ON MOUNT CAUCASUS. 47I 



never found in the Purdnas any palTage, except one, 

 that could in the Icaft countenance fuch an idea. The 

 paffage alluded to, I difcovered fome days ago, in a le- 

 gend in which it is faid, that the father of Satyavr ata 

 or Noah, was born on the banks of the river Chan- 

 dra-bMgainihe dzuip of Chandra, which is one of the 

 /acred ijles in the weft. There is certainly a river of that 

 name in Chandra-dvjip, even more famous in the Pu- 

 rdnas^ than another of that name in the Panjdh^ and 

 which is now called the Cbindb. It is highly probable, 

 that the words Chandra-dwip are an interpolation by 

 fome of the ignorant compilers of the Purdnas^ who 

 have arranged this heterogeneous mafs without method, 

 and ftill lefs judgment : for in this fame legend from the 

 Scanda purdna^ Satyavrata or Noah, is faid to have 

 left the banks of the Charidra-bhdga, at the head of a 

 numerous army, in order to invade the country of Dra- 

 vira, or the peninfula of India, which he conquered an4 

 annexed to his dominions. 



Bhdlac or Bdmiyan are both fituated in the country of 

 Vdhlica or Vdhlaca ; and as Bdmiyan was once the capital, 

 itispoffible, it might have been called alfoFiMf<7 or Bhdr 

 lac. The origin of this appellation is rather obfcure : 

 it is however the general opinion, that it is derived from 

 the plant, which produces Affh-fatida, called in Sanfcrit 

 Vdhlica^ and is the Silphmn of the hiftorians of Alex- 

 ander. It grows therein great abundance, and is rec- 

 koned fuperior to that of other countries. Others in- 

 fift, that ihis plant was thus denominated from its grow- 

 ing in the country of Vdlica, which, they fay, was thus 

 called from a certain fage of that name, who lived there: 

 this is coantenanced by Cedrenus, who fays that Pe- 

 LEG, whom he calls Phalec, dwelled in the country of 

 Baclra, which feems to be derived from the Sanfcrit Vdh~ 

 lider or Balc-ter, which fignifies the country about Vdh~ 

 lica, or Balk. Thus the country of the ByltiS, called 

 Baltijian^ is generally called by miiwes Balut-fer. Derir 

 yatives of this fort, though not pure Sanfcrit, are how- 



