210 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2"'iS. VI. 141, Sept. 11.'58. 



Babylon, to all probability, got its Aa^ftVa for tin from 

 the Sanscrit hastira. Will not then the Chaldseans, 

 with the name, have received the substance from 

 India ? And, if the Babylonians drew their tin 

 from India, would it be imprudent to suppose the 

 same origin to the tin used by the Assyrians ? 



The Grecian ivory likewise was an Indian pro- 

 duce, or was at least obtained by the medium of 

 nations dealing with the Asiatic Peninsula, and 

 knowing it from that intercourse. This we con- 

 clude from Benfey's assertion that the Greek f\4- 

 (pas for ivory is also of Indian origin.* 



That, moreover, before the discovery of the 

 Western tin islands, tin actually was imported 

 from India is affirmed by Forbiger in Pauly's Real- 

 Encyclopaedie, bd. iv. s. 136., and he builds his 

 assertion on the testimony of Diodorus Siculus, 

 ii. 36. Now it is a fact that Malacca produces 

 the purest tin, and it would thus be probable that 

 the metal would mostly have been sought for in 

 the regions where it was best to be found ; but for 

 the circumstance that the Indian trading-fleets 

 were accustomed, not as much to direct their 

 course to Malacca, where only tin and lead are 

 to be had, as well more north, to the coasts of what 

 now-a-days forms the countries of Siam and the 

 Birman Empire. There, besides tin, are dug gold 

 and silver, and the last-named metals will, in all 

 likelihood, have drawn the merchant with stronger 

 attractions. 



Against the supposition, however, that the In- 

 dians may have shipped their tin either from Siam 

 or Malacca arises the circumstance that the infor- 

 mation we possess concerning the Golden Penin- 

 sula, though it mentions gold and silver regions, 

 does not refer to tin. Still the Indian produce 

 had to "be produced somewhere. 



Now we read ("N. & Q.," 2"" S. v. 103.) that 

 Stephanus of Byzantium, on the authority of the 

 Bassarica of Dionysius, adverts to an island, Cas- 

 siliru, in the ocean near Indin. The resemblance 

 of this Cassitira with the Sanscrit hastira makes 

 us surmise that the name is indeed Indian, of a 

 real island; and, fartherniore, that the Greeks 

 have neither invented the place, nor a name for it. 

 Had this been the case they would have called it 

 Cassitera, from Kaa-alrepo?. And from the fact 

 that the Indians already designated an island with 

 the name of Cassitira, we conclude that actually, 

 in primeval times, exports of tin from an island 

 near India have taken place, or at least that it was 

 known to possess the metal in large quantities. 



of the Bible was indited for the Jews, to whom, after 

 their Babylonian captivity, the Chaldjean language was 

 more familiar than their own. 



* L. c, S. 26. (28. ?) in Forbiger's paper, I. l, S. 135. 

 Tlie Latin elur (English ivnri/, Dutch ivoor, French 

 ivoirc), seems to be related to our ever (Germ. Eber, wild 

 boar, Lat. aper), and the old Romans, who, before Pyr- 

 rhus, had never yet seen elephants, may long have taken 

 the ivory, then rather profusely used, for large boars' 

 teeth. 



And where was that Cassitira to be found ? 



Part of tlie islands which form the Dutch East 

 Indian colonies seem not to have been unknown to 

 the ancients. For, eastward of Taprobane, the 

 present Ceylon, but in a somewhat more southern 

 latitude than its south coast [sicapud ForbigeTmni], 

 according to Ptolemy (vii. 2.), was situated an 

 Island of the Good Spirit (070601/ Saipiovos vtjo-os), 

 perhaps our Sumatra ; and, farther, underneath the 

 Golden Chersonesus, the Jabadii insula ('lo;8o5iou 

 vriffos), a large island, whose greecitied name in- 

 stantly calls to our mind the Java of modern geo- 

 graphy. Perhaps the second part of this 'la^o5('ou 

 made by the Greeks into a genitive termination, 

 is nothing but the contraction of the Sanscrit 

 dripa (island), a contraction also to be noticed in 

 Diu Zohotora, explained by the ancients as Aiotr/fo- 

 pi'Sou vrinos, in Sele.n Diu (now Sihala Diric, Cey- 

 lon), and in Maladiva and Laccadiva. The Greek 

 name thus accounted for, the genuine form Java 

 remains. See Forbiger, in Pruly's Real-Encyclo' 

 paedie, bd. iv. s. 146., and the note. Ptolemy, 

 however, describes the island, whose name we 

 ventured to interpret with Java Diu, as large, 

 fertile, and rich in gold (Forbiger in Pauly's Real- 

 Encyclopaedie, iv. s. 1.), which last peculiarity can- 

 not be brought home to that island, but Ptolemy 

 may have confounded. Sumatra and Borneo pos- 

 sess rich gold mines. In the first-mentioned island, 

 as in Malacca or Mount Ophir, is found the 

 Goenong Ophir or Passavian, an extinct volcano, 

 remarkable affinity of name with the Ophir of the 

 Bible ! Both Sumatra and Borneo with Banca 

 produce tin. As, however, the tin mines of Banca 

 seem only to have been discovered in 1711 (Beck- 

 mann, I. I., p. 229.), and perhaps Borneo was too 

 remote for the early Indians, we are fain to look 

 towards Sumatra as the tin island, Cassitira. Be- 

 fore the Portuguese dominion it already boasted of 

 a large tin coin (Beckmann, Z. l.) According to 

 Kramer s Gazetteer the natives in their customs 

 have many points of resemblance with the nations 

 on the other side of the Ganges : they are parti- 

 cularly skilled in making gold-and-silver wirework, 

 and manufacture silk and cotton goods, earthen- 

 ware, arms, and various domestic utensils. (See the 

 article Sumatra, p. 819.) This leads to surmise, if 

 not an affinity, at least a very early commerce with 

 the inhabitants of Hindustan. And what fiirther- 

 more confirms our opinion, that in olden time Su- 

 matra has been designated by the name of Island 

 of the Good Spirit, is what we found noticed 

 somewhere * that the Malays take it for the seat of 

 Paradise. Did the early tin of the Grecians thus 

 come from our East Indian possessions ? 



J. H. VAN Lennep. 

 Zeyst. 



* Alfjemcen Noodwendig Wonrdenhnek der Zamenleoiny, 

 enz. (Te) Amsterdam (6)j), Gebroeders Dicderichs; St. 

 xxi.. Art. Sumatra. 



