494 ^^ MOUNT CAUCASUS. 



iiiall be given feparately at the end of this differtat!on< 

 The city o{ Bdmiyan being reprefented as the fountain 

 of purity and holinefs, it was called with propriety Pa- 

 ra-Bdmiyan or Bchniyan. the pure and holy; for the fame 

 reafon the diftnft of Bdmiyaft might be called Pard-de- 

 Jd, or Pdrd-defa, the pure and holy country. This dif- 

 tri6t is now barren, and without a fingle tree. The fa- 

 cred books of the Hindus^ and of the Bauddhijis^ do, how- 

 ever, declare moft pohtively, that it was otherwife for- 

 merly. Tradition informs us alfo, that the number of 

 inhabitants was at one period fo prodigious, that the 

 trees, underwood, grafs and plants were deftroyed. 

 The vegetable foil being no longer protefted, was in the 

 courfe of ages wafhed away by the rains: certain it is, 

 that the foil in the valleys is moft fertile, and the whole 

 diftrift, fuch as it is now, is ftill a moft enchanting and 

 delightful fpot. The country to the eaftward of jBi;«/- 

 yan^ as far as the Indus, is the native country of the vine, 

 and of almoft all the fruit trees we have in Europe: there 

 they grow fpontaneoufly, and to a great degree of per- 

 fection. When the natives find a vine, an apple tree, 

 Sec. in the forefts, they clear all the wood about it, dig 

 the ground, and by thefe means, the fruit comes to per- 

 fcCl maturity. When we arc told in fcripture of Noah 

 cultivating the vine, we may be fure, that it was in its 

 native country, or at leaft very near it, 



Bdmiyan, though not mentioned by name in Non- 

 Nus's DionyJtaes*y is well defcribed by him as the abode 

 of the benevolent Brongus, who lived in Samac/fhes, or 

 recefifes artfully excavated in the mountains. Bron- 

 gus is obvioufly the Bhranga, orBHR.-CNGAS of the 

 Purdnas, called alfo Sarasa'la, and of whom I fhall 

 fpeak more fully hereafter. Brongus had two fons, 

 who were highly refpefted by Dor iaden, perhaps the 

 Diryodan of the Purdnas. Bhranga, or Sarasa'la, 

 had alfo feveral children, who afcended the throne of 



* B. \7, V. 40, &c. 



Calingd^ 



