Read the following letter, No. 822, from Mr. Secretary MADDOCK :

To H. TORRENS, ESQ.

No. 822.

Secretary to the Asiatic Society.

Political Department.

SIR,

I am directed by the Governor General in Council to forward to you the accompanying copy of a calculation by Lieut. BIGGE, of the heights of the principal villages visited by him in the Naga Hills, for such notice as the Society may deem it to merit.

Having by the Dâk of yesterday received the Tables necessary to enable me to calculate the approximate height of the various points, which have been taken by Thermometrical observations, I have the honor to forward the same, and am happy to find that they prove nearly correct, when compared with those of yourself and Captain PEMBERTON.

1st. Observation, camp Semoor river below the Prephamah, 2nd February, 1841. Thermo. in the shade, .... 480.

Water boils,

2nd February.

......

208, approx. height 2,116 feet.

2nd. Observ. at wells on S. E. of village of Prephamah.

From the last observation it will be seen, as I have not the report of Captain PEMBERTON at hand to refer to the others from, that by my calculations the top of

the village of Sumigooding, stated by that officer from Barometrical observation, to be 196 feet above the level of the sea, is made 49 feet less, a very trifling difference, and one on that account highly satisfactory to me, for the correctness of the others as well as of the instrument, and I hope the same may prove equally so to yourself and Government.

The Secretary submitted to the inspection of the Meeting several drawings of fishes of the Indus, of the late Dr. LORD's collection.

The Secretary submitted a Sinde Vocabulary by Lieut. EASTWICK. Ordered to be referred to the Committee of Papers.

Dr. H. H. SPRY submitted in the name and on behalf of Capt. JENKINS, Commissioner in Assam, a series of Geological and Mineralogical specimens illustrative of the Grognostic features of the county of Cornwall, with the following note to the Secretary :

"This collection, extensive as it is, is only a part of what Capt. JENKINS designs for the Museum; and it has occurred to him, as well as to myself, that the contribution now made will not be an unacceptable accession to the Museum of Economic Geology, so lately formed through the exertions of Capt. TREMENHEERE.”

Read a letter from Lieut. A. CUNNINGHAM, of Engineers, of 25th March 1841, offering for purchase to add to the cabinet of coins of the Asiatic Society of Bengal sixty-five Roman coins and fifteen Greek coins, sent from the Mediterranean, for Rupees 50.

The

Lieut. CUNNINGHAM writes, " amongst the Greek coins are two of Melite, the other being Carthaginian and Greek-Egyptian coins of the Ptolemies. Roman coins, are of all ages; several of them being coins of princes of whom the Society's cabinet possesses no specimens, such as Decentius, Lucilla, Faustina, Constantine, with the wolf suckling Romulus and Remus, &c. &c." Lieut. CUNNINGHAM also offered a series of the Kashmeer coins, twelve coins of twelve Rajahs for 12 rupees, and to collect some few other series of coins which would be interesting and useful.

It was resolved to purchase the coins from Lieut. CUNNINGHAM, and to avail of his services for the collection of other series, the thanks of the Society at the same time being voted to that Officer.

Read a letter from Capt. A. TROYER of Paris, of 15th October 1840, from which the following are extracts :

"Whatever the future result of operations in Syria may be, they have prevented the Asiatic Society of Paris to dispatch to Calcutta a box full of Books, among which is the Sanscrit text, and my French translation of the first 6 books of the Rajatarangini.

We have not yet received the number of your Journal which contains the account of the most interesting discovery you have made on a gem from the Frontier of Seistan, at the ancient Boonaka. It tends greatly to prove the great antiquity of Buddhism, which antiquity seems to gain from day to day.

"I am now about to complete the English translation of the whole DABISTAN, which the late Capt. SHEE had begun, but left unfinished. I intend to have the work printed in Paris for the Translation Fund Committee of London, and hope to have the pleasure of sending you a copy in about a year.

Read Dr. SPRY's note on his tour to the Eastward.

Read letter from Capt. R. SHORTREEDE of 22nd March 1841, with a perpetual Time Table constructed by him, by "the help of which," says the author, " may be found in less than half a minute the week, or day of any date for thousands of years, past or future."

Read a letter from Lieut. POSTANS, dated 21st March 1841; containing his report on a certain branch of the Trade of Shikarpore.

Read a letter from Capt. HART of 15th March 1841, containing an account by him

of the Brahooees.

It was communicated to the meeting by the Secretary, that the foregoing four papers would be published in early numbers of the Journal by him.

Read a letter from Mr. KINNEY of Bonn, who has been selected by Professor LASSEN to act as Agent for the Society, containing among other matter, the offer of his services in the disposal of the Society's Oriental Publications.

Dr. HŒBERLIN was of opinion, that before dispatching the books for sale to Bonn their prices should be reduced, as without such reduction, he was of opinion that it would be useless to send the works, as the Oriental Scholars of Germany would not purchase at prices which he considered to be exorbitant. On this proposal Dr. HaBERLIN was requested to submit a list of the Publications he would suggest to be sent to Bonn for sale, with a scale of reduction in their prices he would recommend, for the consideration of the Committee of Papers.

On the motion also of Dr. HŒBERLIN, in consequence of the death of Professor FRANK, who was an Honorary Member of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, that that compliment be paid to Professor EWALD, of Hanover, one of the best Orientalists in Germany. It was resolved-That the Doctor submit, formally, a proposition to this effect, likewise for the consideration of the Committee of Papers.

The Secretary submitted a Doguerotype, presented by Dr. ROUTH, for which, as well as for all other presentations and contributions in Books, Natural subjects, &c. the thanks of the Society were accorded.

K

On the Mines and Mineral Resources of Northern Afghanistan. By Capt. DRUMMOND, 3rd Light Cavalry, communicated from the Political Department, Government of India.

[Copper Mining district in the Ghilzie territory, South East of Cabool.]

From the valley of Dobundee, which communicates with the plain of Lagur in the direction of Koorrum, to the district of Moosge, about 14 miles south east of Cabool, and again from Moosge to Derbund and Rojan in the direction of Fezeen, is an elevated and rugged mountain tract highly metalliferous.

Geology of the District.-The formations of this mineral district are composed principally of Hornblende rock, and Hornblende Gneiss, Primary Limestone, and Mica Slate. The hornblende rocks are generally speaking of a fissile character, the limestones again are hard, compact, occasionally slaty, and from their feeble effervescence when tried with nitric acid, seem to contain a portion of magnesia, and may accordingly be referred to the dolomite species. The strike or direction of the strata, as may be oberved from the sequel, is nearly N. East and S. West, dipping at a considerable inclination to the N. West.

Conforming with the hornblende rocks of Dobundee is a calcareous sandstone formation with subordinate beds of slate clay enclosing their seams of coal. This sandstone is soft and friable, and must be distinguished again from another sandstone also calcareous, and of a still softer character. The latter formation is of very recent origin, and has taken place subsequent to the upheavement of the primary and metalliferous rocks, as may be well observed in the vicinity of Koh i Aeenuk, where it occurs in the form of sand-hill-the sandstone strata are horizontal, the primary again are all highly inclined, and sometimes even vertical.

What the upheaving rocks may be I am yet ignorant, but believe they will be found to be granitic, and if so, they must be of a much more modern geological era than similar rocks in England, from the position of the sandstone of Dobundee, which is evidently a tertiary deposit containing lignite coal. A section from the passes in the mountains of the Hindoo Kosh to the Indus would be extremely interesting in a scientific point of view, and convey no doubt an accurate idea of the structure of the country, but this however would form a separate branch of inquiry of itself, and is not of immediate importance to the present research, which has reference only to mining and metallurgy.

When I lately had occasion to bring the mineral resources of the Himalaya mountains before practical men and capitalists in London, the voluminous Geological Report of the able and intelligent officer, the late Captain Herbert, was never read by them. All that they cared about was that portion of it which related to the metalliferous minerals and means of working them; and what chiefly attracted their attention was, his account of the seven localities where copper was produced in the Provinces of Gurhwal and Kumaon.

In an economical point of view, therefore, t e first thing to attend to in a district where metals are known to exist, is its probable productiveness; and for this purpose a very close and minute examination of every rock, ravine, and valley is necessary to discover if metallic veins, or indications of veins abound. I have found these appearances in all the following localities:

Views and indications of Copper, old Excavations, &c.-At Moosye in the pass of Shadkhanee in the limestone range, on the right bank of the Sagur river, and to the west of the village of Kuttasung, I found purple copper ore in very small quantity cropping out to the surface.

In the pass of Silawat to the east of Kuttasung, I found copper pyrites in greater quantity cropping out there. On the crest of the same pass, or rather a short distance from it to the eastward, indications of the metal appear in that quarter also, and seem to point either to grey copper, or to the vitreous sulphuret. The strike of the strata is about N. E. by E., and S. W. by W., dipping at an angle of 65 to the N. W. by N. Beyond this also, and still further to the Eastward, specimens containing purple copper ore in small quantity have been brought me lately from Kohi Chaghgye.

Again near the base of the same range, and within a short distance of the village of Kuttasung, are three old excavations, blocked up with stones and rubbish. Two of these I have been attempting to