THE SACRED ISLES IN THE WEST. 145 



Step H ANUS of Bysantiwn says, that Argyrea, the 

 Silver- Island, or Sumatra, made part of TaprobanSy 

 and very properly too : for Taprobane is obviously 

 derived from the Hindi Tdpu-Ravana, the island, or 

 islands of RaVana, who was the lord of them, and 

 whose name, in the spoken dialects, particularly in 

 the Dekhin, is always pronounced Ra'ban. Their 

 Sanscrit names are Canchana or the Gold-Island; 

 Rajata the silver one, and Sinhala is Ceylon. On the 

 latter the epithet of Iron-Island is never bestowed in 

 any book which I have seen: but it is understood as 

 a matter of course : it was called also the brass 

 country by Ptolemy, though strangely misplaced 

 by him. 



From various documents, through different chan- 

 nels, he has introduced twice in his map of that 

 country, this Tri-cUtadri, first, as three islands or 

 Peninsulas, and also as three countries on the main- 

 land, under the names of gold, silver, and brass 

 countries. i\Ir. Danville has proved that the 

 Peninsula of Malaca, with most of the places belong- 

 ing to it, are twice repeated, and made contiguous 

 by him. 



In the Gold-Island, or Md-Lanca, is the abode of 

 Varna, called Yama-puri, or in the spoken dialects 

 Jam-cote, a place well known to Arabian and Persian 

 writers. It is also called Lancd-puri, Lancd-nagara, 

 the town of Lancd ; and the straits of Maided are 

 called, in the Purdnas, Lancd-dxvdra, or the gates of 

 Lancd^, as we shall see in the course of this v/ork. 

 Canca is another name of Yama or Pluto : and as 

 the place of his abode is in Mdlancd, according to the 



* Scanda-purdna, section of Tapi c'hand'a. 



