SACRED ISLES IN THE WEST, &C. S05 



the two pigeons destroyed by Mohammed, and 

 the impression of a foot on a stone there. These, 

 plausibly enough, they claim as. their own pro- 

 perty, and have traditionary legends, purporting 

 to be grounded on the Pauranas, though, perhaps, 

 not expressly found there. They say, there was 

 formerly a great intercourse between them and 

 E(f;ijpt, Abyssinia, and Arabia, where there are 

 Hindus and Brdhinens, even to this day, as well as 

 all over Persia, and even in Georgia. Facketrs 

 occasionally go there ; and certain it is, that the 

 famous Urd'ha-Ba'hu, who travelled to Moscow, 

 and died lately at Benares, attempted to go to 

 Egypt, bat he went no fuither than El-Catif and 

 Bakarein, on the "Western shores of the Persian 

 gulf, being deterred from going further. I have 

 made mention of him in my essay on Sami-Ramis, 

 called Sami'-De'vi' by the Hindus. Ptolemy 

 saw many Hindus at Alexandria, and they used to 

 visit the temple of Maha'-Bha'ga'-devi', at Bam- 

 byke, or Mabog, in Syria, according to Lucian, 

 as cited by the authors of the ancient universal 

 history. 



The mountains in which S'axc'ha'sura lived, 

 are called to this day Hubab in Arabic, or the 

 mountains of the serpent ; and the people of these 

 mountains have, according to the Abyssinian tra- 

 veiier, legendary traditions of a snake, who for- 

 merly reigned over them, and conquered the king- 

 dom o^ Sire. They are famous, with their serpen- 

 tine tribes, in Oriental tales; and in the Arabian 

 Nights, we read of the miraculous escape of Sin- 

 bad from the devouring mouth of that dreadful 

 race, who lived in caves among the mountains. 

 Near that country he was exposed to many dan- 

 gers from the birds called Rocks, or Simorgs, the 

 Garudas of the Pauran'ics, whom Pei^sian roman- 



VoL. VIII. X 



