tj 1 8 The Difcovery, Settlement, and Commerce Book i. 
vince oF Candahar , which has been for many Ages 
the Centre of Commerce between Perfia and the Indies. 
The City of Candahar is feated in 33 0 io f N. and is by 
Nature one of the ftrongeft Places in the Eaft. There is 
great Reafon to believe from the Comparifon of our mo- 
dern Maps with the old Tables of Ptolemy », that this City 
is either raifed out of the Ruins, or built very near the 
Place where Alexandria flood, and is a new Proof of the 
Wifdom of Alexander the Great, in the Choice of a pro- 
per Situation for the Colonies he intended to have eredted 
in this Part of the World. Some learned Men have 
thought that the modern, as well as the ancient Name of 
this Place, is derived from that of this great Conqueror, 
who is called in the Eaft Ifcander ; but there feems to be 
more Reafon to believe that it derives its prefent Appella- 
tion from the JCandarians , an ancient People that were 
formerly the Inhabitants of the adjacent Country w . 
This City and Province has been expofed to many Re- 
volutions. It was long an independant Principality, pre- 
ferved in that Condition, not fo much by the Strength of 
the Place, and the Power of its Princes, though both 
Were in paft Times very great, as by its advantagious Situa- 
tion on the Frontiers of the two great Empires of Perfia 
and the Indies , which fecured it a powerful Protestor 
on one Side whenever it was attacked on the other. It 
has been fince however, fometimes in the Hands of the 
Mogul, fometimes in thofe of the Perfian , where it is 
now like tc remain. It is not very large, but extremely 
well built and well peopled *, and the Caravans from Ispa- 
han and Agra pafs conftantly through it, and even con- 
tinue there for fome Time for the Conveniency of Mer- 
chants of all Nations, who refort thither to exchange the 
Commodities of their own Countries for thofe of the 
Eaft. 
It is highly probable that this Commerce was in a very 
ftotirifhing Condition, under the Perjian Kings cotemporary 
with the firft Emperors of Conjlantinople , and that by the 
regular Returns of Caravans from the Indies , the Perfians 
were furniftied with vaft Quantities of the Commodities of 
India , which they afterwards carried into their frontier 
Provinces, in order to difpofe of them at the Fairs in 
which they traded with the Greeks. The Settlements of 
tht Europeans in the Indies have certainly leffened this Com- 
merce by Candahar, as well as all the inland Trade of thofe 
Parts. But, as we fhall fee hereafter, it is for all that very 
confiderable, and muft always continue fo, from the natu- 
ral Conveniency of the Place, which renders it the Staple 
of Perfian as well as Indian Commodities. 
9. There is yet another Rout more to the South than 
any of thofe we have mentioned, viz. through the Coun- 
try of the Since , or Thince , whom we have mentioned be- 
fore, and have fhewn them to be the Siamefe. We have 
this Account from the Author of that Periplus of the 
Red-Sea , which goes under the Name of Arrian , and a 
very dark Account it is, though not altogether unworthy 
of Notice. The City of Thina lies, as he tells us, on the 
Sea-fide in the fouthern Part of the Country, and from 
thence filk and Cotton Manufactures are carried by Land 
through the Country of BaElria to Barygaza , and from 
thence to Limyrica by the Ganges. There cannot be any 
thing wilder, or more abfurd than this Story ; for, ac- 
cording to Ptolemy'* s Tables, there is a Diftance of 32 0 of 
Latitude, between the Country of Batdria and Barygaza , 
and 25 0 of Longitude between Limyrica and the Ganges *. 
One need not, however, much wonder at thefe Miftakes, 
when, in the lame Defcription, we find this Author plac- 
ing this City of Thina very near the Pole, which is fo ex- 
travagant an Error, as plainly betrays his Want of Skill in 
Geography. He proceeds to inform us, that this City 
is excefiively difficult of Accefs, fo that few People go 
to it ; and yet he talks of its Vicinity to Pontus and the 
Cafpian-Sea, which renders all he fays ablolutely unintel- 
ligible. He informs us farther, that there came annually 
to the Frontiers of the Country of the Since , a People 
whom he calls Sefatas , and whom he defcribes as a Sort of 
Savages, of a low Stature, broad- faced, and with fiat Nofes, 
between whom, and the Since, a very confiderable Com- 
merce was carried on. 
The very learned Bifhop Huet ?, profeffes himfeif at a 
Lofs to know what to make of thefe People. I muft con- 
fefs, that there cannot well be any thing more dark or 
confufed than this Story j but. For my own part, I believe 
that the Text is corrupted, and that the Meaning of the 
Paffage may poffibly be this, that there was anciently a 
Trade carried on over land between the Tartars , for fuch. 
I conceive thefe People to have been from his Defcription 
and the Siamefe *, but whether I am right in my Conjec- 
ture or not, I muft leave the ingenious Reader to deter- 
mine. This, however is certain, that if I have gueffed 
right, it will make fome Seaafe of this Paffage, of which 
hitherto the belt Commentators have been able to make 
no Senfe at all. 
There is another ancient Writer who mentions this City- 
in the following Terms : There lies, fays he, in that Part 
of India , which is beyond the Ganges , the Golden Cherfo- 
nefe , beyond which is the Sinus Magnus , then the Coun- 
try of the Since, whofe Capital is called Thina , which. 
Hands on the Frontiers of the Country known and un- 
known *. That is, in plain Englijh , this City of Thina , 
was the very laft Place in the Indies of which the Ancients 
had any Knowledge. 
Taking this therefore altogether, it amounts, I think, 
to this *, that there was anciently a very great inland Com- 
merce throughout the Indies , from the Countries that lay,, 
fartheft to the North, to thofe which lay in the remoteft 
Parts of the South and Eaft : Which is very agreeable to 
what I have before laid down, that notwithftanding ths 
Reports of their Barbarity, which arofe wholly from their 
being unknown, the ancient Indians were much addibled 
to Commerce * which, by the Help of their Rivers and 
Caravans paffing from River to River, they carried on in 
a manner the moft extenfive j of which, the Alexandrians , 
by their Commerce on the Sea Coaft, came to have fome 
Knowledge, and from their natural Prejudice, reported 
Things in this dark and confufed manner. 
10. We have now gone through moft of the Routs to and 
from the Indies , which are mentioned in ancient Authors, 
excepting fuch as were performed both by Land and Sea $. 
of which it will be neceffary to fay fomewhat, tho’ we fhall 
not dwell long upon them, becaufe we fhall have Occa- 
fion to mention them in the fubfequent Sedlions. After 
the Time of Alexander , there was always a very con- 
fiderable Trade carried on, at leaft in Times of Peace, 
through Perfia to the Indies , by the Help of regular Ca- 
ravans, which there is great Reafon to believe, went an- 
nually from the Banks of the Tygris to thofe of the Indus. 
But in Procefs of Time, a great Part of this Journey was 
faved, and the Indian Commodities being fhipped at Mu~ 
ziris , Barygaza or at Pat ala, were carried by Sea through 
the Perfian Gulph, and then up the River Euphrates , 
within in a very fmall Diftapce of Palmyra , to which City 
they feem to have been tranfported by Land ; where they 
were laid up in moft ftately Magazines, till, as Occafion 
ferved, they were tranfported thence to Antioch , and fo 
over all Europe \ 
We have “already mentioned the Rife and Ruin of that 
famous City, and fhall here only obferve, that it is highly, 
probable that the Commerce of this Place fell off by Degrees, 
and not all at once, as moft Writers feem to imagine ; for 
Want perhaps of the Hiftories of thofe Countries after 
the Roman Empire began to decline. It certainly required 
a long Courfe of Time to eftablifh fo large, fo well-built 
and rich a City ; and therefore it is by no means credible, 
that it fliould be deferted and abandoned all at once. 
There are, to fay the Truth, fome Paffages in Oriental 
Hiftorians, which would incline one to believe, that it was 
ftill a City of confiderable Figure and Trade under the 
Khaliffs and therefore, I think, it may be concluded, that 
its Total Deftruction was owing to the Trade to the Indies 
taking another Courfe, efpecially after the Foundation of 
Bagdad as alfo to the Wars, to which the adjacent 
Countries have been continually expofed for fo many Years 
n Ptolem. AJice Tab. vii. w Hifioire dg Commerce des Ancle ns? p. 399 " X 4 rrian. Peripl . Maris Ery three; p- 36, 37 * 
7 Hifioire de Commerce, des Anciens, p. 431. 38 Mar dan. lleradiot. Peripl. Maris. Extern;, p. 14. a see the Hiftoiy or Pal-, 
p. 33, 65. ’ - , a 
