4 Mr. Davids Memoir concerning the Chinese. 



the knowledge and notice of the nations inhabiting the vast countries 

 that intervene ; besides which, there exists no resemblance between the 

 mysterious hieroglyphics of Egypt and the Chinese characters, which might, 

 as Sir W. Jones observes, " have been contrived by the first Chinas, or 

 outcast Hindus, who either never knew, or had forgotten, the alphabetic 

 character of their wiser ancestors." Though M. de Pauw and other learned 

 men have been of opinion that the Chinese were originally a tribe of 

 Tartars, or Scythians, I cannot help thinking that there are some reason- 

 able grounds for concluding that they were a colony from India, and that 

 they owe their present distinctive character to their subsequent mixture 

 with the aborigines of the country, and with the Tartars. 



The Empire of China cannot be dated earlier than the dynasty called 

 Tsin, about two hundred years before Christ ; and the term Wang, or 

 Prince, instead of Hoang-ti, or Emperor, is applied by their own historians 

 to all the monarchs of the race of Chote, which immediately preceded it. 

 From this race of Choxc (B.C. 1100 to 240) we may date the Authentic 

 History of the Chinese, which commences with the Chun-tsew of Confucius, 

 the annals of his own times, in which he relates the wars of the different 

 petty states against each other.* The northern half of modern China, from 

 the great river Keangf to the confines of Tartary, appears then to have 

 been divided by a number of petty independent states, which contended 

 against each other with various success, and as one obtained a temporary 

 ascendancy over tlie rest, it assumed the pretensions of a doubtful sove- 

 reignty, which was acknowledged or denied, in proportion as adversity or 

 success might influence the dispositions of its neighbours. The province 

 of Pe-cht-U was occupied by a nation or state called Yen, Shan-timg was 

 lield by the Kings of Loo and Tsi, Keang-nan by the sovereign of JVoo ; 

 while a large portion of the modern half of the empire to the south of 

 the Keang, together with the province of Sze-chuen, was occupied by Bar- 

 barians, who are seldom mentioned in the histories of that period, except 

 as provoking, by their incursions, the chastisement of the more civilized 

 states in the north. 



* It would perhaps be going too far to condemn all that precedes the time of Chow, as absolutely 

 fabulous ; but it is so mixed up with fable, as not to deserve the name of history. They have no 

 records older than the compilations of Confucius. 



f Yang-tsze-keang, or xar'Eloxnv, Keang, " The River." 



