306 On Egypt and the Nile 



help thinking it derived from the Sanfcrit word Padma, which I hafve heard 

 pronounced Padam, and even Pat am, in the vulgar dialects : it is the 

 Nymphoza of Linnaeus, and, mofl certainly, the Lotos of the Nfle r - i on the 

 pericarp of which a Frog is reprefented fitting- in an Egyptian emblem en- 

 graved by Mont faucon. (a) That river and the marmes near it abound- 

 with that lovely and ufeful plant ; and we {hall fee prefently, that Call her- 

 felf is believed to have made its beautiful flower her favourite place of refi. 

 dence in the character of Padmd-dev) , or the Goddefs in the Lotos : mofl 

 of the great rivers, on which the Nymphoza floats in abundance, have the 

 epithet of Padmavati or Padmemati ; and the very word Potamos, ufed as 

 an appellative for a large river, may be thence derived.; at leaft the com- 

 mon etymology of that word is far lefs probahle. 



We before obferved, that the fource of the NY'la' is in the extenfive 

 region of Sh arm a, near the mountains of Soma, in the mafculine, or Dei 

 Lunii and that it iffues from the lake of the Gods, in the country of Chan- 

 drz $ in the feminine, or Deoz Luncz ; to the word farovara, or conjiderable 

 iMe'i is prefixed in compofition either Amur a. Sura, or De'va '■; and the com- 

 pound Diva-farovara is generally pronounced, in common fpeech, Deo-fa~ 

 raur. It lies between two ranges of hills ; one to the eafl, called Ajagara % 

 or not wakeful', and the other to the weft named Sitdnta, or end- of cold, 

 which implies that it may have fnow on its fummit* but in a very fmall 

 quantity. 



Sh arm a -Sfhan, called al fo the mountainous region of ' Ajdgara r is faid 

 in the Brahmdnda-puran, to be 300 Yojans, or 1476.3, Britijh miles, in; 



{a) 2 Br yam T Anc. Mjihoh 3J4-j»/. 6. 



