Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/8

PREFACE. V THe present work has for its main object to show concisely wliat has been accomplished np to this time in this department of enquiry. It has been compiled from multifarious sources which are not easily accessible, as for instance from foreign publications not yet translated into our own language, and from the Journals and Transactions of various societies at home and abroad which concern themselves with Oriental literature. I venture therefore to hope that my com- pendium, which it has taken much time and laborious research to prepare, may meet with recognition and acceptance as a useful contri- bution to general literature, while proving also serviceable to scholars as a work of re- ference. I proceed now to indicate the method which I have followed in the treatment of my subject, and to specify the authorities on which I have principally relied. I have then, in an intro- ductory chapter, attempted to give a succinct account of the general nature of Ptolemy's geographical system, and this is followed by a translation of several chapters of his First Book which serve to exhibit his general mode of procedure in dealing with questions of Geo- graphy, and at the same time convey his views of the configuration of the coasts of India, both on this side the Ganges and beyond. In translating the text I have taken it in detach-