330 On Egypt and the Nile 



fouthern Himalaya we find the lake of the Gods, which correfponds with 

 that in the north $ with this difference, that the exigence of the fouthern 

 lake cannot be doubted, while that of the northern may well be called in 

 queftion (unlcfs there; be fuch a lake in the unkno ,vn region bet veen c £i:et 

 and the high plains of Bokhara) ; for what the Sannydjis call Mdnafarovcr 

 is in truth the Vindhyafaras of the Furdns. Bevond the fouthern lake of 

 the Gods is another Merit, the feat alfo of divinities and the place of their 

 airy jaunts, for it is declared in the Purdns, as the Brahmens inform me, 

 that, within the mountains towards the iburce of the NJa, there are de- 

 lightful groves inhabited by deities, who divert themfelves with journey- 

 ing in their cars from hill to hill : the Greeks gave to that fouthern Meru 

 the appellation ■ of 6e<?v fovifjus in allufion to the Vimdns, or celejlial cars; 

 but they meant a range of hills, according to Pliny and Agathemerus(j), 

 not a fingle infulated mountain. Pliny, who places that mountainous tract 

 in the fouth of Ethiopia, makes it project a great way into the fouthern 

 ocean: its weftern limit is mentioned by Ptolemy • and the Nubian geo- 

 grapher fpeaks of all the three ranges. By the Chariot of the Gods we are 

 to underftand the lofty grounds in the centre of the African peninfula, from 

 which a great many rivers, and innumerable rivulets flow in all directions i 

 fires were conftantly feen at night on the fummit of thofe highlands ; and 

 that appearance, which has nothing very flrange in it, has been fully ac- 

 counted for by modern travellers. 



We come now to the Hafy asi las or Habaf lis, who are mentioned, lam 

 told, in the Pur anas, though but feldom -, and their name is believed to have 

 the following etymology: C'harma, having laughed at his father Satya- 

 vr'ata, who had by accident intoxicated himfeif with a fermented liquor, 



(a) Plin. 1. 6. C. 30. 1. 5,0. 1. 1. 2. c. 106. Agathem. B. 2. ch. 9. 



