34 AN HISTORICAL DISQUISITION

SECT. resemblance to be a transcript of his words. But,'I, unfortunately , Megasthenes was so fond of themarvellous, that he mingled with the truths whichhe related many extravagant fictions; and to himmay be traced up the fabulous tales of men withears so large that they could wrap themselves upin them, of others with a single eye, withoutmouths, without noses, \vith long feet, and toesturned backwards, of pfople only three spans inheight, of wild men with heads in the shape ofa wedge, of ants as large as foxes that dug upgold, and many other things no less wonderfulThe extracts from his narrative which have beentransmitted to us by Strabo, Arrian , and otherwriters, seem not to be entitled to credit, unlesswhen they are supported by internal evidence , andconfirmed by the testimony of other ancient authors,or when they coincide with the experience of moderntimes. His account, however, of the dimensions andgeography of India , is curious and accurate. Hisdescription of the power and opulence of the Prafijperfectly resembles that which might have beengiven of some of the greater states in the modernIndostan, before the establilhment of the Mahomedanor European power in India, and is consonant tothe accounts which Alexander had received con-cerning that people. He was informed that theywere ready to oppose him on the banks of theGanges, with an army consisting of twenty thou-sand cavalry, two hundred thousand infantry, and

Strabo, lib. xx. 1032. A. 1057. C,