________________
OCTOBER, 1889.)
THE FATE OF ST. MARK.
815
collection contains two different varieties of this coin. Both have on the obverse an elephant facing the right, and on the reverse the legend w e , “struck at-Pattan," and over it the designation which is clearly not ubi, but ybi Qutb, the Arabic name of the Pole-star, which fits the whole system followed by Tipû in naming his other copper coins. The first of the two coins has the letter over the elephant on the obverse, and the date 1224 over the legend on the reverse; the second coin bears the letter and the date 1225 in the corresponding places. As on Tipa's larger copper coins the letters, and are combined with the dates 1224, 1225, 1226 and 1227 respectively, Marsden's coin, which had the letters, must have been struck in the Mauladî year 1226 or A.D. 1797-98.
When introducing his new era, Tipû made another innovation by reversing the order of the Arabio numerals on the dates of his coins. On the coins of the Mauladi year 1215, we find both the old order 1110 and the new one ori. In 1216 the only exceptions from the new rule are the paisá, half paisa and quarter paisá struck at Bengaļür. From the year 1217 to the year of Tipů's death, the Maulûdî year 1227 or A.D. 1798-99, the dates on all the coins run from right to left. There are a few specimens, on which the engraver of the die did not only reverse the order of the numbers, but turned the numbers themselves. Thus a quarter paisá struck at Faiz-hişâr (Gutti) and one struck at Khâliqâbâd (Chandagal) bear the date 0971, which is meant for 1778; and two quarter paisás struck at Faiz-bişâr have the dates 141 and 4711. These are both meant for irrr; in each case the two middle figures are reversed, and in the second the unit has undergone the same process.
THE FATE OF ST. MARK, ACCORDING TO AN ARAB HISTORIAN
OF THE TENTH CENTURY.
BY MAJOR J. S. KING, BO.S.C. The following is a translation from Chap. xxviii. of Al Mas'adt's historical encyclopeedia, entitled "Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems";' a remarkable work, in which he describes the state of the nations and countries of the East and West as they were in his age, that is to say, in A. H. 330 (A. D. 941). The chapter in which occurs the passage here selected is devoted to the history of Ram.
"The disciples of Jesus of Nazareth dispersed themselves over all the surface of the earth. Mari betook himself to the neighbouring part of 'Irâķ, and died in the town of Dair Kannál and As-Şafia, on the bank of the Tigris, between Baghdad and Wasit, which is the country of 'Ali bin Da'ad bin Al Jarrah, of Muhammad bin Da'ad bin Al Jarrah, and other learned men. The tomb of Márt is there, in a church, where it remains up to the present year 332 (A. D. 943); the Christians hold it in great veneration. Thomas, who was one of the twelve disciples, went to India, where he called the people to the law of the Messiah, and where he died. Another disciple penetrated to the most remote parts of Khurâsân, and died there.
In his valuable Catalogue of Mysore Coins in the Madras Museum, Mr. Thurston figures alt-paisů strack at Beigaļur in 1218 and one struck at Sallmabad (Satyamangalam) in the same year. I possess three other paiads, of which one was struok at Pattan in 1218 and the second st Bengalûr in 1919. The third bears the date 1222, and on the reverse the two words ye was; the name of the mint-town seems to be omitted by the engraver.
+ The only exception is a quarter paisd struck at Faiz-higår, which bears the letter but the date 1294.
. A solitary instance of a relapse is a half paisi struck at Pattan with the date Irp. (1220). The engraver of a paied struok at Faix-hisar in the same year has not completely succeeded in reversing the figures from Mr. tor , but has written them as P.Pi.
Instead of isl, thin coin bears the denomination plat, which the engraver seems to have copied by mistake from a half paisa.
کتاب مروج الذهب و معادن الجوهر
دير قني والصافية •
» No such person as Márt is mentioned in the Bible, but I think we may take this passage as sufficient anthority for determining that Marl was the name of one of the "other seventy" (or seventy-two) mentioned in Take x. 1. According to Johnson (Arabic-Eng. Dictionary)" Mar Y'akab" was the name of a heretical teacher of Christianity.
