266 AN itssAY oisr the 



The principal object I have in view in this essay 

 is to prove that the Sacred Isles of the Hindus, if 

 not the British Isles, are at least some renjote 

 country to the North-west of the old continent ; 

 for I cannot conceive that they are altogether Uto- 

 pian or imaginary. But a secondary one also is to 

 prove that tlie greatest part of the legends, which 

 formerly obtained all over the Western parts of the 

 world, from India to the British Isles, were of igi- 

 iially the same with those found in the mythology 

 of the Hindus. Besides these, they had also in 

 every country local notions and legends, as well as 

 local Deities, and which of course were peculiar 

 to them. 



The principal essay on the Sacred Isles in the 

 West will appear, with the permission of the 

 Asiatic Society, in a future volume of their Re- 

 searches ; and it is proposed to publish the series 

 of essays mentioned with that work in the follow- 

 ino- order. 



'G 



The Introductiox. 



Essay I. On the geographical systems of 



the Hindus. 

 — r^ 11. Geographical and historical sketches 



on Anu-Gangam, or the Gangetic 



provinces. 



III. Chronology of the kings of Ma- 



gadha, emperors oiBidia. 



IV. On ViCRAMADiTYA and S'al'iva'- 



HANA, with their respective seras. 



V. The rise, progress, and decline of the 



Chi'istian leWgion in India. 

 VI. The Sacred Isles in the West. 



