The world: historical and actual . £1 5 f BRITISH INDIA. 403 to the same stock. But the connection is too re-mote and obscure to be traced in this volume. It isenough for our purpose to follow the footprints ofhistorical devel-opment. India is splen-did, yet mournfulin ruins. Fallentemples and de-caying pagodasattest a past whichis sealed from thevision of theirmysteries may beexplored and thegold of facts sep-arated from thedross of those mon-umental ruins aresurrounded by thewall of mystery. The first ap-pearance of Indiain history datesfrom B. C. 327,when Alex
The world: historical and actual . £1 5 f BRITISH INDIA. 403 to the same stock. But the connection is too re-mote and obscure to be traced in this volume. It isenough for our purpose to follow the footprints ofhistorical devel-opment. India is splen-did, yet mournfulin ruins. Fallentemples and de-caying pagodasattest a past whichis sealed from thevision of theirmysteries may beexplored and thegold of facts sep-arated from thedross of those mon-umental ruins aresurrounded by thewall of mystery. The first ap-pearance of Indiain history datesfrom B. C. 327,when Alexanderthe Great attemp-ted its intrepid armywas flushed withvictory over thePersians, and eag-er for • moreworlds to con-quer. India waslittle more to theGreeks than avague rumor, afabulous land ofwealth and lux-ury, a veritableEldorado. Butthe march itselfwas ENGLISH LIFE The Ganges was his goal, and no serious human obstacle impeded his course; butthe heat of the country melted the heroism of thebrave Greeks, and the sand choked their enterprise. The intrepid and dauntless Alexander spent twoyears in the country including the time spent in themarch thither and back, returning without a per-manent invasion wrasnot wholly fruit-less, culture ac-quired some ad-vantage from con-tact with whatmay probably beset down as theoldest of all ex-tant or knowncivilizations. Butno vital connec-tion was formedbetween the two,and India soondropped out ofthe great worldwith which an-cient history hasto do, leaving be-hind hardly asingle landmarkor trace of anykind. The first Euro-pean, after Alex-ander, to pene-trate to India andestablish relationswith it was the en-terprising Vascoda Gama, whoseexploits were toldhi connection withPortugal. Eor acentury the Por-tuguese enjoyed amonopoly of ori-ental commerce,and then came thein
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