Naturalis historia 6.81: Taprobane; the embassy of Rachias to Claudius

6.81

Taprobanen alterum orbem terrarum esse diu existimatum est Antichthonum appellatione. ut insulam liqueret esse Alexandri Magni aetas resque praestitere . Onesicritus, classis eius praefectus, elephantos ibi maiores bellicosioresque quam in India gigni scripsit, Megasthenes flumine dividi, incolasque Palaeogonos appellari, auri margaritarumque grandium fertiliores quam Indos. Eratosthenes et mensuram prodidit, longitudinis VII stadium, latitudinis V???, nec urbes esse, sed vicos DCCL .

CHAP. 24. (22.)—TAPROBANE. Taprobane, under the name of the "land of the Antich- thones," was long looked upon as another world: the age and the arms of Alexander the Great were the first to give satisfactory proof that it is an island. Onesicritus, the commander of his fleet, has informed us that the elephants of this island are larger, and better adapted for warfare than those of India; and from Megasthenes we learn that it is divided by a river, that the inhabitants have the name of Paleogoni, and that their country is more productive of gold and pearls of great size than even India. Eratosthenes has also given the dimensions of this island, as being seven thousand stadia in length, and five thousand in breadth: he states also that there are no cities, but villages to the number of seven hundred. It begins at the Eastern sea, and lies extended opposite to India, east and west. This island was in former times supposed to be twenty days' sail from the country of the Prasii, but in later times, whereas the navigation was formerly confined to vessels constructed of papyrus with the tackle peculiar to the Nile, the distance has been estimated at no more than seven days' sail, in reference to the speed which can be attained by vessels of our construction. The sea that lies between the island and the mainland is full of shallows, not more than six paces in depth; but in certain channels it is of such extraordinary depth, that no anchor has ever found a bottom.