Quoted By:
Most important of all, both writers by strange coincidence tell
of an island - now vanished - inhabited by extraordinary men
and beasts. Saint-Yves cites the summary of the journey of
Iambulus by Diodorus of Sicily, whereas Ossendowski describes
the journey of an old Buddhist from Nepal; both accounts are
remarkably similar, so that if there do really exist two versions
from such widely different sources it would be interesting to
rediscover them, in order to compare them carefully.
Although it is necessary to make all these observations, it
should be emphasized that we are convinced that the charge
of plagiarism is wholly unfounded; in any case it is not our
intention to enter on a discussion which is of little interest for
us. Independently of the evidence offered by Ossendowski, we
know through other sources that stories of this kind are widely
current in Mongolia and throughout Central Asia, and we
can add that there is something similar in the traditions of
3 We should say that in this connection the existence of peoples 'in tribulation',
of which the gypsies are one of the most striking examples, is truly something very
mysterious that demands close examination.
4 Dr Arturo Reghini brought to our attention that this could have some connection
with the timor panicus of the ancients; this association does indeed seem to us to be
extremely likely.
