1847.] Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, fyc. 5.'i 



bridges ; " ac quod his orientalior terra sit incognita stagna haben* 

 paludosa in quibus calami nascuntur magni et ita compacti ut accoloe 

 transfretare soleant:"* or according to the Periplns Marciani Hera 

 eleotse, " paludes habens uliginosas in quibus calami magni nascuntur, 

 atque adeo densi et conferti, ut per illos sibi invicem adhserentes fiant 

 transitus."f There seems to be an allusion here to the cane bridges, 

 which are so common in the hill countries bordering on Upper Assam ; 

 or to the roots or branches of trees growing on the opposite sides of 

 streams or pools and so intertwined as to afford a passage across them. 

 Lieut. Yule, speaking of bridges of this kind in the vicinity of Cherra 

 Poonjee, remarks, that while travelling through that country, he saw 

 such bridges in every stage, and that one measured 90 feet in span : 

 they were generally composed of the roots of two opposite trees bound 

 together in the middle. (Vide Journal Asiatic Society, Vol. XIII. 

 p. 613.) 



Ptolemy states that mountains surround Serica,(montes autem cingunt 

 Sericam,) and that it is traversed to a considerable extent by two large 

 rivers — a description which proves that Seriea was a valley. The moun- 

 tains surrounding Seriea were designated the Annibi, which appear to be 

 the Abor hills ; the Auocacii extending from Scythia extra Imaum into 

 Seriea, which are apparently the Auka hills on the northern side of 

 Assam : Mount Castas, or the mountain where the Brahmakund is 

 situated : Mount Thagurus y apparently the Tabis of Pomponius Mela* 

 and Pliny, which seems to be Reging ; and the chain or range of the 

 Emodi or Himalaya, the eastern parts of which were called Sericus and 

 Ottorocorras — the latter being identical with the Uttara Cura of the 

 Hindoos, or the snowy range which separates Assam from the country 

 of the Lamas. 



Two rivers called Oechardes, and Bautes or Bautisus, flowed through 

 Seriea. They are delineated in the map of Seriea, attached to Ptolemy's 

 Geography as running to the north ; but this must be an error, as there 

 is no country in the situation assigned to Seriea, namely, bordering on 

 India extra Gangem (Burmah) and the country of the Since (Siam 

 and Laos) on the north, which has rivers proceeding in this direction. 

 It is evident that the rivers, which are alluded to, are the Sanpoo or 



* Ptol. Lib. 1. Chap. XVII. 



f Vide Geoghaph. Vet. Script. Grace. Minor. Hudson, p. 29. 



