172 ON THE ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY 
gion, it qualifies us to ascertain the progress which mankind 
have made, during so long a succession of ages. 
There are perhaps no regions with regard to which this- 
question possesses equal interest, as those which formed the 
eastern extremity of the ancient world. The faint and decay- 
ing light of science there shone, not upon inhospitable de- 
serts, not upon the abodes of rude and pastoral tribes, but 
upon civilized, populous, and commercial regions, which, in 
all the arts and improvements of life, were not perhaps much 
inferior to the Roman empire during its most flourishing 
era. Yet the question, what regions these were, is involved in 
as deep obscurity as any which has occupied the inquiries of 
the learned. Many interesting points are still totally unfixed, 
and afford room for the most discordant opinions. Having 
been induced to study this subject with peculiar attention, it 
has appeared to me, that some light might still be thrown upon 
it, by a careful analysis of the ancient statements, as well as by 
attentively comparing them with some discoveries which have 
recently been made in that quarter of the world. 
‘The two nations whose territory formed, to the ancients, the 
eastern extremity of the known world, were the Seres and the 
Sine, of whom the former were approached by land, and the 
latter by sea. Of these the Seres were the most celebrated and 
interesting people, and will form the main object of the pre- 
sent inquiry ; but it may be convenient to begin with fixing the 
position of the Sinz. The approach to their coast is thus de- 
scribed by Provemy. After passing the mouth of the Gan- 
ges, and a long extent of coast beyond, navigators rounded a 
large peninsula, called the Golden Chersonese. Then passing 
a great bay (Magnus Sinus) they came to a coast, which was 
that of the Sinz, which extended from north to south, with an 
ocean on the west. The early modern opinion was, that the 
Sinz 
