188 ON THE ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY 



on the south by India beyond the Ganges alone, not at any 

 point by India within the Ganges. Scythia extra Imaum, then, 

 is entirely east of Indostan, while Serica is east of Scythia ex- 

 tra Imaum. It is needless to say to what country such a de- 

 scription would apply, and how inconsistent it is with the 

 idea which makes Serica border upon, or make part of Indo- 

 stan. 



To these very precise statements of Ptolemy, it may be pro- 

 per to add those, though much looser and more vague, of Pli- 

 ny and Ammianus. Pliny states, that the last country dis- 

 tinctly known, ( ubi gentes plane constent,) was the chain of moun- 

 tains called the Emodus. The moderns seem always to ima- 

 gine, that Imaus and Emodus are merely different names for 

 the same chain. But though instances may be found of their 

 being so used, these never occur in the writings of the more 

 accurate geographers. With them Emodus is east of Imaus, 

 or rather, perhaps, it is the same chain after passing the head 

 of the Ganges. This distinction is made by Ptolemy in the 

 most precise manner. With him Imaus separates India from 

 the Sacse, Emodus from Scythia extra Imaum. Pliny also re- 

 peatedly enumerates Imaus, Emodus, Caucasus, Parapomisus, 

 as at least separate parts of the great chain which traverses 

 Asia. After enumerating the nations between the Indus and 

 the Ganges, he enumerates those between the Ganges and the 

 Emodus. His Emodus, then, like that of Ptolemy, is evident- 

 ly a chain east of the Ganges. The great region, then, which 

 lies east of the Emodus, cannot well be any other than China. 

 It appears to me that Pliny confounded under the name of Se- 

 res all the nations who dwelt beyond India, as the author of 

 the Periplus confounds them all under the name of Sinae. I 

 know not whether Lanos can be pronounced to be Laos ; but 

 the Chryse Promontomm can scarcely be any thing else than 



the 



