OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN ASTA. 175 
The writers now mentioned, however widely discordant as 
to other particulars, seem to agree in one point, that of treat- 
ing with contempt, and almost with ridicule, the ancient idea 
which extends Serica to China. Dr Vincent alone, who thinks 
always for himself, has declared his adherence to the latter opi- 
nion. His subject, however, has led him to rest almost entire- 
ly on the maritime testimonies, which do not, 1 confess, appear 
to me so decisive as to the learned writer. They are contain- 
ed in the narratives of Arrtan and Cosmas InprcopLeustEs, 
persons who never passed Indostan, and collected only vague 
and inaccurate reports of the regions beyond. The testimony 
of such writers, it would appear, can never be put in competi+ 
tion with that collected from a company of merchants, who, if 
they did not enter Serica, at least habitually trafficked on its 
frontier. I certainly concur, therefore, with D’AnvitLE and 
the other geographers, in considering Proremy as the main 
authority by whom the question must be decided. But, 
in adopting their premises, I have been led pretty confi- 
dently to a conclusion the opposite of theirs. The works 
of Proremy and his cotemporaries appear to’ me to con- 
tain a series of statements which fix down, in a very de- 
cided manner, Serica as China. As results quite opposite 
have been drawn from every analysis yet made of these state- 
ments, and as they appear to me to involve a view of the entire 
geography of central Asia, widely different from any at present 
received, these circumstances, I hope, may plead my excuse: 
for: the unexpected length to which the discussion has ex- 
tended.. , vs 
YL NOSQVERIUET UR OF eee Str ot i 
' Considering the decidedly opposite opinion which has been 
held by the most eminent geographers of the present age, I 
should perhaps have hesitated in laying before the Society the 
result of my inquiries, had they not been so strongly supported. 
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