THE SACRED ISLES IN THE V/EST. 155 



travellers, Ceylon vv^as called Ham, and Ila-nad, Ha- 

 nar ; the couiitiy of lla, which signifies the earth in 

 general. Tra-nad, or Tranate, another nai1=ie for it, 

 signifies the three countries, meaning I suppose the 

 tliree islands of Lanca. 



The Hindus reckon the longitude from tlic meridian 

 o^ Lancd, passing through the peak oi'S/dmala, the 

 place of worship called Rdmes'zvara, (or dedicated to 

 Is'ivara , with the title of Rama), Avanti or Ujjam, 

 Mem, and tlie mountain of Vatsa in Cicrii or Siberia, 

 which last is most probahly an imaginary place ia 

 that country. The place of R/ima was called ylrima 

 by Maselman writers ; and they said tliat it was un- 

 der the equator, and exactly lialf way between 

 the straits o\' Akwander or Malaca, and those of ^er- 

 cules or Gades in the west : and tliiey gave the name 

 of Gadir or Gades to these two straits, both leading 

 into two vast Mcd^iterranean seas ; and through 

 Arima tlie Hindus, and even some Arabian authors, 

 it is said, made their first meridian to pass. Ali- 

 CosiiGi a Bcrsian astronomer, vvlio lived about 350 

 years ago, says, that in his time some Hindus placed 

 their first mcridircn at Cajicadnra, or Jum-cote in the 

 east.* I believe that some .f>f them chd so formerlv, 

 and this of course occasioried afterwards some con- 

 fusion. Their first meridian then passed through the 

 eastern Cerne, and the last through the western one, 

 the several islands of which tract were the original 

 islands of the blessed. When this mode of reckoning- 

 was altered, the meridian was placed in the middle 

 of the world, yet it still passed throuh the eastern 

 Cerne; though through a different part of it. This 



* AbuUedee Chorasmioe, &c. descriptio int. Oeogrfipli, min. 

 vol. iii. p. g. 



