On a seal ring of the king of Travancor, which consists of a very hard and valuable stone, the following words are inscribed: _Shri Padmanàbhen_. This is one of the sacred names given to _Vishnu_, and contains an allusion to the birth of that deity. _Shri_ signifies sacred, _Padma_ denotes the _nymphæa_, and _Nabben_ one who sits in the interior part of this flower. The reader will recollect, from what has been before said, that the _nymphæa_ is a symbol of water, and of every thing created from it. The above words serve as a convincing proof, that the Indians are certainly acquainted with the art of cutting upon stone. A like ring was in the possession of the king of Ceylon, _Vimala Dherma Suryada_, who embraced the Christian religion, and at baptism got the name of Don John of Austria. On this ring the god _Budha_ was represented under the human form. The art of printing, in all probability, never existed in India; and, perhaps, we should not be far wrong if we ascribed, in a great measure, to this circumstance, the natural simplicity and the irreproachable manners of the inhabitants. They copy no other writings than such as are useful and good. The first book printed in this country was the _Doctrina Christiana_ of Giovanni Gonsalvez, a lay brother of the order of the Jesuits, who, as far as I know, first cast Tamulic characters in the year 1577. After this appeared, in 1578, a book entitled _Flos Sanctorum_, which was followed by the Tamulic Dictionary of Father Antonio de Proenza, printed in the year 1679, at Ambalacate, on the coast of Malabar. From that period the Danish missionaries at Tranquebar have printed many works, a catalogue of which may be found in _Alberti Fabricii salutaris Lux Evangelii_.