1847.] Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, §-c. 31 



navigation to the east of Khruse (Malacca or Sumatra). This informa- 

 tion could only have been derived from the T'hai or Shyans inhabiting 

 the country extending from the gulf of Siam to Upper Assam : and it 

 was communicated, doubtless, by them to the few persons who travelled 

 to Thina or Sera, the capital of the Sinse for the purpose of carrying 

 on trade. Ptolemy mentions that Marinus had heard of Cattigara, the 

 most eastern sea port known to the ancients, (and which is supposed to 

 have stood on the coast of Siam) but that he never met or was acquaint- 

 ed with any person who had made the voyage to it from the golden 

 Chersonese.* It follows, therefore, that he obtained his information 

 through Maes the Macedonian, whose agents carried on a trade with the 

 Sinse on the frontier of Serica : and that the Thai or Shyans of Upper 

 Assam were the channel through whom this information was conveyed. 

 The commercial routes leading from Thina or Assam extended through 

 Bactria to Barugaza ; also down the Ganges and thence by sea to Li- 



murike : «</>' %s rore eptou, Kal rb oQoviov ro (njpiKov, eis ry\v Bapvyafav 8m 

 BaKTpcov ttc^tj <pepercu Kal its rrjv Ai/xvpiK^v ird\iv 5ta rod Fayyov iroraixov. 



The first of these routes was via Thibet or Bhotan. The Thibetans 

 formerly carried on a considerable traffic with the Assamese. A cara- 

 van consisting of about twenty persons of the former people repaired 

 annually to the frontier of Assam, and took up their quarters at a place 

 called Chouna, while the Assamese merchants were stationed at Gegan- 

 shur, a few miles distant from it. The articles of merchandize brought 

 by the Thibetans were silver bullion and rock salt, which they exchang- 

 ed with the Assamese for rice, silk, lac, and articles the produce of 

 Bengal. f This, no doubt, was one channel through which the merchan- 

 dize of Thina reached Bactria. Another appears to have been through 

 the duwars or passes that lead into Bhotan. Tavernier mentions that 

 in his time merchants travelled through Bhotan to Cabul to avoid pay- 

 ing the duty that was levied on merchandize passing into Hindoostan 

 via Gorruckpore. He describes the journey as extending over deserts 

 and mountains covered with snow, tedious and troublesome as far as Ca- 

 bul, where the caravans part, some for Great Tartary — others for Balk. 

 At the latter place merchants of Bhotan bartered their goods.! — The 



* Ptol. Lib. 1, C. 14— Vincent, Vol. II. p. 602. 

 f Hamilton's Gazetteer of Hindoostan. 

 % Vide Bhotan in Tavernier's Travels. 



