456 OM MOUNT CAUCASUS. 



Their defcendants ftill inliabit the fame regions, and 

 are called to this day C'hafas, and in fonne places, C ha^ 

 fyas and Co/fais, 1 hey belonged to the clafs of warriors, 

 or C/Jjetiris: but now they are confidered as the lowed 

 of the four claffes; and were thus degraded, according 

 to the inflitulcs of Menu*, by their omiffion of the holy 

 rites, and by feeing no Brdhnwis. However, the vakeel 

 of the rajah of Comanh, or Almora, who is a learned Pan- 

 dit, informs me, that the greateft part of the zemindars 

 of that country are Qhafas ; and that they are not con- 

 fidered, or treated, as outcafls. 1 hey are certainly a 

 very ancient tribe ; for they are mentioned as fuch, in 

 the inftitutes of Menu; and their great anceftor C'ha- 

 SA or C'hasya is mentioned by Sanchoni athon, un-. 

 der the name of Cassius. He is fuppofed to have liv- 

 ed before the flood, and to have given his name to the 

 mountains he feized upon. The two countries oiCaJh- 

 ghar, thofe of Cajh-mir, Cajiwar, and the famous peak 

 of Chasghar, are acknowledged m India to derive their 

 jiames from the Chafas. The country, called Cafia by 

 Ptolemy, is ftill inhabited by C'hafyas ; and Pliny. 

 informs ust that the inhabitants of the mountainous re- 

 gion, between the Indus and the yiwinai were called Cejt^ 

 a word obvioufly derived from C'hafa, or Chefai, as they 

 are often denominated in the vulgar dialects. 



The appellation of Caucafus, or Coh-cas, extended 

 from India to the fhores of the Mediterranean and Euxine 

 fcas; moft probably, becaufe this extenfive range was 

 inhabited by Chafas. Certain it is, that the mountains 

 of Pcrfia were inhabited by a race of people called Cof- 

 f(zi, Cn[[m and CiJJii ; there was mount Cqfius on the bor- 

 ders of Egypt, and another in Syria ; the Cafpian fea, 

 and the adj .cent mountains, were moR probably deno- 

 minaed from them Jupiter Cassius, like Jupiter 

 PtNiNus in the Alps^ was worfhipped in the moun- 

 tains of Syriay and on the borders of Egypt : in the 



* P. 294. + Pliny B. 6, c. 20. Cefi montani, &c. 



Avccn- 



