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In attempting to reach the identity of some of the places mentioned, after many failures I was induced to try the substitution of the Arabic and Persian alphabet for the French readings of the Chinese original names ; and my labours appear to me to have been rewarded with a success I had little anticipated.

My attention has been solely directed to the work in its geographical character. I have entirely abstained from any mention of those portions of the work which relate to the Buddhist religion; entire ignorance forbids my touching on these topics, which I leave to those better qualified for such an undertaking—but to me it appears, that if my identifications will stand the test of further examination and criticism, they must destroy the antiquity claimed for the original, and in some degree shake the authority which is now being given to these Chinese books.

The French translator's appendix runs thus :

ITINERARY OF "HIUAN THSANG."

"Hiuan Thsang visited the same countries as Chy fá Hian, but he extended his pilgrimage much farther than the latter. He traversed Tokharestan, Affghanistan, Scinde and almost every part of Hindustan : and his narrative, entitled Si iu ki, or descriptions of the countries of the West, offers to us a complete picture of the state of India in the first half of the 7th century of our era. Unfortunately it is not possessed at Paris in its original and primitive forms; it is only found in garbled fragments, though almost entire in the great Historical and Geographical compilation, which under the name of Pian i tian, contains the History of foreign nations, classed according to the epochs when they were first known to the Chinese, so that it was found necessary entirely to subvert the order which travellers have preserved in their recitals. It is this order I have endeavored to re-establish in as far as concerns Hiuan Thsang, in the resumé which follows, by the help of some indications lately published by M. Klaproth, and I believe I have accomplished it with exactness. The narrative of Hiuan Thsang has been so often cited in the notes to the Foe koue ki, and furnished so much useful knowledge, that a comparison embracing the travels of the two travellers cannot be considered as superfluous. I have indicated by a line this route thus restored upon the Chinese Japanese Map that accompanies the present volume."

7. Sou tou li se na (Osrouchna) touche à l'orient au fleuve Ye, qui sort des monts Tsoung Ling et coule au nord-ouest. Au nord-ouest on

entre dans le grand désert de Sable.

اسرو شده

OSROOSHUNUH is a large district lying between Sumurkund and Khokan; Zeezuk of the maps is one of its chief towns. We find it mentioned in Edrisi, Vol. ii. p. 205-6. It is also entered in the Geographical lists of the Ayeen Akbaree, and Sadek Esfuhanee; but with the errors usual to all Latitudes and Longitudes written in the Abjud numeration. We may remark, the usual elision of the initial vowel, with the substitution of the CHINESE L for ARABIC R. The Sehoon or Jaxartes is known to the Chinese as the Ye.

The TSOUNG LING or blue mountains, constitute the chain, marked in our maps as the Pameer, Boloor and Kara Korum ranges; of which the Himalaya or Snow mountains are considered as branches.

Après 500 li on vient à

8. So mo kian, ou Khang kiu, ou Khang, (Samarkand).

سمرقند

Sumurkund is the well known capital; we may note the absorption of the R.

9. Mi mo ho (Meïmorg).

ماي و مرغ

MIMOHO, is a city known as Maemorgh, placed by Edrisi, Vol. i. p. 485, at one day's march from Nesuf or Nukhshub, lying to the east of Kesh or Shuhre Subz.

De là au nord

10. Kiei pou tan na, ou Tsao.

قوادیان سورن

KIEU POUTANNA, or TSAO. In Edrisi, Vol. i. p. 480, we find lal, two journies from Termiz; a large town with a smaller one depending on it, called Soorun. Now, here I note a particular point which appears to run through the whole of these transformations; either the sound of w has fallen on the Chinese ears as F, and hence been transmuted into p-or in reading from an Arabic or Persian copy in a hurried Shukustuh handwriting the tail of the wao, has been turned up, and joining with the alef has taken the form of F, and been so read and accepted by the Chinese translator as

فا

FA;

he has

read the word Kofadeyan, Kieü poutan.-By dropping the final N; and the r, as usual to the Chinese authors-we have Tsao for Soorun. De là 300 li ouest,

11. Kiou chouang ni kia, ou Koueï chouang no.

خجند

KIOU CHOUANGNI, I conclude to be a reading of Khojund.

[blocks in formation]

POU HO, Bokhara; is a fair example of the theory I am induced to propose,-Pouho is no identification of the sound, Bokhara,-the stress of the sound lies in the penultimate kh; that the Chinese can receive and transmit this sound, we have proof in the two preceding places,-Khojund and Khokan; of disappearance or change in initial or final letters we are constantly made aware-hence we need not pause on the usual change of p for b. But, if we suppose a Chinese author to be making up a geographical work, and consulting an Arabic or Persian book, for his guide-let the work be a Shukustah copy without diacritical points, and we shall be at no loss to understand his reading p for b-and h for kh-in-and hence ignorant of the real sounds-to have transcribed letter for letter and inserted the name as Poυ но.

The reading h for kh runs through the whole work. It may be remarked, that in reading from manuscript proper names, with no assistance from the meaning of the terms-that it will be invariably found, that one formation of letters being once in the beginning accepted for certain letters and certain sounds, the same, right or wrong, will be carried through the whole work; thus we shall find h substi tuted for kh-and pa for wa-or p orb or ƒ for w.

De là 400 li ouest.

14. Fa ti Si' an.

بدخشان

FATI SIAN-is clearly Budukhshan-the kh being read as h; as an aspirate it has disappeared.

De là 500 li sud-ouest,

15. Ho li si mi kia ou Ho tsin. mo kian.

De So

خوارزم

HOLISIMI KIA, is almost letter for letter Kharism, the well known country to the North of the Oxus; of which Kheva is now the capital. The word is but a transcript of the ancient Greek term.

A 300 li sud-ouest,

16. Ko chouang na ou Sse à 300 i sud-est püüdjlüs la Porte de fer.

دربند که

KOCHOUANGNA or SSE, is probably the modern city of Keesh or Shuhr e Subz. We have a large district of Kushaneyuh-associated with Sogd by Ferdoosee.

While in Edrisi, Vol. ii. p. 203, we find Kushaneyuh on the north of the river of Sogd-27 miles from Ustejan, to the west of Sumurkund-this is probably the Kushaneyuh of Ferdoosee-and might be the original of the KOCHOUANGNA of the Chinese author.

indication of 300 li. S. E. to Durbund or Kuhluga-(100 miles) is rather conclusive that the place pointed at is Kesh-or Shuhr e Subz. De la à

:

17. Tau ho lo à l'orient, les monts Tsoung Ling; à l'occident, Pho la sse (la Perse :) au midi, les grandes montagnes de Neige; au nord, la porte de fer. Ce pays est au nord du fleuve Fa tsou (l'Oxus).

طخارا

فارس

در بند گه

وخشاب

TOUHOLO-Tokhara-the same interchange of h for kh. According to Ptolemy once a considerable nation, TOXAPOI, (Thocarorum magnagens; "Cluverius") Constantly mentioned in the Moslem histories. The country extended on both sides of the Oxus, from the confines of Bokhara to Kabul: from Budukhshan to the limits of Persia. But the nation who held this district appears to have possessed dominant power over more extended limits at different periods.

We may remark here the introduction of the mode of description usual to Moslem authors. They first give a general outline of the country, with its bounding districts, and a list of its chief towns, then they enter upon particulars of each. Thus having a general outline of Touholo, our Chinese author proceeds to particulars.

En le descendant ou vient à

18. Tan mi, au nord du fleuve.

Fou sse

tsou; 10 kia lan.

TANMI-Termiz, a well known ferry on the Oxus.

De là à l'est

19. Tchhi' ao yan na; 10 kia lan.

ترمذ

صغانيان

Tchhi áoyanna, Sueghaneyan, where the diacritical point of the ¿ being omitted it has been read & áo. is the type of Oxus.

.is خستب

The map to the Memoirs of the emperor Babur places Cheghanian a little east of Termiz. Edrisi has a district of this name near Sumurkund, and also a town 4 journies from Termiz. The table in the Ayeen Akbaree places it a little west and north of Talkan.

De là à l'est

20. Hou lou mo; 2 kia lan.

HOULOUMO, Kholum-the well known town.
De là à l'est

خلم

21. Iu man: au sud-ouest, touche à la riviére Fa tsou.

حضرت ایمان

IUMAN-Huzurut Eman, on the Oxus-as stated.

De là à

22. Kiou ho yan na ; 3 kia lan.

کوغانه کرگانه کرجیان

KIOU HO YANNA, may be Kurghan tuppu; or one of those numerous districts inhabited by scattered tribes of Goorchees-whence the many

Goors on our maps.

De là à l'est

23. Hou cha.

کوکچه غرچه

HOUCHA-Kookhchu; given on the maps as the name of the river of Budukhshan-mentioned also as 4 days from Cashmeer, and 8 from Eskardoo. By Bernier, Cal. ed. p. 142.

De là à l'est

24. Ko tou lo; à l'est, les monts Tsoung Ling.

تدور

KOTOULO is clearly Kutoor; mentioned by all Moslem historians,

as the country of the Seyah Poosh Kafirs.

De là à

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