Page:Ancient India as described by Megasthenês and Arrian.djvu/163

 144 chain run parallel to the shores of the ocean. They are free and have no kings, and occupy the mountain heights, whereon they have huilt many cities. § Next follow the N a r e ee, enclosed by the loftiest of Indian mountains, Capitalia.|| § These tribes must have been located in Kachh, a moxmtainons tongue of land between the gnlf of that name and the Ran, where, and where only, in this region of India, a range of mountains is to be found running alonof the coast. The name of the MaltecorsB has attracted particular attention because of it^ resemblance to the name of the Martikhora {i. e, man-eater), a fabulous animal mentioned by Ktesias (Ctesice Indica, VII.) as found in India and subsisting upon human flesh. The Maltecorw were consequently supposed to have been a race of canni- bals. The identification is, however, regected by M. de St.-Martin. The Singhas are represented at the present day by the S&nghis of Omarkot (called the Song bv Mac- Murdo), descendants of an ancient R&jput tribe called the Singhfirs. The Marohsa are probably the Maruhas of the list of the Vardha SanhitA, which was later than Pliny's time by four and a half centuries. In the interval they were displaced, but the displacement of tribes was nothing unusual in those days. So the Rarungse may perhaps be the ancestors of the Bonghi or Bhanga now found on the banks of the Satl^ and in the neighbourhood of Dihli. II Capitalia is beyond doubfc the sacred Arbuda, or Mount A)t.t which, attaining an elevation of 6500 feet, rises far above any other summit of the Ar&vali ranp^e. The name of the NaresB recalls that of the Na'ir, which the Eftjput chroniclers apply to the northern belt of the desert (Tod, EAjasth6,n, II. 211) ; so St..Martin ; but according to Ge- neral Cunningham they must be the people of Sarui, or terms for ' a reed,' and the country of Sarui is still fa- mous for its reed-arrows. The same author uses the statement that extensive gold and silver mines were work- ed on the other side of Mount Capitalia in support of his theory that this part of India was the Ophir of Scripture, from which the Tyrian navy in the days of Solomon carried alhiy gold, a great plenty of almug-trees (red sandalwood), and precious stones (I Kings xii.)* His argument runs thus: — " The last name in Pliny's list is VaretatsB, which I would change to Vataretas by the transposition of two letters. This spelling is countenanced by the termination of the various read- Digitized by Google
 * the country of reeds, as nar and ear are synonymoua