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AUGUST, 1876.)
ARCHÆOLOGICAL NOTES.
239
in Ceylon. Its ancient origin seems therefore batûr; and, remarkably enough, out of so limited, as Pliny says it was, to India, and there large a number, all but a dozen, like the "great it is only known to occur at the locality in many of the Palachi find, were coins of AugusKoimbatûr described in this Note, where, more- tus and Tiberius, the exceptions being of Caliover, the gem is distinguished by the true gula and Claudius.* In 1856 sixty-three very clear sea-green colour specified by Pliny; else- beautiful gold coins, bearing the heads of where it is often blueish'or muddy in tint. Augustus and and other early Roman emperors,
In the neighbourhood of Patti Ali there in excellent preservation, were discovered packed are numerous .excavations in the cleavelandite in an earthen pot, about the size of a large dyke ; and that mineral, which is the matrix of mango, near the boundary of the Madura and the gem, can be traced in the rocks and strata Koimbatur districts, about forty miles south of for more than thirty miles, east and west. Kângyam. The southern half of the Koim. Lumps and masses of it, evidently broken up batûr district, in which all the places referred in search of the contents, lie about the pits and to in this Note are situated, lie just in front of hollows in very large quantities; and the exca- the great Pålghat Gap, where alone, from vations are generally too shallow, and situated Bombay to Cape Comorin, the long line of the too high and dry, for wells. In that stony poil Ghâts is interrnpted, and a level communication and almost rainless climate centuries would exists between the plains of the interior and the cause little change in the state and appearance western coast. It is but 110 miles from of such pits, and the antiquity of many may PattiAli to the sea, and we know that from reach back to almost any conceivable date. Phoenician to Byzantine times an intercourse, There can be little doubt that in ancient times, perhaps unsuspectedly extensive, existed bewhen the surface veins were unexhausted, the tween Red Sea ports and ancient emporia on the gem was obtained in abundance.
Malabar sea-board. I do not know whether it Roman coins have been found not unfre- would be deemed extravagant to connect the quently in Southern India, but nowhere in aqua marina mines of Koimbatur with the such large hoards as in Koimbatar. At hoards of Roman coin found in their vicinity; Palâchi (Polachy of Sheet 62, Gt. Trig. Sur- there is no other product of the district likely to véy Map), forty miles S.W. of Pattiâli, in 1800 have been the object of Roman purchase. It is, a pot was dug up containing a great many Ro- of course, only conjectare, but taking the exman coins of Augustus and Tiberius: they were press declaration of Pliny that sea-green stones of two kinds, but all of the same weight and came almost exclusively from India, and knowvalue. (Hamilton's Gazetteer.) In 1806 five ing that there they only occur at Patti Ali, there fine gold coins of the Cæsars were found at seems some ground for thinking that the beauKarûr, a considerable town (mentioned by tiful gems so much admired and used by the Ptolemy) forty-five miles east of the beryl tract. engravers of antiquity, some of which still ornaIn 1842 an earthen pot containing 522 Ro- ment the cabinets of Europe, came from an man denarii was dug up near Vellalar, a obscure village far down in the south of smail village four miles from the town of Koim. India.t
• This discovery took place just before I joined the dis- drawn by four horses abreast, with letters EX. S. C. There trict. I took casts of some of the coins, which by order of were two other types of Claudius, one bearing on the reverse Government were sent to Madres, whether there melted a female seated, the other & wreath enclosing letters; and in the Mint or reserved in the Museum I know not. The two coins of Caligula bearing the emperor's head, on the coins were doubtless all of well-known and edited' types; reverse of one a head surrounded with rays. _A single ex
short description may, however, be archaeologically in. ample bore a head of Augustus with AVGVSTVS. DIVJ. teresting. Of the 592 there were 134 bearing the head of F., and on the reverse Diana carrying 3 spear accomaAugustus with inscription CAES. AVGVSTVS, DIVI, F. panied by a deer or hound, and legend IMP. X. Two rePATER. PATRIAE.; on the reverse a trophy of arms maining types were indistinct, one bearing a sort of arch. between two standing figures and legend Cos: DESIG.
The hoards of coin referred to were all discovered in the
first half of the present century; how many may have been RIS. AVGVSTI, F., and 378 bore the head of Tiberius PRINC. INVENT.
found in the same neighbourhood in bygone ages, and with inscription TI. CAESAR. DIVI. AVG. F. AVGVS. how many may yet rest undiscovered, any one may conTVS. A on the reverse the emperor seated, with PONTIF. jecture. MAXIM. Of the remainder, two bore the head of Clau. + Corundum stones, used by jewellers, and of which the dius, and legend TI. CLAVD. CAESAR. AVG. P. M. sapphire and ruby are only blue and red varieties, abound TR. VI. IMP. XI. : on the reverse a winged figure pointing in the Koimbator district. 'Corundum' is surpassed in with a wand to a snake, and inscription PACI AVGVS. hardness only by the diamond, and belongs to the same TAE. Another bore the head of Claudius with DIVVS class of mineral; the word, whose origin has caused some CLAVDIVS AVGVSTVS: on the reverse a chariot doubt, is pure 'Tamil, Kirrandăm. Fine rubies have
