SACREP ISLES' IN THi: WEST. 49 



.after death and judgment, through .every Hand and zone ; where they 

 :are born again; and if they persevere, they at last residi 'S-ipe.ta^ tha 

 ■^Ghr-ttaor resplendent island ; there to remain, for a certain time, in pror 

 -portion totfueir merits; when they are born again ip \k^ fhv'tpa ^f Jambu 

 or. hidia, the land of merits and demerits-. 



Like ^Sivetam or Ghnta, this Ultima Creta was the principium et finis ^ 

 the beginning and the end, of their worldly pilgrimage, of which their 

 courses were a lively image. Chrysostom makes use of the same al- 

 legory; and calls the barrier Leuke, synonymous vv'ith Greta. The spiral 

 line which the racers described, and which was seven times involved, evi- 

 dently alludes to the seven narrow seas ; and for this reason they called it 

 Euripus. Though these seven seas, and the seven islands, be described 

 in the Hindu, system as so many concentrical circles and zones, yet in 

 some Purdn as, they are represented as forming a spiral line. This 

 Uhima Crda, or Leuke, being thus placed at the furthest extremity of the 

 world, answers obviously to our ^Sxveta m the Roman and original system, 

 but will by no means agree with the Grecian Crete. The famous plant 

 dictamnus, supposed to grow in Crete, is positively asserted, in the Rdm^ 

 cyena^ to be a native of our Ghrita, or at least ia plant with similar pro- 

 perties. For Hanuma'n was etiredled to fetch it thence, to cure the 

 wounds which Lagshman'a had received in battle. 



We observed before, that the White Island was also denominated 

 E.njata, ArjatayRupa-vdra, Raupya,orX\\Q Silver Island: to these names 

 we must also add that of Tdra or Tdr^ which implies the same thing. 

 The name of the whole country is Tdr-dt'sa or silver country, and it is 

 represented as sucli : and though it be not mentioned under that name 



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