IJVDIA AJVn ITS NATIVE PRINCES. 
65 
INDIA AND ITS NATIVE PRINCES. 
India w . the land of ancient traditions, 
and the birthplace of languages and religions. 
According to the system of the Hindus, the 
present age of the world is divided into 
four grand periods, comprehending to the 
year 1875 a space of three million eight 
hundred and ninety-two thousand nine hun- 
dred and sixty-nine years. That “ boastful 
VoL. XL— 5. 
and turgid vanity ” which Mr. Mills, the his- 
torian, tells us characterizes all Oriental na- 
tions, might as well have claimed double this 
number of years as the measure of Hindu 
antiquity, for one period could have been 
comprehended by the mind as easily as the 
other. On the other hand, philologists and 
students of mythology, or of the history of 
