188 ON THE ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY 
on the south by India beyond the Ganges alone, not at any 
point by India within the Ganges. Scythia extra Imaum, then, 
is entirely east of Indostan, while Serica is east of Scythia ex- 
tra Imaum. It is needless to say to what country such a de- 
scription would apply, and how inconsistent it is with the 
idea which makes Serica border upon, or make part of Indo- 
stan, 
To these very precise statements of Protemy, it may be pro- 
per to add those, though much looser and more vague, of Pxr1- 
ny and Ammianus. Purny states, that the last country dis- 
tinctly known, (ubi gentes plane constent, ) was the chain of moun- 
tains called the Emodus. The moderns seem always to ima- 
gine, that Imaus and Emodus are merely different names for 
the same chain. But though instances may be found of their 
being so used, these never occur in the writings of the more 
accurate geographers. With them Emodus is east of Imaus, 
or rather, perhaps, it is the same chain after passing the head 
of the Ganges. This distinction is made by Proremy in the 
most precise manner. With him Imaus separates India from 
the Sacze, Emodus from Scythia extra Imaum.  Prrvy also re- 
peatedly enumerates Imaus, Emodus, Caucasus, Parapomisus, 
as at least separate parts of the great chain which traverses 
Asia. After enumerating the nations between the Indus and 
the Ganges, he enumerates those between the Ganges and the 
Emodus. His Emodus, then, like that of Protemy, is evident- 
ly a chain east of the Ganges. The great region, then, which 
lies east of the Emodus, cannot well be any other than China. 
It appears to me that Piiyy confounded under the name of Se- 
res all the nations who dwelt beyond India, as the author of 
the Periplus confounds them all under the name of Sina. I 
know not whether Lanos can be pronounced to be Laos ; but 
the Chryse Promontorum can scarcely be any thing else than 
the 
