THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 465 



this flory. However, we mufl fay, he has not feized the 

 moil ridiculous parts of it. 



/: 

 We are told that the king ordered the Indian to be 

 taught Greek, and waited with patience till he had learn* 

 ed that language. Surely, before any perfon Could thus 

 inftruct him, the mailer mull have had fome language in 

 common with his fcholar,or he had better have taught Eu- 

 doxus the Indian language, as it would have been as ea- 

 fy, and of much more ufe in the voyage he was to under- 

 take. Befides, is it poffible to believe, after the many years 

 the Egyptians traded backwards and forwards to India, 

 that there was not a man in Alexandria who could interpret 

 for him to the king, when fuch a number of Egyptians went 

 every year to India to trade, and flayed there for months 

 each time ? Could Ptolemy Philadelphus, at his father's fefli- 

 val, find 600 Indian female Haves, all at once, in Alexandria; 

 and, after the trade had lafled fo much longer, were the 

 people from India decreafed, or would their language be lefs 

 underflood ? The king's wifdom, moreover, did not fhew 

 itfelf greatly, when he was going to trull a fhip with his 

 fubjedls to fo ikilful a pilot as this Indian, who, in the firil 

 voyage, had loll himfelf and all his companions. 



India, however, and the Indian feas, were as well known 

 in Egypt as they are now ; and the magnificence and fhew 

 which attended Eudoxus's embafTy feems to prove, that 

 whatever truth there is in the Indian being found, Eudoxus' 

 errand mull have been to remove the bad effects that' the 

 king's extortions and robberies, committed upon all flrangers 

 in the beginning of his reign, had made upon the trading 

 nations. Eudoxus returned, but after the death of Ptole- 



Vol. I. 3 N my„ 



