346 Gradus ad Aornon. [No. 4. 



distant from all hills. Extensive ruins connect Nisutta with Dehri 

 a village now four miles apart from it. Nusa was probably not only 

 a town but a rebublic, comprising several towns or villages. It 

 furnished 300 horse to Alexander. Nisutta appears to me too far 

 from the mountains to answer to the description of Nusa. 



Upon the eastern border of Bajor is a lofty and remarkable 

 mountain called by the Bajoris Koh i Morh Baba, or Mount of 

 Father Mohr, which might very possibly be a corruption of Meros 

 or Meroo. It is covered with cedar and other forest trees, includ- 

 ing wild fruit trees, has a shrine at the base, and is regarded by the 

 people as a kind of Parnassus, tenanted by the Boozoorg or spirits 

 of the departed. 



It is the place of refuge in times of invasion to the Bajoris. The 

 shrine is said to be a mere tumulus of earth shadowed with trees. 



Now it is a remarkable fact that many of the most venerated of the 

 Mahomedan shrines in this tract are old Hindi Teeruts or shrines 

 which have retained their hold upon the veneration of the people 

 in spite of a change of faith. Thus all the Punjpirs* so common 

 near the Indus are spots, sacred in Hindi lore to the five Pandoo 

 brothers, Yoodhistira, Bheema, Urjoona, Nukoola and Saho Deva. 

 It is therefore probable that the hill Meros is to this day an object 

 of veneration to the inhabitants, and that Bacchus has become a 

 Mahomedan saint, although his present votaries have forsworn wine. 



The position of the Koh i Morh Baba is between Bajor and the 

 Doaba of Shubqudr as indicated in the sketch map, accompanying. It 

 is therefore westward of the river Koopheen, whereas Arrian's account 

 would lead us to suppose Mt. Meros and Nusa to lie in the Doaba 

 of the Indus and Koopheen. The indications boasted by the people 

 of Nusa as peculiar to their mountain, will no longer serve us as 



* Punjpir or the five saints or worthies. Their names are known to few, and T had 

 some difficulty in ascertaining the designations of the saints who have succeeded 

 the Pandoo brothers. 



There are four hills bearing the name Punjpir in this neighbourhood (Hazara) 

 viz. the isolated hill above Zayda in the Yoosufzye. The isolated rock at Hussun 

 Ubdal. The mountain overhanging Atuk eastward ; and the highest point of the 

 mountain on which stands the British castle of Dunna in the Dhoond country Hazara. 



If we follow Curtius, it will be difficult to avoid identifying Mt. Mohr Baba 

 with Mt. Meros. 



