certainly far from improbable, seeing that the Indians are nearly the only race of people who have never migrated from their own territories. From the time of Father Liber[316] to that of Alexander the Great, one hundred and fifty-three kings of India are reckoned, extending over a period of six thousand four hundred and fifty-one years and three months. The vast extent of their rivers is quite marvellous; it is stated that on no one day did Alexander the Great sail less than six hundred stadia[317] on the Indus, and still was unable to reach its mouth in less than five months and some few days: and yet it is a well-known fact that this river is not so large as the Ganges.[318] Seneca, one of our fellow-countrymen, who has written a treatise[319] upon the subject of India, has given its rivers as sixty-five in number, and its nations as one hundred and eighteen. The difficulty too would be quite as great, if we were to attempt to enumerate its mountains. The chains of Emaüs, of Emodus, of Paropanisus, and of Caucasus, are all connected, the one with the other; and from their foot, the country of India runs down in the form of a vast plain, bearing a very considerable resemblance to that of Egypt. However, that we may come to a better understanding relative to the description of these regions, we will follow in the track of Alexander the Great. Diognetus and Bæton, whose duty it was to ascertain the distances and length of his expeditions, have written that from the Caspian Gates to Hecatompylon, the city of the Parthians, the distance is the number of miles which we have already[320] stated; and that from thence to Alexandria,[321] of the Arii, which city was founded by the same king, the distance is five hundred and seventy-five miles; from thence to Prophthasia,[322] the city of the Drangæ, one hundred and ninety-nine; from thence to the city of the Arachosii,[323] five hundred and sixty-five; from thence to Ortospanum,[324] one hundred and seventy-five; and from thence to the city built by Alexander,[325] fifty, miles. In some copies, however, the numbers are found differently stated; and we find this last city even placed at the very foot of Mount Caucasus! From this place to the river Cophes[326] and Peucolaitis, a city of India, is two hundred and thirty-seven miles; from thence to the river Indus and the city of Taxilla[327] sixty; from thence to the famous river Hydaspes[328] one hundred and twenty; and from thence to the Hypasis,[329] a river no less famous, two hundred and ninety miles, and three hundred and ninety paces. This last was the extreme limit of the expedition of Alexander, though he crossed the river and dedicated certain altars[330] on the opposite side. The dispatches written by order of that king fully agree with the distances above stated.