1. Stanza in adoration and praise of Mahádéva (Sambu.)

(In 1008 year of the æra of the fortunate most victorious King Sáliváhan, in the year of the cycle called Kshya, on the 10th of the bright half of the month Pausha, being Sunday, during the Bharani Nakshatra (mansion of the moon), and the northern solstice; the fortunate, the gem of the ocean of all virtues, the protector of devatas and priests, constantly possessing the blessing of the sacred tribe, ornamented with never-failing prosperity, the sun of sovereigns, adored by Rajas, a lion amongst kings, the gratifier of princes, (the valiant in battle, whose throne is on the mountain Parashara), lord of the dominions of the Karnataka, south of the Narmada: Jaya-Sankara Raya has granted a Dánapatra to Sridhara Sarma and Sahasra Sarma, sacrificers and causing sacrifices to be made, lecturers and causing lectures to be read, receivers of alms, and givers of alms (being the six rites), gems among the learned, obedient to the prince, and ornaments to the prince, of the Sutra Aswaláyana, and of the Bharadwaja race, (and to one thousand other Brahmans to this effect):

I bestow the village Powali, as an Agraháram, upon me thonsand and two Brahmans, to procure the favour of the Almighty towards my father and mother, who both died at the Nága Tírtha of that village, in presence of the god Iswara, who has a temple there: I appoint Sridhara, Aswaláyana sútra, Bharadwaja gotra, of Toragalla, Jyotishi: Sahasra Sarmá of the same sútra and gotra, Adhyápakas and spiritual chiefs of the village; Ananta Bhat, Viswámitra gotra, Dharmádhikárí: Somanaya Vallabhaga Tirúmalaya, Bharadwaja gotra: Gauri Sankarasaya Bási (?) gotra, Shanbhai: Chamma Saga Mani, Bhárgava gotra: directors general of temporal affairs of the village.

The following transcript of a Persian Newspaper, lithographed and printed at Tehran, is given as a specimen of the political advancement of the Persians, among whom a printing press is but of very recent introduction. The newspaper was undertaken a few years since, under the editorship of Mirza Salih, one of the public secretaries of H. M. the Shah of Persia, who has been employed on a diplomatic mission in this country. The original is lithographed on two large folios, printed on one side only; it is closely written in a plain hand, and is surmounted by the Persian emblem of the Lion and Sun.

In treating of the Hindú religion, much confusion has arisen from considering all the nations settled in the plains, and ranging over the mountains of Hindustan, from the Himálaya to Cape Comorin, as originally embued with one faith, and following one religious ritual.

In the year 1818, the attention of the Madras Government was directed to the subject of the introduction of improved descriptions of agricultural produce into India. At that time I held the situation of Commercial Resident of Salem and Coimbatore, and instructions were sent to me by the Board of Trade, to attempt to introduce the cultivation of Bourbon cotton into those districts.

I beg leave to lay before the meeting an extract from the private journal of Lieutenant Henry Dawson, a very intelligent officer of the Royal Navy, at present employed on civil duties with the Indian Navy at Bombay, containing an account of a very extraordinary phenomenon, which was observed on the passage from Bombay to the Persian Gulf (the southern passage), on board the Honourable Company's sloop of war Clive, in 1832. On my first going to India, I was in the habit of intimacy with the late Captain David Seton, who was many years Resident at Muscat, and I well remember hearing him relate the circumstance of falling in with the while sea, described by Mr. Dawson, on his occasional voyages to Muscat, during the period of the south-west monsoon. So many years, however, have since elapsed, I am unable to give any more detail of the circumstance related by that officer, and merely here allude to it in proof of the phenomenon having been before observed.

The successful cultivation of cotton depends on a variety of circumstances, to each of which attention should be paid; amongst the foremost in importance are, attention to the climate, and to the soil. In endeavouring to introduce into one country the mode of cultivation, long known and practised with success in another, the local peculiarities of the country, as influenced by the form of the surface, the vicinity of hills, and nature of the surrounding countries, together with the consequent modifications of atmospheric phenomena produced by it, must be observed. These, in connexion with the capacity for heat, the radiating power, the rapidity of evaporation, and the structure and composition of the soil, both physical and chemical, require investigation. These points are all of vital importance, and must be studied both in detail and in connexion with each other, to obtain useful results.

Iron has been applied to numerous useful purposes, by every civilized nation, for thousands of years; but never has it been so extensively employed as at the present period. We have iron roads and iron carriages; the “wooden walls of old England” will probably be made of iron in another century; numerous steam-boats are already constructed of that material; the cushions of our chairs are stuffed with iron in place of horsehair; and not only our bedsteads but even our feather beds (to use an Hibernicism) are made of iron.

In the month of June, 1837, the Managing Directors of the Indian Iron and Steel Company received a letter from Robert Clerk, Esq., Secretary to the Madras Governor, forwarding a copy of your letter of the 17th of February, 1837, addressed to the Governor of Madras, requesting information on the subject of wootz*, or Indian steel: the purport of Mr. Clerk's letter was to ask us to furnish the information and specimens required by you, provided we could do so without inconvenience or detriment to our own interests.