RACKED ISLES IN THE WEST, ^7 



JB near that famous Firm-land^ of which the ancients had some notj* 

 on, and with the Hindus t conceived it to he the boundary of the Universe, 

 The §ea towards it, or the Atlantic ^ is the only true sea; 'for thp 

 other seas are really, but gulfs and bays. Thespesius, whom I men* 

 tioned before, says that there was but one island, belonging to Feoser^ 

 fine; Marcellus says that they all belonged to her. ^he is the Lacsh-^ 

 Mi^ of the Pur all as ^ and the daughter of the ocean. Besides thes?; 

 seven dwipas, there were three of a vast size, which belonged to the three 

 superior deities. These three islands constitute the seventh division of 

 the world, according to the followers of Budd'ha ; and the sixth only acv 

 cording to the Paurdnics, who divide the world into seven y as the former 

 d,o into eight ^wipis. The three superior ^eities, according to the Hin^^ 

 duSf are Brahma', Vishnu and 'Siva, who preside over these three- 

 islands. To IBrahma' belongs Suvarneya ; and it is also the abode of 

 Yama or Pluto. Vishnu presides over the White Island; he who is 

 Na'ra'ya'na, or abiding in the waters, and consequently often mistaken 

 for Neptune. The third island, says Marcellus, belongs to Jupiter 

 Ammon, who is the same with 'Siva in the character of Barcara, or with 

 the head of a he goat. The word Barcara was formerly used in the west 

 for a ram and a sheep ; for in the Latin of the middle ages Barcaria or 

 Bercaria signified a sheep fold, Bercariifs a shepherd : hence the French 

 WQrd BergeVo 



These seven dwipas^ inaccurately rendered islands, constituted the 

 body of the famous •/iji/an^w, according to Marcellus: but the general 

 opinion was, that it consisted of ten parts, Neptune having divided the 

 whole country between his ten sons. The whole is perfe(5lly consonant 

 with the account of the Paurdnics. Priyavrata, the eldest son of 



