_Cassiterides_ (Vol. ix., p. 64.).--Kassiteros; the ancient Indian
Sanscrit word _Kastira_. Of the disputed passage in Herodotus respecting
the Cassiterides, the interpretation[7] of Rennell, in his _Geographical
System of Herodotus_; of Maurice, in his _Indian Antiquities_, vol. vi.;
and of Heeren, in his _Historical Researches_; is much more satisfactory
than that offered by your correspondent S. G. C., although supported by
the French academicians (_Inscript._ xxxvi. 66.)
The advocates for a Celtic origin of the name of these islands are
perhaps not aware that--
"Through the intercourse which the Phoenicians, by means of
their factories in the Persian Gulph, maintained with the east
coast of India, the Sanscrit word _Kastira_, expressing a most
useful product of farther India, and still existing among the
old Aramaic idioms in the Arabian word _Kasdir_, became known to
the Greeks even before Albion and the British Cassiterides had
been visited."--See Humboldt's _Cosmos_, "Principal Epochs in
the History of the Physical Contemplation of the Universe,"
notes.