Page:Record of the Buddhistic Kingdoms (Faxian, Giles).djvu/13



The "Record of the Buddhistic Kingdoms" is a meagre narrative of one of the most extraordinary journey's ever undertaken and brought to a successful issue. A Buddhist priest, named Fa Hsien, travels from China through India to Ceylon, on to Sumatra and back to China by sea; his object being to obtain copies of the Sacred Books of Buddhism for the further enlightenment of his fellow countrymen at home.

This work was translated into French by Remusat, but he did not live to superintend its publication. He had, in fact, only revised about one half, that half being accompanied by valuable and exhaustive notes. In this state it fell — we were almost saying, among thieves — into the hands of Klaproth, who, with the slender assistance of Landresse and his own very considerable aplomb, managed to fill up the blanks of the latter portion, add some bulky notes after the manner, but lacking the scholarship, of Remusat, and generally patch up the whole in a form presentable to the public. This was subsequently translated into English by a Mr. Laidlay.

In 1869 the Rev. S. Beal, Chaplain in Her Majesty's