THE coffers were then put upon the pickets, and having all their bottoms of the same thickness, they therefore formed the plane in which the chain was to be extended.

WHEN any hypothenuse was terminated, a line, with a plummet, was let fall from the arrow upon the feather edge of the chain; and the point on the ground was marked, which was defined by the point of the plummet, (for a brass register head was there unnecessary,) and the height of that extremity of the chain, from the ground, was carefully taken. The new hypothenuse, therefore, commenced from that same point, and the arrow at the beginning of the next chain was made to coincide with a plumb line falling to the said point. And the height also of that end of the chain, from the ground, was taken; by which means, the ascent or descent of the commencement of the new hypothenuse was determined.

WHEN the chain was extended in the coffers, it was fixed at one end to the drawing post, and from the other an 84 inch shell was suspended. The leading register head was then brought by the finger screw, so that some division might correspond with the arrow. Five thermometers were then put into the coffers, (one into each,) and there remained for some minutes, a cloth at the same time covering them. They were then taken out, and the mean temperature marked down. This was done to every chain, and a mean of each hypothenuse was afterwards taken, and the result served to determine the equation arising from expansion and contraction, for correcting the whole apparent length of the base.

EVERY thing having been prepared, the measurement commenced on the 14th October, and was completed on the 10th December: the particulars thereof will appear in the following table.

North of which is a conical hill called Khyem-lung, and dedicated to MAHA'-DEVA; and which is inserted in the map of the LAMAS, but without name, and with two roads ending there. It is one of the Southern peaks of mount Cantaisch, which rises above the rest to an amazing height. A small stream, rising behind the subordinate peak of Khyem-lung, is considered by pilgrims as the source of the Ganges. There ended the survey of the Lama mathematicians; and the countries to the South, and South-West, were added afterwards, from the report of natives. During the rains the lake is said to overflow, and several streams rush down from the hills: but they soon dry up, even the sacred stream itself not excepted.

According to PURA'N-GIR, and other pilgrims from India, this extensive plain is surrounded on all sides by peaks, or conical hills, but very irregular: toward the North they rise gradually, and a little beyond the sugar-loaf hill of Khyem-lung begins the base of Cantaisch. Toward the East the range of peaks is very low, forming only a serrated crest. To the South this crest is much higher than toward the other cardinal points: but, to the North, the mountains beyond the crest are very high. The Southern crest is very near the banks of the lake. The lake itself forms an irregular oval, approaching to a circle, but the two inlets or smaller lakes to the North are said not to exist, for PuRAN'-GIR'S route was to the North of the lake, and close to its shore, and he did not see them. Pilgrims are five days in going round the lake, and the place of worship, or Gombah, is to the South. It consists of a few huts, with irregular steps down the banks of the lake. The Ganges issues from it, and during the dry season its stream is hardly five or six inches deep. It does not go through the

COSS.

lake called Lanken in the maps; it flows to the South East of it, at the distance of two or three This lake is called in India the pool of RA'VANA: and because he is the Lord of Lancá; his pool is called the lake of Lancá, or Lanken, in the maps.

The lake of Man-saraur is mentioned by PLINY, as I observed before, and it is probably the same that is mentioned by CTESTAS, who says it was eight hundred stadia in circumference. M. POLO describes it as to the West of Tibet, but does not mention its name. It is noticed by P. MONSERRAT, who accompanied the Emperor ACBAR in his expedition to Cabul, in the year 1581. He calls it Mansaruor, and, from the report of pilgrims, places it in thirty-two degrees of latitude North; and about three hundred and fifty miles to the North-East of Serhind. The first European who saw it, was P. ANDRADA, in the year 1624: and in the years 1715, and 1716, it was visited by the missionaries P. DESIDERIUS, and EMANUEL FREYER.

The Burmahs call this lake Anaudát, and place four heads of animals to the four cardinal points, from which spring the four great rivers; and thus, in the opinion of the divines of Tibet and Ava, this lake is the real Mán-saraur. From this description one might be induced to suppose this lake to be the crater of a Volcano, but much larger than any now existing. CTESIAS says that a liquid matter like oil was swimming on its surface, and was carefully collected by the inhabitants, and M. POLO adds, that pearls were found there. The pilgrims I have consulted knew nothing either of this precious oil or of the pearls. They shewed me, however, small pebbles, some like pease, others as big as a pigeon's egg, which they told me were found on the shores of that lake, and that pilgrims used to take a few of them as relics, to give to their friends: and I was presented accordingly with some. They are in general as transparent as the purest chrystal, and I should suspect them to be pieces of chrystal, broken and rounded by mutual attrition, occasioned by the motion of waters.

To the West of this lake springs the Sita-Cant'há, probably the Sitocatis of ARRIAN. It is called also the Mlechha-Gangá, or impure Ganges: and is supposed, by some, to be the same with the 'Satlaj or Sitlodá in the Panjab: this erroneous idea seems to originate from its being called by pilgrims Sitlodá : but its true name is Sitodá, nearly synonymous with Sita-cánťhá. The famous JAYA-SINHA, Rajah of Jaypoor, sent people as far as the Cow's-mouth, and they found that the Sitodá, after flowing for a considerable space toward the West suddenly turned to the South, came within two miles of the Cow'smouth, and fell into the Ganges about sixteen coss lower.

To the East, or para, is the Arunoda lake, lite rally the water or lake of Aruna or Dawn: and it is called to this day Orin-nor, or the lake of Orin, and from it flows the yellow river, the Sitá of the Puránas, called also Para-Gandica, or Eastern Gandica.

APAREN'A, or to the West, is the Sitodá lake from which issues the Apara-Gandicá or Western Gan'dicá, called also Chacshu in the Puranas, Oxus by the Greeks, and Cocshu by the natives. This lake at the source of the Orus, is noticed in some maps: by the natives it is called Cul or the lake; and by Persian authors Div-sarán; according to Sir W. JONES, in his life of NADIR-SHAH; Deva

sara, in Sanscrit, signifies the lake of the Gods, or the divine lake. According to them it is near the mountains of Andemas from the Sanscrit And'ha-Tamasa, or And'h-Tamas: both words imply darkness; but being joined together, imply it in a superlative degree; and it is the name of one of the divisions of hell. On their summit is the Belur, or dark coun try of the maps. The Ant hema mountains are called Sacranthema by BERNARD GOEZ. An intelligent and well informed native of Biducshan, and royal mes senger of that country for forty years, under AHMED and ZEMAN-SHAH, informed me that Ser Anthema is the true naine; that ser or sereh signifies in his country, end, limit, or border, and appears to be the name of a place near the Anthema mountains, as Ser-Hind, or on the borders of Hind. This lake is said to be three days journey in circumference. The Orus does not spring immediately from it, but at the distance of fifteen miles to the West it emerges from the ground. The Cocsha is the sacred stream which sanctifies the waters of the Orus; but by no means the main stream, which is more to the North. It is so with regard to the Ganges, the sacred stream of which is called Alacananda, and is but a small river, the source of which is twelve coss to the North-East of Badaricasrama, and, I believe, about 130 miles from Hardwar From the lake to the hills to the Eastward is an extensive plain, called Sárágh-Chopawn, or the plains of Choparen. There are four places there men-. tioned by GOEz, Ciarciunar, or Chár-Chunár the four cedars, like the four cedars, or pines, perhaps, near Cashmir, called Chár-Chunár also: these four trees no longer exist *. Sarcil was explained to me, by CAMBER-ALI, the king's messenger, by Sereh