1845.] the River Soane and Site of Palibothra. 153 



brated for an accuracy in details, which was praised by Sir W. Jones, 

 and which even Gibbon* said he was afraid to dispute. Rennell ob- 

 serves in a note, " D'Anville is of opinion that Pliny turned the Greek 

 stadia, (of Megasthenes) into Roman miles at the rate of eight to a mile* 

 and thus accounts for their shortness. D'Anville, who has gone deeply 

 into the subject, thinks that it requires 1050 Itinerary stadia to make 

 a degree of the great circle." Now a degree of the great circle being 

 equal to 60 geographical, or 69 English miles, 425 of Pliny's miles, 

 or 3400 Greek stadia, would be equivalent to 223 E. miles, which 

 is only four miles less than the real distance from Allahabad to the 

 Golah at Patna, as given in the Polymetrical Tables of the General 

 Post Office. So that if the estimate of the Greek stadia given by the 

 most accurate of geographers be adopted, the difficulty of reconciling the 

 distance given by Pliny with the site of Patna is altogether removed. 



Beyond the evidence of history and tradition, however, little or 

 nothing remains to indicate Patna to have been the site of an ancient city. 

 It is probable that a great part of the original city has been swallow- 

 ed up by the Ganges. In a map lately constructed by the Revenue 

 Survey, and from decrees of the Civil Courts, it appears that the main 

 stream of the Ganges even so late as the Permanent Settlement, or 

 1790 A. D. was several miles north of its present course. The river is 

 gradually wearing away the southern bank, and the modern city is 

 likely to share the fate of the old. 



In point of extent the modern town, including the suburbs, does not 

 fall very far short of that of the ancient. Megasthenes states Palibothra 

 to have been ten milest long, and about two broad, surrounded with a 

 ditch, and walls adorned with 570 towers and gates. The length of 

 the present town from the Golah at Patna on the west to Jafir Khan's 

 garden on the east, is about the same length ; but the breadth cannot 

 exceed a mile. It is just possible that the "Sotah," or bed of a small 

 stream, exhibited in the map as running south of Patna from Phool- 

 waree to near Futwa, may have been the ancient ditch of Palibothra, 

 as it does not appear to have been ever the main stream of the Soane. 

 Of the gates and towers no traces remain. There are, however, some 

 high artificial eminences composed of brick-work, called " Punj 

 Puh&ree,' or five hills, about a mile or two south of the town, which 

 may be the ruins of bastions or towers. There are likewise some 



* Miscellaneous Works. 



t Calculated on D'Anville's principle, it would be much less. 



