1845.] the River Soane and Site of Palihothra. 151 



Roman Miles. 



Brought forward, 1244 



To the conflux of Jomones and Ganges, . . . . . . 225 



To Palibothra, 425 



To the mouth of the Ganges, . . . . . . . . . . 638 



* Total, . . 2532 



* N. B.— The total is not added up in Pliny. 



These distances are said to have been measured along the high road, 

 but as they cannot be made to correspond with the distances by the 

 present high road from the Indus to the Ganges, it is evident either 

 that some error as to the figures has crept into the MSS. or (which 

 is by no means improbable) that the high road 2000 years ago took a 

 very different course from the high road at present. Rennell, in order 

 to ascertain the length of the Roman mile assumed by Pliny, mea- 

 sured on the map along the line of the great road from the Hyphasis 

 (Beyah) to the mouth of the Ganges, and finding this to be 1140 

 G. miles while the Itinerary gave 2022 Roman miles, he concluded 

 that the proportion of one of Pliny's miles to a Greek mile was as 

 56 to 100 in horizontal distance, or 7-10ths. of an English mile in road 

 distance. Agreeable to this mode of computation, he found Patna to be 

 only 345 of Pliny's miles below Allahabad instead of 425, as stated 

 in the Itinerary. This difference of 80 of Pliny's miles, or 44 

 Greek miles, he did not consider of much importance, as owing 

 to the great changes in the course of Indian rivers, it was by no means 

 certain that in former times the confluence of the Jumna and Ganges 

 took place at Allahabad as now. 



The mode of computation adopted by Rennell is not altogether free 

 from objection. First, he has omitted to give the stages of the high 

 road along which he measured the distance. Secondly, which mouth 

 of the Ganges he assumed as the eastern limit. Thirdly, the precise 

 point which he considered to be at the mouth of the Ganges. It is 

 also to be considered that whatever point may have been assumed 

 by Major Rennell as the mouth of the Ganges, it is in the highest 

 degree improbable that the same point was situated at the mouth of 

 the Ganges 2000 years ago. The progress of the Deltas of all rivers, 

 though slow, is sure: Herodotus (Euterpe, p. 4) says that, " In the 



