350 Gradus ad Aomon. [No. 4. 



and we must proceed into the Eusufzye in our quest of Nusa. 

 Here the most remarkable town is that of Zayda, standing in the 

 plain of the Eusufzye near the isolated hill bearing the name of 

 Punjpir and venerated alike by Hindoo and Muhummadan : by the 

 former as being the seat of the five Pandoo brothers, after that 

 Yoodisthera had gambled away the throne and empire of Inder- 

 prust, the present Delhi. The hill may be about 800 feet in height, 

 but although so noted in traditionary lore, it will not answer to the 

 description of Mt. Meros, being a rock covered with low jungle. 



There are some who think Ashtnugr to be the site of Nusa, but 

 I think upon slender grounds. Ashtnugr* has no mountain to over- 

 shadow it, and is manifestly an ancient name. 



Punjtarr is after Zayda, one of the most remarkable of sites in 

 the Eusufzye. It is a valley surrounded on all sides by mountains, 

 of which the principal is the Mahabunn lying on its north, and 

 separating it from the valley of Chumla and Boonair. I have never 

 been able to discover any traces of Nusa or Mt. Meros in that 

 neighbourhood ; which however I have never visited. 



I have, perhaps more than once,f had occasion to allude to the 

 remarkable isolated summit called Elum. It was not until this 

 essay had been almost completed, that I discovered its identity with 

 the Earn Tukht of the Hindoos. This led me to the enquiry whether 

 it might not be the Mt. Meros we are seeking, and there are many 

 points of resemblance. 



Earn is no doubt identical with Bacchus. And the throne of 

 Earn is Mt. Meros. Eleleus is one of the names of Bacchus from 

 which Elum may be derived. 



Mt. Elum is one of two pre-eminent and isolated summits stand- 

 ing upon the boundary of Sohaut with Boonair. The twin summit 



* Ashtnugr is in Sanskrit history called Eeshnugr. Eesh being one of the 

 names of Shiv'h, who in some respects resembles Bacchus, being addicted to intoxi- 

 cating drugs, having the tiger's skin, and worship beiug offered to his genitals. If 

 the Koh i Mohr Baba be Mt. Meros, probably no site will answer so well for Nusa 

 as Ashtnugr or Nicetta. But there seems to me too great an interval between 

 mountain and city, which moreover belong to separate districts and common- 

 wealths — an unfordable river intervening. 



f In other papers. 



