432 HINDU MANUSCRIPTS
of binding books closely resembles that of the ancient Romans, who wrote on extremely thin wooden boards,
which they strung together and formed into a codex.
The following is the:— plan adopted by the Hindus in the transmission of letters They roll up the palm leaves on which they are written, and put them into an outer covering, upon which they write the address. At the junction
of the two ends of the outer leaf, which are held together by means of a small incision in each, a kind of rough knot is made, serving as a seal. Due attention must be paid to the length and breadth of the leaves on which letters are written, which vary according to the rank and dignity of those to whom they are addressed.
To be the bearer of a letter denotes a kind of subordinate position. This duty cannot therefore be entrusted to superiors, or even to equals, unless they undertake it voluntarily. In the latter case, etiquette forbids the letter being given into the hands of the person who has offered to deliver it; the missive must be placed on the ground at his feet, and he picks it up and becomes responsible for its safe delivery.
The changes in the form of writing which time brings about in other countries do not offer a safe ground for conjecture in the case of Hindu manuscripts. I have seen a deed of gift written more than two hundred years ago on a plate of gold in Canarese characters, the letters of which were perfectly legible and exactly like those at present in use, the form of writing having undergone no change whatever during that long interval of time.
Nevertheless there are certain monuments in the country of very great antiquity, bearing inscriptions engraved in characters no longer in use. Some are also to be found in
various places the characters of which are wholly unknown and evidently foreign. I must leave this matter to our learned philologists; as for myself, I admit that I am unable to explain the fact.
The remarks I have made above concerning the dissimilarity of the written characters and the resemblance of the grammatical style in the various Indian languages are equally applicable to Siamese. At least, so it has been pointed out to me by persons who are familiar with that