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 July, 1873.] ON COPYING INSCRIPTIONS. 185 sion of cults is of the greatest interest, and shows that modern Hinduism has been chiefly developed in South India.” Mr. Burnell’s suggestions as to methods he thus states:—“ What yet remains to be done, is to make available to the scientific public copies of all existing inscriptions ; and this involves a uniform system of preparing such copies. Scattered as inscriptions are over the whole of India, it is at present chimerical to attempt to study them; to say nothing of the want of time for such work experienced by all students re¬ sident there. To make and collect copies is however a mechanical task, which may be easily done; and now that a little interest is awakened regarding the ancient civilization of the many races of India, a few suggestions as to the best way of doing so may not be thought inoppor¬ tune, especially by those who see that a work of this kind if not soon done, can perhaps never be done at all. Inscriptions are daily being destroyed during repairs of temples, and by the country people taking stones from ruins. Cop¬ per sasanas find their way to the melting-pot. The first question is—How to make the copies p Many ways have been tried; rubbings by heel- ball on paper, impressions on linen made by a pad daubed with printing-ink ; sketch-drawings, photographs, &c. &c. Considerable experience* * and a number of experiments have convinced me that all these methods are defective, and that only two ways are really trustworthy ; one applicable to inscriptions on stone, and the other to those on metal. “ Firstly for inscriptions on stone, I recom¬ mend impressions on stout unsized paper, such as is now manufactured at Paris for the use of Egyptologists. The inscription must first of all be quite cleared *of dust or mud or other obstructions, and this may be best done by a hard clothes-brush. The paper is then to be rapidly but uniformly wetted in a tub of water, and applied to the inscription and forced into the irregularities by repeated and forcible strokes with a hard brush—an ordinary clothes- brush is as good as any for the purpose. If the stone be clear of dust the paper adheres, and when dry falls off, forming (if at all well done) • Cf. also the remarks of Prinsep and Mill, and recently of Dr. Bh&u D&ji, as to the great alterations required by improved transcripts of inscriptions long known and pub¬ lished. Tbe great objection to photography as a means of reproducing inscriptions consists in the imperfections of the a perfect mould of the inscription. Paper large enough to cover most inscriptions is easily to be had ; in the case of very large ones, it is neces¬ sary to lap over the edges of the sheets and apply a little gum and water or weak paste to them, and also to prevent those sheets first applied from falling, and thus spoiling tho rest, a few poles or sticks leaning against the corners in large, or the gum used for joining, in small inscriptions, will be found enough. When properly dried, copies made in this way (in French, * estampages’), may be rolled up or put in blank books without the slightest injury, and even will stand damp.” “ The second process is applicable to inscrip¬ tions on plates of metal; I devised it several years ago and never found it fail. The plate or plates should be carefully cleaned with a dry brush, and thelotters occasionally must be cleared out writh a blunt graver. The native process of rubbing the plates with acid, and then putting them in the fire to loosen the incrustations, should never be resorted to, as it invariably in¬ jures them fatally. From the cleaned plate an impression (reverse) is to be next taken by passing a roller charged with ink over the plate, and then printing from it as from an ordinary copper-plate. From this impression another may be taken by means of an ordinary copper¬ plate press ; and with a little practice a perfect facsimile may be thus obtained, the letters being -white, and the rest of the plate appearing a dark grey. Photozincography and many other me¬ thods exist by which ‘estampages’ and facsi¬ miles made by the last process may be multiplied to any extent.” The processes here suggested are most useful, and in experienced hands they yield very satisfactory* results. Copying by the eye, where the character and language are not familiar, and any of the letters indistinct, is most tedious and unsatisfactory : and as it is desirable to be able to copy inscriptions when no printing-press and few appliances are available,—some other methods may be noticed:— 1. When the surface of the stone or plate, between the letters, is perfectly smooth, as in the case of marble or polished granite, a rub- paper used, and the difficulty (or impossibility) of managing the light. A • But compare the lithographs of the Vallapalcam 8ft- ganas, from copies made by the second process above, with the facsimiles that appear elsewhere in this journal.