CIVIL AND NATURAL. XXlii 



perceive so strong a general resemblance to the constel- 

 lations of the Greeks, as to prove that the two systems 

 were originally one and the same, yet with such a di- 

 versity in parts, as to show incontestably, that neither 

 system was copied from the other;, whence it will fol- 

 low, that they must have had some common source. 



The jurisprudence of the Hindus and Arabs being 

 the field which I have chosen for my peculiar toil, you 

 cannot expect that I should greatly enlarge your col- 

 lection of historical knowledge ; but I may be able to 

 offer you some occasional tribute ; and I cannot help 

 mentioning a discovery which accident threw in my 

 way, though my proofs must be reserved for an essay 

 which I have destined for the fourth volume of your 

 Transactions. To. fix the situation of that Palibothra 

 (for there may have been several of the name) which 

 was visited and described by Megasthenes, had always 

 appeared a very difficult problem ; for though it could 

 not have been Prayaga, where no ancient metropolis 

 ever stood, nor Canyacubja, which has no epithet at all 

 resembling the word used by the Greeks ; nor Gaur, 

 otherwise called Lacshmanavati, which all know to be 

 a town comparatively modern, yet we could not confi- 

 dently decide that it was Pataliputra, though names 

 and most circumstances nearly correspond, because 

 that renowned capital extended from the confluence 

 of the Sone and the Gayxges to the scite of Pat?ia, while 

 Palibothra stood at the junction of the Ganges and 

 Erannoboas, which the accurate M. D y A?ivilk had 

 pronounced to be the Yamuna ; but this only difficulty 



b 4 was 



