﻿3O4 ON THE ANTIQUITY OF 



The names and forms of the lunar constellation', 

 especially of Bharani and Abhljit, indicate a simplicity 

 of manners peculiar to an ancient people j and they 

 differ entirely from those of the Arabian system, in 

 which the very first asterism appears in the dual num- 

 ber, because it consists only of two stars. Menzil, or 

 the place of alighting, properly signifies a station or 

 stage, and thence is used for an ordinary day's journey j 

 and that idea seems better applied than mansion to so 

 incessant a traveller as the moon ; the menazilul kamar, 

 or lunar stages, of the Arabs have twenty -eight names, 

 in the following order, the particle al being under- 

 stood before every word : 



Now, if we can trust the Arabian lexicographers, 

 the number of stars in their several menzils rarely agrees 

 with those of the Indians ; and two such nations must 

 naturally have observed, and might naturally have 

 named, the principal stars near which the moon 

 passes in the course of each day, without any com- 

 munication on the subject. There is no evidence, 

 indeed, of a communication between the Hindus 

 and Arabs on any subject of literature or science ; 

 for, though we have reason to believe that a com* 

 mercial intercourse subsisted in very early times be- 

 tween Yemen and the western coast of India, yet the 

 Brahnans, who alone are permitted to read the six 



