SACRED ISLES IN THE WEST, &C. 317 



giri, or Aleru-gir, the mountain 6f Mei^u. It is 

 described by him as of an immense height, circu- 

 lar, and enclosing several countries within. 



This sacred mountain is called, by divines in Ti- 

 bet, Righiel: hence Sostiie-Ves, as cited by Plu- 

 tarch*, instead of saying that Dioxysius, or 

 Bacchus, was born on mount Mem, or Meros^ 

 says, that he was born on mount Argilius, which 

 he places, it is true, either in Egypt or Ethiopia. 



In the same author we find another ridiculous 

 story about this mountain, under the name of the 

 bed of Boreas, which he says was one of the high- 

 est peaks of mount Caucasus, and from which 

 Jupiter hurled Saturn down into Tartarus. 

 Mount Mem is called, in the Deccan, the moun- 

 tain, peak. Cut' a of Boreca, or the pole Boureka, 

 by Mr. Bailly, and other French authors. In 

 the lamuli language, and others in that country, 

 the North is called Vddaca, Vadahurram, or Vcida- 

 purram, generally pronounced Vdraca, &c. the 

 North wind Vdrariada, from the root Vada. In 

 Sanscrit, Udac is the North, or Uttara. Vada sig- 

 nifies originally high, great, &c. and the North is 

 called, in Sanscrit, Uttara, from its being sup- 

 posed to be the highest point on the surface of the 

 earth. The Greeks thus translated Ciifa, the peak 

 of Burraca, Badaga, Badaca, by the bed of Bo- 

 reas ; because Koite, in Greek, signifies a bed. 

 This mode of translation seems to have been much 

 in use among them ; for they translated Deo-bau, 

 the forest of the Gods, by Theon-painai, Deoriuu- 

 pcence. The Atshdmi, a powerful tribe in the hills 

 near tlie Gauges, by Astomi, or people without 

 mouths. 



* Plutarch de flum. 



