at all at Padang, was there very slight. Pursuing a North Easterly direction, this same Earthquake was ex- perienced at Singapore and Penang. The following extract from the ‘‘Penang Gazette,” details the effects of the shock at these two places. 1845. ] Sor the year 1843, 607 ‘« We noticed in our paper of the 7th instant, that a shock of an Earthquake had been experienced here about half-past 12 on the morn- ing of the 6th, and we observe from the “Singapore Free Press’ of the 12th, that a shock had been felt there precisely at the same time. In both places it was very slight, but here more generally, and on the hill at least, more severely felt than at Singapore. It is rather remark- able that on the 8th, when we had a repetition of the Earthquake about 23 Pp. mM. the shocks on that occasion were also more distinctly felt on the hills than in the valley. The oscillations were in both places of very short duration, and in Penang, as far as we can learn, the direction was from South to North or the contrary, but at Singapore itis stated to have been from East to West. For some time preceding this subterrane- ous commotion, the weather at Singapore had been unusually dry and hot for the season, the atmosphere clear, and the wind from the North East, and nothing indicated a change, until half an hour before the shock, when the heavens became ‘ quite black and chilly.’ Here also it was preceded by the same kind of weather, which however is usual with us at this season, but no sudden change or phenomenon of any kind was noticed immediately to precede the shock, excepting that, as we have learned, the rats in a house in town were heard to be parti- cularly noisy and riotous about the roof. In both places, however, a marked change followed the convulsion. At Singapore, at 7 a.m, the following morning, heavy rains set in, and continued unremittingly for eleven days; and in Penang we experienced for several successive days sudden gusts of wind interrupted by calms, and in the evening squalls from the N. and N. E. with heavy clouds, rain and thunder in these directions, no rain however fell upon the Island, excepting a short par- tial shower on the 15th, and the weather has again resumed its dryness and clearness. At this time not a blade of grass is to be seen, and vegetation of every description is suffering excepting where water is applied. ‘‘ Shocks of Earthquakes have on several occasions been felt at Penang ; within the last ten years we have had four different shocks, and with the exception of the last, they have always happened during the latter months of the year. The first took place in November 1883, the second in August 1835, the third in September 1837, and the fourth on the 6th instant, as above stated. It appears therefore that here they occur periodically, and that the last interval has been more than double 4N 608 Register of Indian and Asiatic Earthquakes [No. 164. the usual length. Of these, the shock in September 1837, was, by all accounts, the most severe, and the oscillations, as in the present case, are said to have come from South to North, and to have lasted full a minute and ahalf. It is said that on that occasion, several herds of cattle in the neighbourhood were observed running in the utmost confusion in all directions, that lamp and picture-frames oscillated, that the Roman Catholic Church bell rang of its own accord, that quantities of large shot piled up in the Fort were thrown down and scattered about, that a stone wall of a substantial building in town was rent, and the whole inhabitants were thrown into a state of consternation. The shipping in the harbour did not experience this shock, nor did the sea appear agitated ; five days subsequently however another smart shock was felt, and was followed by a very heavy squall from the N. W. and great agi- tation and rise of the sea inthe harbour. ‘The tide overflowed the Northern beach, and flooded the compounds and lower rooms of the houses in the neighbourhood. ‘The convulsion was experienced at the same time at Achen and along the Pedier Coast, and it is said that these places sustained considerable damage. By the late shock a clock in town was stopped, and some felt a dizziness in the head and a sensa-~ tion like sea-sickness, but we have not heard of any other phenomenon attending this Earthquake. It may be that neither this shock nor any of the previous ones we have noticed are to be supposed the effects of con- vulsions taking place immediately below us, but to have been transmit- ted from some neighbouring region within the range of Earthquakes, such as Sumatra. The recent one may be described as having been a mere tremor of the ground, more than a shock.”—Penang Gazette, 28th January, 18438. From the facts now detailed, it appears, that the point of greatest intensity of the shock of the 6th January 1843, was in the immediate vicinity of, if not directly beneath, the island of Pulo Nias. The south coast of the island suffered most, since it was upon it that the destruc- tive wave first broke. The facts stated are not sufficient to warrant any conclusion as to the cause of this great wave; it may have arisen from violent volcanic action in the adjoining bed of the sea, or it may have been the reflux of a wave generated by the sudden upheavement of the coast of the island itself. In both cases it is probable, the sea would first have receded from, and then returned in force upon the coast, and in the latter part of the upheavement would have remained, but no 1845.] For the year 1843. 609 indication of any such phenomena are given, and the point must remain an undecided one. The general direction of the shock was from South-West to North- East ; from the relative geographical positions of Pulo Nias and Singa- pore, the direction in the latter island would be from West to East, just the contrary to that specified in the extract above given; in Penang, on the other hand, the course would be from South to North, as cor- rectly stated by the writer in the ‘‘ Penang Gazette.” Indications of atmospheric disturbance accompanied the shock at Singapore and Penang, and most probably at Pulo Nias also, although it is not so stated in the published notices. At Singapore, nearer to the focus of the shock, these disturbances were greater than at Penang, and it is a fact to be noted, that at the former place, very heavy rain imme- diately followed the convulsion. 4, Earthquake of the 8th January, 1843.—This shock, which was very slight, was experienced at Penang, about midnight of the 8th January. It was not accompanied by any phenomena requiring special record, and was the last of the series which in the early part of the month of January were experienced throughout the Eastern islands. 5. Harthquake of the 8th February, 1848.—This shock was experi- enced at Ahmedabad in Goojerat, at 2 a.m. on the 8th February. The direction was from N. E. to S. W., and four distinct vibrations of the earth were observed, the entire duration being about eight minutes. Before the shocks were felt, there was a great rumbling noise as if carts or carriages were passing by. These shocks were evidently of slight intensity and limited range, there being no notices of their having been experienced elsewhere than in the neighbourhood of Ahmedabad. So far as inference may be made from their direction, they would seem to have emanated from the tract of the Vindayas. The early part of the month of February 1843, was remarkable for other indications of volcanic activity. On the 6th, one of the small vol- canic hills on the Arracan coast, near to the station of Kyouk Phyoo, exhibited a sudden eruption; some particulars of which are given in the following extract from a letter to the address of H. Piddington, Esq., kindly forwarded to me by that gentleman. . 610 Register of Indian and Asiatic Earthquakes [No. 164. “* Kyouk Phyoo, 7th February, 1843. ‘“* We however had last night a most magnificent volcanic eruption. The mountain, which is of moderate height and shaped somewhat like a pyramid, is about three or four miles from the station, which was ren- dered as light as noonday, although it was midnight at the time. The eruption commenced at about 11 p.m., unaccompanied by any rumbling, but throwing up masses and particles of lava to an immense height, and presenting a most magnificent spectacle, visible all round the country. The weather had been for some evenings previous, close and threaten- ing, although the glass kept up, varying from 30-12 to 29-98 for the last five or six days. The fires gradually went out, and all was still again by about half an hour after midnight. This eruption takes place from what I hear, generally once in two years, sometimes annually.” 6. Harthquake of the \st April, 1843.—The Earthquake of the Ist April 1843, was experienced in the Deccan ; I shall trace its course so far as the materials available permit, from North to South. The most northerly point at which the shock was experienced was Sholapore ; (Lat. 17°40’ North and Long. 76° 3’ East) the effects of the Earthquake at this place are detailed in the following extract from the “ Bombay Times.” «‘ The following extract from a letter, dated Sholapore, 1st April 1843, gives an account of an Earthquake which seems to have visited the Deccan. *“T was suddenly awakened this morning about half-past 4, by a loud rumbling noise very like thunder, only more continuous and mo- notonous; and while speculating on what the possible cause could be, my bed began to shake in a very unequivocal manner, so as to leave no doubt of an Earthquake ; the noise apparently came from the South or South-West, preceding the shock and lasting about two minutes, and the shock, which though slightly felt in a tent, was more severely apparent in houses, and continued, I should think, about two seconds, perhaps hardly so much. I hear however, that in the town at the foot of the hill of Sholapore, the shock was much more severe, that the ground rocked considerably, and plaster fell from the roofs and walls of the houses causing infinite alarm to the people, such an event never having occur- red here before within the memory of any one. One of my Tappal (post) runners informs me, that the noise and shock met him about six miles 1845. ] for the year 1843. 611 North-East of this, and that the ground rocked so much that he ran toa date tree for support; but this moving also, he threw himself on the ground, and did not venture to move till all was over. I suppose the course of the Earthquake therefore to have been nearly South-West and North-East ; and if you hear more of its beginning and ending, this may serve to give you some idea of its course; of the breadth of its influence I have of course no idea. All yesterday was remarkably sultry and oppressive, nor was there a breath of air all night, a very unusual thing here. What between the earthquake and comet, the people here are much perplexed, and wise Brahmins are prophesying wars, tumults, and famines, to the terror of the lieges. «An old gentleman who has just called, informs me, there was an Earthquake here, the year Tippoo was disposed of! I have no means of ascertaining the truth of this; but is this country in the track of any volcanic current or influence? Certainly Earthquakes are not common occurrences.” The next place from which we have a notice of the shock, is Mucktul (Lat. 16° 43’ N. Long. 77° 35’ East). This notice is contained in the following extract from the ‘‘ Madras Spectator” of the 26th April, 1843. “A correspondent at Mucktul has favoured us with the following notice of the shock of an Earthquake felt there, as at Bellary and Sholapore on the Ist of this month. We apprehended with our corres- pondent, that the maximum intensity of the shock passed through Bellary in a line parallel to the direction of the Western Ghauts, its violence subsiding further Eastward, as at Mucktul. ** The Earthquake was felt here very distinctly on the morning of the Ist about a quarter to 5 o’clock. The undulating motion was not suf- ficiently perceptible to enable one to judge of the direction of the shock ; here was merely a slight tremulous motion accompanied by a rumbling noise similar to that of a carriage passing a drawbridge. I suspect from your remark in your paper of the 12th instant, that its maxi- mum point of intensity was at Bellary, or between this and Bellary. At Singsoorgoor and Shorapore, both places nearer Bellary than this is, it was felt much stronger than here ; but at Hydrabad, about one hundred miles from this station, I suspect there was no shock, otherwise I should have heard ; Bellary is also about one hundred miles from Mucktul. The morning of the 1st was here also excessively hot and close.” 612 Register of Indian and Asiatic Earthquakes [No. 164. Our next notice of the shock is from Bellary (Lat. 15° 5’ N. Long. 76° 59’ East), where the following phenomena were observed, and are detailed in the ‘‘ Madras Spectator :”—‘‘ We are indebted to a friend at Bellary for notice of the shock of an Earthquake which was felt there on the Ist instant, at about a quarter before 5. That morning a rumbling noise was heard described as resembling the well known sound (to rail- way travellers) of blowing off the steam from the engine. The sound increased in loudness to that of a moderate peal of thunder, and with it an undulating motion was felt, which increased in intensity till the whole cantonment shook. ‘My bed,’ says the writer, ‘trembled till I felt almost giddy ; the sound then decreased, and with it the agitation sub- sided.’ The direction of the shock appeared to be from South-East to North-West, the atmosphere seems to have sympathised with this sub- terranean disturbance, the previous night having been a very stormy one, and at 4 on Saturday morning it suddenly became oppressively hot and still.” I am indebted to H. Piddington, Esq. for the following imteresting notice by Captain Newbold, Madras Army, of the effects of the shock of the lst April 1843, at Kurnool. This notice ought to have preceded that from Bellary, but it was accidentally omitted. ** Kurnool, 23rd February, 1844. «Observing from the pages of your Journal that some researches are being instituted into the phenomena of Earthquakes, the following extract from my memoranda of an Earthquake that was felt here last year, may add to the recorded data on this head. “Kurnool, Long. 78° 7’ Lat. N. 15° 50’ : approximate height above the sea 900 feet. April 1st 1843, about 5 a.m. awakened by the shock of an Earthquake, accompanied by a subterranean noise like that of the rumble of Artillery at a distance. It lasted only some seconds; the noise appeared to come from the North-East, and died away to the S. W. It appears to have been felt at Bellary, which is about seventy-three miles direct distance W.S. W. from Kurnool, about the same time. There was nothing particular in the state of the weather. The comet which I first observed here on the 4th of the preceding month, was then visible, and its advent had been accompanied by a sudden and unusual rise of the Tumbuddra, which had swept off the numerous native gardens in its bed, a catastrophe which both the Affghans and Hindoos of this 1845. | for the year 1843. 613 place concurred in attributing to the inauspicious influence of the ‘ Tailed Star.’ «« Some of the older natives of this part of India assure me, that Earth- quakes usually happen in the hot season. East of this in the Jemaconda district, separated from Kurnool by a high chain of the Eastern Ghauts, slight shocks of Earthquakes are more frequent than in other parts of South India. This district is situated on the plutonic, hypogene, and basaltic rocks which form a platform between the trap of the Deccan— the largest known continuous sheet of ancient lava in the world—and the great active volcanic band that runs Southerly down the Bay of Bengal, crosses the Equator by Sumatra into the Eastern Archipelago, thence Easterly embracing Flores, Java, and Timor, and the whole chain of the islands to New Guinea: whence the main trunk proceeds Nor- therly by the Moluccas and Philippine Islands, terminating to the North in the Peninsula of Alaska, in about the 59th degree of longitude. “Kurnool is situate about 76 miles in a direct line W. by S. from Jemaconda, on the great line of drainage of this part of India, at the confluence of the Tumbuddra and the Hendri, on the limestone associ- ated with the diamond sandstone, which here overlie the plutonic rocks previously alluded to; the latter constitute the base of the whole of Southern India, and are seen outcropping immediately in the vicinity of Kurnool. “ The most Southerly point to which the shock under notice would appear to have reached, is Hurryhur, Lat. 14° 30' N. Long. 75° 59! East. The following is the account of the shock as felt at that place. April 2nd. A slight shock of an Earthquake was felt here a little after 4 o'clock yesterday morning, attended by a dull noise, as if it were the rolling of a carriage at a distance. ** It was predicted the day previous by the Bramins, that a phenomenon resembling a blazing man with a sword in his hand would be observed the same night in the heavens, and numerous have been the spectators anxiously expecting its appearance the greater part of the night; but for all their trouble (although many were up till 4 a.m.) they were dis- appointed. ‘«The weather previous to the above shock had been exceedingly warm, but since we have had a few showers of rain, and itis now cooler.” From the preceding details, the ascertained limits of the shock of the Ist April are Sholapore on the North and West, Kurnool on the East, 614 Register of Indian and Asiatic Karthquakes [No. 164. and Hurryhur on the South. The intensity would appear to have been greater at the intermediate point, Bellary, than at any other, leading to the inference that this place was nearer to the focus of the shock than the other stations at which observations were made. The general direction of the shock was evidently parallel to that of the Western Ghauts, namely from South-West to North-East. A peculiar state of the atmosphere was observed at four of the five stations where the shock was felt; an oppressive closeness of the air and great heat preceded the shock, and after it passed, a change was experienced at Hurryhur by rain. Earthquake of the 6th April, 1843.—This shock was experienced in various parts of Assam. The following extracts give details : Extract from the ‘Friend of India :’—* A letter from Sibsagur, dated April 7th, says, a very singular meteoric appearance . was observed here a few evenings since. It occurred a little before 9 o’clock on the evening of the 4th; a very brilliant light suddenly illuminated the whole atmosphere, and on looking up a large cluster of falling stars was seen rapidly descending towards the East in an oblique direction. These disappeared in a few seconds, and about a minute afterwards a loud report was heard resembling that of cannon, resulting doubtless from explosion of the luminous mass. The report was also heard at Jaipore. Last evening at half-past 8, we had several very severe shocks of an Earthquake; the vibrations lasted for about five minutes. Another slight shock was felt at a quarter-past 1 o’clock this morning.” The following extract from Captain Hannay’s Journal, kindly com- municated to me by Mr. Piddington, gives an account of the shocks as experienced at Debrooghur :—‘ After a very hot day and close sultry evening, a severe shock of an Earthquake at Debrooghur, lasted several minutes. The motion, however, was only trembling; affecting those houses which had posts built up by walls. Direction appeared to be from W. to S. W. “* April 7th.—Slight shocks at Debrooghur at midnight. Both these Earthquakes felt at Sibsagur, Jeypore, and all over Upper Assam.”’ At Jeypore the shock is thus described, under date 7th April : ‘“‘ Last night, nine or ten minutes past 8, we felt a smart shock of an Earthquake, and in four or five minutes more, another shock more severe than the first, and which lasted, I should think, full two minutes. The 1845. ] Sor the year 1843. 615 doors and windows rattled at a great rate, and one of our lads, who was standing on the bank of the river at the time, said he was near being thrown into the stream: it was the most severe shock | ever felt in Assam. Its course appeared to be from East to West; some of the resi- dents think there were three shocks, but I only noticed two. The weather has been unusually warm for the last two or three days.— Hurkaru Paper. 8. Harthquake of the 11th April, 1843.—This shock was felt very smartly at Landour, and occurred about five minutes past 8 a.m. The doors and windows of the houses shook and rattled loudly. From obser- vations made on the undulations of liquid in a cup, the direction was from North to South, or from the interior of the hills towards the plains ; the duration of the shock was estimated at thirty seconds. The same shock was experienced about the same time at Hurdwar and Meerut, at both places being very slight, and unaccompanied by any circumstances worthy of note. 9. Earthquake of the 12th May, 1843.—The following is an account of this shock as experienced at Penang, taken from the ‘‘ Penang Gazette” of May 13th :—‘ Yesterday about 1 p.m, an Earthquake was felt here ; the motion was very distinct, it was like a succession of waves, and very different from the quick vibration of the shock experienced in January last : after the first two or three waves a slight pause, when it continued, the undulation being greater; persons sitting were moved from side to side or backwards and forwards in their chairs in a direction from West | to East, or from N. W. to S. E., and hanging lamps were swayed to and fro in the same line. It lasted five or six seconds. It came in the direc- tion of Sumatra.” We have no account of this shock from any other point than Penang. 10. Earthquake of the 3rd of June, 1843.—This shock was also of very limited range and slight intensity ; the only place where it would seem to have been felt being Titalayah, at the base of the Sikkim hills, on the road to Darjeeling. The following extracts from the ‘“‘ Hurkaru’”’ newspaper furnish details. “ By a letter, which we have just received from Titalayah, it appears that that place was visited by an Earthquake on the morning of the 3rd instant. A smart shock of an Earthquake was felt here this morning ; I could not note the precise time, not having any time-piece, but I think it was about 10 o’clock. It appeared to pass from North O 616 Register of Indian and Asiatic Karthquakes [No. 164. to South-West, and lasted about three seconds, accompanied with a rumbling noise, like distant thunder. ‘The weather for the last three days has been very sultry, with great masses of heavy dark clouds in the North: but this morning about 7 o'clock a thunder-storm passed from North to South-East, with heavy rain, contipuing for upwards of two hours ; it was perfectly calm at the time of the shock, but the wind rose immediately afterwards, blowing in sudden and heavy gusts from the North-East, with distant thunder from the Westward. ‘‘No damage has been done that Iam aware of, but the natives were much alarmed ; some, who were at work on the road before my house, threw down their tools and ran away.’’— Bengal Hurkaru, 10th June. 11. 12. 18. Harthquakes of the 15th, 16th and 17th June, 1843.— This series of shocks was experienced in Assam. The first, that of the 15th, is thus noted in Captain Hannay’s Register—“ At 1] a.m. a smart shock of an Earthquake, with a vertical motion.” The second, that of the 16th, is thus described in a letter from Jeypur : “On the 16th, fifteen minutes past 8 p.m. we felt the most severe shock of an Earthquake I have noticed in Assam; we had a slight shock the day previous at noon.” Mr. Masters, in a list of Earthquakes felt in Assam, forwarded to me by Major Jenkins, the Commissioner, to whom I am indebted for many similar acts of kindness, thus notices the same shock—‘‘ At 8h. 45m. p.m. a smart shock at —.” _ The last of the series is described in Captain Hannay’s Register in the following terms :—‘‘ June 17th, 8 p.m. a very smart shock ; at first slight and followed by a severe one, motion undulating, and from the position of a clock which was stopped, must have come from S. W. or W. It lasted altogether about a minute ; the weather rainy, with occasional light squalls from S. W. These shocks were felt at Delava, Jaipur, and Sa- cherah ; that of this date at a few minutes past 8, reported by the Officer at Sacherah to have thrown down a portion of the bank of the Bur- rumpooter.” 14. Harthquake of the 17th June, 1843.—This shock is of interest, as being the only instance of an Earthquake in Ceylon of which any notice has been obtained ; reference is made in one of the extracts that follow to a shock in 1823, that affected this Island, and these two cases are all that have as yet been found on record. The following extract from the ‘‘Colombo Observer’’ of the 19th 1845. ] for the year 1843. 617 June, details the effects of the shock as experienced at Colombo :—‘‘ On Saturday morning, at about half-past 12, a slight shock of an Earth- quake, which lasted half a minute, was felt at Colombo. «Persons who happened not to have gone to bed felt the ground to tremble, and heard furniture and even roofs of houses to crack. Many amusing anecdotes are told of those who were awoke by the shock ; some supposing tricks were being played upon them, others that rob- bers were in their houses, and several that people were under their beds.” The “‘ Ceylon Herald” of the 20th, gives the following particulars “On Friday night, the 17th, at about half-past 12, Colombo and its vicinity were visited by an Earthquake, the most terrific of all natural phenomena. It was however so slight, that many people were not at all aware of it, and what was worse, they would hardly believe it when they were informed. ‘«‘Three distinct shocks were felt at very short intervals, all three not perhaps so long as a minute ; great numbers were aware of two shocks, and all agree that the last was the smallest. Most people having retired for the night, they were awakened by their beds being moved upwards in a most remarkable manner, while the curtains moved backwards and forwards, doors and windows shook, and occasionally a creak was heard. from the rafters and crockery in the godowns ; but although fears were entertained that injury was done to the houses, not a single instance of the kind has been brought under notice. ‘The officer on guard felt the guard-room vibrate; and in another quarter of Colombo a gentleman writes, that his whole house moved the same as a ship when struck by a heavy sea. ‘« From Galle we learn, that it was felt there at the same time, and with no greater force. As yet we have heard nothing of its being felt in the Central Province. It is very rarely that Earthquakes happen either in Ceylon or Southern India; we have heard of one in 1823, which at Hambantotte caused the glass on the sideboard to jingle, and it was pretty generally felt throughout the Island. “It frequently happens, that an extraordinary fall of the Barometer is observed to precede an Earthquake, but we have not heard yet whether this symptom of its approach was noticed here or not; such a fall of the Barometer lately attracted considerable attention on the Coast, in con- nexion with the late storms, and it will be curious to know whether it 618 Register of Indian and Asiatic Earthquakes [No. 164. was observed on this occasion. Not long after the Earthquake, we had one of those violent squalls which have been so frequent of late as to pass almost without observation; but we have been assured by some of the oldest residents here, that for many years past there have not been such violent storms of wind and rain. As if the electricity in the earth and atmosphere, or whatever else causes storms and Earthquakes, were exhausted, we have had since Saturday a sudden transition to settled weather, with every appearance of its lasting for some time.” With the exception of its locality, there is nothing requiring note in this shock. 15. Earthquake of the 10th August, 1843.—Two notices of this shock has reached me; one from A. Campbell, Esq. at Darjeeling, the other from E. Ravenshaw, Esq. at Patna. Dr. Campbell writes as follows, under date 11th August, 1843. “At 15 minutes to 5 p.m. yesterday, 10th August, by my watch, which was 15 minutes fast by sundial time, we had a shock of Earth- quake here, which lasted 20 seconds. Its course was N. W. by S. E. The motion was horizontal ; no damage done to any thing. “As you have expressed a wish to be furnished with information regarding Earthquakes, I have the pleasure to inform you, that a slight shock was experienced at Patna on the 10th instant, at about 43 P. m. A letter from Tirhoot (Muzufferpoor) mentions, that it was also felt there on the same date and about the same hour.”’ In a very interesting letter, under date the 9th September 1843, Mr. Ravenshaw communicates the following information :—‘‘ A few days after I wrote to you about the Earthquake of the 10th August, my Sheristadar told me he had heard springs of water (Bumbas) had suddenly made their appearance in several villages of the district. I immediately told him to send a man to the spot to bring me some of the water, and all the particulars he could collect regarding the date of their appearance; their number, site, &c. The man returned with seven bottles of the water, and a note in Per- sian from a person on the spot, stating seven Bumbas had appeared at Dostmahommedpoor, Purgunnah Azemabad, about twenty miles East of Patna. Of these two were large and flowing rapidly, and five small ; about a koss West of the village there were seven or eight more, of which three were constantly flowing, the others smaller and less active. He said that others had been heard of at Moza Tilwur, Purgunnah Bhum- 1845.] for the year 1843. 619 poor, and at Jugutpoor Chedee, Purgunnah Gyaspoor, to the Eastward of Dostmahommedpoor. Another native told me he had heard of a simi- lar occurrence at Moza Soojava, near Jehanabad, half way between this and Agra; some of them are said to be hot springs. I tasted some of the water with oxylate of ammonia, and it proved to be strongly impreg- nated with lime, like all the water of this district. The Persian letter reported that the Bumbas made their appearance, or rather were first observed, on the 13th Sawun, or Monday 24th July, which is 16 days before the Earthquake ; but I think this must be a mistake, as they were not mentioned to me until several days after I had written to you: it is possible however there may have been another Earthquake, which was not felt at Patna. At any rate I have thought it right to send you this information, which, if not useful, may be interesting. ‘Any connection between the appearance of these Springs and the Earthquake is doubtful, the evidence being against, rather than in favour, of such connection; at the same time the occurrence is rare and interesting, and deserves to be recorded, although its causes are too obscure to be traced satisfactorily. 16. 17. Harthquake of the 3rd September, 1843.—These shocks were felt in Assam, and are recorded by Captain Hannay, in whose memoran- dum the following remarks occur under the above date :—‘“‘ After a hot and sultry day (the 2nd) as ever I felt, the clouds gathered to the South-West, indicating rain, but passed off without any; night very close and sultry: awoke by a smart shock of an Earthquake, cannot >? speak as to direction.” Again, under the same date, at 73 P. M. it is re- marked, ‘‘ After a very hot day clouds gathered at S. E., very close and sultry. Squall came on a little before sunset; vivid lightning all round the heavens ; previous to squall breaking heard an extraordinary noise in the heavens overhead, like the falling of heavy rain on distant jungle, or like the rushing of wind through a funnel: with the noise was heard an occasional growl, like distant thunder. When the rain fell, this noise had continued for some time, thunder very high in the heaven, but the lightning one blaze all round; whilst at dinner a smart shock from the South.” This latter shock is interesting, from being preceded by the peculiar noise in the air, and accompanied by an excessive display of electricity in the atmosphere. Both shocks, in common indeed with all experienced in Assam, were slight in intensity. 620 Register of Indian and Asiatic Earthquakes [No. 164. 18. Karthquake of the 30th October, 1843.—This Earthquake oc- curred at Sandoway in Arracan, and is thus described under date 31st October 1843, by a correspondent of the ‘“‘ Englishman ;”—*“ Yesterday morning, at a quarter to 8 o’clock, this place was visited with a severe concussion of an Earthquake, which continued about two minutes; the oscillations appeared to take a North and Southerly direction, no injury was done, and the general face of the surrounding country remains unaltered: the morning was exceedingly fine, and the Thermometer at 75°21 have written to friends at all stations North of this, to ascertain whether the shock was felt at those places, and have also got natives to write to their friends, in the hills and towards Bassein, to learn whether it was felt in these directions, and if it presented any uncom- mon phenomenon.” At a subsequent date, the same writer adds the following particu- lars :—‘‘ Having promised you the results of my enquiries connected with the Earthquake which was felt here on the 30th October last, and with the volcanic eruption which took place some time ago off that Island, near Cheduba, I have now the pleasure to forward you all the infor- mation I have been able to collect on the subject, premising, however, that being totally unacquainted with the science of geology, many minutiz have doubtless escaped my enquiry, which would have at- tracted the attention of a scientific man. «Regarding the Earthquake, it appears to have proceeded from the South, extending itself along the line of coast as far North as the Town of Ramree, at which place it was but slightly felt; and still fainter at Kyook Phyoo, which is situated at the North of Ramree Island. The shock was very perceptible at Cheduba, scarcely at all so in the Yoomadong mountains, but very severe at ‘Gookhcomg,’ which is about ninety miles South of this, and on the sea shore. The Soogree (or head man) of that district, with whom I have fortunately had an interview, describes it as having so agitated the place, as to cause a great rustling in the trees, and loose stones to roll down the hills; but he states he has neither seen nor heard of its having been attended with any remarkable incident. It has in all probability been felt in Moul-. mein, and if you have not already had some information on the subject from thence, it would perhaps be a point worth ascertaining.* * No notice of this, &c. &c. 1845. } for the year 1843. 621 « With reference to the Volcano, which left a transient Island forma- tion, it took place in July last, and continued in an igneous state for eight days. The water in the wells on Flat Island rose considerably, and no noise or agitation preceded the eruption, or was experienced during the period of its action. The native from whom I gained my information, describes it as having been a most magnificent sight, particularly at night; flaming forth with fierceness, as to cause the columns of smoke to ascend till lost in the heavens. The Island which is mentioned as having been thrown up out of the sea, and subse- quently disappeared, could have been nothing more than an accumula- tion of ashes, cinders and lava, ultimately removed by the influence of the