.30^ On Egypt and the Mils 



Six of the ancient divifions are by fome called upadwipas, becaufe they 

 are joined to the large dwipa named Jamhu ; and their names are ufuaily 

 omitted in the new enumeration ; thus Cii/Jia-dwip within is included in 

 Jamba-dwipt and comprifes three out of kvea c hand as, or feet ions, of 

 Bbdraia-fuerjba. Another g ographical arrangement is alluded to by the 

 poet Ca'lida's, who fays, that " Raghu erecled pillars of conquejl in each 

 of the eighteen dwipas " meaning, fay the Pandits, /even principal, and 

 eleven fubordinate, ifles or penin r ulas : upa, the fame word originally- with 

 hypo and Tub* always implies inferiority ; as upaveda, a work derived from 

 the Veda itfelf j itpapdtaca, a crime in a lower degree ; upadherma, an infe- 

 ri our duty j but great confufion has arifen from an improper ufe of the 

 words upadwipa and dwipa, 



CusHA»dwipa without is Abyjjinia and Ethiopia % and the Brahmens ac- 

 count plaufibly enough for its name, by afferting, that the defcendants of 

 CushAj, being obliged to leave their native country, from them called Cujha- 

 dwipa within, migrated into "Sancha-dwip, and gave to their new fettle- 

 ment the name of their anceftor ; for, though it be commonly faid, that 

 the dwipa was denominated from the grafs Cusha, of the genus named Poa 

 by Linnaeus, yet it is acknowledged, that the grafs itfelf derived both 

 Its appellation and fanciity from Cusha, the progenitor of a great Indian 

 family : fome fay, that it grew on the valmica, or hill formed by Termites 

 or white ants, round the body of Cusha himfelf, or of Caushica his fon, 

 who was performing his tapafyd, or ad of auftere devotion ; but the (lory 

 ©f the ant-hill is by others told of the firft Hindu poet thence named 

 ?a'lmi'ca. 



The countries s which I am going to defcribe, lie in Sancha-dwip, accor- 



