SACREO ISLES IN THE WEST. '?5 



The names of the four tribes are still preserved in Britat7i, and thfe 

 nearest parts of the continent, in the titles- of their Cula-devatas, or tute- 

 lary gods of famihes, tribes, and nations. Thus the narrle of the sacer- 

 dotal tribe of the Magas, or Magans, m the plural number, is still 

 obvious in that of the god Mogon, inscribed' on' several stones in the 

 north of England: he is the same with Mercurius Moccus, mentioned 

 in the French encyclopaedia, from an inscription discovered at Langres. ^^^ 



The tribe called Mdgasa, or of the Mdgasans, was the tribe of war- 

 riors, as declared in the 'Sdmba-purdna; and we have Hercules Magu- 

 scEus, and Magusanus mentioned in several monuments found in Hoi" 

 land, and other adjacent countries. The third tribe of merchants, called 

 Mdnasa, is rescued from oblivion in the name of the god Mounus, in an 

 inscription in England. The name of the fourth, or lowest class, called 

 Magada, though in some manuscripts we read Mandaga, and Mangada, 

 is still obvious in the name of the goddess Magada, whom the mor^ 

 modern Germatis acknowledge that their ancestors once worshipped^ • 



This tribe of Brdhmens is still very numerous in Itidia, particularly In 

 South Bdhdr, which is acknowledged to be called, in Sa?ischt, Magad'ha, 

 from them. They are called ^Sacas; and, in a derivative form, ^Sacalas^- 

 from their native country; and Magas, from their venerable sire. 



The Biirmahs call Gautama, or Budd'ha, Mag a, according to Dr. 

 Buchanan ; and Salmasius says that Zoroaster was called Mog : certain 

 it is, that he was a Maga or Magus. The same author tl links, that he 

 may be the same with a certain sage, called Moghus, by the Greeks, and 

 who is said to have lived sometime before the Trojan war. The appel- 



CO French- Eticyclo^, voce Mcrciire. 



