512 
with it almostiall the historical records 
of earlier, dates. .\The history ofthe 
Sassunides; the last dynasty of the Per- 
sians, from the year 227 to 65) of'Christ, 
hasbeen’ preserved in: some “state’ of 
purity ‘by’ the indigenous: writers, al- 
though’ its: chronology. is. not very cer- 
tain,/and: the: facts: are of little impor- 
tance,\' The Mohammedan history of the 
Parthian, and) Persian dynasties, ‘from 
the death of Alexander ‘till about the 
third: century’of our era, is a mere list 
of Kings, and that very imperfect, unac- 
companied by any chronology. Nor do 
we find’among the Greeks any thing 
like satisfactory information concerning 
that period. 
The history‘of the Persian sovereigns, 
from Cyrus to. Darius or Alexander, is 
entirely disfigured by the native writers, 
and completely deficient in dates. Thus 
they miuke Alexander a son of Darius, 
atid of a daughter of Philip of Macedo- 
dia, Who, after having been married to 
Darius, was sent back to her father, 
owing tothe badness of her breath. 
Previous, to,Cyrus, they place the my- 
thological dynasty of the Pishdadi, which 
begins with .Kaioomarath, who is taken, 
by some for Adam, by: others for Noah, 
and by others, again, for a grandson of 
Shem. 
The almost exclusive source of those 
histories is the great poem of Firdusy, 
Shah-naméh, which was composed about 
the beginning of the eleventh century of 
our own era, and for which the author 
pretends to have consulted the books of 
the fire-worshippers and of the Greeks. 
But, nevertheless, the native Persian his- 
tory is‘as irreconcileable to the latter, 
as it is with the few uncertain historical 
remains that are met with in the books 
of the Parsi in India. 
_, The nations of the Turkish race who 
have embraced the Mohammedan reli- 
gion, and with it the use of the Arabic 
characters, have no dated historical 
monument. previous to. that. period. 
The annals of the various dynasties 
which they’ founded. in Persia, Asia 
Minor and Egypt, were, for the most 
part, composed in Arabic or Persian, by 
natives of those countries; and only the 
Ottomans, now reigning in Constantino- 
ple, possess historical works in their 
native language, 
= During the: reign of .Gazan Khan in 
Persia, at the end.of the, 13th, and at 
thei beginning of the 14th centuries of 
our era, Khodja-Rashid wrote, by his 
orders, a history’of the Mongol nation, 
founded, on one hand,:on the ancient 
Mr. Klaproth’'s Appreciation of the, Asiatic Researches. (Jan. 1, 
Monigol documents.then inthe archives; 
and,on the ‘other,’ onthe traditionsstill 
current among the people. | This/is;the 
Djama’a Attavarikh,an extremelyyvalu- 
able work, which-is'the only source from 
which subsequent Mohammedan writers 
have drawn their/information respecting 
the Mongols; Turks’ and Chinese. ,Un- 
fortunately, however, the author, like 
all other historians’of his religion, could 
not avoid mixing up with his Mongol 
materials the Hebrew traditions that are 
received by the Mohammedans; and the 
result is a universal; confusion;:'which 
makes the work nearly useless for: his- 
tory. Abool Ghazi Bahadoor Khan, who 
in 1663 made a Turkish) extract of 
Khodja-Rashid’s work, and continued: it 
in an abridged form, has: increased this 
confusion: still more. » His work; how- 
ever, of which there are two»bad trans- 
lations, is trust-worthy invall that con- 
cerns the history of the TDurco-Moham- 
medan ‘dynasties, 
Among ‘the few Turkish tribes who 
are not Mohammedans, and who: have 
remained in their ancient ‘seats:in Asia, 
no historical document whatever /exists, 
at least’ none of which we ‘have any 
knowledge. + ent bolarlada:¢ 
Among ‘the Hindoos, religion. has 
destroyed’ every: historicals monument. 
Considering this life: as but a transitory 
period of pain and trials, they-regard:its 
events as unworthy of being preserved. 
Plunged in the contemplation of: myste- 
rious’ formule, ‘all their efforts are idi- 
rected by a total annihilation/of all moral 
faculties, to carry back ‘thei spirif:into 
the bosom of the Universal: Soul:from 
which it emanated.’ This’ is) the cause 
why the English have not«been!able,to 
discover in India*any historical, work 
written’in the primitive language of the 
country; for the histories of the ‘Mo= 
hammedan dynasties which have reigned 
in the country, are written, for the:most 
part, either in Persian or the Hindosta- 
nee. Some of the-Hindoo epic poems, 
such as the Mahabarata\and the Rama- 
yana, have some historical subject for 
their basis; but it)is so eriveloped in 
fable, and their chronology is ‘so.defee- 
tive, that'with the utmost labour nothing 
can be obtained from them ‘but a few. 
bare conjectures. They speak, however, 
evidently, of some conquerors who had 
come from ithe ‘north, and: gradually 
driven the: aborigines of’ the Peninsula, 
who''were probably of theynegro race, 
before ‘them, ‘till’ they compelledothem 
to take'refnge on the island. of ‘Ceylon. 
These conquerors are incarnations’ “e 
the 
