The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s1.t3.15

c6.s1.t3.15

The name of *Præsti* given by Curtius* might, according to Wilson, be applied to a people occupying the *thals*, or "oases," of the desert. He refers to *Prastha*, or *Prasthala*, as derived from *sthala*, the Sanskrit form of the vernacular *thal*, which is the term generally used to designate any oasis in Western India. But as the name is simply *Præsti*, I think that it may rather be referred to *prastha*, which means any clear piece of level ground, and might therefore be applied to the plain country about Larkâna, in contradistinction to the neighbouring hilly districts of Sehwân and Gandâva. It seems possible, however, that it may be connected with the *Piska* of Ptolemy, which he places on the lower course of the small stream that flows past *Oskana* into the Indus.