with the famous patriarch Shem; and that his posterity lived there for several generations. Hence Balkh-Bamiyan is said to have been originally the place of abode of Abraham, Th. Hyde, p. 29. and 494. who, according to Scripture, and the Hindoo sacred books, removed with his father to distant countries westward."

"According to Diodorus the Sicilian, Bamiyan existed before Ninus: for this historian, like the Persian authors we have mentioned, has mistaken Bahlac for Bamiyan; which he describes as situated among steep hills; whilst Bahlac is situated in a low, flat country, and at a great distance from the mountains."

"The natives look upon Bamiyan, and the adjacent countries, as the place of abode of the progenitors of mankind, both before and after the flood. By Bamiyan and the adjacent countries, they understand all the country from Sistan to Samarcand, reaching toward the east as far as the Ganges. This tradition is of great antiquity, for it is countenanced equally by Persian authors, and by the sacred books of the Hindoos."

"According to the Puranas, Swayambhuva or Adima, Satyavrata or Noah, lived in the northwest parts of India about Cashmir."

"From particular circumstances it appears, that Satyavrata before the flood lived generally in the countries about the Indus, between Cabul and Cashmir; and if we find him in Dravira or the southern parts of the peninsula, it seems that it was accidentally, and that he went there only for some religious purpose. Even after the flood, he resided for some time on the banks of the Indus. According to tradition, which my learned friends here inform me is countenanced by the Puranas, he lived and reigned a long time at Bettoor, on the banks of the Ganges and to the south of Canoge."

"Thus, according to a uniform tradition, of a very long standing, as it is countenanced by the Hindoo sacred books, and Persian authors, the progenitors of mankind lived in that mountainous tract, which extends from Balkh and Candahar to the Ganges; we may then reasonably look for the terrestrial Paradise in that country; for it is not probable, that Adima and Adime or Iva should have retired to any great distance from it. Accordingly, we find there such a spot, as answers minutely to the Mosaical account; a circumstance, I believe, not to be met with any where else on the surface of the globe. A small brook winds through the Tagavis of Bamiyan, and falling into a small lake, divides itself into four heads, forming so many navigable rivers. "The first called Phison compasses the whole country of Chavila, where gold is found and the gold of that country is good: There is also bdellium and sardonyx." The country of Chavila is probably that of Cabul: it is a very ancient denomination for Ptolemy calls its inhabi

tants Cabolitæ, and the town itself Cabura, which is obviously a corruption from Cabul; so the Persian name for a shed or penthouse is indifferently pronounced Cabul and Cabur. Tradition says, that Cabul was built by an ancient king of that name; and the place where he lived, is still shewn near Cabul: they generally call him Shah Cabul. Gold is found in the sands of the Indus, above Derbend, but in greater quantity about Cabul-gram, to the north of Derbend, and in the rivers which fall into the Indus from the west. It is found also near the surface of the earth in these parts, but the natives are too indolent to dig for it. The gold found in the sands, I am told, is not so pure as that found by digging the earth to a considerable depth. This country abounds with divers sorts of precious stones, such as the lapis lazuli, the yacuth or hyacinth; crystal, marble of various colours, and razor stones of a superior quality. The Phison appears then to be the Landi-Sindh, or lesser Sindh, called also Nilab, from the colour of its waters, which are deep and limpid. This river is also denominated the Nila-Ganga, or simply Ganga, by Hindoos; and it is called Ganges by Isidorus, when he says that the best assafoetida grows on the mountains of Oscobagi, at the source of the Ganges. Oscobagi is obviously derived from Jeshu-Beg, the lord Jeshu, another name for the famous Rasala or Brongus, who dwelt at Bamiyan, whose colossal statue is to be seen there to this day, and of whom I shall speak more fully hereafter. The true name of that place commonly called Ybaug, and Jybuck by major Rennell, between Cabul and Balkh, is Ai Beg, Dominus Lunus, our Lord the Moon. There are in its vicinity, in the mountains, several curious remains of antiquity. Jerom says also, that the Phison was called Ganges in his time. They were both perfectly right; though it is almost certain, that they understood by it the great Ganges. Hesychius says, that the Phison was thus called, because it flowed from a fissure, gap, or mouth. If so, this appellation is synonymous with Cophes, the ancient name of the Landi-Sindh, as will appear hereafter."

"The second river was the Gihon, which compassed the land of Cush" this is the Hir-Mend; and the country is the original land of Cusha of the Puranas, which begins near Candahar, and includes part of Iran or Persia. In a former essay on Egypt, I had carried too far the eastern limits of that country.

"The third river is the Hiddekel, which runs toward, or through, the eastern parts of the land of Assur." This appears to be the river of Bahlac, which runs through the eastern part, and seems to have been once the eastern boundary of the land of Hassarah or Hazarah. This country extends from Herat to Bahlac and Bamiyan. From the unsettled disposition of its inhabitants, its boundaries cannot well be defined. They consider themselves as the aborigines of that country; and like the Arabs,

were never thoroughly subdued. They are very numerous and brave, but incapable of discipline. They are Mussulmen; but retain still many heathenish and superstitious customs, at least in the opinion of their neighbours. The principal tribes are the Daicandi, Taimani, &c. the first live between Herat and Dawer: and the others toward Marv-Shajehan. This is probably the country of Arsareth of the apocryphal book of Esdras. "The fourth is the Frat," of which no particulars are recorded. It is the river of Cunduz. "It appears from Scripture, that Adam and Eve lived afterward in the countries to the eastward of Eden; for at the eastern entrance of it, God placed the angel with the flaming sword. This is also confirmed by the Puranics, who place the progenitors of mankind on the mountainous regions between Cabul and the Ganges, on the banks of which, in the hills, they shew a place where he resorted occasionally, for religious purposes. It is frequented by pilgrims, and is called Swayambhuva-sthan: I have not been able yet to ascertain its situation, being but lately acquainted with it but I believe it is situated to the northwest of Sri-Nagar."

"At the entrance of the passes, leading to the place where I suppose was the Garden of Eden, and to the eastward of it, the Hindoos have placed a destroying angel, who generally appears, and is represented like a cherub; I mean Garuda, or the Eagle, upon whom Vishnu and Jupiter are represented riding. Garuda is represented generally like an eagle; but in his compound character, somewhat like the cherub, he is represented like a young man, with the countenance, wings, and talons of the eagle. In Scripture, the Deity is represented riding upon a cherub, and flying upon the wings of the wind. Garuda is called the Vahan, literally, the vehicle, of Vishnu or Jupiter, and he thus answers to the cherub of Scripture; for many commentators derive this word from the obsolete root C'harab in the Chaldean language, a word implicitly synonymous with the Sanscrit Vahan.

"The city of Bamiyan being represented as the fountain of purity and holiness, it was called with propriety Para-Bamiyan, or Bamiyan the pure and holy; for the same reason the district of Bamiyan might be called Paru-desa, or Para-desa, the pure and holy country. This district is now barren, and without a single tree. The sacred books of the Hindoos, and of the Bauddhists, do, however, declare most positively, that it was otherwise formerly. Tradition informs us also, that the number of inhabitants was at one period so prodigious, that the trees, underwood, grass, and plants were destroyed. The vegetable soil being no longer protected, was in the course of ages washed away by the rains. Certain it is, that the soil in the vallies is most fertile, and the whole district such as it is now, is still a most enchanting and delightful spot. The country to the eastward of Bami

yan, as far as the Indus, is the native country of the vine, and of almost all the fruit trees we have in Europe: there they grow spontaneously, and to a great degree of perfection. When the natives find a vine, an apple-tree, &c. in the forests, they clear all the wood about it, dig the ground, and by these means, the fruit comes to perfect maturity. When we are told in Scripture of Noah's cultivating the vine, we may be sure, that it was in its native country, or at least very near it."

We have ventured elsewhere to suppose, that the genealogy from Adam to Noah, is that of princes, &c. in the same country; and that Noah resided be fore the deluge, nearly on the same spot where afterward he quitted the ark, and which had been the original birthplace of mankind, at no very great distance from Paradise: though all distinction of Paradise, as to its supereminent fertility, &c. was, no doubt, destroyed by the waters. We shall add a few words from capt. Wilford on this subject.

"The summit of C'haisa-ghar is always covered with snow; in the midst of which are seen several streaks of a reddish hue, supposed by pilgrims to be the mark or impression made by the feet of the dove which Noah let out of the ark. For it is the general and uniform tradition of the country, that Noah built the ark on the summit of this mountain, and there embarked: that, when the flood assuaged, the summit of it first appeared above the waters, and was the resting place of the dove, which left the impression of her feet in the mud, which with time was hardened into a rock. The ark itself rested about half way up the mountain, on a projecting plain of a very small extent. There a place of worship was erected, near which is a caldron of copper of such dimensions, that one hundred maunds of food may be dressed in it at the same time. Near it is a hermitage inhabited by several Derveishes, and a little above, is a flag. The inhabitants of the country resort there occasionally on Fridays. With respect to the footsteps of the dove, they are known only by tradition, for the inhabitants of that country assert, that they have never heard of any body going up so high on account of the ruggedness of the mountain, and of the snow. The Bhauddhists, who were the first inhabitants of that country, are, I am told, of the same opinion as to the place where the ark rested; but hitherto I have been able to procure a single passage only from the Buddhadharma-charya-Sindha, in which it is declared that Shama or Shem, travelled first to the northeast, and then turning to the northwest, he arrived on the spot, where he built afterward the town of Bamiyan. Shama, they say, having descended from the mountain of C'haisa-ghar, travelled northeast, as far as the confluence of the Attock with the Indus; where he made Tapasya: he then proceeded northwest to Bamiyan."

"The Pauranics insist, that, as it is declared in their sacred books, that Satyavrata made fast the ark to the famous peak, called from that circumstance Nau-bandha, with a cable of a prodigious length; he must have built it in the adjacent country. Nau, a ship, and bandha, to make fast, is the name of a famous peak situated in Cashmir, three days journey to the north-northeast of the purganah of Lar. This famous place is resorted to by pilgrims, from all parts of India, who scramble up among the rocks to a cavern, beyond which they never go. A few doves, frightened with the noise, fly from rock to rock: these the pilgrims fancy to be their guides to the holy place, and believe, that they are the genuine offspring of the dove, which Noah let out of the ark. At all events, in the numerous legends, which I have extracted from the Puranas relating to Satyavrata and the ark, no mention is made of his letting out the dove."

"The mountains of Coh-Suleiman are sometimes called by the natives the mountains of the dove: the whole range as far as Gazni is called by Ptolemy the Paruetoi mountains, probably from the Parvata or Paravat, which signifies a dove.

"The followers of Buddha acknowledge that the ark might have been fastened to Nau-bandha near Cashmir; but surely they say, the ark could not have been riding perpendicularly above this peak, and such a vessel required a vast length of cable; in short, though the cable was made fast at Naubandha, the ark was riding above C'haisa-ghar. According to the Pauranics and the followers of Buddha, the ark rested on the mountain of Aryavarta, Aryawart or India, an appellation which has no small affinity with the Araraut of Scripture. These mountains were a great way to the eastward of the plains of Shinar or Mesopotamia, for it is said in Genesis, that, some time after the flood, people journeyed from the east, till they found a plain in the land of Shinar, in which they settled. This surely implies that they came from a very distant country to the eastward of Shinar. The region about TucktSuleiman is the native country of the olive-tree, and I believe the only one in the world. There are immense forests of it on the high grounds; for it does not grow in plains. From the saplings, the inhabitants make walking sticks, and its wood is used for fuel all over the country; and, as Pliny justly observes, the olive-tree in the western parts of India, is steril, at least its fruit is useless, like that of the oleaster. According to Fenestalla, an ancient author cited by Pliny, [N. Hist. lib. xii. cap. 6.] there were no olive-trees in Spain, Italy, or Africa, in the time of Tarquin the eldest. Before the time of Hesiod, it had been introduced into Greece: but it took a long time before it was reconciled to the climate, and its cultivation properly understood: for Hesiod says, that, whoever planted an olive-tree, never

lived to eat of its fruit. The olive-tree never was a native of Armenia; and the passage of Strabo, cited in support of this opinion, implies only, that it was cultivated with success in that country."

In justice to capt. Wilford I ought to remark, that several among the fathers of the Christian church, belived the Nile to be one of the rivers of Paradise; and whether they have not properly explained themselves, or indeed only reported, without justly understanding their own words; or whether because we ourselves were best acquainted with it, we have been led by them to look to the Egyptian Nile as what they referred to, and this river rising far enough south in Africa, to render the application ridiculous, it has been passed over with a smile: but if the Nilab or Indus was the river they referred to, then the words assume a very different meaning; and indeed they bear a testimony very consistent with that extracted from the Puranas.

This is further supported by Alexander's writing to his mother, when pretty far east, that he approached the head of the Nile. Some from hence have thought he meant the head of the Egyptian Nile: this, it appears, would have been void of sense and probability; but, if it was the Nilab to which he referred, then it proves at least the antiquity of this name, and it shews how the fathers might become acquainted with a Nile which was not Egyptian. But why should Alexander pay such attention to this river, or why desire to explore it? I connect this with his writing, that the gods had been human persons and dwelt on earth; with his wishing to pass for a son of Jupiter, who dwelt on mount Casius ; i.e. mount CauCASUS, and with the well known proverbial saying, that the head of the Nile [the residence of the gods?] had never been discovered.

If the foregoing suggestions be supposable, then we find it was not the Egyptian Nile whose head originally and primarily was the occasion of the proverb, but there was couched under the expression an allusion to a sentiment of pagan theology; and from the various opinions to which the question of the situation of Paradise has given rise among Jewish Rabbis, and Christian divines, we see the same inquiry equally embarrassing in another form. The reason for this ignorance might probably be, the prohibition among the Hindoos of passing these sacred rivers; which, if it be an early appointment, might be long maintained by tradition, though subsequent circumstances have since induced them to elude it. Our Plate comprises those countries which have been alluded to as the seat of Paradise.

We observe, 1st, that the head of the Egyptian Nile is very far south in Africa; and that between this source and the Euphrates, in Asia, there is such an intervention of land and water, as renders perfectly laughable the opinion of some, that these rivers might spring from the same source under ground, though they appeared so distant from each other above

ground. The Egyptian Nile must certainly be excluded from among the rivers of Paradise.

2dly, The idea which wished to find Paradise in Judea, as at Jerusalem, or in Phenicia, or Syria, is evidently erroneous, as no lake thereabouts is capable of furnishing four streams from one reservoir.

3dly, The same, I think, must be said of the notion of Huetius, who placed Paradise on the lower branches of the Euphrates and Tigris: two streams above the garden running into it, and the same two streams below the garden running out of it, could never be the four heads which Moses describes.

4thly, The situation of Paradise, in Armenia, where the heads of the Euphrates and Tigris spring, where the head of the Araxes, and a branch of the Phasis, rise not very distant, according to the best accounts we are able to procure of that country, which yet are not altogether satisfactory, has many plausibilities in its favour. Nevertheless, there is this to be said against it, that mankind could not journey from the East to Babylon, if Armenia was the seat of Noah's deliverance; and if that seat was adjacent to Paradise, as we have uniformly supposed. [The reader will consider what we have said on the nature of Paradise, in loc.]

5thly, The situation of Paradise on mount Caucasus, unites all those requisites which we conceive were necessary to coincide with the Mosaic narration. Mountains furnish the sources of rivers: many rivers

rise in these mountains. Paradise furnished four rivers; four rivers rise adjacently in these mountains. Mankind travelled from the East to Babylon; these mountains are east of Babylonia. But the names of these rivers are utterly unlike those of Moses: they appear so at present; yet, perhaps, when their ancient names, or their import, as descriptive appellations, shall be ascertained in both languages, this may be reconciled; and this requires, and deserves, reconciliation.

It should be noticed that there are two rivers known in antiquity by the name of Araxes; 1st, that laid down in our map under that title; 2dly, the Oxus or Jihon; for that this river was meant to be described by Herodotus under the name Araxes, as also it is by Strabo, is rendered very probable by major Rennell, Geog. Herodotus, p. 205, 206. This Jihon, or Araxes, the Swift, is one of the rivers of the Caucasean Paradise.

Those places which have been proposed as situations of the garden of Paradise, are marked in our map by circles of dots: nobody can imagine that we mean to indicate them with any precision; we merely wish to denote that an extent of country was probably included in this highly finished Garden of Pleasure. The reader will judge on the nature, &c. of each of these countries, and will accept, as perfectly open to assent or dissent, every sentiment contained in this endeavour to assist his determination.

It has something of the appearance of romance to attempt, at this period of time, to demonstrate, or accurately to describe, the form and the construction of that very ancient edifice, the ark of Noah: it seems, at the mere mention of it, like proposing an effort of imagination, rather than a result of cool reasoning, and a matter of fact. Nevertheless, as we ventured when considering in its place that passage of Genesis where the history of the ark is related, to differ from representations customary on the subject, it may become us to support our opinion, by what may be accepted as authority. We shall place first our assistance derived from Scripture: and then shall advert to memoranda, preserved by other families, and other settlements, of mankind.

The ark of Noah, Gen. vi. &c. is called tebeh, or thebeh, or thebet: this name is given also, and only, to the ark of bulrushes in which Moses was preserved, Exod. ii. 3, 5. it signifies a hollow, empty, void: meaning, I presume, not an open basket, or any other open receptacle, but a strictly closed, shut up, coffer, box, or trunk; and this idea of a trunk is what seems most suitable to the use of it; as an infant might be securely enclosed in a trunk, and a trunk would float on the waters safely. The word thebet I apprehend does not designate the form, but the nature of this vehicle.

Having ventured to describe the ark of Noah, as merely a variation from the customary construction of houses for residence, and to change its character, from that of a house for standing, to that of a house for floating, we shall in the first place compare it with the ordinary houses of the East, [vide fig. 1. on our Plate, which is from Niebuhr's Travels in Arabia] observing, that their sides are constructed of upright supports, quarterings, of timber, and these are plas tered over with clay, as this on our Plate appears to be, both externally and internally; so far our sentiments are justified by this figure. As to the application of canes, split and laid across these quarterings, as we have supposed, in loc. the usage of laths is so similar, so common among us, and the idea is so simple and natural, that merely to mention it is enough. The same may be said of the coating with bitumen. [On the subject of filling the interstices between the timbers, &c. with bitumen, it is curious enough that a patent should lately have been obtained, in this country, in favour of the very same principle, the practice of which is as old as Noah !]

We find, Gen. vi. 16. that the ark was to have "a door in the side thereof;" this is indispensably necessary, for the purpose of ingress and egress; and our figure shews, that such is the station of the door, in the houses of Arabia. Besides this, a window,