504 AN ESSAY ON TH£ 



sense of a cave^ from S'ancha^ and afterwards used 

 to imply any fabric to dwell in. Thus the word den 

 is obviously derived from the Sanscrit (Vhanl, or 

 den, in the language of Tibet, in which it signi- 

 fies any place, house, or even country to live in. 

 The Sukim, or Sukkilm, were a powerful nation in 

 the time of Rehoboam, for they accompanied Shi- 

 SHAC in his expedition against Jerusalein; and we 

 iind their descendants, in tlie third century of the 

 Hejira, crossing Arabia, and invading Irak-Arabiy 

 or the country about Babylon, under their king 

 Saheb-al-Zeng, or the lord of Ze?fg, who appears 

 as a successor of the famous Sanc'ha-muc'ha- 

 na'ga, a giant in the shape of a snake, with a 

 mouth like a shell, and whose abode was in a shell : 

 and who had, as usual, two countenances, that of 

 a man, and another of a snake. He was killed by 

 Crishna ; but his descendants and subjects, in si- 

 milar shapes, still remain there. He is called also 

 Pa'ncha-janya. The breath of the Sanc'ha- 

 na'ga is believed, by the Hindus, to be a fiery 

 poisonous wind, which burns and destroys animals 

 and vegetables, to the distance of a hundred Vo- 

 janas round the place of his residence: and by this 

 hypothesis they account for the dreadful effects of 

 the Samum, or hot envenomed wind, which blows 

 from the mountains of Hiibab, through the whole 

 extent of the desert. The sage Agastya, who is 

 supposed to live in the South West, or Abyssinia, 

 put an end to this evil, and even reduced the ser- 

 pent so much as to carry him about in an earthen 

 vessel. This legend is current in the Western parts 

 of India, but, how far it is countenanced in the 

 Puran'as, 1 cannot say. The Hindus, in the Wes- 

 tern parts of India, are remarkably well acquainted 

 with the superstitious monuments, rites, and le- 

 gends of the Musulmans in Arabia and Egypt, such 

 as the serpent Hertdi, the black stone in the Caaba, 



