44 Remarks on the Sequel to the [Jan. 



mode of conducting; traffic which is here described is so similar to that 

 mentioned in the Sequel, that there cannot be a doubt, I think, that the 

 Seres and Sesatse are identical. Justice, which is mentioned by Pompo- 

 nius Mela as a characteristic of the Seres, means here, honesty in car- 

 rying on traffic, and a strict regard for truth — virtues which all the hill 

 tribes on the eastern frontier of Bengal have the character of possessing 

 in an eminent degree. The desert is the jungle or forest (aruni) at the 

 foot of the hills, where the hill people barter their goods to the merchants 

 of the plains. 



Pliny gives a similar description of the Seres. He states that they 

 are a quiet, and inoffensive people, bnt that they resemble wild beasts in 

 one respect, namely, that they flee from the sight of men, or rather that 

 they shun intercourse or personal communication with other people, 

 though they are at the same time desirous of carrying on traffic with 

 them.* This, no doubt, refers to the caution and reserve which the 

 hill tribes have always exhibited in their traffic with the people of the 

 plains. Pliny also mentions the Seres as celebrated for silk which their 

 woods produced. In speaking of the embassy from Ceylon to the em- 

 peror Claudius, he represents the chief ambassador as stating that they 

 (the people of Ceylon) knew the Seres through the medium or channel 

 of trade, and that his (the ambassador's) father, by name Rachia, had 

 often visited them. He informed the emperor that if strangers ap- 

 proached the country of the Seres, they incurred the risk of being 

 assailed by wild beasts — a remark, which seems to imply, that there 

 was a dense jungle infested with beasts of prey on the frontier of Serica, 

 and that it was dangerous for persons unacquainted with the paths or 

 roads through it to travel to Serica. The Seres are described by the 

 ambassador as giants or people exceeding the ordinary stature of men, 

 as having red hair, and blue eyes, and as speaking an unintelligible lan- 

 guage, which rendered it difficult to carry on trade with them.f Pliny 

 mentions that the first river in the country of the Seres was called 

 Psitaras (the Tistha in Rungpore ?), and that in carrying on traffic with 

 them, the merchants placed their merchandize on the farther side of 

 the river. If the Seres wished to barter, they took the goods which 

 were there deposited, and left the commodities which the foreign mer- 

 chants wanted in exchange. The people referred to by the ambassador 

 * PJiny. Lib. VI. C. XVII. f Ibid. Lib. VI. C. XXII. 



