Chap. If. of the East Indie s. 493 
SECTION XV. 
An Account of the Defcriptions left us hy the Ancients of the Eaflern and Northern Paris 
of- the Indies, the Notions they had of their Riches , together with an Enquiry into the 
Reafons which hindered the extending their Difcoveries on that Side . 
|s n brief Defer iption of the Country of the Sinae or Thins from" ancient Authors . 2. Qbf creations on the 
foregoing D ej cr iption , proving, that this Country was the Kingdom ofS iam. 3. Of the Indian Ifands, as 
defer ibed by old Authors ; and more particularly of the famous If and of Taprobana, and their Mifakes 
about it . 4. This Point more particularly inquired into , and the Taprobana of the Ancients Jhewn to be 
■no other than the If and of Ceylon. 5. Of the Country called Serica, and the Nation of the Seres, from the 
bef Writers of Antiquity. -6. An Objection arifng from the Knowledge which the Ancients had of the 
Chin eAz fully dated, and clearly refolved. 7. A fecond Objection taken from the Commerce of the ancient 
Chinefe, fated and examined. 8. A third Objection from the feeming Difcordancy of thefe Accounts 
explained and refuted. 9. An Account of the If and of Panchaia, and a full Proof of its being abfolutely 
imaginary. 1 o. The high Ideas which the Ancients had of the Riches of the undif covered Indies. 1 x . Their 
Errors as to the Pofibility of ejlablifhing a regular Commerce with thofe Countries. 12. The Qaufes which 
impeded their Difcoveries, and occafioned the Decline of that Trade which they aEhially had to the Indies, 
13. The Conclufon of this Part of our Subject, with Obfervations and Remarks on the principal Paf'ages 
therein. 
i,|N what has been delivered in the former Sedions, 
j[ we have confined ourfelves to fuch Points as regard 
the adual Difcoveries of the Ancients. But it is no left 
neceffary to give the Reader feme Account of another fort 
of Difcoveries, I mean fuch as were made by their Geogra- 
phers, who by the Help of fuch Relations, as were' from 
Time to Time publifhed of thefe diftant Countries, and 
which are long ago loft, compiled a fyftematieal Account 
of the Regions bordering upon, and even of thofe that lay 
very far beyond the Ganges. It is, however, certain, that 
they were but very indifferently informed as to the Courfe 
of this River ; and Cellarius s correds the Miftake or Ar- 
temidorus in Strabo , who fays, that from the Mountains 
called Emodi, it runs South as far as the Town of Ganges, 
and afterwards Eaft, becaufe it is contrary to the Difcove- 
ries of our Times. 
The firft remarkable Town mentioned by Ptolemy be- 
yond the furthermoft Mouth of the Ganges was Pentapolis , 
or rather this was the Name of a Diftrid , next to that lay 
the Emporium, or Mart of Baracura, beyond the Mouth 
of the River Tocofanna, then the Country called Argent ea, 
with feveral Towns ; next to that lay the Country of the 
Bifyngeti, who were Man-eaters, their capital Befynga an 
Emporium. From hence Southward lay the Aurea Cher- 
fonefus , now Malacca. On the Weft Side of it Tacola an 
Emporium, and on the Eaft Side the Cape Malm-Colon, 
with feveral Towns b . Many are of Opinion, that this was 
Solomon's Ophir, which feems to be favoured by Jofephus c , 
who fays, Solomon's Veffels failed into a Country of India , 
Formerly called S ophir a, but then the Golden Land ; St. 
Jerom fays, it was alfo in India , but calls it an Ifland. 
Bochart d alledges it was the Ifland Taprobana, now Cey- 
lon, and founds his Conjedure upon an Etymology. But 
Cellarius rejects as mere Dreams the modern Difputes about 
Ophir, and fees no juft Caufe why the latter Opinions ftiould 
be better than the former. He fays, the Length of the Ex- 
pedition mentioned in the facred Hiftory ftiews, that Ophir 
muft have been at a great Balance from Palejlina, or the 
Arabian Gulph •, yet he is not difpleafed that Bochart di- 
ftinguiihes betwixt the Indian and the Arabian Ophir , be- 
caufe the Gold of Ophir, mentioned in the Book of Job % 
could not, becaufe of the Ignorance of thofe Times, be 
ealily underftood of the Indian Gold. Bochart places the 
Arabian Ophir near the Country of the Sabaans, and thinks 
the Arabs called the Indian Ophir by its Name when they 
difeovered it. Beyond this Chei'fonefus to the North lay 
the Country of the Leftce, who were Pirates and Robbers. 
The River Sob annus runs through it. Next to that lay 
Ptolemy's Sinus Magnus, in which were Balonga and Cor - 
gatha Metropolitan Towns ; and here Ptolemy finifh.es the 
Maritime Coaft of India beyond Ganges. The Inland Parts 
were fo obfeure, that it is needleft to inftft upon them by 
the Situation of the Country ; thefe Places laft mentioned 
feem to have been in that Kingdom which is now called 
Siam. 
2. The next Country deferibed by Ptolemy is that of the 
Since, which he places fartheft towards the Eaft of all the 
Regions mentioned by him, as lying beyond the Great Bay 
or Opening of the Sea, which he ftiles Sinus Magnus , and 
fays, their Country extended very far to the South. It is 
iv ell obferved by Cellarius , that this Country is not to be 
confounded with the modem China, although it reaches as 
far North as S erica f , Ptolemy calls the Country beyond 
this to the Eaft and South, Terra Incognita , arid bounds it 
on the Weft by India beyond die Ganges. He places about 
the Equator the Ethiopes Ichthyophagi , or Fifli-eating Ethio- 
pians, and beyond the Equator the River Contiares and Ca- 
tigara , which he calls a Harbour of the Since. Martianus 
Heracleota s places the Sina Jikewife at the Extremity of 
the habitable World towards the Eaft, and next to the T err & 
Incognita , or Country to that time undifeovered. 
It muft be allowed, that all this is very dark and very 
perplexed, fo that it is extremely difficult to pafs any certain 
Juagmen: as to the Places mentioned. On the other hand* 
however, it ought to be confidered, that even thefe dark 
and obfeure Accounts are infinitely better than the Fables 
that preceded them, and the ridiculous Stories that prevailed 
of thefe Countries and their Inhabitants in fucceeding Times. 
If we compare what Ptolemy has written with the confufed 
Accounts that Pliny has collected from ancient Authors, we 
may eafily diicern that one contented himfelf with Fables* 
and tranferibed whatever came to hand, to fhew a Variety 
of Reading, whereas the other examined very carefully fuch 
Defcriptions as he received from the Merchants that traded 
in thefe Countries, and by comparing them with each other* 
he gathered from them fuch Lights as enabled him to draw 
up a fhort and impeded Account indeed, but at the fame 
time fuch an Account as appears very conformable to 
Truth , and would appear much more fo, if the Manu- 
feripts of Ptolemy were not incumbered with fo many vari- 
ous Readings, which renders it extremely difficult to come 
at the true Senfe of that learned Writer. 
In the following Ages again, when Science once more 
gave way to Fable, the World was amufed with wild and 
ridiculous Accounts of thefe Countries, and he who wrote 
the ftrangeft things was read with the greateft Approbation. 
*■ Geograph . Antiq. Tom. II. p. 747. The Paffage in Artemldorus , which he correSs, is found in Strabo, lib. xv. p. 494. b Geograph, lib, viL 
tap. 3. Tab. 2. Afue. c Antiquit . Judaic, lib. viii. cap. 2. d Geograph. Sacr. e job xxii. 24, xxviii. 16. f lfaac. Voff. de estate 
tnundi, cap. 11. p. 276, 279, advances an Opinion very probable and worthy of Notice, that the Since of thefe ancient Writers are the Siamefe . 
The very learned Bifhop Huet is for extending this Denomination to the Tonquinefe , the Cochinchinefe , &c. but I asi for adhering to Voffius is Conjec- 
ture ftriaiy, becaufe Ptolemy owns all beyond thefe unknown. 8 In Periph Maris Erythmi . 
Numb. 34* 6 K Fey 
