NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

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two zealous missionaries have called in question the authen-ticity of 'these Relations, and have asserted that theauthors of them had never been in China; P. PremareLetfr. edifiantes et curieufes, to in. xix. p. 420, &c, P.Parennin, ibid. tom. xxi. p. 1 ;8 , &c. Some doubtsconcerning their authenticity were entertained likewiseby several learned men in England, on account of (VI.Renaudot’s having given no notice of the manuscript whichhe translated, but that he found it in the library of M. leComte de Seignelay. As no person had seen the manuscriptsince that time, the doubts increased, and AL Renaudotwas charged with the crime of imposing upon the public.But the Colbert Manuscripts having been deposited in theKing’s Library, as (fortunately for literature) most privatecollections are in France, M. de Guignes, after a longsearch , discovered the identical manuscript to which ALRenaudot refers. It appears to have been written in thetwelfth century; Journal des Sqavans , Dec. 1764,p. ; r 5 , &c. As 1 had not the French .edition of M. Re-naudot’s book, my references are made to the Englishtranslation. The Relation of the two Arabian Travellers isconfirmed, in many points, by their countryman Mailoudi,who published his treatise on universal history, to which hegives the fantastical title of “ Meadows of Gold, and" Mines of Jewels, " a hundred and six years after theirtime. From him, likewise, we receive such an account ofIndia in the tenth century, as renders it evident that theArabians had then acquired an extensive knowledge of thatcountry. According to his description , the peninsula ofIndia was divided into four kingdoms. The first wascomposed of the provinces situated on the Indus, and therivers which fall into it; the capital of which was Moultan.The capital of the second kingdom was Canoge, which ,from the ruins of it still remaining, appears to have beena very large city; Rennell’s Memoirs, p. §4. In orderto give an idea of its populoufnefs, the Indian historiansassert, that it contained thirty thousand shops, in which,beiel-nut was fold, and sixty thousand sets of musicians

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