12 Life of Sir Stamford Raffles — Introduction. 



(he people, the physical structure, and the yaried natural produc- 

 tions of the Kast Indies have suggested. 



So extensive have been the additions to knowledge obtained by 

 the labours, chiefly of our own countrymen, in Hindustan and the 

 adjacent countries, that it is difficult to confine our selections 

 within the necessary limits; we are struck, also, on every side, with 

 the beauty and the interest of the scene, and scarcely know to 

 what particular objects we should direct our chief attention. In the 

 first rank, however, if not absolutely of the greatest importance, 

 we must place the full development, by that revered cultivator of 

 oriental literature. Sir William Jones, of the essential identity of 

 the mythologies of India, Greece, and Rome ; with his examina- 

 tion of the allegorical fables in which the mighty works, ascribed, 

 by the Hindus, to the incarnate Krishna, and by the western Gen- 

 tiles, to Hercules and Apollo, indicate the prophetic hopes of the 

 Redeemer so universally entertained in the ancient world. Another 

 fact of the greatest consequence to the mythologist, which has re- 

 sulted from the researches of our oriental scholars, is the extent to 

 which the Hindu or Buddhaio faith, or some of its affiliations, is 

 now known to have prevailed. This appears to have comprehended 

 not only the two peninsulas of India, and the country of Thibet, 

 but also the islands of the Indian Archipelago, and the Empires of 

 China and Japan ; so that the Hindu deities were once worshipped, 

 throughout the south-eastern countries of Asia. Intimately con- 

 nected with this subject are the discoveries in ancient history which 

 have been made by the comparison and critical examination, of 

 the historical manuscripts and inscriptions of the various nations 

 inhabiting oriental Asia ; and in which an eminent foreigner, M. 

 Julius Klaproth, has taken so distinguished a part. Another 

 great branch of the history of man, is that of his means of em- 

 bodying his thoughts, first in articulate sounds, and then in forms 

 apparent to the sight expressive of those sounds; — the history and 

 philosophy of language. This also has been greatly improved and 

 augmented by the investigation of the Indian languages ; and the 

 labours of Wilkins and Colebrooke in Sanscrit, and of Morrison 

 in Chinese, in conjunction with those of their contemporaries iu 



