)

40 AN HISTORICAL DISQUISITION

SECT. to be carried on during two hundred and fiftyI. years, as long as Egypt remained an independentkingdom.

"1 he slnps destined for India took their departurefrom Berenice, ^tnd failing, according to the an-cient mode of navigation, alonglfie Arabian shore,to the promontory Syagrus (now Cape Rafaigate),held their course along the coast of Persia, eitherdirectly to Pattala (now Tatta) at the head of thelower Delta of the Indus, or to some other empo-rium on the west coast of India. To this part ofIndia which Alexander had visited and subdued,the commerce under the protection of the Egyp-tian monarchs seems to have been confined for a ^considerable time. Afterwards a more convenientcourse was followed, and from Cape Rafaigatevessels failed in a direct course to Zizerus. This,according to M. de Montesquieu 6Z , was the king-dom of Sigertis, on the fea-coast adjacent to themouth of the Indus , conquered by the Greekmonarchs of Bactria; according to Major Rennell* 5 ,it was a port on the northern part of the Malabarcoast. Ancient authors have not conveyed suchinformation as will enable us to pronounce withcertainty, which of these two opposite opinionsis best founded. Nor can we point out withaccuracy , what were the other ports in Indiawhich the merchants from Berenice frequented,when that trade was first opened. As they failedin vessels of small burden , which crept timidlyalong the coast, it is probable that their voyages

' L'Espiit des Loix, lib. xxi. c. 7. " Introduct. p. xxxvii.