492 ON MOUNT CAUCASUS. 



country, which encompaffes what we call the old conti- 

 nent, and the Atlantick fea, &c. pafl'es between the iflands 

 of Ptifcaray and Uttarq-Jiieru, or the north pole: indeed 

 the fliores or Greenland, tending towards the north eaft, 

 may have given rife to fuch an idea. However, this 

 Ihews plainly, Uttara-meru, or north Meru, to be different 

 from Su-7neru. Meru fignifies an axis, and the two ex- 

 tremities of the terreftrial axis are called Uttara-Meru 

 and Dacfi)in-meru, the northern and fouthern Meru^ or 

 pole. The line paffing through the centre of the earth 

 and the fuppofed terreltrial paradife, to which they ge- 

 nerally refer in the Purdnas with refpe6l to bearings, is 

 alio Meru; audits two extremities, called Sumerii and 

 Cu-meruy are only the zenith and nadir points of that 

 abode of the Gods. 



The Mujuhnans in the countries adjacent to Bdmiyariy 

 infift that Adam, (whom they call alfo Keyumursu) 

 and Eve, having been driven out of paradife, wandered 

 feparately for fome time, till they met accidentally at a 

 certain place, where faluting each other with mutual 

 embrace, the place was accordingly called Bdhla, or, 

 in derivative form, Bdhlaca, or the place of embrace. 

 This is the general opinion of the natives: whilft others, 

 confidering that the termination <?f, or acb, fignifies bro- 

 ther, will have it to imply the place where he embraced 

 his brother; and of courfe fuppofe that Keyumursh 

 had one. The firft etymology is, I believe, counte- 

 nanced by Abulfida. 



When Satan was eje6^ed, or kicked, as they fay, out 

 of the garden oi Ede7i, where he firft lived, he leaped 

 over the mountains, and fell on that fpot, where Cabul 

 now ftands: hence the origin of the well known pro-, 

 verb, that the inhabitants of Cabul are truly the offspring 

 of this prince of darknefs. Thofe of Cabul do not de- 

 ny his having been at Cabul ; but fay, he had no off- 

 fpring, was foon conjured away, and withdrew into the 

 diftrid of Lamga?i. 



It 



