«*0 Remarks on the Sequel to the [Jan. 



also states that "the Laos are supposed to have progressed from some 

 northern or north-eastern region, since the Khamti bordering on Assam 

 speak a language scarcely differing from the Siamese."* It seems not 

 improbable therefore that the Thinse and Sinse of Arrian and Ptolemy are 

 the Thai and Shyans. There were two capitals belonging to the Thinse 

 or Sinse. Thina, the capital of the Sinse mentioned by Arrian, and Sera, 

 the metropolis of the Sinse noticed by Ptolemy, are evidently, from the 

 northern site assigned to them, the same city. Ptolemy places this city 

 in 38° N. L. but it is probable that it stood in 28° N. L. in the vicinity 

 of Sadiya in Upper Assam. Thinse, the other capital of the Sinee or 

 Thinse, is referred by Ptolemy to a situation far south, and is generally 

 considered as having stood on the coast of Siam. The two cities, there- 

 fore, viz. the Thina of Arrian (or the Sera of Ptolemy) and the Thinse of 

 Ptolemy belonged — the former to the Shyans of Upper Assam, and the 

 latter to the Shyans of Siam. Arrian speaks of the remote situation of the 

 capital of Thina, of the difficulty there was in travelling to it, and of the 



few persons who Came from it eis 54 rrju diva Tavrrjv 6vk eariv evxepus aireAOelv 



(r7roi/iws yap air' avrris rtves ov TroAAot epxovrai, or as Heeren renders the pas- 

 sage, " it is not easy to arrive at Thina and but few individuals have 

 made the journey and returned again." This may be regarded as apply- 

 ing to Upper Assam. All the information, it may be presumed, which 

 Arrian obtained regarding this rarely visited country, was afforded 

 by maritime traders from Bengal, whom he met in the ports of Western 

 India, and as they could only speak of it from hearsay, it cannot be a 

 matter of surprise, considering the proneness of the natives to exagge- 

 ration in their accounts of distant countries, that he should have been 

 led to assign to it the remote situation which is mentioned in the text, 

 and to extend its limits to the confines of the Caspian and the Euxine 

 seas. The city of Thina is mentioned as situated at a certain point 

 where the exterior sea terminates ; but it is at the same time stated that 

 its site is not on the coast, but inland. The sea, which is here alluded 

 to, appears to be the gulf of Siam. It is called the exterior sea, no 

 doubt with reference to its position to Khruse, which was considered 

 by Arrian as the extremity of the .world towards the east. It appears 

 to have been known to the ancients that the country of the Thinse or 

 Sinse bordered at one point on the sea, long before they heard of the 

 * Journal of Royal As. Soc. Vol. V. p. 250. 



