Ἰνδικά 25: Strabo XV, p. 702

25

Ἐπὶ δὲ τῇ συμβολῇ τούτου (τοῦ Γάγγου) τε καὶ τοῦ ἄλλου ποταμοῦ τὰ Παλίβοθρα ἱδρύσθαι (sc. Μεγασθένης φησι) σταδίων ὀγδοήκοντα τὸ μῆκος, πλάτος δὲ πεντεκαίδεκα, ἐν παραλληλογράμμῳ σχήματι, ξύλινον περίβολον ἔχουσαν κατατετρημένον, ὥστε διὰ τῶν ὀπῶν τοξεύειν· προκεῖσθαι δὲ καὶ τάφρον φυλακῆς τε χάριν καὶ ὑποδοχῆς τῶν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἀπορροιῶν. Τὸ δ’ ἔθνος, ἐν ᾧ ἡ πόλις αὕτη, καλεῖσθαι Πρασίους, διαφορώτατον τῶν πάντων· τὸν δὲ βασιλεύοντα ἐπώνυμον δεῖ τῆς πόλεως εἶναι Παλίβοθρον καλούμενον, πρὸς τῷ ἰδίῳ τῷ ἐκ γενετῆς ὀνόματι, καθάπερ τὸν Σανδρόκοττον, πρὸς ὃν ἧκεν ὁ Μεγασθένης πεμφθείς.

According to Megasthenes the mean breadth (of the Ganges) is 100 stadia, and its least depth 20 fathoms. At the meeting of this river and another is situated Palibothra, a city eighty stadia in length and fifteen in breadth. It is of the shape of a parallelogram, and is girded with a wooden wall, pierced with loopholes for the discharge of arrows. It has a ditch in front for defence and for receiving the sewage of the city. The people in whose country this city is situated is the most distinguished in all India, and is called the Prasii. The king, in addition to his family name, must adopt the surname of Palibothros, as Sandrakottos, for instance, did, to whom Megasthenes was sent on an embassy. [This custom also prevails among the Parthians, for all are called Arsakai, though each has his own peculiar name, as Orodes, Phraates, or some other.]
Then follow these words : —
All the country beyond the Hupanis is allowed to be very fertile, but little is accurately known regarding it. Partly from ignorance and the remoteness of its situation, everything about it is exaggerated or represented as marvellous : for instance, there are the stories of the gold-digging ants, of animals and men of peculiar shapes, and possessing wonderful faculties ; as the Seres, who, they say, are so long-lived that they attain an age beyond that of two hundred years. They mention also an aristocratical form of government consisting of five thousand councillors, each of whom furnishes the state with an elephant.
According to Megasthenes the largest tigers are found in the country of the Prasii, &c. (Cf. Fragm. XII.)