Chap. II. 
of the East Indies. 
Alexander the Great ; and I conceive that the calling of 
this Wand by the Name of Taprobana , was the principal 
Occafio n of all the Miftakes and Confufion that has been 
difcovered in fubfequent Accounts. 
But as for the Taprobana , which Strabo mentions very 
cautioufly, and, as a Writer afraid of offending the Truth, 
and which Ptolemy more largely defcribes from the Ac- 
counts that were current in his Time at Alexandria , it is 
moft likely to be the Illand of Ceylon. I fhall not trouble 
the Reader with a long Account of the Reafons which 
other Writers have affigned for this Opinion, but content 
myfelf with giving him as fuccindtly as I can, the Motives 
which have induced me to believe that the Iflands Tapro- 
bana and Ceylon are the fame. In the firft Place, the Situ- 
ation of Taprobana , as laid down by Ptolemy , agrees 
very well with that of the Ifland of Ceylon. He men- 
tions four Places in Taprobana , and fets down their La- 
titudes thus. The Mart, or Emporium of Talaconi n° 
2 oh Nagadiba 8° 3 oh Maugramman , which was the Me- 
tropolis of the Wand, 7 0 20', the Bay of Prafodes i° oh 
The bed modern Maps lay down the Wand of Ceylon , 
from one to ten Degrees of North Latitude, the Capital 
of the Ifland lying very nearly in the fame Pofition with 
that which Ptolemy has affigned it. In the next Place, the 
Ancients fay that Taprobana was famous for producing 
the larged Breed of Elephants, which is true of Ceylon , 
where the Elephants are acknowledged to be the larged 
and dronged in the Indies. Thirdly, Taprobana was ce- 
lebrated for its Spices ; and in Ceylon there are found not 
only Ginger, Pepper, and Cardamums, but Cinnamon 
alfo is the daple Commodity, and is very judly edeemed 
the fined in the World. Fourthly, there are faid to have 
been abundance of precious Stones in this Ifland of T a- 
probana ■, and, except Diamonds, all Sorts of Jewels are 
found in Ceylon , and particularly Rubies, Topazes, and 
Saphires, the bed in all the Indies. Ladly, T aprobana is 
celebrated for its great Fertility in various Sorts of Corn, 
and this too, may be affirmed of Ceylon , where they have 
not only five Kinds of Rice, which ripen one after another, 
but alfo eight other Kinds of Grain, of which they make 
either Bread or Oil. On the whole, therefore, when we 
confiderthat all the Variations in the Accounts given us by 
the Ancients of the Ifland of T aprobana , may be fo eafily 
accounted for ; and that this lad and cleared Defcription 
by Ptolemy , is fo reconcileable to the Accounts we have 
of Ceylon , I fee no Reafon why we fhould not acquiefce 
in the Sentiment of the learned Vojfius , that the T aprobana 
of the Ancients is the Ceylon of the Moderns n . 
It may, indeed, be objected that Ptolemy extends the 
Wand of Taprobana fouthward beyond the Line, which 
does not, by any Means, agree with Ceylon ; but I an- 
fwer to this, that Ptolemy fometimes ufes the plural Num- 
ber, and mentions the Wands of Taprobana *, fo that it is 
not impoffible that he might include fome of the Maldives 
under that Name. I do not fay that this is certain, but 
that it is poffible, and, I might add, probable too ; becaufe 
fince the Ancients were acquainted with the Sea in 
which the Wand of Ceylon lies, and the Coad that is oppo- 
site to it on the Continent, it is not eafy to conceive how 
they could be abfolutely ignorant of fo confiderable an 
Illand, which lay diredly in the Way of all the Commerce 
carried on in this Part of the Indies. On the other Hand, 
if the Ancients were really acquainted with Ceylon , as it is 
very improbable that they fhould not, this furnifhes us 
with a new Argument, and, indeed, the dronged Argu- 
ment of all, that their Taprobana was our Ceylon ; for, if 
it was not, it is mod certain that the Ancients have left 
us no Account of any Ifland that refembles it, which is a 
Piece of Negligence of a Nature diredriy oppofite to their 
ufual Exadnefs °. 
5. It is to be obferved farther, that except Taprobana, the’ 
Ancients do not mention any Iflands on the Coait A India 
of any Confequence ; and from hence it is plain, that 
they were not acquainted either with the larger * r L-ffi r' 
Iflands that lay farther to the Ead. It is necelffiry, there- 
fore, that we fhould return once more to the Continent, 
in order to mention another Eadern Nation, very famous 
in Antiquity. Thefe were the Sares ; and their Country 
is by Ptolemy called Serica , which he reprefents as border- 
ing upon Scythia ; fo that according to his Defcription, 
this Country of Serica Jay thus. On the Wed it was 
bounded by Scythia beyond Mount Imaus. On the North, 
and on the Ead, by Countries unknown yon the South by 
India , beyond the Ganges. Ptolemy mentions many Re- 
gions into which this Country is divided, and abundance 
of Cities in them, in all which he has been copied by 
many fucceeding Writers * but it is not eafy to fay what 
Part of the higher Afia they have defcribed under the 
Name of Serica p. 
Many of our Criticks are of Opinion that Serica is the 
northern Part of China, which may poffibly be true ; tho s 
in that Cafe, it is not very accurately defcribed. But the 
Accounts they give us of the People, are much dronger 
and better Proofs, that by^ the Seres they meant the Chi- 
ne f e y than any that can be drawn from the Defcription of 
their Country. The Seres, fay they, were a People that 
fpoke a Language peculiar to themfelves,and very guttural, 
which is exadtly true of thzChinefe. They were very jud in 
their Dealings with Strangers, but had a very odd Way 
of carrying on Commerce ; for they took all the Goods 
that were brought them, without giving any Thing imme- 
diately in Exchange : Yet, afterwards, they fully fatif- 
fied the Strangers for what they had thus taken, in their 
own Commodities. This, as we fhall hereafter fee, was 
likewife the condant Pradtice of the Chinefe, as it dill is 
of the Japonefe. It is alfo affirmed of the Seres, that they 
were the fird Manufacturers of Silk, that they were, 
generally fpeaking, cloathed in that Manufacture, and that 
they made their Exchange either in Silk or in Goods 
made or Silk, which agrees perfectly well with the Prac- 
tice or the Chinefe. So that, on the whole, we have no 
Reaion to doubt that the Seres and the Chinefe were the 
fame People ; elpecially as all the ancient Writers agree, 
that the Seres were extremely fond of their own Country, 
very diffident of Strangers, and not inclined to travel, 
which are ah of them Circumdances very applicable to the 
Inhabitants of C hina, before their Country was lubdued 
by the Tartars < j . 
It mud, however, be confeffed, that there are fome Va- 
riations in thefe ancient Accounts, and that feveral Writers 
mention Circumdances that do not fo well agree with the 
Chinefe as thole that have been related ; and yet there 
feems to be no jud Caufe from the Confideration of thefe 
Midakes, to rejeCt the Matter of FaCt, which, from the 
foregoing Circumdances, appears to be fo well founded 5 
for, if we confider the Contradictions met with in mo- 
dern Writers, and particularly fuch as have treated of 
this Country, indead of being furprifed at the Midakes 
of the old Geographers, we may judly wonder, that 
their Errors were fo few, and of fo little Confequence ; 
more efpecially, if we refleCt on the prodigious Difference 
between their Lights and ours r . 
. " ' Deen S uided m Y Remarks on this Subjeft, by comparing the Tables of Ptolemy with the bell modern Maps, and the Particulars men- 
tioned of this Ifland by ancient Writers, with the Remarks made by Mr. Robert Knox , who was many Years on the Illand, as well as thofe of Ri- 
bera, a Portuguese, who likewife reflded for a great while in Ceylon. 
° In Ptolemy' s Catalogue of famous Cities, with their Longitudes and Latitudes, which is very accurately publilhed in the third Volume of Dr. 
Hudfony Collection of the ancient Greek Geographers, Ptolemy ufes the plural Number, and feems to make 'Taprobana the chief of feveral Iflands * 
and it is remarkable, that our firft Voyages to the E aft- Indies, affert, that the little Princes of the Maldives were fubjeft to the Kino- of Ceylon * " * 
p As Ptolemy was forced to fupply, from his own Judgment, the Situation of the Regions he mentions j and as all' the Maps drawn from hi’s Ta- 
oles, depend likewife, m a great meafure, on the refpeftive Judgments of thofe who drew them, the Reader cannot but difcern the Reafonablenefs 
of what I have after ted in the Text. 
? All this will be fully juftified in our fucceeding Collection of Voyages, which, by their being placed in the proper Order of Time will enable 
the Reader to underhand this Matter perfe&ly, and to fee clearly the Truth of thefe Obfervations, which are not intended to Men the Credit of 
the Ancients, but to reprefent Things as they really are. 
r This Difference chiefly confifts in their Writings from the Memoirs picked up by their Merchants, from the Reports of the Indians ; whereas we 
ST AccQmiWnot oniy from fuch as have actually vifited thefe Countries themfelves, but from thofe who have refided there many Years, and 
have had all poffible Opportunities of knowing the hafts which they relate, ’ 
