WESTERN H I N D O O S T A N. p 



Purgon, and l^urris Lapldea oiAmmianus^^ which, by the name, Turris 

 could be no other than a beacon, fixed on a ftone tower. Lapidea. 



Hierken, to the fouth of Cq/Jjgar, was another celebrated Hierken, 

 mart, and is flill the centre of commerce between the north of 

 Jlja, India, 'Thibet, and SibiyJa. When the merchants reached 

 the Indus, they fell into the trails before defcribed. 



The Seres, above fpoken of, were the inhabitants of the north 

 of China, remarkable for their filk, which the ancients believed 

 was combed from the leaves of trees, and, when fteeped in 

 w^ater, w^as corded and fpun, and after their manner wove into 

 a web. Thefe Seres had fome intercourfe with the Romans; 

 for Florus tells us that they fent ambaffadors to Augujlus, who 

 were four years on their journey. They w^ere a moft gentle 

 race, and Ihunned mankind : yet carried on a traffic, in the 

 fame manner as the weftern Moors do at prefent, wdth people 

 they never lee. The Moors go annually in caravans, laden with Singular 

 trinkets, to an appointed place on the borders of Nigritia. 

 There they find feveral heaj^s of gold depofited by the Negroes ; 

 againft each of which the Moors put as many trinkets as they 

 think of equal value, and then retire. If, the next morning, 

 the Negroes approve the bargain, they take the trinkets and 

 leave the gold ; or elfe they make fome dedudtion from the 

 gold dufl ; and in this manner tranfadl the exchange, without 

 the left inftance of diflionefty on either part t. 



* Shaw's Travels, p. 302. 



t Taffy's Memoirs, p. 311. — Taffy's account is, that a commerce fimilar to this is 

 carried on between a nation called the Cadenlls and the Negroes. The Cadenfis a£l as the 

 middle man between them and the Tunifians, who go to their country, and obtain gold and 

 negro flaves for European commodities. 



Vol. I. C Candahary 



