86 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 



Oliiysse and Argyrse, rich, as I believe, in metals. For I cannot 

 readily believe, what is asserted by some writers, that their soil is 

 impregnated with gold and silver. At a distance of twenty miles 

 from these lies Crocala." This last, according to Mr. M'Crindle, 

 is identified with Karkalla, the district which includes Karachi; 

 but Colonel Yule identifies the former two localities with Burma 

 and Arakan, as will be mentioned below in connexion with 

 Ptolomey's reference to the same subject. 



About the year 30 b. c. Dionysius Perigetes, in his " Oikoumenes 

 Perithesis," gives a rough indication of the position of the region 

 from whence the diamonds which at that time found their way to 

 Europe were derived.^ The adamas, he states, together with beryl, 

 green jasper, topaz, and amethyst, were found in the river beds of 

 the country lying to the east of Mount Parapamissus {i. e. the 

 Hindu Kush) and Ariana. Although some doubt may be felt in 

 this instance as to the true meaning of the term adamas, its appli- 

 cability to the diamond, when used by Manilius a few years later, 

 is indisputable. This latter author flourished during the Augustan 

 age (b.c. 31 to a.d. 14), but the exact date of his poem is not 

 known. 



Pliny, a.d. 77. — In his Historia Naturalis, the industrious 

 compiler Pliny has given an extraordinary amount of information 

 regarding precious stones and metals, a large proportion of them 

 being of Indian origin. 



Reference has already been made to those passages which 

 appear to have been derived from the older authors, more parti- 

 cularly to those referring to gold. A locality, namely the Granges, 

 mentioned by Pliny (B. xxxiii., c. 21), may, perhaps, refer to 

 known sources of the precious metal in the tributaries of the 

 Upper Granges. His remarks on the quantity of gold in India 

 (B. xxxiii., c. 21) are full of interest. 



Eegarding iron, he says the best is made by the Seres ; some 

 authors suppose them to have been an Indian tribe inhabiting 

 Sarhind, the modern TJmbala District, but the balance of evidence 

 is certainly in favour of their having been Chinese. The next 

 quality is from Parthia. Elsewhere he says (B. xii. c. 8) that 

 the Eomans obtained steel, together with pearls, at Cape Comorin. 



^ Vide Latin Version, vv. 315 and 1107- 



