ESSAY VI. 



PART I. — CHAPTER I. 



Of the two Tri-CuVa'd'ri, or Mountains with 

 three Peaks ; one in the N. W. and the other in the 

 S. E. Quarters of the Old Continent. 



I. TRI-CUT'A'D'RI, the mountain (Adri) with 

 three peaks (Tri-Cuta,) answers to Tp»y.opt;^oj and 

 Tfnr«y.fio; in Greek : for in that language dy.fo» signifies 

 properly a peak, summit, and implicitly a headland, 

 or promontory. Poly.^nus calls Mount Meru or 

 Meros, Tri—coryphus : it is true, that he bestows 

 improperly that epithet on Mount Meru near Cabul^ 

 which is inadmissible. Meru^ with its three peaks 

 on the summit, and its seven steps, includes and en- 

 compasses really the whole world, according to the 

 notions of the Hindus and other nations, previously 

 to their being acquainted with the globular shape of 

 the earth. I mentioned in the first part, that the 

 Jews were acquainted with the seven stages. Zones 

 or Dxvipas of the Hindus; but I have since disco- 

 vered a curious passage from the Zohar-Manasse on 

 the creation, as cited by Basnage, in his history of 

 the Jews* " There are, says the author, " seven 

 earths, whereof one is higher than the other; for 

 the holy-land is situated upon the highest earth, and 

 Mount Mo?iah (or Meru) is in the middle of that 

 holyland. This is the hill of God, so often men- 



* See English Traoslation, p. 24^. 



