which more hereafter. The People of the same nature and disposition, in the elder times, as those which
did inhabit on the hither side of the Ganges: not so well known to the Greeks or Romans as the others were,
by reason of the remoteness of their situation; nor so well discovered at the present. So that the best Ac∣compt
we shall be able to give of it, will no: be so exact and punctual as of that before: with reference
either to the estate hereof in the times of the Ancients, or the affairs of it in these dates.
Mountains of most note in it, 1. Bepyrrus, 2. Maeandrus, 3. Semanthinus; and 4 these called Da∣masi,
touched upon before, in our general discourse of India. Out of which, and from other Springs,
flow these following Rive••s, 1. Catabeda, 2. Bocosanna, 3. Sadus, 4. Temala, 5. Besynga, 6. Chry∣saoras,
7. Polanaas, 8. Attabas, these three last in the part hereof called the Golden Chersonese. 9.
Daonas, and 10. Dorias, rising out of the Mountains called Damasi. Others there are whose names
I meet with in my Author, but of no great note: by what names any of them now distinguished, it is hard
to say. Nor find I any who have dared to adventure on it.
Of the chief Towns, 1. Balanga, 2. Cirtatha, 3. Tasile, 4. Tagma, and 5. Malthura,
have the name of being the Metropoles of their several Nations. 6. Triglyphon, only honoured with the
name of Regia; more memorable perhaps for the white Crows, and bearded Hens, which are said to
have been thereabouts, than for being the Seat-Royal of some petit Prince. After these 1. Sada, on
the banks of the River Sadus, 2. Samba, 3. Sabara, 4. Col••, 5. Zabae, and 6. Sinda, have the
name of Cities. 7. Baracura, 8. Berabonna, 9. Bobynga, 10. Tacola, 11. Sabana, and 12. Thi∣bon
b••stus, are marked out for the most noted Emportes, or Towns of trade; the memory of Sabana
being still preserved in the Frith of Sabaor, betwixt this Chersonese and Sumatra. Others there are not no∣ted
by those special Adjuncts, of which, 1. Cocconagaoa, and 2. Balonoa, in the Golden Chersonese;
3. Rhandamarcotta, in the Midlands, 4. Pentapolis, neer the mouth of Ganges called Antibolum;
5. Agm••gara, neer the Bay called ••inus Magnus; and 6. Corygaza, one of the principal Towns of
the 〈◊〉〈◊〉, may be some of the chief.
The old Inhabitants hereof, besides the Marandae last spoken of, were the Gangarides, and Gan∣gaent,
inhabiting on the banks of Ganges; the Tacorae: bordering on the Mountain Bepyrrus; as the
Tilaedae on Maeand••us; and the Ammachae, and Cabo••aeh, neer the hills called Damasi. The Basadae,
said to be crooked, short, and thick; but of a cheerful aspect, and cleer complexion: of which compo∣sition
also the inhabitants of the Golden Chersonese were observed to be: the Barrae, and Cudutae, on the
Bay called Sinus Magnus; the Lestori, a Theevish and Piratical people, who lived in Caves, and were affirm∣ed
to be of so hard a skin, that it was not penetrable by an Arrow These, with the rest, too many to be here
recited, the issue in most likelyhood of Chavilath and Saba the sonnes of Joktan; of whom we find so many
footsteps in Sabara Civitate, Sabaraco Sinu, Sabana Emporio, Sobanus Fluvio; and in the Countreys
now called Ava, and the Kingdom of Cavelan. Of any of their actions we find little in antient stories,
or of the power of any of their former Kings: but that it was given out in the time of Alexander, that
beyond the Ganges lived a Prince called Aggramen••s (the most powerfull King of all those Countreys)
able to bring into the field 200000 Foot, 20000 Horse, 3000 Elephants, and 2000 armed Chariots.
With which report though Alexander was the more inflamed to trie masteries with him; yet his Soul∣diers
were so terrified with it (remembring the hard bout which they had with Porus) that no perswasions
could prevail with them to go further Eastward. Nor hear we much of them after this, unless the conver∣sion
of the Indians in the time of Constantine, may be applyed to those on that side of the River, as per∣haps
it may.
As for the later observations and discoveries of it, we find it (as most barbarous Countreys else till redu∣ced
to Order) dismembred and subdivided into many estates, almost as many Realms as Cities, and di∣stinct
governments amongst them, as Tribes and Nations. Most of them Gentiles in Religion, with whom
the name of Christ and Christianity not so much as heard of, till the comming of the Jesuites thither; who
have not onely obtained leave, but some invitations, for the promoting of the Gospel. And for Maho∣metamsm,
though it had got some footing on the Sea-coasts of the Golf of Bengala, as lying most convenient
for the trade of the Arabian Merchants: yet on the North, and midland parts, and those towards China,
and the Oriental Seas, it was as little heard of as Christianity. But for the Kingdoms of this part, I mean
the chief of them, to which as many of the rest as are worth the looking after are to be reduced, they
are those of, 1. Brama or Barma, 2. Cauchin-China, 3. Camboia, 4. Jangoma, 5. Siam, and
6. Pegu.