SACRED ISLES IN THE WEST, &C. 329 



lake called Lanken \\\ the maps; it flows to the 

 South Ecist of it, at the distance of two or three 

 coss. This lake is called in India the pool of Ra'- 

 va^sta : and hecause he is the Lord o\' Ldnca ; his 

 pool is called the lake of Lancu, or Lanken, in tiie 

 Uiaps. 



The \'AkQ.Q^Min-5araiir is mentioned hv PltnTj 

 as I observed before, and it is probabiv rhe same 

 that is mentioned by Ctlsias, who sa^s it was 

 eight hiUKUed stadia in circumference. M. Polo 

 describes it as to the VVes?^ of I'ihet, but d(;es not 

 mention its name. It is noticed bv P. Mo.vserrat, 

 who acconipaiicd the Knipcnir Acbar in his expe- 

 dition t'oCabui, in the year 15S1. ih- calls it Man- 

 sariwr, ami, from the report of pilgrims, places it 

 in thirty-two degrees of latitude N(jrrh ; and al)ont 

 three hundred and fifty miles to the North-East of 

 Serhind. The fiist Eai'opean who saw it, was P. 

 Andrada, in the year 16"24 : and in the years 1715, 

 and J/lf^, it was visited by the -missionaries P, 

 pEsiDERius, and Emanuel Freyer. 



The Bunnahs call this lake Anoudat, and place 

 four heads of animals to the four cardinal points, 

 frona which spring tlie four great rivers; and thus, 

 in the opinion of the divines of Tibet and Ava, this 

 lake is the real Man-saraur. Erom this description 

 one might be induced to suppose this lake to be the 

 crater of a Volcano, but nuich larger tlian any now 

 existing. Ctesias says th.it a liquid matter like 

 oil was swinuTiing on its surface, ar'd wns carefully 

 collected by the inhabitants, ;md AI. Polo adds, 

 that pearls were found there. The pilgrims I have 

 consulted knew nothing either of this precious oil 

 or of the pearls. They six. wed me, however, small 

 pebbles, some like pease, others as big as a pigeon's 

 ^gg, which they told me were found on the shores 



