Ancient India as _Described in Classical Literature. Translated and copiously
Annotated by W. McCrindle, LL.D. (A. Con- stable and Co. 7s. 6d. net.)—Dr. McCrindle concludes in this sixth volume his valuable work on India as described by Greek and Latin writers. Ktesias, Mega.sthenes, Arrian, Ptolemy, and the works of other geographers and historians have already appeared, and we now have a number of minor contributions to the same subject. This collection begins with extracts from Herodotus iii., a not very important matter. Strabo follows, and is more to the point, though he never went near the country. He is critical of the reports which travellers, genuine or pre- tended, had brought back, and not always with justice. Strabo, indeed, is not always accurate in his quotations. But his account is, on the whole, of great value. It is certainly superior to that of the elder Pliny, who was an industrious collector with very little power of discrimination. We have then in succession /Blum, the unknown writer of the Itinerarium Alexandri Magni (a work of the fourth century of the Christian era), Kosmas Indi- copleustes (Kosinsa, though pledged to support an absurd astro- nomical theory, was an actual traveller and observer, who saw Ceylon, if not mainland India), the various Brahmin writers (quoted in extract), and some incidental notices of India and the Indians from Clemens Alexandrinns, Dionysius Periogetes, Diodorns Siculus, and others. Dr. McCrindle has greatly benefited students of geography by his labours in this field.
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