SACRED ISLES IN THE WEST, ScC. 285 



above the stars of God, and would sit on the 

 mount of the congregation, in tlie sides of the 

 North. 3Icni has also the name of Sabhd, because 

 the congregation or assembly of the Gods is held 

 there, on its northern side. The hill of God is 

 also frequently alluded to in the psalms, though, 

 in some instances, it seems to imply mount Mor'iah. 

 Musulmans have admitted this mountain, under 

 the name of Caf^ though they confound it, in ge- 

 neral, with the mountains of Localoca, which sur- 

 round the world : but when they say it is the vatad, 

 or/?it'o^ of the world, this is to be understood of 

 mount Meru, which the Paurmiics describe exactly 

 in the shape of a pivot ; and even Meru^ in Sanscrit, 

 signifies an axis or pivot. According to Anque- 

 TiL DuPERROV, the Parsis call this centrical 

 mountain Tireh; and the whole world is equally 

 surrounded by an immense range of mountains. 

 In Ceylon^ this surrounding range is called Chacra- 

 'cartta., according to Captain AlAHoyy* which, 

 in Sanscrit., signifies any thing in the shape of a 

 ring or coit. The Burmalis call it Zetkia-valUf 

 which word is pronouced Sakwell by Mr. Jo ix v i lle, 

 and said to signify the world in general. In Zetkia- 

 xiala, Villa signifies a ring, or any thing in an an- 

 nular shape, from the Sanscrit valya; and Zetkia- 

 vala, or Sakicdl, may be a corruption from S'acya- 

 valya, the ring of S'a'cya or Bldd'ha, who is sup- 

 posed to have made it. The Western mythologiHts 

 supposed the world, and its seas, .to be surrounded 

 by a land, or continent, of a circular figure, ac- 

 cording to Plutarch, and Silexus's narrative, as 

 related by Elian ; and the pilot of tlie Argonauts, 

 being near Pence, or Iceland, was very inudi afraid 

 of being driven on its shores f. 



* Asiatic Researches, Vo\. V!T. 

 t Orph. Argonaut. VoL XI, p. 187- 



