1854.] Bibliographical Notice. 175 



The first consists in the style of Hiouen Thsang, which often renders 

 it impossible for a scholar acquainted only with the classical Chinese, 

 correctly to understand the text ; the second is caused by the numer- 

 ous Indian words which are either transcribed in Chinese characters 

 or translated into Chinese. Stanislas Julien being unanimously re- 

 garded as the first of living Sinologists, and as the scholar who has 

 proved himself to possess the most thorough and comprehensive 

 knowledge of the Chinese language and literature, his translation 

 can be admitted with full reliance on its accuracy, an advantage 

 which does not attach to most communications derived from Chinese 

 sources through other Sinologists. Even Abel Kemusat's transla- 

 tion of passages of Hiouen Thsang' s work is by no means free from 

 errors, as is shown by several citations (Pref. p. x.) by Stanislas 

 Julien. How indispensable an intimate acquaintance with the 

 Chinese language is to guard against serious errors, the following is 

 a striking example. Hiouen Thsang distinguishes explicitly in his 

 journal those countries which he had visited himself from those of 

 which he had only heard from the mouths of others. This distinc- 

 tion is prominently mentioned in the appendix to Si-jii-ki or Notice 

 of the western empire (Pref. p. xxxvii.) Abel Bemusat as well 

 as Klaproth misunderstood these two passages, and the latter misled 

 by them, made Hiouen Thsang travel to Sinhala or Ceylon, and from 

 thence return to the mainland. Stanislas Julien on the other hand 

 has, in printing the list of one hundred and thirty-eight kings men- 

 tioned by Hiouen Thsang, separated the twenty-eight of which the 

 latter had only oral information. 



" The second difficulty is scarcely lighter than the first, and 

 attends the accurate restoration of the numerous Indian words 

 which occur as well in Hiouen Thsang' s own journal as in the 

 history of his life and travels, written by Hoe'i-li and Tenthsong. 

 Stanislas Julien met so many obstacles in his first attempts to 

 restore these words in his translation of the first, that he resolved 

 in 1839, to stop at the 4th book, and not to continue it till he 

 should succeed in discovering a sure method for restoring both 

 kinds of Sanskrit words above mentioned. To form an idea of 

 the great difficulties attending the successful execution of such an 

 undertaking, one must consider how awkwardly the Chinese language 



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