190 ON THE ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY 
This is exactly the picture of the modern Chinese; and it is 
one totally inapplicable to any other nation of any age. If 
there are any from whose description it is most peculiarly re- 
mote, these certainly are the rude tribes who inhabit 'Tartary, 
Thibet, and the mountainous districts to the north of India. 
It is a very remarkable phenomenon in the history of man, 
and one which Southern Asia alone can present, that a de- 
scription written nearly two thousand years ago, should paint 
this celebrated people with as much. precision, as if it had 
been composed by a writer of the present day. 
If, then, Serica be considered as China, and the divisions of 
Central Asia be regulated accordingly, then these divisions, in 
all their grand outlines of extent, geographical features, rela- 
tive position as to themselves, and to the kingdoms of Southern 
Asia, will correspond exactly to the delineation of Protemy. 
Even in the moral and political features of the remotest of 
these countries, there is found the most surprising correspond- 
ence. Nothing, therefore, remains to complete the proof, but 
to consider some details, which appear, at first sight, to mili- 
tate against this supposition. 
DA NvILLE remarks, that the general aspect of Serica, as ex- 
hibited by Prozemy, is that of a country similar to Scythia. 
The truth of this observation cannot be denied. There is no- 
thing in his description of the interior of Serica, which suggests 
the idea of modern China. On the contrary, there is the broad 
fact, 
that this character is ascribed to the Seres only by secondary writers, and that 
Puiny and Ammranus, our best and most copious authorities, make no mention 
of such a feature. Ammianus, indeed, mentions the mode of trade above alluded’ 
to; but he omits entirely to draw from it the tid which is made by 
Mena. 
