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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[DECEMBER, 1881.
and so the phrase might be rendered, “The before us, and much more for being able to put empty in heart have merit, for theirs is India." them up in a correct and practical form. We If we are ever to arrive at a correct and intelli- hope the day is not far distant when Chinese gible version of Holy Scriptures into Chinese, students in England will have equal facilities such & Thesaurus as that afforded us in for quoting passages from original works in native the Catalogue under notice, will be invaluable, type, as exist now at Vienna and St. Petersburg. and a student already familiar with the classi- Until this is the case, we cannot expect much to cal and Buddhtst books will know how to avail be done in the way of intelligible criticism in himself of it. Scarcely less noticeable are the this branch of literature. And for this reason, as thirty-four copies of the Yih king, which are ar- heretofore, the study of Chinese will languish ranged in consecutive order in the Catalogue. and remain unpopular. We hail therefore the apThe different editions of this important work pearance of this work, as an augury of better range over a considerable period from 1612 to times in store for us. 1853 A. D., and are mostly the product of native We must also express a hope that readers in students. Nothing in fact brings home to our the British Museum will be able to avail themmind the conviction of the really studious charac- selves of the books in this Catalogue. It has ter of Chinese scholars so much as the repeated been a great privation to the few interested in the editions of these classical works, issuing from the subject, that up to the present time, these books, Native Press, and in arranging them as Mr. 80 much coveted, have not been available for Douglas has, this conviction is forced more and use. We now have a rich field for study opened more on the mind.
up to us. Let us not be disappointed by any The work before us extends to over 271 official or technical difficulty, but let Mr. Douglas's largo quarto pages; and we cannot omit to
Catalogue be found among the other volumes on name the very complete list of worke arranged the shelves, for the guidance and advantage of alphabetically--found in the Appendix-by re- the few students who will search its pages. ference to which each author's name may
S. BEAL. be ascertained and the particular work referred to the group found in the Text. Altogether, this
L SIND BALLADS: Translated from the Sindi by T.
Hart-Davies, Bo. C.S. Bombay: Education Society's Catalogue reflects the highest credit on the pa- Pross: 1881. tience and scholarship of Mr. Douglas, and it These ballads, locally called Kafis, are selectproves his fitness for the distinguished positioned from a collection of 400 made for the transhe holds. In such a mass of useful information lator by Sayyid Fazal Shah, a living poet of it would be strange if no mistakes occurred; and Haidrâbâd. we venture to point out to Mr. Douglas that the Some show considerable traces of Persian inLang yen Sätra, named on p. 154, is a well-known fluence of a Sufi type, but the most interesting Sanskrit work called the Surangama Satra, and are love songs alluding to popular legends. The has already been partly translated into English; sentiment is often rather that of home sickness also that the work by Wang-Pů, named on p. 229, than of personal affection, and here the inspiration can scarcely be rendered into English as the is strikingly local, and even amusing in its "Perfect Way"-the expression Ching Taou being naïveté. For to the Sindi poet, the scanty a well-known one for the perfection of wisdom" jungle and austere fruits of the desert must arrived at by Buddha under the Bo-Treo at furnish figures for which more favoured bards Uravilva in Magadha.
can draw upon the palm and vine or the noble There are a few other oversights in the Catalogue forest flora of the North. relating principally to Buddhist terminology, which The mad fort of a robber chief is the proud simply show that Mr. Douglas is not exempt from palace" where the imprisoned maiden sighs for error in every particular, and yet they but throw liberty and her beloved people--the qualid out in full relief the excellency of the work he has servitude of the women of a nomad tribe. so successfully completed.
This very tone, however, guarantees the genuineWe cannot conclude this notice without con- ness of these ballads as good samples of original gratulating Mr. Douglas on the very clear and folk songs; and the translator and the Sayyid serviceable Chinese type used for his Catalogue deserve the thanks of scholars for their contribuMr. Stephen Austin deserves much praiso for tion to our knowledge of a neglected subject. procuring such good type specimens as those
W. F. S.
