150 PERIOD OF ALEXANDER'S SUCCESSORS. [CHAP,

having only one mouth—a statement which is in strange contrast
with the reality. Pataliputra or Palibothra, Chandragupta's capital
city, is described as being situated at the junction of the Ganges
and the Erannaboas—near the site of the modern Patna—and as
forming a parallelogram So stades in length by 15 in breadth,
surrounded by a palisade loopholed for shooting through1. The
main road through the country—the Royal Road,
R2J Royal as it was called—connected the valleys of the Indus
and the Ganges. Starting from the former of these
rivers it crossed the Punjab, and passing the Hyphasis (Bias) and
the Zaradrus or Hesydrus (Sutlej), reached the Jomanes (Jumna),
and afterwards the Ganges in its upper course : then it continued
to the junction of that river with the Jumna, where Allahabad now
stands, and followed the course of the stream to Pataliputra, and
ultimately to its mouth8. As regards the climate,
Megasthenes notices the rainy season in summer,
caused by the south-west monsoon—which he calls
the Etesian winds—and the inundations which then took place.
As the landmarks were destroyed by these, in like manner as they
were in Egypt by the rising of the Nile, regular officials were ap-
pointed to determine the boundaries of properties j and they also
regulated the storage of water for agricultural purposes in canals
which admitted of being closed8.

The description furnished by Megasthenes of the administra-
Administra- ^on of ^ countrv> numerous details of which are
tion of the confirmed by the ancient Hindu codes of law, gives
evidence of an elaborate organisation. The various
functions which it involved were divided between three depart-
ments—(i) the superintendents of public works, (2) the superin-
tendents of the city, (3) the superintendents of the war depart-
ment All these were minutely subdivided, so that the various
classes of the population, both in town and country, and the
trades and occupations which they exercised, were carefully in-
spected, the births and deaths registered, the taxes collected, and
the public buildings and institutions maintained. We learn also.

1 Strabo, 15. i. 36; Arrian, 10:

2 Pliny, 6.63; cp. Strabo, 15. i.
* Strabo, 15. 1.13,50.

n.