4f) 
pliny's natural history. 
[Book YI. 
people, and lying still more in the interior, are the Monedes, 
and the Suari,^^ among whom is a mountain known as Maleus, 
upon which the shadow falls to the north in winter, and to 
the south in summer, six months alternately. In this district 
the Constellation of the Greater Eear^- is seen at only one 
period in the year, and then but for fifteen days, according 
to what Bseton states. Megasthenes, however, informs us 
that the same is the case also in manj other localities of India. 
The South Pole is by the Indians called Diamasa. 
The river Jomanes runs into the Ganges through the terri- 
tory of the Palibothri, between the cities of Methora^^ and 
Chrysobora.^^ In the regions which lie to the south^^ of the 
Ganges, the people are tinted by the heat of the sun, so much 
so as to be quite coloured, but yet not burnt black, like the 
JEthiopians. The nearer they approach the Indus, the 
deeper their colour, a proof of the heat of the climate. After 
leaving the nation of the Prasii, we immediately come to the 
Indus; in the mountains of the Prasii a race of Pygmies 
is said to exist. Artemidorus says that between these two 
rivers there is a distance of two thousand one hundred 
miles. 
CHAP. 23. (20.) — THE INDUS. 
The Indus, called Sindis by the natives, rises in that branch 
of the Caucasian range which bears the name of Paropanisus,^^ 
Hardouin is of opinion that these nations dwelt in the localities oc- 
cupied by the districts of Gwalior and Agra. 
6- The Septentriones or " Seven Trions," in the original. Parisot is 
of opinion that under this name of Mount Maleus he alludes to the 
Western Ghauts, and that the name still survives in the v^rord Malabar. 
He also remarks that this statement of Pliny is not greatly exaggerated. 
62 Ansart says that this is the same as the modern town of Muttra or 
Matta upon the Jumna, and to the north of Agra. 
6^ Or Clisobora, according to Hardouin. It does not appear to have 
been identified. 
6^ In the Indian Peninsula, constituting more especially the presidency 
of Madras. 
It is clear that he looks upon the countries of the Indus as lying to 
the south of the Ganges. 
6"^ Or Hindoo Koosh. In this statement he is supported by Arrian, 
Strabo, Mela, and Quintus Curtius. It rises, however, a considerable dis- 
tance on the north-east side of the Himalaya. 
