568 Colonel Tod's Observations on a Gold Ring found at Montrose. 



Caspian and Euxine were, according to Plato and the most ancient writers, 

 the abodes of the first colonists of Greece and Etriuia, and hence the 

 affinity of the Gothic, Celtic, Etruscan, and Greek languages, will 

 cease to surprise, or that all these should reverence the universal mother, 

 Esa, the goddess, par eminence. 



The names of the tribes which peopled the north, as the Saca-sens 

 {Saxons), the Getes or Yeuts {Yeutland), the Su, Suiones, and Suevi 

 {Sxceden), and Asi, are known to Hindu history with scarcely any variation, 

 which recognizes the Sacas, the Catii, the Su, Yuti, a branch of the Getes 

 or Jits, and Aswas, amongst its ancient martial tribes.* 



The first Asiatic colonies of the north appear to have retained the name 

 ofGete ; those who followed them that of Asi. They were divided into the 

 'xhite and black Asiatics or Asi, tiie Getes being particularly fair, " mais les 

 " aulres sont plus Jbnces, plus jaimes que le goudron."f The abode of the first 

 was Asi-gard {region of the Asi , of the other Midgard.t or central region. 



The goddess Klimba of these northern tribes has all the characteristics 

 as well as the name of the Kali-amba, or Black Mother, of the Hindus, and, 

 like her, has her abode on the mountain top, where her votaries repaired to 

 consult their destiny. She was particularly the goddess of herdsmen and 

 agriculturists, and the same as Ops, Terra Mater, the Hertha of the Germans. 

 She was also called Laima, Fortune or Fate ; and " fragments of ancient 

 " hymns are still sung by the peasants at their popular festivals (in Livo- 

 " nia), in which the beneficent goddess is celebrated under the endearing 

 " name of Laima Mahmina, or Mother Goodluck."§ Here we have not 

 only the name of Mahama, " the Great Mother," and Ella-ma or Laima, 

 Mother Earth, but all her characteristic qualities ; and even in the little 

 titmouse, the bird of ornery of Klimba or Laima, we have the parallel to the 

 bird of omen of Kali-ma, the black mother of the Hindus, 



When, therefore, besides the nominal resemblance of the tribes, we find 



* See Hist, of the Rajpoot Tribes, vol. i. Annals of Rajast'han. 



f Rcmarques sur la Mythologie du Nord par Jiens Wolff; and Hallet's Northern Antiquities. 



\ Media-Gar, or Med-Gar, would be " central region, " from ' medya,' Central, and ' gar,' a 

 refion in the language of India, whether indigenous or exotic I know not : thus Tiiar-gar, 

 region or abode of the Titars ; Cuchwa-gar, abode of the Cuchuas. So Mewar classically is 

 Med-pat, or centralflat, or Med-war, central region. 



§ Illustrations of Northern Antiquities, p. 460. With that beautiful romantic ballad " Libqssa," 

 and the valuable notes appended to it, the lover of oriental mythology will be delighted. 



