conclusions drawn by previous explorers, that the monastery had been destroyed by fire."*

During my stay at Banâras, I examined the collection of articles found by Professor Hall in the various excavations which he conducted at Sârnath, and which are now deposited in the Museum of the College. The only article requiring special notice is No. 18, an impression in burnt clay, of a seal 1 inch in diameter with two lines of Sanskrit, surmounted by a lozenge-shaped device, with two recumbent deer as supporters. The device of the two deer is significant, as it no doubt shows that the seal must have belonged to some person or establishment attached to the monastery of the Deer Park. The end of the upper line and the whole of the lower line of the inscription are too much injured to be made out satisfactorily. The inscription begins with the word Sri Saddharmma, "the auspicious true Dharmma," and the letters at the end of the first line look very like Rakshita the Preserver." This would be a man's name Sri Saddharmma Rakshita, "the Cherisher of the true Dharmma,' a title not uncommon amongst the Buddhists. Of the lower line I am unable to suggest any probable rendering.

In the absence of any general plan of the ruins, showing the extent of the explorations carried on by Major Kittoe and his successors, I do not think it would be advisable to undertake any further excavations at Sârnâth, Banâras; I have already suggested that the ground immediately around the great tower should be levelled for the purpose of affording easy access to visitors. In carrying out this operation, every fragment of sculpture should be carefully preserved, as I think it very probable that some portions of the statues, which once adorned the eight niches of the great tower, may be discovered in the masses of rubbish now lying in heaps at its foot. It might, perhaps, be worth while to make a few tentative excavations in the mass of ruins to the north and north-west of the great tower, by digging long narrow trenches from west to east, and from north to south. Should these trenches uncover the remains of any large buildings,

* Bengal Asiatic Society's Journal, 1856, p. 396.

This clearance of the ruins around the great stupa has since been made by Mr. Horne, to a breadth of 25 feet.

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the work might then be continued. But should nothing promising be discovered, I would recommend the immediate stoppage of the work.

Since this report was written, the Reverend Mr. Sherring has published a very full and interesting account of Banâras, in which a whole chapter is dedicated to the Buddhist ruins at Sârnâth.* In Appendix B. he has also given a translation of Hwen Thsang's description of the holy places at Banâras, which is a most valuable addition, as M. Julien's French translation is not casily procurable.

*See Chapter XVIII., p. 230 of "The Sacred City of the Hindus," an account of Banaras in ancient and modern times,-by the Reverend M. A. Sherring, with an introduction by Fitz Edward Hall, Esq.

Report of Operations of the Archæological Surveyor to the Government of

India during season 1862-63.

NOTE.

IN A. D. 634, when the Chinese pilgrim Hwen Thsang crossed the Satlaj from the westward, the first place that he visited was Po-li-ye-to-lo, or Pariyatra, which has been identified by M. St. Martin with Vairát, to the northward of Jaypur. This place I have not yet visited, as my explorations during the cold season of 1862-63 were confined to Delhi, Mathura, and Khâlsi, on the line of the Jumna and to the ancient cities lying north of that river in the Gangetic Doab, Oudh, and Rohilkhand. In these provinces, I have followed Hwen Thsang's route from Mathura to Srávasti; and, with his aid, I have been successful in discovering the once famous cities of Ahi-chhatra, Kosambi, Sháchi, and Srávasti. The sites of other celebrated places have likewise been determined with almost equal certainty, as Srughna, Madipur, Govisana, Pilosana, Kusapura, and Dhopâpapura. I begin the account of my explorations at Delhi, which is the only place of note not visited by the Chinese pilgrim, whose route I take up at Mathura, and follow throughout Rohilkhand, the Doab, and Oudh. The places visited during this tour are accordingly described in the following order:

The remains of Delhi are graphically described by Bishop Heber* as "a very awful scene of desolation, ruins after "ruins, tombs after tombs, fragments of brick-work, free"stone, granite, and marble, scattered everywhere over a soil "naturally rocky and barren, without cultivation, except in "one or two small spots, and without a single tree." This waste of ruins extends from the south end of the present city of Shahjahânâbâd to the deserted forts of Rai Pithora and Tughlakabad, a distance of 10 miles. The breadth at the northern end, opposite Firuz Shah's Kotila, is about 3 miles, and at the southern end, from the Kutb Minar to Tughlakabad, it is rather more than 6 miles; the whole arca covered with ruins being not less than 45 square miles. It is most probable, however, that not more than a third of this extent was ever occupied at any one period, as the present ruins are the remains of seven cities, which were built at different times by seven of the old Kings of Delhi. †

Other forts are recorded to have been built by the Emperors Balban, Kai-Kubâd, and Mubârak; but there are no remains of them now existing, and the very sites of them are doubtful. It seems even probable that there were no remains of these three cities so far back as A. D. 1611, in the reign of Jahangir, when the English merchant, William Finch, travelling from Agra to Delhi, entered the Mogul