A short time ago, a casual reference to the complicated Greek monograms stamped on the earlier Bactrian coins suggested to me an explanation of some of their less involved combinations by the test of simple Greek letter dates, which was followed by the curious discovery that the Bactrian kings were in the habit of recognizing and employing curtailed dates to the optional omission of the figure for hundreds, which seems to have been the immemorial custom in many parts of India. My chief authority for this conclusion was derived from a chance passage in Albírúní, whose statement, however, has since been independently supported by the interpretation of an inscription of the ninth century A.D. from Kashmír, which illustrates the provincial use of a cycle of one hundred years, and has now been definitively confirmed by information obtained by Dr. Bübler as to the origin of the Kashmírí era and the corroboration of the practice of the omission of “the hundreds in stating dates” still prevailing in that conservative kingdom.

Dr. Hincks once spoke of Assyrian as the Sanskrit of the Semitic languages, and the progress of cuneiform decipherment has tended to show that his words were not greatly exaggerated. It is true that Assyrian belongs to the northern branch of the Semitic family, which includes Hebrew and Aramaic, and not to the southern, which comprises Arabic and Ethiopic; it is true, also, that it bears a closer relationship to Hebrew and Phœnician than to any other Semitic idiom; but it is no less true that it has thrown an unexpected light on several of the problems of general Semitic philology. The reasons of this are clear enough. We possess contemporaneous monuments of the language from a very remote date, far beyond the antiquity which can be ascribed to any other record of Semitic speech; the language, even at that time, was already a literary one, and so stereotyped certain early grammatical forms that have been lost or obscured in the other dialects which did not become literary until at a much later period of growth; the syllabic character of the writing has preserved the vowels exactly as they were pronounced; and the monuments were inscribed while the speech of the people was still a living one, and not handed down through the doubtful channels of tradition and copyists.

According to the Brahmândapunâna, where the world is created from an egg (anda), four beings come first into existence, through the penance performed by Brahmâ; two of these are Sananda and Sanatkumâra, and the other two are not named. Then, the heavens, the rivers, the sea, the mountains, plants, shrubs, time, etc., come into existence. He (Brahmâ) further creates the Devarsis (the divine Rĕsis), Marîchi, Mrĕgu, Anggira, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Daksa, Atri, Wasista. It is not till he has done this that he creates the Paramesvara (the Supreme Lord; a name for Siva); the latter is at once regarded as Brahmâ's grandfather! He is called Bawa (nature); Sarwa (all); Îsa (lord); Bîma (the terrible one); Mahâdeva (the great god). His body consists (1) of Âditya-Sarâra i(sun-body); (2) Wesarîra (water-body); (3) Bâyusarîra; (4) Agnisarîra (fire-body); (5) Âkâsa (the higher invisible heaven); (6) Mahâpandita (the great Pandita); (7) Chandra (the moon); (8) Batara Guru (the teacher). He is therefore called Astatanu (with eight bodies). He must be worshipped through the Sâdaka (the full priest, or the performer of the ceremonies). Kalpa (form) and Darma (justice) are children of Brahmâ, sprung from his spirit. It is stated here from which parts of the body of Brahmâ the Devarsis came forth.

Gwáder is a seaport on the coast of Makrán (ancient Gedrosia), and Makran the name of the southernmost portion of the country marked Baluchistán in our maps. The derivation of the word “Makrán” is doubtful; indeed, I have never heard a satisfactory derivation. Baluchistán, viz. the country of the Baluchis, is so called from the people by whom it is now principally inhabited, who, themselves, claim to be of Arab extraction (Arabs of the Koreish tribe), stating that they were forced to emigrate, about the latter end of the seventh century, from the neighbourhood of Aleppo, in Syria, by the tyranny of the Khalif Yezid, in consequence of their having taken the part of Husain (the martyr), grandson of Muhammad; and that, passing through Persia, they eventually reached Makrán, which they gradually overran and became masters of. Their traditions are, however, meagre and unsatisfactory. They do not appear to have preserved the name of a single place through which they passed in their journey through Persia; nor have they any recollection of the people inhabiting Makran at the time of their advent. This state of oblivion may, perhaps, be accounted for by the gradual manner of their coming into the country, viz. clan by clan at a time; but, in the lists of their ancestors, as I have received them, many names must have been omitted.

Some years ago the late Colonel Seton Gruthrie showed me some coins of a totally different appearance to any I had before seen. They did not, I think, form part of his collection, but belonged to a friend who had received them from a relation in the Yemen. Colonel Guthrie, however, allowed me to take impressions of them, with a view to deciphering and publishing the inscriptions at some later time when I had more leisure to devote to their inspection.

In a late Number of the Journal (Vol. VII. p. 376) I published a fac-simile of an Inscription from Takht-i Bahi, with some readings and observations. The stone on which this inscription is graven is damaged, and the fac-simile was not satisfactory. The original stone is in the Lahore Museum, and since the date of my publication, Colonel Maclagan, Superintendent Engineer in the Panjab, has had a series of photographs taken, under his own direction, of all the sculptures in the Lahore Museum. These photographs have been arranged in a book, a copy of which has been sent to the Library of the Society. The Takht-i Bahi inscription is among them, and from this new photograph the accompanying cut has been made of the words containing the date. I must add, however, that none of the copies are as satisfactory as the rubbing first received.

The part of Belúchistán now under Persian rule is bounded upon the north by Seistán, upon the east by Panjgúr and Kej, upon the south by the Indian Ocean, and upon the west by Núrámshír, Rúdbár, and the Báshákerd mountains.

This country enjoys a variety of climates; almost unbearable heat exists on the Mekrán coast, we find a temperate climate on the hill slopes and on the slightly raised plains as at Duzek and Bampúr, and a cool climate in the mountainous districts Serhad and Bazmán. The heat at Jálq is said to be so intense in summer that the gazelles lie down exhausted in the plains, and let themselves be taken by the people without any trouble.