It is doubtful whether there has existed in our time any European who possessed so extensive and so profound a knowledge of Persia as the late Sir Albert Houtum-Schindler, who died at his house at Fenstanton, Hunts, in his 70th year, on June 16, 1916. And he was one of those generous scholars who, while seemingly taking more pleasure in the acquisition than in the publication of knowledge, waa ever ready to place at the disposal of all students the rich stores of his learning. To this generosity Lord Curzon, in the Preface to his valuable work on Persia (London, 1892, vol. i, pp. xii–xiii), bears eloquent testimony in the following words:—

“Of these coadjutors the first, alikein authority and in the extent of his assistance, has been General A. Houtum-Schindler, a gentleman who, after filling many important posts in the Persian Service, is now acting as adviser to the Imperial Bank of Persia in Teheran. To the advantage of long residence in the country he adds the erudition of a scholar and the zeal of a pioneer. He has personally revised nearly every page of these volumes, besides supplying me with much of my original information; and I tremble to think how many errors they might have contained but for his generous and never-failing cooperation. Few men so excellently qualified to write a first-rate book themselves would have lent such unselfish exertion to improve the quality of another man's work.”

In the year 204, exactly two centuries before the date generally accepted as that of the birth of Christ, the Roman State had passed through an experience much like that of our great Ally across the Channel in the autumn of 1914. Hannibal, the lifelong enemy of Rome, had surmounted obstacles thought to be insurmountable, had swept into Italy like a whirlwind, and in a few pitched battles had destroyed six consular armies. After one of these victories, his Moorish cavalry had raided right up to the walls of Rome, then only defended by old men and boys, and the Eternal City seemed to be at his mercy. Yet at the last moment he turned aside, as did von Kluck in our day, and pushed into the rich province which was afterwards Naples, whence it took all the nibbling strategy of Fabius to dislodge him. When Capua at last fell, he still kept his grip on the Calabrian coast, where he waited for reinforcements which never reached him, to again attack Rome. So long as he was on Italian soil, there could be no rest nor peace of mind for those Romans who, like the elder Cato, had seen the fierce African spearmen galloping through the Campagna, firing the thatched huts and driving off the cattle which formed all the wealth of the peasant farmers, then the backbone of the Republic. During all this time, too, the Roman populace behaved beautifully. Even after Cannæ they had not despaired of the Republic; they had suspended their long quarrel with the patricians; and, after a few very unsuccessful experiments with mobappointed generals, had left the conduct of the war in the more capable hands of the Senate. But when a shower of stones—probably lapilli from some volcano on the coast—fell upon the city, they were seized with one of the superstitious panics to which they were prone. They cried out that the gods were angry with them, and, as the unknown is sometimes more terrible than the known, there was more fear of their weakening before this menace than before Hannibal.

One of the most famous institutions of Akbar was the 'Ibādat-khāna, or “House of Worship”, which he caused to be erected early in 1575, immediately after his return from the successful siege of Patna. The building no longer exists above ground, although it is just possible that its foundations may be still traceable, if searched for in the right locality. The two suggestions published concerning its situation, which will be noticed near the end of this paper, are both inadmissible, as will appear from perusal of the texts which I proceed to quote from Badāonī, the abaḳāt-i-Alcbarī, and the Akbarnāma, all contemporary authorities.

The three tablets which follow have been selected on account of their uncommon nature, and because of the unusual words or expressions which they furnish. The collection contains other documents equally interesting, and some of these will probably be placed before scholars from time to time, should their difficulties yield satisfactorily to study and research.

This tablet, which is in Mrs. Pinches's collection, seems to have come from Jokha. It is of baked clay, and measures 44.5 mm. high by 39 mm. wide. The amount of text with which it is inscribed is 10 short lines, divided equally between the obverse and the reverse. Both sides have impressions of a cylinder-seal, by which the written characters are slightly obliterated. The principal impression appears in the space between lines 7 and 8 (reverse).

Tagaung lies on the Irrawaddy River 124 miles north of Mandalay in lat. 23° 30′, long. 96° 2′, and is regarded by the Burmese generally as their most ancient capital. There are remains of other cities in the neighbourhood, and to at least one of these, Tonngè, local tradition assigns a still greater antiquity.

First of all God's Bounteous Holiness is held in mind as Supreme when the Representative of the Sacred Tribes — the Loyal One par-eminence — comes with Vohu Manah's Sincere Intention to ask of him, once more, his principles,—on which all hangs.

Chance molested by caprice has dictated the selection of the characters studied in the following paper, and now that their tale is told and the MS. copied, I find myself wishing I had made a different list and followed another method.