eastward of Cape Comorin, is regarded as a supplement to his work, and is hence designated the Sequel to the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea The first place mentioned in it after leaving Kolkhi, is the bay of Argalus where the pearls brought from the island of Epiôdorus, supposed to b Manar, were perforated; and where, also, the fine muslins called Ebargeitides were sold. Proceeding along the Coromandel coast, the author enumerates certain marts called Kámara, Padooka, and Sôpatma, which carried on an extensive trade with the sea port of Limúrikè. He next notices the island of Palaisimoondus, (the Taprobana of other ancient authors) or Ceylon, which he describes as a country of great extent, "the northern part of which" is civilized and frequented by vessels, equipped with masts and sails; and returning thence to the coast beyond or to the north of the marts above mentioned, he gives a brief account of a district called Masalia, which is evidently the modern Masulipatam. The portion of the sequel, which is descriptive of this place and of countries farther to the east, forms the subject of the following remarks. It is thus translated by Dr. Vincent :-- "Masalia, a district which extends far inland. In this country a great quantity of the finest muslins are manufactured. And from Masalia the course lies eastward, across a bay, to Dêsarênè, where the ivory is procured, of that species called Bôsaré. "Leaving Desarênè the course is northerly, passing a variety of barbarous tribes; one of which styled Kirrhadæ, a savage race, with noses flattened to the face. Another tribe are the Bargoosi; and there are others distinguished by the projection of the face like that of the horse, (or by its length from the forehead to the chin ;) both which tribes are said to be cannibals. "After passing these, the course turns again to the east, and sailing with the coast on the left, and the sea on the right, you arrive at the Ganges, and the extremity of the continent towards the east called Khrusè [or the Golden Chersonese.] "The Ganges is the largest river of India; it has an annual increase and decrease, like the Nile; and there is a mart on it of the same name, through which passes a considerable traffic, consisting of the Gangetic spikenard, pearls, betel and the Gangetic muslins, which are the finest manufacture of the sort. "In this province also there is said to be a gold mine, and a gold coin called Kaltis. "Immediately after leaving the Ganges, there is an island in the ocean called Khrusè, or the Golden Isle, which lies directly under the rising sun and at the extremity of the world towards the east. This island produces the finest tortoise-shell that is found throughout the whole of the Erythrean Sea. "But still beyond this, immediately under the north, at a certain point where the exterior sea terminates, lies a city called Thina, not on the coast, but inland; from which both the raw material and manufactured silk are brought by land, through Bactria to Barugáza, or else down the Ganges [to Bengal] and thence by sea to Limúrikè, or the coast of Malabar. "To Thina itself the means of approach are very difficult; and from Thina some few [merchants] come, but very rarely: for it lies [very far reuote] under the constellation of the Lesser Bear, and is said to join the confines of the Euxine Sea, the Caspian, and the Lake Meotis, which issues at the same mouth with the Caspian into the Northern Ocean. "On the confines, however, of Thina, an annual fair or mart is estabished: for the Sesatæ, who are a wild, uncivilized tribe, assemble there with their wives and children. They are described as a race of men, squat, and thick set, with their face broad, and their nose greatly depressed. The articles they bring for trade are of great bulk and enveloped in mats or sacs, which in their outward appearance resemble the early leaves of the vine. Their place of assembly is between their own borders and those of Thina, and here spreading out their mats [on which they exhibit their goods for sale], they hold a feast [or fair] for several days, and at the conclusion of it, return to their own country in the interior. "Upon their retreat, the Thina, who have continued on the watch, repair to the spot, and collect the mats which the strangers left behind at their departure; from these they pick out the haulm, which is called Petros, and drawing out the fibres, spread the leaves double, and make them up into balls, and then pass the fibres through them. Of these balls there are three sorts-the large, the middle-sized, and the small; in this form they take the name of Malabathrum : and under this de nomination, the three sorts of that masticatory are brought into Indi by those who prepare them. "All the regions beyond this [towards the north] are unexplored either on account of the severity of the winter, the continuance of the frost, or the difficulties of the country; perhaps also the will of the gods has fixed these limits to the curiosity of man."* Such is Arrian's description of the northern part of the Bay of Ben gal, and of the countries of the farther East. He professes to trace the course of the navigation from Masulipatam eastward, but is so vague and obscure in his narrative as to lead us to conclude that he never visited this part of India. He delineates a line of coast from Desarene to the Ganges which is entirely imaginary, and places on it people that may be recognized by their names, as tribes which are referred by the Hindoos to the interior of the country. In geographical accuracy, the Sequel is certainly inferior to the first portion of the Periplus, wherein the places on the western coast of India visited by Arrian himself are described, but in other respects it may be considered as equally correct, since most of the countries, tribes, productions, and customs that are mentioned in it, admit of being identified in the present day. Masalia is evidently the Mosolia of Ptolemy, the site of which is referred by D'Anville to that of Masulipatam or Masalipatam, as it is written in some books of travels. ted for its cotton fabrics. Tavernier mentions as the peculiar manufacture of this place, "painted calicuts" or pencilled cloths, "called Calmendar," the finest qualities of which were perhaps the sindones (translated muslins) which are here alluded to by Arrian. He also speaks of Masulipatam as possessing the best anchorage in the Bay of Bengal, and as being the principal port on the Coromandel coast, from which vessels sailed to Pegu, Siam, Arracan, Bengal, Cochin China, Ormus, Madagascar, Sumatra, and Manilla. A city called Tarnassari, § which stood in the vicinity of Masulipatam, is mentioned Masulipatam has long been celebra * Vincent's Periplus of Erythrean Sea, vol. II. page 523-528. Tavernier's Travels in India, Book I. Part II. Chap. XI. + Ibid. Book II. Chap. X. § Tarnassari, which Dr. Vincent mentions, he could not find in modern maps, but the site of which, he supposes, may have been between Pulechat and Bengal, is laid down in a map attached to Sir Thomas Herbert's Travels (p. 336) on the banks by Barthema and Vertomannus,* who visited India between the years 490 and 1502, as the port whence they sailed direct to Bengal. This locality, indeed, appears from the earliest times to have been the point on the Coromandel coast from which most of the vessels destined for distant ports, took their departure; and it may therefore be regarded, as identical with the emporium situated in Mosolia, and mentioned by Pulemy as the place unde solvunt qui in Chrysam navigant, or with the Masalia of the Sequel, whence vessels sailed to Desarene. The bay, across which the course is mentioned as extending eastward, can be no other, with reference to the position assigned to it, than the upper or northern part of the Bay of Bengal, stretching from Masulipatam to Balasore. No account is given of the ships in which the navigation of this part of the bay was made, but doubtless they were silar to the vessels that frequented the ports of Kamara, Padooka, and Sopatma on the Coromandel coast, where, according to Arrian, were found "the native vessels, which make coasting voyages to Limúrikè, the Monoxyla of the largest size called Sangara, and others styled Colandiophonta, which are vessels of great bulk and adapted to voyages made to the Ganges and the golden Chersonese." The Sangara vessels, (ysa) named Monoxyla by the Greeks, are met with in various parts of India, and are used both in coasting and inland navigation.+ In some of the eastern districts of Bengal as Dacca, Sylhet, and Mymensing, this kind of boat is called Saranga; it consists, as the Greek term Movou or implies, of one tree or timber, which is scooped cut to form the hull of the vessel,§ two or more tiers of planks being graerally placed on each side to enlarge its dimensions. Large canoes of this kind are common in Assam. The Bulam boats of Chittagong, of the Kistna at some distance inland from Masulipatam. In Nieuhoff's Travels, A. D. 1662) it is placed on the south side of the river Nagunda, in the site, appareatly, of Temerycotta. * Vertomannus's Voyages, R. Eden. London, A. D. 1576. + Pliny mentions that the Monoxyla of the Malabar coast were used for transporting pepper from the interior. From moves one, and Suhov wood. i Dr Clarke mentions boats of this kind on the Don. (Vide Clarke's Travels in Russia, Tartary and Turkey.) In the South Seas, two of these canoes are joined together by transverse planks forming a kind of deck. The Jangar (Sangara?) of the Malabar coast is a double platform canoe of this description. and the Goddo vessels of Arracan, are Monoxyla of a large size, and like those mentioned in the text, are used in coasting navigation These vessels are built of several rows of planks firmly fastened together with coir and ratan. Methold, speaking of the trade between Benga and Masulipatam early in the 17th century, remarks: "Once a year there arriveth at Masulipatam from thence a fleet of small vessels of burden about 20 tons, the planks only sewed together with cairo (a kind of cord made of the rinds of cocoanuts and no iron in or about them)." (Vide Purchas's Pilgrims). The voyage, however, from the Coromandel Coast to the Ganges, was performed, not only in monoxyla, but also in vessels called Colandiophônta, which appear to have been ships of considerable burthen and constructed for sailing on the open sea. Fa Hian, who visited India about the close of the 4th century of our era, alludes to large-sized vessels, which, in all probability, were identical with the Colandiophônta here mentioned. He states that on proceeding to To-mo-li-ti, a city situated at the confluence of the Ganges with the sea, he found a number of merchants embarking in large ships to sail to the south-west; that he took a passage in one bound for Ceylon: and that the wind being favourable, the north-west monsoon having set in, he arrived there in fourteen days. The region called Dêsarênè (Aŋo apnn) situated across a bay and eastward of Masalia, is supposed by some, to be northern Circars-by others, to be Orissa. That it is not the latter province, however, is certain from the fact of Utcala or Orissa, and Désárána or Desarene being mentioned as different countries in the Brahmanda Purana; both being included with Traipura or Tipperah among the kingdoms belonging to the empire of Bharata, and situated behind the mountains of Vindhya.† The term Dêsarênè on the supposition that it is a compound of the words des a country, and aruni a wilderness or forest, might be regarded as referring to the extensive tract of jungle on the southern part of Bengal, viz., the Sunderbunds bordering on the sea. Arrian, however, *To-mo-li-ti is supposed to be the Tamaralipta of the Mahabharat or the Tamalipti of the Puranas. It is regarded as the modern Tumlook (Vide Professor Wilson's Account of Fa Hian's Travels in the Journal of the Royal As. Society, No. IX. page 138.) 337. "Wilford's Essay on the Sacred Isles of the West." As. Res. Vol. VIII. page |