Chap. 24.] 
ACCOUNT OF COUNTEIES, ETC. 
53 
Thus much we learn from the ancient writers ; it has fallen 
to our lot, however, to obtain a still more accurate knowledge 
of these people ; for during the reign of the Emperor Claudius, 
an embassy came from even this distant island to Eome. The 
circumstances under which this took place were as follow : 
Annius Plocamus had farmed from the treasury the revenues 
arising from the Eed Sea. A certain freedman of his, while 
sailing around Arabia, was carried away by a gale* from the 
north beyond the coast of Carmania. In the course of fifteen 
days he had drifted to Hippuros, a port of Taprobane, where 
he was most kindly and hospitably received by the king ; and 
having, after a study of six months, become well acquainted 
with the language, was enabled to answer all his enquiries re- 
lative to the Eomans and their emperor. But of all that he 
heard, the king was more particularly struck with surprise at 
our rigid notions of justice, on ascertaining that among the 
money found on the captive, the denarii were all of equal 
weight, although the different figures on them plainly showed 
that they had been struck in the reigns of several emperors. 
By this circumstance in especial, the king was prompted to form 
an alliance with the Eomans, and accordingly sent to Eome an 
embassy, consisting of four persons, the chief of whom was 
Eachias.^^ 
From these persons we learned that in Taprobane there are 
five hundred towns, and that there is a harbour that lies facing 
the south, and adjoining the city of Palsesimundus,^^ the most 
famous city in the isle, the king's place of residence, and con- 
taining a population of two hundred thousand. They also in- 
formed us that in the interior there is a lake called Megisba, three 
hundred and seventy-five miles in circumference, and containing 
islands which are fertile, though for pasturage only. In this lake 
they informed us two rivers take their rise, one of which, called 
Palsesimundus, flows into the harbour near the cityof that name, 
by three channels, the narrowest of which is five stadia in width, 
the largest fifteen ; while the other, Cydara byname, takes a di- 
rection northward, towards the Indian coast. We learned also 
^8 Parisot suggests that the word "Eadijah,** or "Eajah/' denoting 
the rank which he held, may have been here taken by PHny for his name. 
99 Ptolemy says that the ancient name of the island was Simundi, or 
Palaesimundi, but speaks of no such city as the one here mentioned, nor 
indeed of any other of the localities described by Pliny. 
