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iv some material more substantial and convenient than palm-leaf for writing, and knowing that paper was first manufactured by the Chinese long before the commencement of the Christian era, that the famous charta bombycina of Europe was imported from the East, and that blockprinting was extensively practised in Tibet in the fourth century, I am disposed to believe that the Hindus must have known the art of papermaking from a very early date. Whether they originated it, or got it from the Chinese through the Tibetans, or the Kasmiris, who have been noted for their proficiency in the art of making paper and papier-mache is a question which must await further research for solution. A priori it may be argued that those who manipulated cotton so successfully as to convert it into the finest fabric known to man, would find no difficulty in manufacturing paper out of it. ware, Palm-leaf.-6. The palm-leaf referred to above is not now much in use, except in Orissa and in the Mufassil vernacular schools as a substitute for slates. In Bengal the Chandi is the only work which is now-adays written on palm-leaf, as there is a prejudice against formal reading of that work from paper MSS.-a prejudice in many respects similar to what obtained in Europe against printed Bibles in the first century after the introduction of printing. Formerly two kinds of palm-leaf were in use, one formed of the thick strong-fibred leaflets of the Corypha taliera (tiret), and the other of the Borassus flabelliformis (talapata). The former is generally preferred for writing Sanskrit works, as it is broader and more durable than the latter, and many MSS. are still extant which reckon their ages by five to six hundred years. The leaflets of the Corypha elata is sometimes used in lieu of those of the taliera. The leaflets of all the three kinds of palms are first dried; then boiled or kept steeped in water for some time; then dried again; cut into the required size; and polished with a smooth stone, or a conch-shell. For school use no such preparation is necessary. Bark.-7. The practice of writing on bark is of the greatest antiquity, and from constant use the Greek and the Latin terms for that substance-biblos and liber-have long since become the names for books, even as the name of the rolls of ancient parchment MSS. produced the term volume, and codes of laws have received their generic name from the bundles of boards on which they were written,-from codex a tablet of wood. In the eastern districts this practice of writing on bark still prevails, and I have seen several codices of bark, which formed thin sheets like veneer, eighteen inches by four; but I have not been able to ascertain from what species of