general description of india.

whoever arranges the position of asia in such a way that it is divided by the taurus and the caucasus from the west wind to the east wind, will find that these two very large divisions are made by the taurus itself, one of which is inclined towards the south and the south wind, and the other towards the north and the north wind. southern asia again may be divided into four parts, of which eratosthenes and megasthenes make india the 275largest. the latter author lived with sibyrtius,654 the viceroy of arachosia, and says that he frequently visited sandracotus, king of the indians.655 these authors say that the smallest of the four parts is that which is bounded by the river euphrates and extends to our inland sea. the other two lying between the rivers euphrates and indus are scarcely worthy to be compared with india, if they were joined together. they say that india is bounded towards the east and the east wind as far as the south by the great sea, towards the north by mount caucasus, as far as its junction with the taurus; and that the river indus cuts it off towards the west and the north-west wind, as far as the great sea. the greater part of it is a plain, which, as they conjecture, has been formed by the alluvial deposits of the rivers; just as the plains in the rest of the earth lying near the sea are for the most part due to the alluvial action of the rivers taken singly. consequently, the names by which the countries are called were attached in ancient times to the rivers. for instance, a certain plain was called after the hermus, which rises in the country of asia from the mountain of mother dindymene,656 and after flowing past the aeolian city of smyrna discharges its water into the sea. another lydian plain is named after the ca?ster, a lydian river; another from the ca?cus in mysia; and the carian plain, extending as far as the ionian city of miletus, is named from the maeander. both herodotus and hecataeus657 the his276torians (unless the work about the egyptian country is by another person, and not by hecataeus) in like manner call egypt a gift of the river658; and herodotus has shown by no uncertain proofs that such is the case659; so that even the country itself perhaps received its name from the river. for that the river which both the egyptians and men outside egypt now name the nile, was in ancient times called aegyptus, homer is sufficient to prove; since he says that menelaüs stationed his ships at the outlet of the river aegyptus.660 if therefore single rivers by themselves, and those not large ones, are sufficient to form an extensive tract of country, while flowing forward into the sea, since they carry down slime and mud from the higher districts whence they derive their sources, surely it is unbecoming to exhibit incredulity about india, how it has come to pass that most of it is a plain, which has been formed by the alluvial deposits of its rivers. for if the hermus, the ca?ster, the ca?cus, the maeander, and all the other661 rivers of asia which discharge their waters into the midland sea were all put together, they would not be worthy of comparison for volume of water with one of the indian rivers. not only do i mean the ganges, which is the largest, and with which neither the water of the egyptian nile nor the ister flowing through europe is worthy to compare; but if all those rivers were mingled together they would not even then become equal to the river indus, which is a large river as soon as it issues from its springs, and after receiving fifteen rivers,662 all larger than those in the province of asia, discharges its water 277into the sea, retaining its own name and absorbing those of its tributaries. let these remarks which i have made about india suffice for the present, and let the rest be reserved for my “description of india.”