OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN ASIA. 201 
barrier of ice and desolation, when an easy and level route ex- 
isted to the coast, then crowded by western navigators, is sure-- 
ly not very probable. 
In 1802, Serinagur was visited by Captain Harpwicke, who 
has given a description of it, which is confirmed by Captain 
Raver and Mr Wess. They represent it situated in a valley, 
extending about a mile and a half in every direction; the city 
itself three quarters of a mile in length, and about half that 
breadth ; the houses poor, and the streets so narrow, that two: 
persons could scarcely walk abreast. There was scarcely a 
mansion fit for the residence of a provincial Rajah ; no splen- 
did ruins, no monuments of antiquity ; nothing which could 
recal the splendor of that mighty metropolis, whose ‘fame was 
so widely diffused over the ancient world. 
From the whole of what has. been said, it. seems to follow, 
that the interpretation now proposed, is that which naturally 
arises out of the statements of Protemy. If it be admitted as 
true, his delineation will still, indeed, present imperfections 
and errors of detail; but, in all its leading features, it will be 
found correct, consistent with itself, and with the actual fea- 
tures of the region delineated. Upon the other suppositions 
now prevalent, it forms confessedly a mass of the most enor- 
mous errors that ever were committed by any geographer. Be- 
tween these two alternatives, there could scarcely, in any case, 
be room for hesitation. It can be added, however, that Pro- 
LEMy is not only a writer generally of good authority, but that 
he has shewn himself to possess, in respect to a long series of 
conterminous regions, better information than had, till very re- 
cently, been attained by the moderns. I submit, then, «to 
the learned, whether credit should be refused to his delinea- 
tion of those ulterior regions, with regard to-which also he pro- 
bably had access to better materials than have yet fallen to the 
lot of modern inquirers. 
Vou. VIII. P. I. Ce POST- 
