(38) We now approach the mouths of the Indus which our author calls the Sinthos, transliterating the native name of it—Sindhu. In his time the wide tract which was watered by this river in the lower part of its course was called Indoskythia. It derived its name from the Skythian tribes (the Śâka of Sansk.) who after the overthrow of the Graeco-Baktrian empire gradually passed southward to the coast, where they established themselves about the year 120 B. C., occupying all the region between the Indus and the Narmadâ. They are called by Dionysios Periegetes Notioi Skythai, the Southern Skythians. Our author mentions two cities which belonged to them—Barbarikon and Minnagar; the former of which was an emporium situated near the sea on the middle and only navigable branch of the Indus. Ptolemy has a Barbarei in the Delta, but the position he assigns to it, does not correspond with that of Barbarikon. Minnagar was the Skythian metropolis. It lay inland, on or near the banks of the Indus.
39. Ships accordingly anchor near Barbarikê, but all their cargoes are conveyed by the river up to the king, who resides in the metropolis.
The articles imported into this emporium are—Ἱματισμὸς ἁπλους ἱκανὸς—Clothing, plain and in considerable quantity.
Ἱματισμὸς νόθος οὐ πολὺς—Clothing, mixed, not much.
Πολύμιτα—Flowered cottons.
Χρυσόλιθον—Yellow-stone, topazes.
Κοράλλιον—Coral.
Στύραξ—Storax.
Λίβανος—Frankincense (Lôbân).