470 ON MOUNT CAUCASUS. 



According to Diodorus the Sicilian^ Bdmiyan exit- 

 ed before NiNus: for this hiftorian, like \\\^ Perfuin 

 authors we have mentioned, has miftaken Bdhlac for Bd- 

 miyan ; which he defcribes as fituated among fteep hills : 

 whiUl Bdhlac is fituated in a low, flat country, and at a 

 great diftance from the mountains. 



The natives look upon Bdmiyan, and the adjacent 

 countries, as the place of abode of the progenitors of 

 mankind, both before and after the flood. By Bdjiiiyan 

 and the adjacent countries, they underfland all the coun- 

 try from Sijidn to Sa?narcandy reaching towards the eaft 

 as far as the Ganges. This tradition is of great antiqui- 

 ty, for it is countenanced equally by Perjian authors, 

 and the facred books of the Hindus. The firil heroes, 

 of Pcrfian hiflory lived, and performed there, innumer- 

 able achievements. Their facred hiftory places alfo, 

 in that country, their holy inftrufters, and the firft tem- 

 ples that were ever erefted. In the prefatory difcourfes, 

 prefixed to the Purdnas, and which appear to have been 

 added by a more modern hand, a general defcription 

 of the whole world is inferted, which one would natu- 

 rally fuppofe to be extratled from that Ptirdna, to which 

 it is annexed : but the reverfe is afctually the cafe : for 

 it has no affinity whatever with fuch geographical no- 

 tions as are to be found, occafionally, in that Purdna. 

 In thefe prefaces, if we may call them fo ; it is faid, that 

 SwAYAMBHUvA or Adam Uvcd iu the dwip o^ Pusca- 

 RA, at the furtheft extremities of the welt. There fe- 

 ven fons were born unto him, who divided the world or 

 /even ifiands among themfeives. 



This notion feems alfo to be admitted in the Treloci- 

 derpana, by the Bauddhijis., who give the name o^ Jarnhu 

 to PuscARA : for by Ja?nbu is underftood the continent. 

 Plutarch alfo fays that the inhabitants ofEgygia, which 

 is probably the divip of Puscara, confidered their own 

 country as the continent. Be this as it may, I have 



never 



