Page:History of India Vol 9.djvu/54

28 ACCOUNT OF INDIA BY STRABO current, which contains many other singular circum- stances and differs from every other writer, particu- larly in saying that Alexander advanced as far as the Ganges. Krateros says that he himself saw the river and the sea monsters which it produces; and his ac- count of its magnitude, breadth, and depth far exceeds, rather than approximates, probability. It is generally agreed that the Ganges is the largest of known rivers in the three continents; the next in size is the Indus; the third is the Istros (Danube); and the fourth, the Nile. But different authors differ in their account of the Ganges, some assigning thirty, others three, stadia as the least breadth. Megasthenes, however, says that its ordinary width is one hundred stadia, and its least depth twenty orguiai (about 120 feet). At the confluence of the Ganges and of another river there is situated (the city of) Palibothra, in length eighty stadia, and in breadth fifteen stadia. It is in the shape of a parallelogram, surrounded by a wooden wall pierced with openings through which arrows may be discharged. In front is a ditch, which serves the purpose of defence and of a sewer for the city. The people in whose country the city is situated are the most distinguished of all the tribes, and are called Prasioi. The king, besides his family name, has the surname of Palibothros, as the king to whom Megas- thenes was sent on an embassy had the name of San- drokottos. 1 The Parthians have a similar custom, for 1 Sandrokottos is Chandragupta, mentioned frequently in connection with Alexander in the second volume of the present series.