OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN ASIA. 201 



barrier of ice and desolation, when an easy and level route ex- 

 isted to the coast, then crowded by western navigators, is sure- 

 ly not very probable. 



In 1802, Serinagur was visited by Captain Hardwicke, who 

 has given a description of it, which is confirmed by Captain 

 Raper and Mr Webb. They represent it situated in a valley, 

 extending about a mile and a half in every direction ; the city 

 itself three quarters of a mile in length, and about half that 

 breadth ; the houses poor, and the streets so narrow, that two 

 persons could scarcely walk abreast. There was scarcely a 

 mansion fit for the residence of a provincial Rajah ; no splen- 

 did ruins, no monuments of antiquity ; nothing which could 

 recal the splendor of that mighty metropolis, whose fame was 

 so widely diffused over the ancient world. 



From the whole of what has been said, it seems to follow, 

 that the interpretation now proposed, is that which naturally 

 arises out of the statements of Ptolemy. If it be admitted as 

 true, his delineation will still, indeed, present imperfections 

 and errors of detail ; but, in all its leading features, it will be 

 found correct, consistent with itself, and with the actual fea- 

 tures of the region delineated. Upon the other suppositions 

 now prevalent, it forms confessedly a mass of the most enor- 

 mous errors that ever were committed by any geographer. Be- 

 tween these two alternatives, there could scarcely, in any case, 

 be room for hesitation. It can be added, however, that Pto- 

 lemy is not only a writer generally of good authority, but that 

 he has shewn himself to possess, in respect to a long series of 

 conterminous regions, better information than had, till very re- 

 cently, been attained by the moderns. I submit, then, to 

 the learned, whether credit should be refused to his delinea- 

 tion of those ulterior regions, with regard to which also he pro- 

 bably had access to better materials than have yet fallen to the 

 lot of modern inquirers. 



Vol. VIII. P. I. C c POST- 



