S4 ESSAY ON THE 



supposed also to be adjacent to the coasts of Africa, and the island of 

 Sumatra is also called the island of the moon, as well as the islands on 

 the eastern coast of AfricaS'^'^' 



It is declared, in the Pur an as, that the IVhiie Island is incapable of 

 decay, and is never involved in the destru61:ion and ruin, which happens 

 at each renovation of the world ; except the last, when every thing will be 

 absorbed into the Supreme Being, who will remain alone. The J'Fhite 

 Is I a7id 3.nd mountain is then the same, in which lived Evenor and his 

 wife Leucippe, or the white goddess, according to Plato: and from the 

 context this island was certainly in the west Neptune married their 

 daughter Clito, and had by her Hesperus, who was thus called because 

 he was born in the west. Hesperus had a daughter called Creta, pro« 

 bably because she was born in this Ultima Creta. Some assert, that the 

 Grecian island of that name was thus called after her. 



V. The White Island is also called the dwipa of ^Sdca or ^Sdeam, 

 which is the same with Seaxum or Saxu7n, as it was pronounced by our 

 ancestors ; or more properly, the White Isla?id was part of Sdcam, as it is 

 positively declared in the Matsya mid Far dha-purdn as. From these two 

 JPurdnas it is put beyond doubt, that the Bi itish Isles are to be understood 

 by ''Sdcam : perhaps some adjacent parts of the continent are also to be 

 included under this denomination. 



In the Matsya-piirdna we read, that in the dwipa of ^Sa'ca is Rajatd- 

 mahan-Astdgiri, called also Scmaca, or the country or island of th6 moon. 

 There the gods obtained the Amrzt, and from thence Garu'da carried it 

 away for his mother. Raj atd-ma!id7i~Ast6giyi is a phrase, which sig- 



(^) Dissert, ia Kaaaon. Peapl. inter Geograph. vet. miii. 



