1837.] Chinese Account of India. 61 



This site deserves farther attention, as we find that Sungala was, 

 subsequent to its destruction by Alexander, re-edified under the 

 name of Euthydemia, in honor of the father of the reviver— but who 

 this reviver of Sangala may have been, whether Demetrius, Menan- 

 der, or Appollodotus, has not been determined by the few who 

 have bestowed attention on this obscure but highly interesting por- 

 tion of ancient history. 



IX. — Chinese Account of India. Translated from the Waii-heen-t'hung-kaou, 

 or "Deep Researches into Ancient Monuments ;" by Ma-twun-lin ; booh 

 338, fol. 14. 



[The great interest which now prevails respecting the middle age of Indian 

 history, persuades us to transfer to our pages the following article from the 

 London Asiatic Journal for July, August, 1836. The author or translator's 

 name is not given. — Ed.] 



Teen-choo (or India) was known in the time of the latter Hans; the 

 country was then called the kingdom of Shin-too*. 



Note of the Chinese Editor. 



TChang-keen, when first sent (B C. 126) into Ta-hea (or Bactriana), 

 saw stems of bamboos, as in the Shoo country (modern province of Sze- 

 chuen). He inquired how they obtained these bamboos; some men of 

 Ta-hea replied : " Our merchants procure them in the markets of the 

 kingdom of Shin-too, which is Teen-choo. Some call this kingdom Mo- 

 kea-tot ; others name it Po-lo-mun (country of the hrahmans) ; it is 

 situated to the south of the Tsung-ling^ (or Blue Mountains), distant 

 some thousands of le to the south-east of the Yue-che§ (Massagetae, or 

 Indo-Scythians). 



This country is about 30,000 square le || in extent; it is divided inter- 

 nally into five Indias; the first is termed Middle or Central India; the 

 second Eastern India; the third Southern India; the fourth Western 

 India ; and the fifth Northern India. Each of these divisions of the terri- 

 tory contains several thousands of le; and fortified cities, surrounded with 

 walls, and towns of the second order, are placed a few hundred le apart. 



Southern India is bounded by the Great Sea (the Gulf of Bengal); 

 Northern India is situated opposite to the Snowy Mountains^! ; on the 



* In Sanscrit f%aj ; Sindhu, Hindustan. f jjjrsj Magadha. 



X A chain of mountains to the north of Cashmere, which separates Eastern Tur- 

 kestan, or Little Bucharia, from Great Bucharia. 



§ M. Rk'musat has given a translation of Ma-twan-lin's account of the Yue-che 

 in his Nuuv. Melanges Asiat. t. i. p. 220. 



|| According to Dr. Kelly (Orient. Melrol., p. 64), 200 le are equal to one degree 

 of the meridian = 69*J66 English miles ; whence 30,000 le will give about 10,375 

 English miles. 



^ Heue-shan, an exact translation of the Sancrit f^JTl'**}'?} Himalaya, ' abode 



of snow,' or rather f%TU<si^?fiTf^" Bim&layffiri, ' mountain whereon the snow rests.' 



This division of India must include the modern Cashmere, the description of which, 

 by Masu'DI, the Arabian historian, coincides in a striking manner with that of the 

 Chinese author : "The kingdom of Cashmere," he says, "which forms part of 

 India, is surrounded with very high mountains ; it contains a prodigious number of 

 towns and villages ; it can be entered only by a single pass, which is closed by a 

 gate." 



