JOTJENAL 



OF THE 



ASIATIC SOCIETY. 



DECEMBER, 1847. 



An Attempt to identify some of the places mentioned in the Itiner- 

 ary of IIiuan Thsang. By Major William Anderson, C. B. 

 Bengal Artillery. 



In the work, "Foe Koue Ki," or an Account of the Buddhist coun- 

 tries, translated from the Chinese original, by Bemusat, revised and 

 edited by Klaproth and Landresse, is given as an appendix the Itinerary 

 of another Chinese traveller, Hiuan Thsang. These travels are 

 concluded to have been undertaken in the 7th century ; and the parti- 

 culars narrated are made use of to verify the various places mentioned 

 by Fa Hian, who is supposed to have travelled on his mission nearly 

 two centuries earlier. 



A desire to investigate the ancient accounts of North West India, 

 led me to examine the itinerary of Hiuan Thsang with some attention. 

 After no little trouble, I arrived at a theory which I have endeavoured 

 to work into the present form. 



We receive the original Chinese in the shape of a French translation 

 made under circumstances of much difficulty. 



The original work appears not to have been in the hands of the 

 translators ; who were necessitated to pick out the portions of it which 

 existed in modern Chinese Encyclopedias ; when to this difficulty we 

 add the abstruse nature of the religious basis of the original, and 

 couple with these the intricacies of the Chinese language, only com- 

 mencing now to be studied and understood in Europe ; we shall not be 

 astonished if the translation be not perfect ; but rather be compelled to 

 admire the labour, study, patience and perseverance of the translators 

 which have given to Europe this wonderful production. 



No. XII. — New Series. 7 o 



