E x tent
' A-Ni» Boum
SA RI ES.
between the 9th and 26th degree of north latitude j and between the •
92d and 107th degrees of longitude eaft of Greenwich ; abouit 1050
gebgraphical miles in length and 600 in breadth: thefe are the afcertainr
able limits, taken from the Birman accounts ; but it is probable that
their dominions ftretch ftill further to the north. It Ihould however be
remarked thafttlp ■ jMr^^i'j^ten-j?a®1e^ ?apd places very Ä
eonfiderable on what is called the eafternPeninfula.1”'3
'The geography of what is called India beyond the Ganges, a vague
name for the^ifle nnd variolas rregions between ^iipd^ftan andGhiba, is
ftill defective. To the .north the Birman empire is divided by mountains
ftom Afam, a country little vifited or known; and further , to the
/»pft ft borders on Tibet and China.. .QnJthe weft a range of mountains,
and the little river Naaf, divide the-Birman pofleflions from the Britifh
dominions ift Bengal j and the limit is continued by the fea. But the
fouthefn and eaftern boundaries,re main rather obfcure. If extended to
the 9th degree of latitude 'it"wifi 'include a-'confiderable jlortion^of the
grand Malaian peninfula to the vicinity of Bangri, or in other words tfte
province of Tanaferim and city ,Qf Merghi, formerly regarded as part
of Siam. The eaftem'boundary 'is yet mbre vague f if extended to the
107th degree of longitude, it might be faid to include almoft thq whole
of-,what isi called Jndia.beyond the'Ganges, .as fär ^rthe mönths^Qf ,the
Japanefe river in Cambodia ; -vyet-tbere Jleenis no exprefs evidence that
Siam is regarded as a portion of the Birman empire; and if it were it
would only-extend to 103 degrees. Amidft this uncertainty. |t :muft
faffice to obferve that the Birman empire conftitutes the 'fifth igtand
native power -in Afia, fince iHindoftan and Perfia :haVe been fftvidefl,
and may probably extend its. authority aver J^aps/anjl Cambodia; while
it remains-divided,:by deferts and ranges>of lofty, .mountains, from the
önited-kïngdoms ofi Cochin-China; and Tunquin.
Original The original .populationof this^region has been, little illuftrated., The
Population, alphabet,3literature, and: religion, are. derived from thofe of thé ;Hin-
doos; but the language, the grand criterion' of natiqnal origins,, has .nett
been regularly collated with thofe of the adjacent: countries.,*
3 Symea’s Account o f the embaffy to Ava, ii. 41 r.
* See vol. vi. of the Afiatic Refcarches.
The
. The prögreffive geography/ pf. this territory becomes not a little in-
tei‘f|ling,i f s* it ftâs
ptmoft boundary tpf knowledge in this quarter'of the glpjbe.4
Tie pjb^yes that what ch^fly characterizes th|£ fallen Gherionéfe of
Ptolemy if the iqoutft. of, a Ifrgç river, which tbçre divides itfejf into
tljree branches before it jyain^he fea.' K Thefe channels, appeared f9 con-
i|dep#hte thaGet.Gk n ,x|ver, :tfeê:^lhtyfoan,9?
the: P-aiahdass' |pd. .the 4dtabas, It mu§ he, ren^arkpd that Ptolemy givep
no natae ,to this, ïi.Ycr ab@î?e ïts division ; a$d that he do^es not indicate
ils fburee as heidoejS'JÜiaifcjof^the otheff, .It ,al£$ appears,that, he knew
nn>ihj.ng-Of the interior of this, eonptty^ft^eihjeidng^^hrideternuae. the
pofition of any place. It 'waiSi l^habit/sd hy a t^iqn:öf; robbers, whence
the. paftage through it was ftiunped, commerce
led to,.’,the country of the Sinæ, followed a route ,tft: of this
region. The other arguments of M,. G°®?lin, bring ‘ founded on
minute eireumftapees, ftiall be pafted in filpneg 5 hpt upon comparing
Ptolemy’s map with th^tof dhe eo.yntry, therç feems no manner of
doubt that the Golden Chftffeftf% fe # e fotftherp part , the Iring^qm
;of Pegu, which may be confidered as infulated by rivets. In the
fouthern part of the Malaian peninfula, which has hitherto heen regarded
a$ the Golden Giçrfonefe, thç river Johr fs. fa fmall a ftream,
that it could never have fupplied tfte three ijnpOrtant mouths noted by
Ptolemy ; and his delineation of the country of the Sinæ, ftretching
along a wejiern-î&a.x palpably correlponds with Tanaferim, while D ‘An-
ville’s map fomuch contradi<fts that , of Ptolemy, a^ tcoplace rhe fea oa
theeqft of the Sinæ, and proceeding to the northward, .inftead of, the
'fiuthward. In fliort there is bo doubt that though our ingeniqus French
geographer in a fubfequent work tpp much limited the ancient knowledge
of Africa,* yet in deferibing its Afiatic limits his proofs almoft
amount to mathematical demonftration. Additional advantages might
indeed have been derived from, that trtfly eminent geographer Mr,
Dalrymple’s map of India beyond the Ganges,,of which a fketch is pubf
* Geograpli. dès Qrecs Analyf. 139..
• Recherches fur la Géographie' des Anciens, .2 vota. 4to» The vôlûtires relative to the
.ancient knowledge "of Earçpe» - if they have appeared, have not yet reached Englasd.
vo l» ;i i . a A ■ * lifhed
P p.o g r e s -
s iV e G eo-
GRAPH Y.