Buch 
An historical disquisition concerning the knowledge which the ancients had of India : and the progress of trade with that country prior to the discovery of the passage to it by the Cape of Good Hope : with an appendix ... / by William Robertson ...
Entstehung
JPEG-Download
 

mit

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

Ganges, has admitted into it a larger portion of conjecturethan we' find in the other researches of that cautiousgeographer. He likewise builds more than usual upon theresemblances between the ancient and modern names ofplaces 1 , though at all times he discovers a propensity, perhapstoo great, to trace these, and to rest upon them. Theseresemblances are often, indeed, very striking, and haveled him to many happy discoveries. But in perusing hisworks, it is impossible, I should think , not to perceivethat some which he mentions are far - fetched and fanciful.Whenever I follow him , I have adopted only suchconclusions as seem to be established with his accustomedaccuracy.

NOTE XXXIII. Sect. II. p. 78.

The Author of the Circumnavigation of the ErythræanSea has marked the distances of many of the places whichhe mentions, with such accuracy as renders it a nearerapproach, than what is to be found in any writer ofantiquity , to a complete survey of the coast from Myos-hormus, on the west side of the Arabian Gulf, along theshores of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, and Caramania, to themouth of the Indus, and thence down the west coast ofthe Indian Peninsula to Musiris and Barace. This adds tothe value of this short treatise, which , in every otherrespect, possesses great merit. It may be considered as aremarkable proof of the extent and accuracy of thisAuthors intelligence concerning India , that he is theonly ancient writer who appears in any degree to havebeen acquainted with the great division of the country ,which still subsists, viz. Indostan Proper, comprehendingthe northern provinces of the Peninsula, and the Deccan,comprehending the southern provinces. From Barygazat£ (says he) the continent stretches to the south; hence" that district is called Dachinabades, for, in the language