1847-] Hiuan Thsang* s Itinerary , 1209 



invasion of Afghanistan ; that if my identification of Utok, Shekar- 

 poor and Buhawilpore stand the test of criticism, that the present 

 nomenclature cannot claim for the work of the Chinese author, in its 

 present form, an antiquity of one hundred years. I say in its present 

 form, under the names now given to the world, by the French transla- 

 tors. Nay, some of the transcriptions are such as would almost war- 

 rant the supposition, of the presence of European Maps, as in the case 

 of Tchi na pouti, for Chinyout. The bases of the work are in my 

 opinion clearly Arabic and Persian Geographical publications, many of 

 the words are literal transcripts from the Arabic ; and the similarity 

 between the two French translations given under the head of Sumandur, 

 almost warrant the assertion that the Arabic of Edrissi, or perhaps a 

 step higher, his authority, have not been absent. Many a literary posi- 

 tion has been established on weaker evidence. Such being facts, we 

 may suppose for the sake of argument two or three modes, in which 

 the present work has been got up. 



There may have existed old travels of this Hiuan Thsang either in 

 books or in popular tradition ; which some learned Chinese author 

 may have modernized by the introducing the present names of places, 

 drawn from Tibetian sources as regards the confines of that country ; 

 or from Persian and Arabic works, as relating to districts more remov- 

 ed from this centre of the Lamian religion ; thus finding local habita- 

 tions and names for various adventures and miracles of the sainted 

 Superiors of his creed. 



Or, like the Abbe Barthelemy, some talented scholar of the Chinese 

 empire may have embodied the results of many years of study and 

 reading in the travels of a fancied Hiuan Thsang, as the " Voyage du 

 Jeune Anacharsis Chinois," tracing out the travels not of one Lama, 

 " Asoka," but of many members of this religion, so as to bring with- 

 in its scope and reach, nearly all the portions of Asia, in which this 

 religion ever had footing. 



Or the whole of it may be a modern compilation of some book-maker, 

 with Geographical information for its end, while the various religious 

 ancedotes have been introduced as relief to a dry discourse. The 

 spoliation of western Asia, the plunder of the celebrated libraries of 

 Bokhara, Sumurkund and Baghdad, by the Mogul armies under Zun- 

 gees Khan and his sons, must have carried to China numerous valuable 



7 R 'J 



