Alexander the Great, in his irruption into India , after he had overrun Persia , amongst the many things he stole,—stole that sentiment also; by which means it was carried, if not all the way by himself (for we all know he died at Babylon ), at least by some of his maroders, into Greece ,—from Greece it got to Rome ,—from Rome to France ,—and from France to England :⸺So things come round.⸺
By land carriage, I can conceive no other way.⸺
By water the sentiment might easily have come down the Ganges into the Sinus Gangeticus , or Bay of Bengal , and so into the Indian Sea ; and following the course of trade (the way from India by the Cape of Good Hope being then unknown), might be carried with other drugs and spices up the Red Sea to Joddah , the port of Mekka , or else to Tor or Sues , towns at the bottom of the gulf; and from thence by karrawans to Coptos , but three days’ journey distant, so down the Nile directly to Alexandria , where the sentiment would be landed at the very foot of the great staircase of the Alexandrian library,⸺and from that storehouse it would be fetched.⸻Bless me! what a trade was driven by the learned in those days!