168 Literary Intelligence, &e. [No. 2, 
known previous to his discoveries. In fact every book in his col- 
lection is a gem. It appears that Constantinople is after all the 
place where the best MSS. are to be found, and we must allow that 
Schafer was the man to select what is valuable. He is an excellent 
linguist and I hope he will find time to publish some of the materials 
which he has brought to Europe bearing on the history of eastern 
civilization, for this seems to have been the main object which he had 
in view in making his collection. You know Barbier de Maynard’s 
dictionaire Geogr., it is made on the sound plan on which Sir 
H. Rawlinson intended to translate Yaqut. He intends to give us 
an edition of Ibn Khordadba, having discovered a MS. at Constan- 
tinople. It is the basis of oriental geography and every word which 
Ibn Kh. says is drawn from official records and therefore valuable. 
Reinaud has shown me the first proof sheets of a work which will 
interest you—on the knowledge which the Romans had of the far 
Kast, particularly India and China. Wopke is advancing in his im- 
portant labour, and will besides soon present us an essay on the his- 
tory of the Arabic cyphers, which will exhaust the subject. Garcin 
de Tassy’s correct edition and elegant translation of the ‘ Mantic at 
Tair’ you have of course seen. He is the only and the fittest man 
to explain to us the system of the Qufies, and it is to be hoped he 
will continue in this useful career. 
You ask whether I am going on with Mogaddasy. I shall soon 
surprise you with a small treatise on geography containing the iti- 
neraries of oriental authors, illustrated with maps founded upon 
Byriny and the Atwal. It is intended to supply the place of good 
maps and enable travellers to find out the spot of ancient cities which 
exist no more. I believe I mentioned to you that the indefatigable 
Wiistenfeld is going to publish the large geographical dictionary of 
Yaqit. Though Yaqut was no more a geographer than Abulfeda, the 
book will be useful on account of the excellent extracts which it con- 
tains. I forgot to mention that Slane has nearly completed the se- 
cond volume of Ibn Khaldin. This book can only be compared with 
Montesquieu’s ‘ Esprit des lois,’ but it is more philosophical and better 
founded on facts, Slane was the only man able to translate so diffi- 
cult a work. M. Schafer read to me yesterday at breakfast the ad- 
vertisements of new books published in Constantinople. Among 
them is the Itq4n, I wonder whether they have reprinted our edition. 
