routes probably decided the direction of Chinese advance; and thus we find Sz Chuan colonized before Hu Kwang; Kwang Tung before Chê Kiang and Fu Kien; and this last province the latest of all. The transition from the idea of one Imperial King or Emperor to that of many equal sovereigns of rival states is well pictured to the mind by the ingenious plan of calling the early pretenders 'King' (in inverted commas), in order to distinguish them from the King.

As, until the present dynasty, it was usual for Chinese emperors to change their nien-hao once or oftener during their reigns, it is certainly less of a strain upon the memory of the uninitiated to be introduced to the monarchs by their miao-hao, or other posthumous titles, e.g.,, &c., by which they are usually known to posterity; but it would have been better to have given notice earlier, instead of reserving it for pages 124 and 263; as it is important that even the novice in Chinese history should know, at the outstart, of the anachronism involved therein, in order that the early idea may be generated with tolerable correctness.

and

As a rule, the extremely condensed history which is given to us in this sketch is accurate, and the facts selected seem to have been culled with reference to the Chinese marginal dockets or notes, which usually state in a few succinct words the leading facts. treated of in each page of history. The writer of this review, indeed, has failed to discern any important errors of fact as regards internal Chinese history. The author has been less fortunate with reference to his foreign history. For instance, he mistakes the personal names of the Scythian Shenyüs (or Khans) Dshy-Dshy (Chih-chih) and Hu-Han- Ya for those of tribes. So, also, the K'unmi or "Kings" of the Wusun, (of whom there were two, the the J), he mistakes for the name of a territory. This error is followed in the German Atlas of von Spruner; but Remusat very properly speaks of the Kheoun-ni of the Ostrogs. The anxiety of the Chinese Emperor Wu Ti to secure these red-haired tribes, and the Yue-Dshy or Bactrians, to co-operate with him against the Scythians tends to shew, (as we shall demonstrate in another place), that the Wu-sun and Yue-Dshy were either Gothic races, or possibly the ancestors of the Hungarians, or real Huns. The Russians might do incalculable service to history by making enquiry in the Tartar regions now under their rule upon the subjects of race origins, traditions, relics of Chinese inscriptions recording victories, and so on; for it is extremely probable that the Russians themselves are descended from some of the oror who used to harass the Chinese Empire, and who were driven west by the Turks. The Russians do not appear to know anything about themselves

previous to the comparatively recent time of the Chinese T'ang Dynasty.

reason.

The Ritter's Map of Turkistan is very defective. No Chinese or Greek author ever placed Parthia or An-Sih near the Sea of Aral. The Yue-Dshy or Bactrians who were driven westward during the 2nd century B.C., by the Scythians under their Khans and, probably only joined a horde which had previously gone west it is not likely that they would have sought or obtained passage through the Wu-sun and Da-yüan territories for any other There is nothing to show that the Chinese had ever heard of the remnant Bactrian hordes left in Kan Suh, Mongolia, or Tibet until they had heard of (if not seen) the Bactrian kingdom of modern Bokhara, which had just then incorporated Da-Hsia (or Tokharestan), which last is one and the same place with Tu-huo-lo. It is doubtful whether the red-haired Bactrians described by the Chinese were Bactrians proper, that is, were the original race from the east, or the mixed descendants of Persians, Syrians, and Greeks, who had all ruled in Bactria long before the Chinese discovered it. Parthia should be south of the Caspian, and Tiao-Dshy should extend west of Parthia from the Persian Gulf to the Caspian. DaThsin could never have meant the Roman Empire, except in so far as Syria was at times part of, and thus, in fact, was the Roman Empire. The Russians call the Chinese Kitai [] to this day for the same reasons,-that the Kitans were the rulers of north China when the Russians first knew China, and that the modern Manchus, as the Kitans, are descended from one race,-the Sien-pi.

On page 103, Ritter von Fries makes the mistake of identifying the Southern Scythians with the Thsiang or Tanguts, whereas it was the Scythian revolt that caused these Tanguts to join the Scythians in rebellion. On page 104, the single case in Chinese history is alluded to where the term Da-Thsin would seen undoubtedly to be applied intentionally to the Roman Empire proper; but Marcus Aurelius was as much an Antoninus as was Antoninus Pius: it is just possible, however, that the Roman viceroy of Syria may have borne that name too: it would be interesting to find in western history any record of a Roman or Syrian embassy to China, viâ Burmah, in the year A.D. 166.

The Mu-yung family (page 121), were not Hsiung-nu, but Sien-pi Tunguses. The Sien-pi were the descendants of the or ancient Tunguses: the word Sien-pi means a "Girdle," and has reference to the "Girdle Range" where they settled. The, or

were a branch of the Sien-pi, and derive their name from the Tungusic word t'u-fa, or "sheets," because the founder Wu

ku was born in bed during his mother's sleep, instead of "in the straw."

The Dshang dynasty of Liang, mentioned on page 123, was not "tangutische," but was descended from the Chinese Dshang-Gwei mentioned on page 119.

The mentioned on page 147 was not the new name of Hêlien Pu-pu's Scythian state, but of his new capital in Alashan or Ordos.

So, page 160, Hsie-yen-to was not a chief's name, but that of a tribe of Tartars of the Selinga, with the surname of 利咥,and consisting of the Hsie and the Yen-to tribes amalgamated into one. The of page 188 were a tribe of Western Turks who took their name from the desert, thus called, on the border of which they settled in the year A.D. 633. The founder of the Hou-Dhsin dynasty was a "western barbarian" descended from this tribe. The LiuDshy-Yüan mentioned on page 190 was descended from the same tribe of Turks, and founded a rival dynasty.

Upon the subject of Ritter von Fries' style, it would perhaps be presumptuous for any but a German to sit in judgment. It appears to be concise, free of waste and unnecessary statements, and to the point. How many cosmopolitan words of foreign origin should be imported into good German,-perhaps the purest and most virgin of European tongues,-may be a matter of taste in different parts of Germany. However, it is essentially a heavy and cumbrous language, and if it allows itself to be adulterated without stint with words foreign to its origin and genius, its only excuse for prolonged existence will disappear; for if we are to have such words as Branchen, obscön, annectiren, Producenten, kritisiren, präsentiren, Studiums, präliminirte, residirende, revoltirten, Suprematie, Koryphäen, proclamiren, provociren, pacifizirt, Cernirter, compromittirt, &c., we might as well have English or French throughout, in either of which languages such words are infinitely less of a mouthful than in the harsh and ponderous German, whose primitive purity is perhaps its only charm. It is pleasing feature in this book that it is printed in clear Roman type instead of in the antiquated "Old-English."

The perusal of a work on Chinese in German suggests the reflection that, in spite of the sesquipedalian length of German words, it is almost as monosyllabic a language as the Chinese; that is, its inflections and particles have been the best preserved in their original form amongst these of European tongues. For instance, Unzukömmlichkeit is simply 7 or 7 K 2, and the fact that each syllable is joined or separated in writing does not affect the mono- or polysyllability of the language as spoken. So the word ein, as part of a

verb, may be compared with the Chinese or, or L: and herab, heraus, with the Chinese Tand. For instance, in Übereinstimmung bringen können *. If all the words

in a German dictionary were deprived of every affix and suffix which occurs or has meaning alone, e.g. hin, her, über, hinten, ung, keit, lich, &c., the number of words in the language could perhaps be reduced from 100,000 to 10,000; if, then, all syllables which occur twice or oftener were reduced to one, the 10,000 would come down to perhaps 5,000. But final sonants, such as those in ab, lag, Bad, &c., are in fact pronounced as if they ended with a surd, or an "anusvara"; whilst, from a Chinese point of view, (which is as good as any other point of view), all words ending in surds are merely in the entering tone of words ending in nasals: thus ap, bat, are simply am and ban in the entering tone. In other words, the German language is capable of being reduced to tables of a few hundred sounds like any Chinese dialect. A German has a few inflections and a cumbrous grammar to aid him in speaking, whilst a Chinaman has his tones. Written down, one language is nearly as primitive as the other; but Chinese is a long way the richer.

These interesting questions have caused us to wander away from our main subject, which is the book of Ritter von Fries, who may well exclaim: "Advocate, speak, I pray you, of my three goats;" or, in more modern form, "Revenons a nos moutons."

Every German should possess himself of a copy, for no handbook could possibly be more useful to him for the purpose of looking up such names and allusions as he may meet with in his miscellaneous reading in China. But there ought to have been furnished an index,-a copious index, giving each romanized name, with reference to the pages.

The author would do well to translate his book into English, for which task he is quite competent. Mr. Giles' Historic China is the only work we have approaching this book in form, but Mr. Giles' book has little value in point of historical accuracy, or as a work of reference.

Considering the way in which books on Chinese subjects are usually turned out, there are not so very many errata. For the convenience of purchasers, a list of such as have struck the writer, (over and above those indicated by the author himself), is now in the hands of the Editor, should the author care to print it.

The spelling, as explained by the author in his introduction, is that of Sir Thomas Wade, improved according to German lights, to suit German taste, by Baron P. von Moellendorff. Thsi, dhsü, &c., stand for Wade's ch'i, chü, &c.; and tsh, dsh stand for Wade's ch and ch, before a, é, o, and u. T. p, k, are always aspirated.

WAR AND ITS EFFECTS AT FOOCHOW.

BY REV. C. HARTWELL.

THE THE French attack in the river Min, in August last, was the most serious act of warfare that has occurred at Foochow since the desolations of the Japanese, more than two and a half centuries ago. In the two wars with Great Britain, the previous one with France, and in the Taiping and other rebellions, this place has been almost the only one of the great cities of China fortunate enough to escape the ravages of war. The past years's experiences, therefore, have been entirely new to the people generally, and may be expected to have important educating effects upon them. And as many of these results are, and will be, for good, they are worthy of being recorded, and may be of interest to the readers of the Recorder.

The people here have had two great surprises. First, they were astonished that a warlike demonstration was suddenly made at this port. There was no cause of irritation at this place between themselves and foreigners, the tea trade was at the busiest part of the season, and they had nothing to do with the troubles in Tongking; therefore they looked upon the coming of the French in warlike array, not only as without good cause, but wholly unreasonable, and even with malicious intent. The fact that they were a part of a great nation, and must share the responsibilities and burdens of the whole country, seemed to be almost absent from their thoughts, hence this war with France has tended to impress upon their minds the idea of their nationality and to cultivate in them the spirit of patriotism. If the war shall end favorably to China, it would seem that it must tend to aid in consolidating the power of the Central Government. The second surprise the people experienced was, that the French did not come up and capture Foochow city. They had never seen foreign warfare before and could not understand how any nation would come here to destroy their ships, arsenal, and forts, and not plunder the place. Even after the French ships had left the river, and had retired to Matsou Island, it was still believed that they would return and attack the city. It was said, the French have got nothing to pay them for coming here, the ships were sunk, and they have carried nothing away; therefore, if they wish to get anything valuable they must come to Foochow city where the wealth is to be found. Even the statements put out by the British and American consuls to help allay the fears of the people were not believed. Some thought they were posted to deceive, by putting the people off their guard, so that the French could come in and find them all the more unprepared for resistance.