48 Remarks on the Sequel to the [Jan. 



and that it was governed by a council of five thousand persons, every 

 one of whom found or provided an elephant for the use of the State. 

 " Nam Seres tarn longre dicuntur vitae ut ducentesimum annum exce- 

 dant. Ferunt etiam quendam optimatum ordinem rempublicam guber- 

 nare ex quinque millibus consiliorum constantem, quorum quisque 

 elephantem reipublicae prsebeat." (Strabo, Latin text, p. 702.) This 

 seems to have reference to the Raj corporations of Assam. Major 

 Fisher remarks : " the most ancient form of tenure by which land was 

 held in Assam was under a grant from the prince addressed to a body 

 of proprietors, who were erected into a corporation called a Raj, and 

 who possessed the land on terms by which they were bound each for 

 the other and for the whole estate. The proprietors of land in every 

 Raj were classified according as they paid revenue to the prince direct, 

 or to some one in whose favour an assignment was made. The Raj 

 was entrusted with the local administration of affairs and transacted 

 business in periodical meetings."* It is probable that the council of 

 five thousand, which Strabo mentions, consisted of the heads or chiefs 

 of these corporations, and that each Raj was bound to provide an ele- 

 phant for the service of the State. The circumstance of the country 

 of the Seres furnishing the number of elephants here specified is, of it- 

 self, sufiicient to identify Serica with Assam. There is no other coun- 

 try in the situation assigned to Serica, namely, on the north of India 

 extra Gangem and of Sina or Siam, than Assam, that abounds in ele- 

 phants, and it may, therefore, be inferred from this fact, coupled with 

 the accounts of other ancient writers, who describe Serica as an exten- 

 sive and fertile valley watered by large rivers, and abounding in silk, 

 that Assam is the country that is here referred to. It is estimated that 

 upwards of 700 elephants are exported annually from Assam : many 

 also are killed for the sake of their tusks. 



Ptolemy describes the Seres and Sinse as contiguous nations. India 

 extra Gangem, which comprised Arracan, Pegu, and Ava, — constitut- 

 ing the Argent ea regio and Aurea Chersonesus of Ptolemy — is mention- 

 ed by him, as being divided from the country of the Sinee by a line 

 commencing at the extremity of Serica, and extending through the 

 middle of the great bay (Sinus Magnus) on the south. 



The country of the Sinse therefore was adjacent on the west to India 

 * Journal of Asiatic Society, No. 104. 



