Note 18 — CHAPTER 4
Reading edition
Most likely the Swatis, or people of Swat, described by Mr. Elphinstone (Vol. I. p. 506) as of Indian origin, and as possessing a kingdom from the Hydaspes to Jalalabad, the Souastene of Ptolemy. [Souastēnē is the basin of the Souastos, the river of Swāt, the original form of the name being Subhavastu, which, by the usual mode of contraction, becomes Subhāstu or Suvāstu (McCrindle, Ptolemy, 106 f.). It seems hardly likely that this tribe interfered in the politics of the Indian desert.]