SB ESSAY ON THE 



answer the purpose of living^ creatures, either moveable or inmoveableC 

 They then took the old moon, pounded it with the scurf, that wais^ 

 scraped off the body of Vishnu, and flun^jthe whole mixture into the 

 fThite Sea, with all sorts of plants and trees o After the churning, a new 

 and perfe6l moon appeared, to the inexpressible joy of the three worlds. 

 It consisted of the most pure parts of the mass of Amrity and it instant- 

 ly flew up to. heaven. Since the churning, the White Sea might be con- 

 sidered as entirely of ambrosia or Amrtt^ called also Amalaci in Sanscrit, 

 It is in consequence called Amritdbd'hi or the sea of Amrit^ and it was 

 named the Amalchian ses in the west, probably from Amalaci^ In the 

 Piirdnas^ the White Island is called Amritcdra, which in an adlive sense 

 signifies producing^ making amber i but in a neuter sense, it implies that 

 it is made of amber» 



This is then the original island called Electris; and Sotacus, as cited 

 by Pliny, asserted, that amber was produced from certain trees in Britain^ 

 This idea of Sotacus originated probably from some ancient legend con- 

 cerning the first appearance of Amrit in that island. The isle of the 

 moon was called Electris^ and so was the moon itself. The Paurdnics 

 declare, that it is of the purest amber, or ambergris i for it is difficult to 

 discriminates which of the two they mean: but it appears that they have 

 confounded these two substances together ; or at least, that they con- 

 sidered them as two species of the same kind or genus. They say in 

 Tibet ^ that the moon is of liquid crystal; and the Mafiicheans affirmed, 

 that it was entirely of what they called the water of perfe61:ion. The 

 Paurdnics call also the moon Carpura, which is a general term for am- 

 ber, ambergris, camphirCj, Agallochum and Tahaxir, or sugar of bambus. 

 To these they ascribe the same origin^ except to the Agallochum, In 



