2e2 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [N.S., XTX, 
properties. The Malabar Christians by saying that it issued 
from Paradise would have spoken of Ceylon. 
The place with the Well of Youth was possibly Maleatur, 
yet a well at the top or at the foot, like the fountain at the 
to owe its origin to St. Thomas, who, while preaching on the 
rock of Little Mount to great multitudes, took pity on them 
and, striking the rock with his staff, caused a copious source 
to issue forth at which his hearers slaked their thirst. The 
water is believed to have miraculous properties. 
I think the more readily of a Christian well in Malabar, as 
there are in Malabar wells or springs considered to be mira- 
culous. I found half a dozen wells with crosses at San Thome 
and in the vicinity of (Great) St. Thomas Mount, Mylapore. 
One such well, at the very foot of St. Thomas Mount, had 
40 crosses in the 20 rings of the brickwork. The crosses were 
in pairs, the two at the top being disposed, say, east and west, 
and the two in the ring below facing north and south. Crosses 
were evidently placed in wells to communicate to the water a 
special virtue of wholesomeness. And the custom at Mylapore 
is evidently a survival of asimilar custom once prevalent among 
the pre-Portuguese St. Thomas Christians of Coromandel. 
P.-20F, Deserted Babylon and the body of the Prophet 
Daniel.—A similar description of the desert is to be found in 
f 
howlings, such hissings, that it is called Hell. There no one 
would dare to pass a single night, even with a great army, on 
es.” Cf. Mirabiha 
Dragons and great Serpents, and full of diverse venomovs 
pe all about.” Ch. 5, pp. 50-51 of Constable’s edition, 
95. 
Friar Odoric says that he passed by the tower of Babel, bu 
he does not allude to the horrors of the place. Cf. Yule 
Cathay and the way thither, 1886, vol. |, p. 54. : 
In Ch. 29, p. 370 (Constable’s edition, 1895), Sir John de 
Mandeville speaks of the trees of the sun and moon which 
spake to King Alexander and warned him of his death. These 
Ss 
