The edition of Olearius, from which we have cited, contains also a
translation of the _Būstān_, called _Der Persianische Baumgarten_, made,
however, not directly from the Persian, but from a Dutch version.
Besides this, the edition contains also the narratives of two other
travellers, Jürgen Andersen and Volquard Iversen, as well as an account
of Persia by the French missionary Sanson. Iversen, in speaking of the
Parsi religion, gives an essentially correct account of the Zoroastrian
hierarchy, of the supreme god and his seven servants, each presiding
over some special element, evidently an allusion to Ahura Mazda and his
six Amesha Spentas, with the possible addition of Sraosha.[56] Sanson
states that the _Gavres_ have kept up the old Persian language and that
it is entirely different from modern Persian,[57] a distinct recognition
of the existence of the Avestan language. The eighteenth century saw the
discovery of the _Avesta_ by Anquetil du Perron, and its close found men
like Jones, Revizky, de Sacy and Hammer busily engaged in spreading a
knowledge of Persian literature in Europe.

* * * * *

India, as far as its literature was concerned, did not fare so well. The
struggles of European nations for the mastery of that rich empire did
little towards promoting a knowledge of its religion or its language.
Nor were the efforts of missionaries very successful. Most of their
attention was devoted to the Dravidian idioms of Southern India, not to
Sanskrit. We have the authority of Friedrich Schlegel for the statement
that before his time there were but two Germans who were known to have
gained a knowledge of the sacred language, the missionary Heinrich Roth
and the Jesuit Hanxleben.[58] Even their work was not published and was
superseded by that of Jones, Colebrooke and others. Most valuable
information on Hindu religion was given by the Dutch preacher Abraham