FOOTNOTES:
[245] The earliest dated MS. (a Syriac one, now in the British Museum) is dated in the first decade of the fifth century of our era. The Alexandrian codex may be a few years earlier. The oldest Egyptian inscriptions may ascend to B.C. 2000: that on the Moabite stone, perhaps, to B.C. 890.
[246] Robertson’s “Hist. Disquis. on India,” note i. p. 179 (ed. 1791).
[247] It may be added, that while Herodotus alludes to other portions of the history of Sesostris, he omits the tale of his Indian conquests; that Strabo rejects it altogether (xv. p. 85); while Arrian equally doubts it.
[248] Heeren, vol. ii. p. 227, in his “Asiatic Researches,” believes this city to have been founded from 2,000 to 1,500 years before the Christian era.
[249] Herod. iv. 42-44; iii. 84.
[250] Pliny, who calls this city Bactrum, points out the peculiarity of its double-humped camel, yet seen on the Bactrian coins (vii. 87).
[251] Herod. iii. 116; iv. 27. Ctesias, ap. Ælian. Nat. Animal. iv. 27 Mela, ii. c. 11.
[252] Arrian, “Periplus,” c. 64, 65
[253] Plin. xiv. 162. Cuvier (ap. Rawlinson’s Herod. iii. 98) speaks of a bamboo (Bambus arundinacea) which grows to the height of sixty feet. Colonel Yule states that the largest bamboos are in the Malay Islands and Cambodia. He has seen them from eighty to one hundred feet high. “Early Travels to India,” 1867, p. 93.
[254] Arrian, “Periplus,” c. 44.
[255] Sir John Herschel has called attention to the fact that the Chinese have preserved registers of comets and other celestial phenomena for more than a thousand years before the Christian Era. “Familiar Lectures,” p. 94, 1868.
[256] Friar Oderic (ap. Colonel Yule, p. 57) speaks of vessels, like the ancient boats at Rhapta, stitched with twine, without any iron, employed along the coast approaching the modern site of Bombay.
[257] See an excellent life of Alexander by Archdeacon Williams, “Family Library,” No. iii. 1829.
[258] Arrian, Ind. vii.
[259] Strabo, book xv. p. 694.
[260] Arrian, Exped. Alex. v. 3.
[261] Lib. xvi. p. 752.
[262] Vincent, vol. i. p. 122. It is worthy of remark that not a single native of Southern Greece—even of Athens—is mentioned among the leading followers of Alexander. Nearchus was a Macedonian of Amphipolis; three other naval chiefs were from Cos, Teos, and Cyprus.
[263] Vincent’s “Commerce in India,” vol. i. p. 169.
[264] Ibid. vol. i. p. 171.
[265] Vincent, i. p. 136. No modern site has as yet been recognised for this city; nor is Wilson sure. Ariana Antiq. p. 207.
[266] Vincent, “Commerce in India,” vol. i. p. 326.
[267] Ibid. vol. i. chap. ii. p. 431.
[268] In 1838, the author, then a young man in command of the Olive Branch, a barque of four hundred tons, sailed along the whole of this coast, frequently following the route which Nearchus had taken, and sometimes obliged to anchor on account of the intricacy of the navigation, as Nearchus had done, overnight. He can, therefore, confirm the accuracy of Heeren’s condensed description of the voyage in its difficulties and dangers; and can testify to the abundance of the dates, which formed a portion of the author’s return cargo to Bombay; and also, he may add, to the “robbers” by whom he was attacked when conveying, from an inland town in the vicinity of Bushire, some treasure which was destined for his ship.
[269] Lib. vi. p. 136.
[270] Vincent, vol. i. p. 695.
[271] The Telegraph. Telegraphic communication with India is now so far perfect, that electricity outstrips the speed of the earth, as it frequently happens that messages transmitted from Calcutta at noon to London are delivered by the Indo-European Telegraph Company at 10.30 A.M. Communication between London and Teherán (the terminus of the Indian Government lines) is actually instantaneous.—Times, 5 April, 1870.
[272] Vincent, vol. i. p. 509.
[273] Pliny, xii. c. 11.
[274] Arrian, “Exp. Alex.” vii. 25.
[275] Pliny, vi. 88.
[276] Ammianus speaks of ambassadors from Ceylon to the Emperor Julian, xx. 4.
[277] Arrian, “Periplus,” 13 to 36.
[278] This treatise of Cosmas exists in Montfaucon: Bibl. Nov. Patrum. ii. p. 336.
[279] One thousand amphoræ are equal to about thirty-three tons.
[280] Tennent’s “Ceylon,” vol. i. p. 575.
[281] Herod. iii. 111.
[282] History of India, s. iii. p. 99.
[283] The Malay and many local dialects are still chiefly written in Arabic characters.
[284] Robertson’s “History of India,” p. 106.