SACRED ISLES IN THE WEST, &C. 2S7 



to the text of the Puran'as, we shall immediately 

 perceive that these seven zones are really our seven 

 climates : for Jambu, or India, is the first, and Push- 

 vara is declared to be at the furthest extremities 

 of the West, and in the same climate with Uttara 

 Curu ; which last is expressly said to be the coun- 

 try lying South of the Northern ocean. Pushcara 

 is the Thiile of Ptolemy, and the modern Iceland, 

 under the Arctic circle, at least, the sensible one. 

 It is true that the seven climates, in general, were 

 not supposed to extend much beyond the mouth of 

 the Bojyst/icnes : but Ptotemy, and Agatheme- 

 Rus, by dividing each climate into three parts 

 (like the Hindas, who divide the seven zone-like 

 regions of Heaven, Hell, and Earth into three, the 

 beginning, the middle, and the end), thus made 

 twenty-one subordinate climates, extending from 

 the equator to the polar circle. Every climate was 

 denominated from some famous city, country, or 

 island in it; thus we have the zone or climate of 

 Mer'ue, that of Rhodes, &c. The dw'ipas, or cli- 

 mates of the Hindus, gradually increase in breadth, 

 from the equator to the polar circle, from a w^him- 

 sical notion that they are all equal, as to the super- 

 ficial contents. The seven zones of the Hindus 

 correspond with the following countries : Jambu is 

 India, Ciis'a answers to tiie countries between the 

 Persian gulf, the Caspian sea, and the Western 

 boundary of India. Placsha includes the lesser 

 Asia, Anne7iia, &c. 'Salmali is bounded to the West 

 by the Cronian seas ; that is to say, the Adriatic 

 and Baltic seas. Crauncha includes Germany; 

 \Sacam, the British isles ; and Pushcara is Iceland. 



Tht Paurariics, however, consider these seven 

 zones in a very different light, and the text of the 

 Puran'as is equally applicable to their scheme. Bv 

 i?A7-« they understand, in general, the North pole, 



