252 Essay on the Ancient Geography of India, [No. 3. 



To the north of Berment, in the above map, is Adbil or Azbil, a 

 place of some celebrity, because the sect of the Ali-lldhiydhs is sup- 

 posed to have made its appearance, and prevailed there for a long time. 

 It is called Abil by El Edrissi ; and is the same, I believe, with the 

 Azend of Ebn Haucal ; and the true reading should be Azbil. The 

 pilgrims having taken provisions (a little meal only) cross the mouth 

 of the bay, and if the weather be favourable, they land at a place 

 called Macara, W. N. W. of Son-mahydm, and about six miles from 

 it. This is not to be understood of the breadth of the outer mouth 

 of the Hdb, which, I suppose to be about a mile and half broad. The 

 boats, in which they embark, are generally near the eastern part of 

 the town, and from this place, the six miles are to be reckoned. They 

 land, where the surf, from the sea, ends. It used formerly to spread 

 desolation all over the bay ; but a holy man, finding the rib of an 

 immense whale, lying dead on the shore, fixed it into the ground, and 

 forbade the surf to go beyond it in future. It lies horizontally nearly, 

 and one extremity is partly buried in the ground, which is very stiff; 

 but the other is wholly buried into it. From this circumstance, this 

 spot is called the place of the MacKhicdHar, or fish bone ; Macara- 

 Hdr, or bone of the Macara, Magar, or Whale, or simply Macar. It 

 is called Beccar in the Portuguese maps, Pagdld by Nearchus, and 

 Pegadce by Philostratus. Whether these names were originally the 

 same, or not, is immaterial, as they point to the same place. Philos- 

 tratus in speaking of Pegdda says, " Here is the country of copper (or 

 Tdmra) and also that of gold (Swarna, or Sond)." 



Our pilgrims, as soon as landed, worship the Macar 1 s bone ; and set 

 off immediately, marching the whole night and part of the next day ; 

 when about three o'clock, they arrive on the banks of the western 

 branch of the Hdb, or river Phdr or Pher. The country is level, 

 their course west nearly, and the distance is 15 cos, or 28-5 British 

 miles. There on the banks of the Hdb, they take a frugal repast, and 

 spend the night of the seventh. 



Ten, or eleven cos from the whale bone, are the wells of y Acrdh. 

 Cupa a well, Cupdn wells in Sanskrit, and if the name of a place 

 Cupana : in the spoken dialects Cuwanh a well, Cuinh a small well ; 

 and as the wells of y Acrdh are small ones, they are called y Acra-ca- 

 Cuinh. Their waters were formerly bitter, but a holy man, by putting 



