THE SACRKD ISLES IN THE WEST. 153 



the Peninsula, Lanca is often called Yail-Lancd or 

 the seven Lanccis ; because it consisted of seven 

 islands. This information I owe to M\\ Duncan, 

 Governor of Bombay. From Yail-Lancd former tra- 

 vellers made Ylanca. 



Sumatra is perhaps the island of 'Sabald mentioned 

 in one of the Purdnas ; and it is the same which is 

 called 'Saivald or ^Saibald in the Vdyu purdira, section 

 of the earth, and represented as a mountainous region 

 in the skirts of Bhadrds'va, or that part of the old 

 continent between the N. E. andS. E. quarters. From 

 'Saibald, Apuleius and Aristotle* probably made 

 Phebol or Psebol, as some learned men are inclined 

 to read it, The former says, tliat in the eastern seas, 

 there are two large islands, Taprobane and Phebol: 

 Aristotle places the latter opposite to Arabia, and 

 we have seen before that the Paurdnics, Arabian and 

 Persian authors insist, that Sumatra is close to -the 

 continent of Africa. The island o? Sabala is probably 

 the Samil ov Shaynel of El-Edrissi and other eastern 

 geographers, who call it also Sabil. The country of 

 Cephala is noticed by former European travel- 

 lers; and in the year 1543, adventurers from that 

 country plundered and ravaged part of the island of 

 Sumatra.'\ 



III. Let us now pass to the third island, or Sin- 

 hala, now Ceylon. Its Sanscrit name is a derivative 

 form from Sinlia, a lion, and it was given to it on 

 account of its being inhabited hy Sinhalas, or the 



* Aristot- de Mundo. 

 f Hist, of Sumatra, p. ^» 



