Cathay and the Way Thither; A Collection of Medieval Notices of China, Tr. and Ed. by H. Yule, 2 Vols (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: TABLE OF CONTENTS. Dedication and Preface. Table of Contents. Preliminary Essay On The Intercourse Of China And The Western Nations Previous To The Discovery Of The Sea-route By The Cape. I. Earliest Traces Of Intercourse. Greek And Roman Knowledge Op China. 1. Double names applied to China at different eras, as approached by land or by sea. 2. Origin usually ascribed to the name China. But both people and name seem to have been known to the Hindus from an antiquity inconsistent with that origin. 3. Most ancient Chinese notice of intercourse with western nations; notice of envoys supposed to have. come from Chaldaea. 4. Coincident traditions of China and Persia regarding ancient intercourse. Less valuable Persian legends regarding China. 5. Chinese record of a party from a distant kingdom, which has been supposed Egypt. The alleged discovery of Chinese porcelain phials in ancient Egyptian tombs. 6. The Sinim of the Prophet Isaiah. 7. The name Chin or China reaches the Greeks and Romans late, and then in the forms Thin, Thince, Since. 8. These names certainly indicated China. 9. Ancient authors by whom they are used. Discrepancy of Ptolemy and the author of the Periplus in position assigned to the country. 10. Marcianus of Heraclea; only an abstractor of Ptolemy; but so showing that geographer's views more compactly. 11. The Seres, more frequently named than Since; at first by poets and in a vague way; more precisely by Mela and Pliny whose words point to China. 12. Ptolemy; his Sera and Serice. Precise in definition, far in excess of his knowledge; yet even his view consistent with the indication of the Chinese empire from the landward. Inferior to his predecessors in not recognizing the Eastern Ocean. 13. Ammianus Marcelli...