1834.] the Topes or Tumuli at Mdnikydla. 561 



and lime are met with — and a great number of wells ; but almost all 

 now filled up : these latter arc all built of cut stone. All the neigh- 

 bouring heights are garnished with tombs ; and it is known that the 

 ancient Persians, the Scythians, and even the Hindus selected eminences 

 to erect their tombs on, especially those of their chiefs. They are 

 all adjusted to face the cardinal points of the compass. 



The whole country overlooked by Manikyala must have been once 

 a vast plateau, which in the course of ages, and by the continued action 

 of the annual rains, has undergone a complete change. It is now 

 cut every where into deep ravines, which render it very difficult to 

 traverse. The country is sprinkled with wretched hovels ; but the 

 natural aspect of the plains is singularly bare and barren. The imme- 

 diate vicinity of the hills is, however, varied with the meagre foliage 

 of a thorny shrub. 



This district (canton) i? now called Patwdr. That it was formerly 

 very populous, is proved by the quantity of ruins of old houses. 

 According to the inhabitants, the whole space that now separates 

 Manikyala from the ruins of Tammiak, which is about 16 kros of the 

 country distant, was so thickly covered with houses, that the two towns 

 might be considered as one. They add, that mulberries and other 

 fruit trees flourished there exceedingly. The devastation now wit- 

 nessed can only be laid to the account of its being the thoroughfare 

 of all the conquerors who in turns sallied forth to ravage India. 



It appears that the aborigines of the country were Hindus, to whom 

 were joined the Pandavas, worshippers of the sun, and the Chandra- 

 bansi's, worshippers of the moon. Subsequently, a mixture took place 

 with the Persians, the Scythians, and even with the Greeks, for the 

 Ghekhers, so frequently talked of in the country, are nothing more 

 than the descendants of the Greek colony that Alexander left on the 

 banks of the Indus, or perhaps the Greeks of the kingdom of Bactria, 

 of which this district for a long time formed a part. What I here 

 advance is upon good foundation, for the people themselves insist, that 

 the Ghekhers are descended from the Kheianis, ancient Persians, or 

 from the Rdmis ; and it is well known that all Oriental nations apply 

 this last term to Greece : hence we may conclude that Ghekher is but a 

 corruption of the word Greek. Moreover, the numerous medals disco- 

 vered with Greek legends tend strongly to confirm this idea. 



The country appears to have been conquered by the Persians long 

 before the time of Alexander. This is proved by the Persian medals 

 found ; further, an ancient tradition of Persia alludes to an invasion that 

 our chronologists refer to the fourteenth century before Christ. It is 

 also known, that under Darius, the son of Hystaspes, this country and 

 all up to the banks of the Indus, formed one of the twenty satrapies of 

 the vast Persian empire. 

 3 c 



