THi: GARDEN OF FCDEN. 731 



various opinions have been advanced by different 

 nations and individuals. By some of the Hindoos, 

 it is supposed to have been situated in the beau- 

 tiful vale of Cashmere ; and by others in the tro- 

 pical island of Ceylon. Sanson, Roland, and 

 Calmet, have placed it in Armenia, between the 

 sources of the Tigris and Euphrates, Abram, 

 LeClerc, and Heidegger, in Assyria near Babylon, 

 others in the neighbourhood of Damascus, 

 others in Arabia Felix and some in Palestine. 

 But the most improbable of all the hypotheses I 

 have met with is that of Buffon, Adelung, and 

 Herder, who supposed that mankind began their 

 existence on the elevated table lands of central 

 Asia, or about Mount Caucasus, where the cli- 

 mate is extremely rigorous during the greater 

 part of the year. For if the human race began 

 in a rude state of nature, ignorant of agricul- 

 ture and the arts, it must have been in a tropical 

 or warm climate, in which the earth would spon- 

 taneously supply an abundance of nutritious 

 fruits. Nor is it possible, that men could have 

 existed in the climate of central Asia without 

 clothing, unless covered with hair. 



If we are to take the description of Eden con- 

 tained in the second chapter of Genesis, it would 

 seem to have embraced a large portion of south- 

 ern Asia, extending from the Ganges on the east, 

 to the Euphrates on the west. For it is said to 

 have been watered by the Pison, the Gihon, the 

 Hiddekel, and the Euphrates. It is true, that 



