104 ESSAY ON THE 



and soon reached the Swddaudad'hi, or the sea round Pushcara^ anci 

 went home. 



The same description of our White Island, may be colledled from 

 various parts of the Purdnas, its astonishing refulgence &c, and the 

 commentator on the Bhdgavata, with many other learned men, assert that 

 these two White Islands, with the Gdldcas, or the celestial 'Swe'ta, many 

 miUions above the terrestrial one in the air, are but one. Indeed the geo- 

 graphy of them is the same exactly, the dimensions only are different, 

 being on a much larger scale. Be this as it may, whether there be ano- 

 ther White Island or country in America, is of little consequence, as it 

 does not interfere with ours, and both are asserted to exist independent 

 of each other. This notion may lead to suppose, that the inhabitants 

 of the islands in the northern ocean, had some knowledge of Amenca at 

 a very early period. In my humble opinion, it was hardly possible that 

 it should be otherwise, particularly when the chmate was less severe: 

 and that this was the case once, I conceive, cannot be denied. The 

 Pauranics say^ that this land, which surrounds the world, is called Si^- 

 varna-bhiimi, or the golden land, from its real appearance, and the quan- 

 tity of gold found there. The first travellers, v^^ho visited the shores 

 opposite to Iceland and Jforway, were struck with the appearance of the 

 rocks glittering like gold. Some of these glittering stones were brought 

 to Europe i and assayed, but produced no metal. This appearance was 

 occasioned by a sort of Pyrites, wMich abounds an- these' sho-iJes. Rocks 

 with such an appearance are men1:ioned in the northern ocean by Plu- 

 TARCH.('> According to our mythologists, Hercules and Perseus were 



(1) De facie in otbe Luri^. 



