522 ON MOUNT CAUCASUS. 



a reddish hue, supposed by pilgrims, to be the mark, 

 or impression made by the feet of the dove which 

 Noah let out of the ark. For it is the general 

 and uniform tradition of that country, that Noah 

 built the ark on the summit of this mountain, and 

 there embarked: that, when the flood assuaged, the 

 summit of it first appeared above the waters, and 

 was the resting place of the dove, which lett the 

 impression of her feet in the mud, which with time, 

 was hardened into a rock. The ark itself rested 

 about half way up the mountain, on a projecting 

 plain of a very small extent. There a place of wor- 

 ship was erected, near which is a caldron of copper of 

 such dimensions, that one hundred maunds of food 

 may be dressed in it at the same time. Near it is an 

 hermitage inhabited by several Dej^veisheSy and a little 

 above, is a flag. The inhabitants of the country re- 

 sort there occasionally on Fridays. With respect to- 

 the foot-steps of the dove, they are known only by 

 tradition, for the inhabitants of that country assert, 

 that they have never heard of any body going up so 

 high on account of the ruggedness of the mountain, 

 and of the snow. The Bhauddhists^ who were the 

 first inhabitants of that country, are, I am told, of 

 the same opinion as to the place where the ark rest- 

 ed ; but hitherto I have been able to procure a single 

 passage only, from the Biiddha-dliarma-chdrya-Sind- 

 huhy in which it is declared that Sham a or Shem, 

 travelled first to the north east, and then turning to 

 the north west, he arrived on the spot, where he 

 built afterwards the town of Bdmiyan. Shama they 

 say, having descended from the mountain of C'haisd- 

 ghaVy travelled north east, as far as the confluence 

 of the Attack with the Indus ; where he made Td* 

 pasya : he then proceeded north west to Bdmiyan. 



The Pauranics insist, that, as it is declared in 



their sacred books, that Sat yavrata made fast the 



1 ark 



