The above has been written to clear up the doubtful points concerning the Chinese translation as mentioned by Prof. Rhys Davids in his Introduction to the “Milinda” II, pp. xi–xvii.

It is proposed in the present essay to give a brief outline, based on linguistic evidence only, of the state of civilization attained by the Tibeto-Burman race previous to the migration of the great Southern branch, and also to throw some light on the probable time of that migration. Of course, in all such inquiries anthropological evidence is now, and rightly, held to be a much more trustworthy guide than facts derived from the comparison of two or more languages, but results obtained from philological data alone are by no means to be altogether contemned. In the present case the geological exploration of the two countries is practically in its infancy, whilst even in Burma physical measurements of the population have not yet been systematically undertaken. It is clear, therefore, that we shall have to wait a quite indefinite time before any anthropological data are forthcoming. So far as is known, however, both the physical type and the idiosyncrasy of the two peoples are remarkably similar, and thus there is little fear that in comparing their languages we shall be trespassing against the canons of ethnology, for language and race are here, I think, nearly coterminous. All Tibetan or Burmese speaking people are not, of course, ethnically Tibetans or Burmans, but there can be no doubt that the bulk of them are, and that formerly they constituted but one race on the high plateau north of the Himalaya. The anthropological evidence, so far as it goes, points that way, whilst the linguistic evidence is overwhelming.

There is probably no study more fascinating to the student of historical geography during the period preceding Marco Polo than that of the Oriental maritime trade, which made Arabic enterprise the ruling element in the commercial world for centuries before the rise of the Portuguese. The ocean-trade of almost every port in those waters, which may be said to reach from the coast of Morocco in the west to that of Japan and Corea in the east, was in the hands of Arab merchants. We need not be astonished, therefore, to find that Arabic authors are the principal source of what we know, not only about the navigation of that period, but also about the ethnography of the nations with whom their countrymen had come into contact.

For upwards of twenty years the late Professor Blochmann's translation of Abul Fazl's monumental work, the Aín-i Akbarí, has remained a splendid fragment, and students have longed in vain for its completion. It is, therefore, cause for congratulation that this has at length been effected. Colonel Jarrett's scholarly translation of the remainder of the work, which has recently appeared, is fully equal in accuracy, while it is superior in grace of language, to that of his predecessor. Only those who have laboured over the intricacies of Abul Fazl's detestable style, at one time turgid and overloaded with meaningless phrases, at another so curt and jejune as to be obscure, can fully appreciate the skill and learning which Colonel Jarrett has brought to bear on the supremely difficult task of rendering his author intelligible to European readers.

A public mosque and the tomb of the founder represent at the present day what was once a khanka, or, as it may be described, a conventual establishment for the use of Ṣũfis, erected at Cairo in the early years of the fourteenth century, by Sultan Baybars, second of the name. An earlier foundation of the same character, the first seen in Egypt, owed its existence to Saladin, who adapted to his purpose a house or mansion built in the days of the Fatimites, and known as the house of Sa'īd as-Su'ada, a designation which the existing mosque bears to the present day. Both foundations have for a long period ceased to serve the purposes for which they were erected, and, as has likewise happened to the numerous madāris or colleges founded by the Egyptian Sultans and nobles, their original destination is w ll-nigh forgotten. They are now simply classed among the public mosques of Cairo, a change from their original purpose largely due to their impoverishment, and not unlike that which has befallen many old abbey churches in England.

Magic has exercised the deepest influence upon mankind from remote antiquity unto our own days. It either formed part of the religion of the country, as it was the case in ancient Egypt and Babylon and as it is now in some forms of Buddhism (Tibet), or lived an independent life side by side with the recognized religion. In some instances it was tolerated, or rendered less obnoxious, by a peculiar subdivision into white or beneficial and black or evil magic, or was downright persecuted. Wherever we go, however, and especially if we turn to the popular beliefs that rule the so-called civilized nations, we shall always and everywhere find a complete system of magical formulas and incantations. The belief in the witch and wizard, and their powerful filters and charms, holds still stronger sway upon human imagination than, appears at first sight.