CONCERNING ANCIENT INDIA
ii
who recorded events nearer to their own times, SECTand with refpeCt to which, they had received more i.full and accurate intelligence.
The firft eftablifhment of any foreign power inIndia , which can be afcertained by evidence, me-riting any degree of credit, is that of the Perfians;and even of this we have only a very general anddoubtful account. Darius, the fon of Hyftafpes,though railed to the throne ofPerfia, by chanceor by artifice, poffeffed fuch a&ive and enterprifmgtalents, as rendered him worthy of that high fta-tion. He examined the different provinces of hiskingdom more diligently than any of his predecef-fors, and explored regions of Alia formerly littleknown”. Having fubjected to his dominion manyof the countries which ftretch fouth-eaft from theCafpian fea towards the river Oxus , his curiofitywas excited to acquire a more extenfive and accu-rate knowledge of India , on which they bordered.
With this view he appointed Scylax of Caryandrato take the command of a fquadron fitted out atCafpatyrus, in the country of Pactya, (the modernPehkely,) towards the upper part of the navigablecourfe of the river Indus , and to fall down its ftreamuntil he fiiould reach the ocean. This Scylax per-formed, though it fhould feem with much difficulty,and notwithflanding many obftacles; for he fpent nolefs than two years and fix months in conductinghis fquadron from the place were he embarked,to the Arabian Gulf 1 '. The account which he