SACRED ISLES IN tHE IVEST, &C. 323 



ttiember seeing in one of the Puraiias, that the 

 heavenly Ganges winds seven times round Mera : 

 that is between that mountain, and the dw'ipa of 

 Jamhu. Tiie Styx, according to mythologists in 

 the West, went nine times round the world ; for 

 nine was a favourite number among them : and the 

 ancient Goths reckoned nine worlds, or dwipas. 

 The elevated plains of Meru are perhaps the high- 

 est spot, or at least the highest flat in the old con- 

 tinent. Its height toward Ind'ia^ and China, is 

 odiafious : it is not so considerable toward the 



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pi „ 



North, and is still less toward the North-west, 

 where the ascent between the Lithinos-pyrgos or 

 stone-tower, and the station of the merchants 

 trading to China, is by no means very difficult. 

 The Lithinos-pyrgos still exists under the name of 

 Chalsatoon, or the forty columns ; and is famous all 

 over these countries. The station of the merchants 

 is still their place of rendezvous to this day, and 

 is called Tuct-Soleiman, or the throne of Solomon. 

 The Lithi?20s-pyrgos is at the extremity of a small 

 branch jutting out of a range of mountains to the 

 left of the road, or to the North, and projects to- 

 ward the South, and ends abruptly in the middle 

 of a plain. Its extremity, consisting of a solid 

 rock, has been cut into a regular shape, with two 

 rows, each of twenty columns. The front part is 

 in a very ruinous condition, and the upper row of 

 columns remains suspended from the top : the co- 

 lumns below answering to them, with their enta- 

 blature, having been destroyed. It is a mcst won- 

 derful work, and ascribed by the natives to super- 

 natural agents as usual. 



At the distance of a day's march toward the East, 

 is Hoshati, or Oshn, called also Gosh, or Owsk: 

 there begins a chcjin of mountains, from which 

 springs a rivulet called Ascho?i by Strahlenberg: 



Y <-Z 



