Occupations > Historical disquisition concerning the knowledge which the ancients had of India; and the progress of trade with that country

AH
HISTORICAL DISQUISITION
CONCZRNINS
tAJVCIJEJVT
SECTION I.
Intercourse with India, from the earliest Times
until the Conquest of Egypt by the Romans.
hoever attempts to trace the operations of
men in remote times, and to mark the vari¬
ous steps of their progress in any line of ex¬
ertion, will soon have the mortification to find,
that the period of authentic history is extremely
limited. It is little more than three thousand
years since the Books of Moses, the most an¬
cient and only genuine record of what passed in
the early ages of the world, were composed.
Herodotus, the most ancient Heathen historian
whose works have reached us, flourishing a thou¬
sand years later. If we push our inquiries con¬
cerning any point beyond the era where written
history commences, we enter upon the region of
conjecture, of fable, and of uncertainty. Upon
that ground I will neither venture myself, nor
endeavour to conduct my readers. In my re-