LITERATURE OF THE BURMAS. H^^ 



This circumftance furprizes me, as the general rccol- 

 le6Uon of my reading induces me to believe, that the 

 Brahmens, as a religious fc8;, had been ertabliftied in 

 India belore the time of Alexander, from whofe 

 expedition Pliny's knowledge of the northern parts 

 oi' HinduJUi/i is cYiiQily deiivcd. To thofe who have 

 an opportunity, I leave it to determine the time when 

 Brahmen came to be the name applied to the religious 

 of India. With Pliny it feems to be analogous to the 

 Brahmenso^ KuJJiup*^ or perhaps the Biamma o^ihQ 

 Rdhansf. Mr. Harington has fuggefted to me, (ince 

 I wrote the above paffage, that all the countries in 

 which Brahma was worfhipped might be called Brah- 

 menical, an opinion which I think, not improbable. 

 If it be juft, it will fliow the progrefs made by the 

 Brahmens in India in the fourth century before the 

 birth of Christ. 



" XLII. It being admitted, that all mankind are 

 *• the ofi'spring of the lame ftock, namely of the Bi- 

 " amma^\^h.o defcended from the abodes of the Rupa ; 

 " a certain Burma dotlor afivs, why there is not the 

 *' fame language among all nations; and whence ari- 

 " fcs that variety of manners, religions, complexions, 

 " and features, ^o obfervable among the inhabitants 

 " of this earth? This fame do6lor thinks he anfwers 

 " this queltion, by faying that the firfl; inhabitants of 

 " the world, after having greatly multiplied by mar- 

 " riage, were forced to emigrate into various parts of 

 "the earth; and as in thefe the climate, air, water, 

 " natural productions, and temperature, are extremely 

 " different, fuch circumllances could not have failed 

 <" to produce an cfieft on the manners, religion, and 

 " appearance, of thofe who were under their inilu- 

 " ence. For if in one kingdom the inhabitants vary 

 "in ftature and colour, how much more evident mult 

 " this difference be amonoft the inhabitants of remote 



O 



" countries ? And as children defcended from the 

 "fame parents are called by different names; fo of 



•'the 



* Page 164 of this Volume. •!• Pages 245 & ?-\i of tills "X'olame. 



