1854.] Gradus ad Aornon. 355 



Nusa was a city hidden with dense groves, and having tombs of 

 cedar (according to Cnrtius) in a spot remarkable for the intense chill 

 of the night air in spring. It seems by the same author to have 

 stood in the line of invasion pursued by Alexander. According to 

 Plutarch a river washed its walls, not fordable in the spring. It 

 was a city of such consequence as to be able to afford Alexander 

 300 horsemen, (see Arrian,) Nusa stood in the Doaba of the Indus 

 and Koopheen according to Arrian. 



Mt. Meros was in the neighbourhood, Curtius says that Nusa 

 was under the roots of Meros. Meros was remarkable for groves 

 containing the laurel, ivy, vine, and various fruit trees, and which 

 sheltered the wild beasts of all lands. These shrubs the Nusians 

 boasted were produced only in their mountain, and the Greeks 

 appear not to have met with them in a wild state, in Asia, previously. 

 The mountain was so lofty, that birds did not inhabit it, at least the 

 voice of bird was never heard there. Persons entering the grove 

 were or feigned to be seized with Bacchanallian transports and 

 shouted the names of the presiding deity. E vohe, Iacche, Eleleu : 

 Ues, Attes, Saboi. The mountain was dedicated to the deity, whose 

 commonest epithet was "the insane" so that even the mountain was 

 called the mad Meros. 



Earn Tukht, the throne of Earn or Osiris or Bacchus, called by 

 Muhammedans Mt. Elum, is, excepting the Mahabunn, the most 

 remarkable mountain in the Doaba of the Indus and Koopheen. It 

 is pre-eminent, rises like some mighty Pagoda to the height of 9 or 

 10,000 feet, and is an object of adoration to the Hindu and of rever- 

 ence to the Muhammadan. It is densely covered with forest, full 

 of wild beasts and is of a height at which, in that part of India, the 

 ivy, box, &c. nourish. At its root is the shrine of the mad father. 

 Both epithets of Bacchus, and below it at the roots are the follow- 

 ing old towns* all derivable from the names of Bacchus. Lusa 

 (quasi Nusa from Dionusos), Lyoeah (from Luaios), Elye, from the 

 same or possibly from Elios (the sun), Osiris being worshipped 

 as the sun. A wan quasi Evan, Bimeetee quasi Bimeter, a name of 



* I could wish for better authority than I possess for the names of some of 

 these towns. It was only as I quitted Hazura, that I discovered the identity of 

 Mt. Elum with the Ram Tukht. 



