Q76 AX ESSAY ON THE 



tcr*. This division is used in scripture, in which 

 the apellations oY Parvaim and Ophiry signify the 

 countries to the East and to the West. These de- 

 nominations are not deducihle from the Hebrexo, 

 hut only from the Sanscrit language : and Apar 

 and Aparica are the same with Ophir, Aphar, and 

 Ajy'ica. In Hchreic, the word Opltir, without 

 points, is written Aupir; and the learned hishop 

 LowTii derives Africa from Aupir or Auphir. That 

 country, we are told, was thus called from a cer- 

 tain Aphros, or Aphraus, who was the son of 

 Saturn and the nymph Pheaura, according to 

 the Paschal chronicle. He was the brother of Pr- 

 cus and Chiron, and is called Aphar by Cedre- 

 Nus. Another ancient author, as I have some- 

 where read, calls him Ophris andApHRA; and 

 says he was a companion of Hercules: and Isi- 

 DORUS addsf, that the apellation of Aser was sup- 

 posed to have been Aper originally. The word 

 Aparica is then synonymous with Ibericus, Iberica, 

 &c. The Latin word Apricus seems to have been 

 used to denote a westerl}^ situation, as being more 

 favoured with the congenial warmth of the sun. 

 This ridiculous notion, still prevalent among the 

 country people in many parts of Europe and in In^ 

 dia, originated from a supposition, that the Earth 

 was a flat surface. Thus they say, that part of the 

 country is fertile, being under the sun of three; 

 but the otlier is not so, being under the sun of 

 nine o'clock. The word Aparica is not used by 

 the followers of Brahma' to denote the Western 

 parts of tlie world; but it is constantly so by the 

 Bauddldsts. Thus in Ava and in Ctylon, the 

 Western parts of tlie world are called, by Mr. Jo- 



* Aparicfi is a r«'K"'ar (icriv.itivp form, Imt not in «isi' in lliis part of 

 India: yet it is in the dialect from the !^anscrit current in Ceyioi, 

 where it is written Apricn, anr' Avares:(t. 



t IsiDORUS de originibus. 



