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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
(f) Some remarks on an Aramaic inscription on a Vase found at Moscow, by A. Harkavy. M. Blau sent to the Imperial Moscow Archæological Society a terra-cotta vase, the bottom of which was covered with an exorcism written in the Aramaic language in Hebrew letters. This inscription was not long since published in the Transactions of that Society by a young scholar, J. J. Soloveichik. The paper was conscientiously written and M. Soloveichik had clearly taken great pains, but as this was his first scientific work, mistakes had naturally crept in. There are several peculiarities about the text. Thus we here find mentioned for the first time the angels Asriel and Hatmiel. The article winds up with a note in which the writer expresses his suspicion that the inscription is not genuine, as so many forgeries are now in circulation in oriental matters. He mentions two circumstances among others that are unsatisfactory: (a) the dedication of the inscription to Lilith alone, without the mention of any other evil spirits, and (b) the word which occurs three times.
(g) On the discovery of a Pathan dinár in the year 1888, by A. Likhachev. In his description of a discovery of dindrs of the Pathân Sultâns of India made in 1884, the writer had expressed a wish that all kinds of Pathan dinars occurring in Russia should be noted. He is now able to add to the list one more dinár found in 1888. It was brought to Kazan from Tetush, and was there bought by the writer's agent, a Tâtâr, who unfortunately neglected to ascertain from the seller the circumstances of the finding. It was probably picked up on the left bank of the Volga, because this is where they have invariably been found. The newly discovered dinár exhibits no novelty: It belongs to the Pathân Sultan, Muhammad I., the son of Tughlaq Shah, coined at Dehli in 742 A. H. The orthography is very bad and points to the fact that in Dehli in the eighth century A.H., even for valuable gold coins, educated workmen were not always to be found.
(h) Minor notes.
(1) Note by V. Tiesenhausen on an Embassy mentioned in a work by Shihabi'ddin Ibn Fazlu'llah Elomari, which occurred in 731 A.H. (15th October 1330,-3rd October 1331). The Embassy was to the Egyptian Court from the Turkish conqueror of the Serbs and Bulgarians, offering the Egyptian Sultan his friendship, and asking him to send a sword and a standard."
7 Here follow further extracts given from the same work, the MS. of which is in the Leyden Library, Cat. IV. No. 1944.
[OCTOBER, 1890.
(2) Note by P. Kokovtsov on the Ethiopian MSS. in the Imperial Public Library. At the present time there are in this library 23 Ethiopic MSS., all, with one exception, written on parch ment. Nine MSS. were presented by the Russian diplomatist, Dubrovski, twelve were brought from the East by Constantine Tischendorf, and two belonged formerly to the collection of Porphyrius, Bishop of Chigirin. Of these MSS. those given by Dubrovski have been described by Dorn, and those of the Bishop by the writer of the present notice.
(3) New Babi MSS. by Baron V. Rosen. Four new Babi MSS. have been lately presented to the Asiatic Department, which came from Tehran:
(i) No. 468, copy of a polemical treatise in naskhi characters.
(ii) No. 467. A lithographed edition of the same treatise. It is neatly executed on paper of English manufacture, in ta'lik characters. This, as far the writer knows, is the first Bâbi book published in its entirety, and the fact of its existence shews that there is a demand for such publications.
(iii) No. 466. A little MS. of 45 pages, containing an unknown Bâbî treatise in Arabic in naskhi characters.
(iv) No. 465. A MS. of 172 leaves containing several Bâbî letters and treatises.
The author of these two last works, appears to be the same Hussain, the Babi emigrant whose adventures in Persia and Baghdâd are well known. We get some fresh details from these new materials. Thus, he was for some time in prison at Akka, and also lived at Adrianople. He appears also to have advanced further in his self-deception, and in his character of the conveyer of a divine revelation is not prevented from changing, in the name of the Most High, some of the decrces of the founder of the Sect. Hussain has heard a good deal of political news, and introduces things of the kind into the body of his remarks, see for example his admonition addressed to the Emperor of Berlin," not to be deceived by the successes he has obtained and not to be too proud of them, but to think of the fate of other conquerors, who were once powerful but, for all that, finally perished." Compare also his rebukes to the Emperor of Austria, because, while going through Akka on his way to Jerusalem, he did not make himself acquainted with the condition of the "dawn of the
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3 Here follows a list of the Ethiopic MSS. Here follows an extract in Arabic.
