ANTIyMTY OF WHITING. 377 



impart. Mr. Hulhed hints, that the learning of Hindustan ini^lit 

 hare b -n transplanted into Egypt, and thus hare become familiar 

 to Moses*. However this may be, several authors a^ree in opi. 

 nion, that the ancient Egyptians possessed themselves of the trade 

 of the East by the Red Sea ; and that they carried on a consider- 

 able traffic with the Indian nations before the time of Sesostris, 

 Mho was contemporary with Abraham T. The Red Sea was called 

 by the ancients the Indian Sea ; and they usually denominated the 

 Ethiopians, and the rest of the nations under the torrid zone, In- 

 dians +. 



A translation of the Indian book called Bugavadam, one of the 

 eighteen Pouranam, or sacred books of the Gentoos, hath lately 

 been published in France. This translation was made by Meridas 

 Poulle, a learned man of Indian origin, and chief interpreter to 

 the supreme council of Pondicherry ; and was sent by him to M. 

 Bertin, his protector, in 176Q. This Bagavadam, or divine his. 

 tory, claims au antiquity of above five thousand years. Monsieur 

 Poulle tells us, in his preface, that the book was composed by Vias- 

 ser the son of Brahma, and is of sacred authority amongst the wor- 

 shippers of V ischnow. The language of the original text is Shanscrit, 

 but the translation was made from a version in Tamoul. 



There are several traditions and relations of the Indians, calcu- 

 lated to ascertain the antiquity of this book, and they all tend to 

 date its composition three thousand one hundred and sixteen years 

 before the Christian aera : but Mons. De Gnines hath not only 

 invalidated these traditions, but proves also, that the pretensions 

 of this book to such a remote antiquity are inconclusive and unsa- 

 tisfactory. Hence we may conclude, that though a further inquiry 

 into the literature of the Indian nations may be laudable, yet we 

 must by no means give too easy credit -to their relations con. 

 cerning the high antiquity of their manuscripts, and early civili- 

 zaiion. 



PEKSIANS. 



THE Persians had no great learning among them till the time of 

 Hystaspes, the father of the emperor Darius Hystaspes. The for- 



* Preface to (ientoo Laws, p. 44. 



f Rollin's Hist. p. 59, 60; and Univ. Hi.t. vol. i. p. 513. 

 | Prrface to Gcntoo Laws, p. 44 . 



^ See hi-, reflections on thi book, published in the 38th vol. of the llisloire de 

 I* Academic Rjvul, Sec. Paris, 1777. 



