2^8 AN ESSAY ON THE 



this distance shews the encroachment of the land 

 upon the sea, since the days of Bhagirat'ha, who 

 lived above two thousand years before Christ, ac- 

 cording to the genealogical scale prefixed to my 

 essay on the chronology of the Hindus. The new 

 Scigara was originally on the sea shore, but it is 

 BOW five or six miles from it, toward the East, and 

 many more toward the North. It is to be wished, 

 that the era of its foundation could be ascertained, 

 as it would enable us to form some idea of the 

 gradual progress of the encroachments of the Delta 

 upon the sea. 



There can be no doubt, but that the factitious 

 soil of the Gangetic provinces, and of the Panjaby 

 has been brougTit down by the alluvions of rivers 

 from the countries to the North of India. The 

 quantity of earth thus brought down must have 

 Ib^en very considerable at a very early period; but 

 it is very trifling at present, for these alluvions 

 have left nothing but the bare rocks, with such 

 parcels of ground as were out of their reach, from 

 their being supported and protected by stony ram- 

 parts. The country between the ranges to the 

 North of India is a table-land, and forms, as it 

 were, so many steps, as mentioned in the Trai- 

 locya-dcrpaiia, and b}^ the Paurdn'ics. This cir- 

 cumstance was ascertained by Mr. Samuel Davis, 

 who went as far as the first range. This was also 

 confirmed to me by natives, with respect to other 

 parts of the eountiy, as far as Ca^hmir. On these 

 table-lands are also various peaks and mountains ; 

 and the beds of the -rivers look like so many ra- 

 vines of an enormous size. 



V. By the dzcipa of Jamhf^ the Pauran'ks un- 

 derstand, in general, the old continent, but the 

 followers of Budd'iia, in Tibet, Ava, and Ceylon^ 



