Major Tod's Accoiait of Greek, Parthian, and Hindu Medals. 333 



together with that of Tessarioustus. If I am not mistaken, the kingdom 

 of Sigestis onght to have been mentioned before the Fatalene, when the 

 conquests of Apoiiodotus and Menander were spoken of. Thus a gap 

 in their route from the Pa?ijdb frontier would have been filled up ; for 

 the only position which can be assigned to this kingdom, in reference to 

 the line of conquests alluded to, goes to strengthen the opinion I before 

 expressed, that the subjugation of the Patakne, or Delta of the Indus, 

 proceeded through the western provinces from Bactria, and did not descend 

 through the valley from the Punjab. Then the kingdoms of Tessarioustus 

 and Sigestis, being contiguous, would have been attacked in the succession 

 I have stated. A passage from Abul Fazil will throw light on that of 

 Strabo. 



In his summary of the princes of Sinde, he says, " In ancient* times there 

 lived a Raja, named Sehris, whose capital was Alore, and his dominions 

 extended to Cashmere t and the ocean. An army of Persians invaded this 

 kingdom, and the Rcjd was killed in battle, and the Persians returned 

 home." This relates to a period long antecedent to Muhammed. 



Alore is stated by Abul Fazil, in his geographical description of the 

 province of Sinde, to have been called Debeil and Tatta. This would 

 bring the capital of Sigestis near that of Tessarioustus ; but there is no need 

 of encroaching on the domains of the descendants ofS\^iBvsofSarninagara, 

 or the chief of the Patalene, in order to give Rtyd Sehris, or Sigestides, a 

 proper abode, the situation of which has been mistaken-by Abul fazil. 



I was so fortunate as to discovert this ancient city, the original capital 

 of the Sogdi of the Indus. It is situated seven miles east of the island of 



* Ayiii Akbery, vol. ii. page 118. 



f " To the East Cashmere" is Abul FaziVs definition of that limit of the kingdom of Sehris, 

 which is either a mistake for Ajamere, or the quarter should be north. " To the west the 

 Muran," that is, the Indus, or Sind, both having the same meaning distinctively — the river. 

 Both are, I believe, words of Scythic or Tartar origin. The Sin or Sind'h, or, as the Chinese 

 would write it, Y'sin, is only known locally in the valley as the " Meeta Muran" the Sweet River. 

 by the natives. By written authorities he is styled Abu-sin, the father of the first of rivers. By 

 others, and amongst them T^crwAia, " Nil-iib," the blue stream, or Nile. Query: If Abyssinia 

 has not the same derivation, the land on the Abu-sin, or Egyptian Nile .' 



J It was in 1810 I sent my first party to explore that tract, and to bring to me intelligent 

 natives of the desert and Indus, and I repeated these parties till I exhausted the subject, and had 

 matter for a sketch of its geography. 



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