65 ESSAY ON 



that it was producetl by a sort of insect. This last 

 opinion is tiie true one : and these insects, being* 

 bruised, make a powder, as tineas CochineaL These 

 two opinions were eiinent, in the time ofCxEsiAS, 

 who, most injudiciously, has blended them to- 

 jrcther. 



o 



To the trees, he lias given the name o^ S'ipa-cliora ; 

 and to the river, that of Hypmxho, or HijpGhaf'us : 

 but Hyparcho is hut a corruption iovSypa-clior. Sypc- 

 bar'i is the Hindu name, answering to the Tibet one 

 of Sypa-chor : for Bari or Barry, as it is written in 

 the maps, is very frequently used at the end of 

 proper names of places, and signifies a limited spot 

 of ground, an inclosure, and a garden. 



It is more probable, that the river was thus called, 

 because it came from the country of Sipa-gor, or As- 

 pacora. Ctesias says, it was a Hindu name; and 

 yet, the meaning of it he attempts to derive from 

 the Persian, as most of his other Hindu etymologies : 

 but, though he had spent seventeen years in Persia, 

 it seems, he understood that language but very im- 

 perfectly ; and, I think, he was peculiarly fortunate 

 in not forgetting his own. He accompanied the 

 younger Cyrus, with the 10,000 Greeks, in the un- 

 fortunate expedition, in which that prince lost his 

 life, in the year 401 B. C. Ctesias was taken pri- 

 soner, and being a physician, became a great fa- 

 vorite with AiiTAXEKXEs Mnemon. Sipa-gor was 

 obviously on the road, between Jri-jun (or Aridsong,) 

 and Lassa; and which, according to P. Giorgi, 

 brand jCS out into three, which reunite again at Lassa. 

 It is tolerably well delineated in the maps of the 

 Lamas. The distance between Sipd-c'hor, and Pon- 

 julin, as given, either by Ptolemy, or in the PeiUin- 

 gerian tables, does not agree, being certainly too 

 short. l^ut when we consider that the geography 

 of that country is yet in its infancy, and the want 



