On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c10.28

v1.c10.28

Julien in his translation of the description of the Swāt river here seems to have followed the text of the Life rather than that of his author. The latter does not state that an arm of the river flows to the south-west; it is, as the passage and context shew, the river itself which so flows. Nor does Yuan-chuang state that "dans ce pays il gêle au printemps et en été", for that would be at variance with his former statement about the climate of the country; it is the river which is cold through spring and summer. Moreover, although fei-hsüe does mean "flying snow", it also means "flying spray", and that is its meaning here. There was apparently a cascade near the source of the river; and the morning and evening (or, the evening) sun daily shone on the dense white spray tossed up in the air, and made it bright and beautiful with the colours of the rainbow.