CHRISTIAN RELIGION IN INDIA. 105 



proof of the former assertion ; but the passage against 

 it from Megasthenes is by no means concUisive; 

 and seems to me, on the contrary, to prove that they 

 were acquainted with the use of letters ; for it im- 

 plies only that they used no writing in their courts 

 of justice in camp, where every thing was settled in 

 a summary way; and it is even so to this day. Be- 

 sides, says our author, such is the probity of the 

 Hindus^ that all the time lie was in the camp of San- 

 DROC-uPTOS, which consisted of 400,000 men, none 

 but petty thefts were ever brought before these 

 courts, and they (the judges) even could not write. 

 Under such circumstances, neither any code of laws, 

 nor much learning, or any writing, were necessary; 

 common sense and integrity were the only requisites 

 on the part of the judges.* 



During the first centuries of the Christian Era^ 

 -the 'Hindus were very fond of travelling. Their Kings 

 sent frequent embassies to the Roman and Greek 

 Emperors : and some of these Embassadors went as 

 far as Spain. (Others visited Alexandria and Egypt, 

 where Ptolemy, in the third century, saw them, and 

 conversed with them. Some of these Embassadors 

 had long conferences, ^t Babylon, or rather Seleucia^ 

 with the famous Bardesanes : and pilgrimages to 

 the St'han of Maha-Bhaga, now Mabog, or Bambyke 

 in Syria, were very common, according to Lucian, 

 as cited by the authors of the ancient Universal His- 

 tory. Even to this day, pilgrims from India go lo 

 Persia, Georgia, Moscow, and Arabia, Bootan, China, 

 and even Siberia. 



Strabo, lib. 15. p. 609. 



