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tradition concerning its being more subtle than any other animal, 

 became the emblem of wisdom. An ancient Phoenician fragment, 

 preserved in theCEdipusiEgyptiacus, fully explains the notion which 

 the Egyptians and other pagan nations entertained of this compound 

 hieroglyphic, the globe, wings, and serpent, which decorated 

 the portals of their proudest temples. Jupiter, says the fragment, 

 is an imagined sphere; from that sphere is produced a serpent. The 

 sphere shews the divine nature to be without beginning or end; 

 the serpent, his word, which animates the world and makes it 

 prolific; his wings, the Spirit of God, that by its motion gives life 

 to the whole mundane svstem." 



The principal image in the temple at the east gate of Dhuboy 

 is said to have diamond eyes; from their magnitude I doubt their 

 reality : the brahmins have probably exchanged those magnificent 

 ornaments for stones of inferior value. Whether this portal was 

 dignified with the appellation of the gate of diamonds from those 

 brilliant eyes of the deity, or from its costly architecture, I cannot 

 say; but I have no doubt that this immense work, with the sanctity 

 annexed to it, as well as to the temple itself, is indebted for its 

 celebrity to its eastern situation, as much as for its ornaments. 

 Possibly had it not been erected in that relative aspect it would 

 not boast of such magnificence. Whether this gate was pecu- 

 liarly appropriated to the entrance of the ancient Hindoo rajahs, 

 and brahmins of the higher order, or whether opened only for 

 the admission of religious processions, I could not learn from 

 tradition. 



We know from ancient history that the east was generally con- 

 sidered to be a more sacred aspect than the other cardinal points; 



