1854.] Bibliographical Notice. 187 



The complete translation of these will alone throw full light on 

 the character of his contributions, which even in the abbreviated 

 form in which they have hitherto been consulted, have served to 

 elucidate many points in the geography of ancient India. 



" It is not therefore easy to conceive how Major Anderson has 

 ventured to assert (" An attempt to identify some of the places men- 

 tioned in the itineracy of Hiouen Thsang," in Journal of the Asiatic 

 Society of Bengal Yol. XVI. p. 1186,) on the strength of his 

 readings of some geographical names mentioned by Hiouen Thsang 

 and taken from Arabic and Persian geographical works, that his 

 work was based on these latter, particularly on that of Edrisi, and 

 that it would not be older than one hundred years. He considers 

 the itinerary to be the fabrication of a modern writer who, follow- 

 ing the example of Barthelemy, undertook to describe the travels 

 of a fictitious Hiouen Thsang as those of a young Chinese Ana- 

 charsis, and to introduce into his narrative the wanderings of dif- 

 ferent Lamas in the several parts of Asia in which Buddhism had 

 flourished. St. J. very justly (pref. p. lxviii.) thinks it superfluous 

 to refute seriously this preposterous hypothesis, but he is right in 

 defending Hiouen Thsang against the somewhat rash conclusion 

 drawn by "Wilson (Lecture on the present state of Oriental Literature 

 in Journal of £he Royal Asiatic Society Vol. XIII. p. 213) from an 

 extract from the Si-ju-ki translated by St. Julien. This extract 

 Wilson says, does not inspire much confidence in the authenticity 

 of Hiouen Thsang's travels, which have rather a legendary, if not a fa- 

 bulous character. Against this position St. Julien urges that Hiouen 

 Thsang composed his work by order of the Emperor in the year 648, 

 and that so early as 669, it was analysed in all its details in the 

 great Encyclopaedia Ea-juen-tshu-lin ; further that the legends form 

 but a small part of Hiouen Thsang's work, which contains besides 

 many notices on the religion, the customs and the commerce, &c. of 

 India, and that as a pious Buddhist he bad only recited the legends, 

 exactly as he had received them from others. It may be added, 

 that all who have occupied themselves with the religious and political 

 history of India, are well aware that legends must occasionally supply 

 the want of historical accounts and that handled with the necessary 

 discretion, they contribute to our knowledge of history. The imagi- 

 native mind of India has produced numerous legends which form 



