NOTES AND QUERIES 



Mr. Walter J. Clennell, H.M. Consul, Chinkiang,. recently 

 delivered a most illuminating and lengthy lecture on Mr. H. G. 

 Wells' Outline of History at a Social gathering in Chinkiang. We 

 are permitted to quote those parts in the lecture that refer to China, 

 for insertion in the Journal. 



Chapiter 11/.. The Languages of Mankind. 



Here section 6, on the Chinese language, though suggestive as far 

 as— it goes, does not go nearly far enough, and might, in a later 

 edition, be re-written and considerably expanded, with illustrations. 

 But then, this might be said of other sections too, and, in that case, 

 the better place for a fuller treatment of the differences of language 

 would come later, in Chapter 18, which deals with writing. 



Chapter 16. The First Civilization. 



I have noted two points ; one to the effect that the Chinese, 

 whom Wells places from the first in the two great river-valleys of 

 China, probably knew nothing of the Yangtze till 800 B.C. or there- 

 abouts, though there may have been a "Ch'u" state with Mantzu 

 or Tibetan affinities, in what is now Hupei, somewhat earlier. 

 Another is a warning to the reader to carefully distinguish Tsin 

 (Chin or Dzin, ^f the leading northern power of the 6th century B.C., 

 later split into Wei, Han and Chao) from Ts'in (Ch'in |j|) the 

 western power which overthrew the Chou dynasty, conquered the 

 "warring states" and established a new, centralised Empire in the 

 3rd century B.C. Mr. W T ells seems to be rather vague on this point. 



Chapter 26. The Rise and Spread of Buddhism. 



Here we are in a very different world ; the world of Indian, 

 meditation, poetry and art. It is very beautiful and very human, 

 when we cut down to the real story of it through the overgrowth, 

 of superstition and silly marvel tales with which credulity and 



