came to Benares, about nine years ago, a most respectable native from that country, called BHAGIRAT'HA: being very old, he wished to die on the banks of the Ganges, at the holy place of Casi. He had been to China, and favoured me with a short account of his journey. There, he says, that the Burrampooter is the same with the Hládini, and that the Hara-moren is the Nalini. This river, says he, is also called, by Hindu pilgrims, the Burrah-attaca, or great Attock, or forbidden river. He had promised to favour me with further particulars; but soon after, the venerable old man breathed his last on the banks of the Ganges.

The dwipa of Chandra in the West will appear, in the course of this work, from the Purán'as, to include the British isles: but as it is considered here as one of the nine grand divisions of the Empire of Bharata, the Paurán'ics must have comprehended under that appellation a more extensive region altogether, than the British isles, and including the Western parts of Europe, under the name of Liguria, or Lloegyr, which I shall shew hereafter to be synonymous with the country of Chandra, or Lunus, emphatically called Urúpa, or the Lord of the Zodiac. The king of the dwipa of Chandra being considered as a vassal, was occasionally summoned to appear before his Lord Paramount, with all the Kings of the world in India, at least, according to the Revá-ch'an'da, a section of the Scanda-purána.

employing incantations. The king cast his eyes towards the corner of the apartment, and it so happened that there he saw a serpent; the minister's excuse appeared credible, and the king's suspicions were lulled.

"AFTER a time, the king himself secretly became a convert to the Muslemán faith; but dissembled the state of his mind, for reasons of state. Yet, at the point of death, he ordered, by his will, that his corpse should not be burnt according to the customs of the pagans.

"SUBSEQUENTLY to his decease, when SULTA'N ZEFER, one of the trusty nobles of Sultán FI'RU'z SHAH, Sovereign of Déhli, conquered the province of Gujrát; some learned men, who accompanied him, used arguments to make the people embrace the faith, according to the doctrines of such as revere the traditions. Hence it happened, that some of the tribe of Bóhrahs became members of the sect of the Sunnet.

"THE party which retains the Imámiyeh tenets, comprehends nearly two thousand families. They always have a pious learned man amongst them, who expounds cases of law according to the doctrines of the Imámiychs. Most of them subsist by commerce and mechanical trades; as is indicated by the name of Bóhrah, which signifies merchant, in the dialect of Gujrát. They transmit the fifth part of their gains to the Sayyads of Medineh; and pay their regular eleemosynary contributions to the chief of their learned, who distributes the alms among the poor of the sect. These people, great and small, are honest, pious, and temperate. They always suffer much persecution (for the crime of bearing affection towards the holy family) from the wicked murderers †, who are invested with public authority; and they are ever involved in the difficulties of concealment.

*The Sunnis, or orthodox sea. The orthodoxa

“THE

"THE Sadikiyahs are a tribe of the faithful in Hindustán; pious men, and disciples of SAYYAD CABI'RU'DDI'N, who derived his descent from ISMAIL, son of IMAM JAFER. This tribe is denominated Sadikiyahs, by reason of the sincere [sadik] call of that Sayyad. Although that appellation have, according to received notions, a seeming relation to ABU'BECR, whose partisans give him this title; yet it is probable that the sect assumed that appellation for the sake of concealment. However, no advantage ever accrues to them from it. On the contrary, the arrogant inhabitants of Hind, who are Hinduis, being retainers of the son of the impious HIND*, have discovered their attachment to the sect of Shiahs, and have revived against them the calumnies which five hundred years before they broached against the Ismailiyahs. They maliciously charge them with impiety: such indeed is their antient practice. They violate justice, and labour to extirpate this harmless tribe. In short, they cast the stone of calumny on the roof of the name and reputation of this wretched people, and have no fear of GOD, nor awe of his Prophet f.

"In short, nearly thirty thousand persons of this sect are settled in provinces of Hindustan, such as Multán, Láhór, Déhlí, and Gujrút. Most of them subsist by commerce. They pay the fifth part of their gains to the descendants of SAYYAD ČABIR, who are their priests: and both preceptor and pupil, priests and laymen, all are zealous Shiahs. GOD avert evil from them, and make the wiles of their · foes recoil!

"THE Házárehs of Cábul are an innumerable tribe, who reside in Cábul, Ghaznin, and Kand‍har.

Z 3

* Meaning HINDA' the mother of MAVIYEH.

Many

The author proceeds in a strain of invective against the Sunnís ; especially against Mulla ABDULLAH of Lábór, who bore the title of the MAKHDU'MU'LMULC. This, being superfluous, is here omitted.

Many of them are Shíáhs, and adherents of the holy family. At present, among the chiefs of the Shiahs, is Mirza SHA'DMA'N, with whom the faithful are well pleased, and of whose incursions the * Khárejis of Cabul and Ghaznin bitterly complain.

"THE Balóch of Sind; many of these are devoted Shiahs. They call themselves, and are called by all the faithful, ALI's friends. Sayyad Ra'su' of Bokhárá exerted himself in the guidance of this tribe; his descendants remain among them, and are occupied with the concerns of the sect.'

*The word is here used as a term of reproach; for its origin, as the appellation of a sect, see D'HERBELOT's Bibliotheque Orientale,

vya, living in the middle of thick forests, Vara, Pulinda, Vindhya-murvica, Vaidarbha or BurraNagpoor, Dan'daca, Paunica, Maunica, Asmaca, Bhoga-vard'hana, Nairnica, Cuntala, Andhra, now Telingana, Udbhída, Nalaca, Alica.

The next are in front of the Vind'hya mountains: Suryácára, Colavána, Durga, Cálitaca, Puleya, Surala, Rupasa, Tápasa, (these are probably the Tabassi of PTOLEMY; for, in the Dekan, they pronounce that word Tabasa,) Surasita, Carancára, Násicya, Antara-Narmada within the Narmadú, Bhánu-Cach'ha, Máheya, Sás'vata.

The following are behind the mountains of Vindhya: Málava, Carusha, Mecala along the Narmadá, called also Mecalá, Utcala, or Orissa, Uttamárána, Des'áraná, (the country of Dosarene, in the PERIPLUS and PTOLEMY,) Bhoja, Cishcind'haca, Tosala, (the Tosale of PTOLEMY, and Jesual of European travellers,) Cosala, Traipura of Tipperah, Vaidica, Tumura, Tupura, Shatasura near Naishad ha-desá, Anaya, (in. the Vayu Purána, Anuya,) Tun'dicera, Vitihotra, Dhananjaya.

There are also other countries called Nigarhara for Nagarhara, called Nakierhur in the Ayin Acberi, near Cábul, Hansamárga, the Hun'sa, probably the white Hunni of COSMAS INDOPLEUSTES, in the sixth century, and who inhabited the upper part of the Panjab. Their chiefs were called Collas, and it is related, that once their army besieging a city, drank up all the water round it; as water is very scarce in that country, it is very possible. Darva, Sahanhaca, Trigarta, Málava, Ciráta Támasa.

II. In the Vará-sanhita, an astronomical treatise, there is a more complete list. In Madhyam,