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Parthian (?) inhabitants or invaders of Khorassan. Even this meagre index to a solution of the meaning of the type might give an able antiquary the means of following up the investigation with success.

The cylinder, figured No. 12, in Rich's Memoir of the Ruins of Babylon, differs from that before us as respects the inscription, but with regard to the human figures, is precisely the same. The priest in the striped robe, with his arms raised in the manner (vide Kerr Porter's Travels,) depicted on many of the ancient Persepolitan sculptures, the man with the dagger, as if in the performance of a rite, are exact in the one as in the other; the emblem between these figures is however different from our's; it is also standing on the ground; it is in

emblem, which is given in our's

differently placed, and not as

this shape, while the indistinct above the heads of the figures,

is replaced in Rich's by a directly solar type, as I conceive it to be.

This variation in the emblems may account for the inscription

of a different written formula. Mr. Rich's brief notice of

these curious relics, I extract for readier reference.

"The Babylonian cylinders are among the most remarkable and interesting of the antiques. They are from one to three inches in length; some are of stone, and others apparently of paste, or composition of various kinds. Sculptures from several of these cylinders have been published in different works; and Nos. 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14, are specimens of my own collection. Some of them have Cuneiform writing on them, (as Nos. 12 and 13,) which is of the third species; but has the remarkable peculiarity, that it is reversed, or written from right to left; every other kind of Cuneiform writing being incontestably to be read from left to right. This can only be accounted for, by supposing, that they were intended to roll off impressions. The cylinder No. 11, was found in the site of Ninevah. I must not omit mentioning in this place, that a Babylon cylinder was not long ago found in digging in the field of Marathon, and is now in the possession of Mr. Fauvel of Athens. The cylinders are said to be chiefly found in the ruins of Jerbouiya. The people of this country are fond of using them as amulets, and the Persian pilgrims, who come to the shrines of Ali and Hossein, frequently carry back with them some of these curiosities."

Having done my best to offer some explanation of this curious relic, I have, with inexpressible regret to state, that it is no longer in my posses

sion; a friend to whom I entrusted it, for the purpose of examination, having mislaid, or lost it.

My readers will at once detect on Fig. 2, characters similar to those of Conolly's gem of the hand and ear, noticed by me in No. 122 of the Journal, and of other gems already published in this Journal. They are boldly and elegantly cut, as are also the wild goat's head, and the palm leaves (?) which complete the device. The gem is on basalt, which has been cut down to form a surface for the execution of the carving. The whole has then been roughly polished, and the stone drilled, to allow of a string or ribbon being passed through it. The perforation so made, is about a third of an inch in diameter, and is cut in a clean and workmanlike manner. Its large size, compared with that of the gem itself, is perhaps indicative of the value attached to the amulet, its wearer being desirous of securing it by as strong and thick a ligature as possible? I conjecture the device to have some planetary allusion. Might one suppose it zodaical, and detect Capricorn in the goat's head? It is given in its full size in the plate, but without a side view, which would have shewn the perforation, and the whole bulk of the gem.

No. 3.-Is on crystal, the head Sassanian; a variation of the characters (?) the execution good.

No. 4.-Red cornelian, a man driving before him a humped bull. The characters are indistinct, and the execution coarse: the reverse of the gem plain and highly polished.

No. 5.-Sardonyx, the characters similar to those of No. 2, and beautifully executed. I fail, however, entirely to make out what the central object is intended for; a conch shell? This stone by its shape and size, appears to have been intended for a seal ring.

No. 6.-Red cornelian, it is carved on both obverse and reverse, and carefully polished: the former slightly convex, the latter flat. The character is evidently the ancient form, used for the earliest Pali inscriptions. My Pundit, Sarodha Prasad, professes to read the reverse in Pali, महामहिमगसमादेश which rendering Pundit Kamala Kanta concurs in. The obverse is perhaps the abbreviated form of some ordinary mandate, as the characters appear arbitrary, and the meaning of the reverse, (as read by the Pundits,) maha mohe maga samadesh, carries out the inference, it being, "command of him who is first in dignity." (?) I give the

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reading (quantum valeat) on their single authority. If it is a correct one, we have before us the signet of some bye-gone potentate, who used it to authenticate his written orders.

In the numbers which follow, I have given specimens of the ruder and unlettered gems found in numbers in Khorassan, as in the upper part of the plate are shewn various descriptions of lettered gems from the same quarter, giving inscriptions in three, if not four, of the forgotten languages of the earth.

No. 7.-Pink cornelian : it is roughly polished, and drilled for threading. The subject, a stag with branching antlers, is perhaps the commonest among the devices on such gems. Nos. 10, 14, 17, and 22 give proof of it. A solar type is perhaps intended.

No. 8.-Red cornelian: a lion very coarsely cut, the stone however is carefully shaped and polished.

No. 9.-Crystal: the subject (?)

No. 10.-Fine red cornelian, highly polished; apparently a flower. No. 12.-Red cornelian: a humped bull; this stone is rudely perforated. No. 13.-Crystal: a horse rudely cut on the convex side of the stone. No. 14.-Pink cornelian.

No. 15.-Ditto, the stone rudely perforated: the subject (?)

No. 16.-Ditto: a bull.

No. 17.-Veined brownish cornelian: the stone has been ground down to form a surface, and is roughly perforated.

No. 18.-Serpentine: a mounted horseman.

No. 19.-Crystal.

Nos. 20, 21, 22, 23.-Red cornelian: all these gems are merely given as specimens of the rude emblematic devices found in numbers about the sites of ancient cities in Khorassan.

No. 24.-Is a lump of white agate, rudely ground down in one place for the reception of the device, and as rudely perforated. A Jotee, or Jain priest, who saw this gem, professed to recognize a Budhist emblem in it, declaring it to be the conventional mode of representing the sruthi sthaponi, or desk-frame from which the Budhist scripture is read: he brought me an ancient Pali illuminated inscription to prove his assertion, by pointing out to me a similar device; but by no means succeeded in convincing me of the resemblance. The supposition is however perhaps worth mentioning.

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