158 ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS, &C. 



REMARK BY THE PRESIDENT. 



The observations, with which Mr. Hunter has 



favoured us, will be a valuable acquisition to all 



Indian geographers and antiquaries ; for since Ujjayin), 



or Ujjein, is in the first meridian of the Hindus, its 



longitude ascertains the position of Lane a on the 



equator, and fixes the longitude, at least according to 



the Hindu astronomers, of Curucshctra, Vatsa, the 



Pool Sannihita Cdnchi, and other places, which are 



frequently celebrated in Sanserif books of the highest 



antiquity. Hence also we shall possibly ascertain 



the seven dw'ifas, which, on the authority of Pa- 



tanjali and of the Veda itself, we may pronounce 



to be neither the seven planets nor the seven climates y 



but great peninsulas of this earth, or large tracts of 



land with water on both sides of them. For example, 



in a preface to the Surya Siddhdnta> the peninsula, 



called Salmala, is declared to be 422 Ycjanas to the 



cast of Lanea ; now a true Yojana is equal to 4! 



geometrical miles ; and the longitude of Sdlmala 



will thus bring us to the Gulph of Siam, or to the 



eastern Indian peninsula beyond Malacca. There is 



a passage in one of the P/crdnas, which confirms this 



argument 5 where king Sra'vana is described 



" on the White Mountain in the extensive region of 



" Salmaladveipa , meditating on the traces of the 



" divine foot, at a place called the station of Tri- 



il vicrama." Now we are assured by credible 



travellers, that the Siamese boast of a rock in their 



country, on which &foctstej>) as they say, of Vishnu 



is clearly discernible. 



QUESTIONS 



