Chapter IV: Preface (4)

I have converted the _Vimana_, or self-moving Car of the Gods, into a Ship. Capt. Wilford has given the history of its invention,--and, what is more curious, has attempted to settle the geography of the story:

"A most pious and venerable sage, named RISHI'CE'SA, being very far advanced in years, had resolved to visit, before he died, all the famed places of pilgrimage; and, having performed his resolution, he bathed at last in the sacred water of the _Ca'li_, where he observed some {173} fishes engaged in amorous play, and restating on their numerous progeny, which would sport like then in the stream, he lamented the improbability of leaving any children: but, since he might possibly be a father, even at his great age, he went immediately to the king of that country, HIRANYAVERNA, who had fifty daughters, and demanded one of them in marriage. So strange a demand gave the prince great uneasiness: yet he was unwilling to incur the displeasure of a saint, whose imprecations he dreaded; he, therefore, invoked _Heri_, or _Vishnu_; to inspire him with a wise answer, and told the hoar philosopher, that he should marry any one of his daughters, who, of her own accord, should fix on him as her bridegroom. The sage, rather disconcerted, left the palace; but, calling to mind the two sons of ASWINI, he hastened to their terrestrial abode, and requested that they would bestow on him both youth and beauty: they immediately conducted him to _Abhimatada_, which we suppose to be _Abydus_, in Upper _Egypt_; and, when he had bathed in the pool of _Rupayauvana_, he was restored to the flower of his age with the graces and charms of CA'MA'DE'VA. On his return to the palace, he entered the secret apartments, called _antahpura_, where the fifty princesses were assembled: and they were all so transported with the vision of more than human beauty, {174} that they fell into an ecstacy, whence the place was afterwards named _Mohast-han_, or _Mohana_, and is, possibly, the same with _Mohannan_. They no sooner had recovered from their trance, than each of them exclaimed, that she would be his bride; and their altercation having brought HIRANYAVERNA into their apartment, he terminated the contest by giving them all in marriage to RISHICE'SA, who became the father of a hundred sons; and, when he succeeded to the throne, built the city of _Suc-haverddhana_, framed _vimânas_, or celestial, self-moving cars, in which he visited the gods, and made gardens, abounding in delights, which rivalled the bowers of INDRA; but, having granted the desire, which he formed at _Matoyasangama_, or the place where the fish were assembled, he resigned the kingdom to his eldest son HIRANYAVRIDDHA, and returned, in his former shape, to the banks of the Ca'li, where he closed his days in devotion.--WILFORD. _Asiatic Researches_.

_Dushmanta_. In what path of the winds are we now journeying?

_Matali_. This is the way which leads along the triple river, heaven's brightest ornament, and causes yon luminaries to roll in a circle with diffused beams: it is the course of a gentle breeze which supports the floating {175} forms of the gods; and this path was the second step of Vishnu when he confounded the proud Bali.

* * *

_Dushmanta_. The car itself instructs me that we are moving over clouds pregnant with showers; for the circumference of its wheels disperses pellucid water.

* * *

_Dushmanta_. These chariot wheels yield no sound; no dust arises from them, and the descent of the car gave me no shock.

_Matali_. Such is the difference, O King! between thy car and that of Indra.--SACONTALA.

_And ending thus where they began_, &c.--VII. p. 66.

It has been supposed that the perpetual lamps, which were at one time believed to have been found in certain sepulchres, were kept burning by a similar process. For the lamp, it was argued, being hermetically closed, so that no smoke could escape, the smoke was condensed into its original liquid form; and thus the liquor which fed the flame passing into smoke, and the smoke again into the liquor, the flame was continually kept up. There still remained a difficulty about the wick; some supposed that this was made of threads of gold inconceivably fine: others, with less expense of fancy, said a wick of {176} asbestos would answer the purpose.--FEYJOO. _Theatro Critico_, _T_. 4. _Disc_. 3. § v. 13.

_The Raining Tree._--VII. p. 65.

The island of _Fierro_ is one of the most considerable of the Canaries, and I conceive that name to be given it upon this account, that its soil not affording so much as a drop of fresh water, seems to be of _iron_; and, indeed, there is in this island neither river, nor rivulet, nor well, nor spring, save that only, towards the sea-side, there are some wells; but they lie at such a distance from the city, that the inhabitants can make no use thereof. But the great Preserver and Sustainer of all, remedies this inconvenience by a way so extraordinary, that a man will be forced to sit down and acknowledge that he gives in this an undeniable demonstration of his goodness and infinite providence,

For, in the midst of the island, there is a tree, which is the only one of its kind, inasmuch as it hath no resemblance to those mentioned by us in this relation, nor to any other known to us in Europe. The leaves of it are long and narrow, and continue in a constant verdure, winter and summer; and its branches are covered with a cloud, which is never dispelled, but resolved into a moisture, which causes to fall from its leaves a very clear water, {177} and that in such abundance, that the cisterns, which are placed at the foot of the tree to receive it, are never empty, but contain enough to supply both men and beasts.--MANDELSLO.

Feyjoo denies the existence of any such tree, upon the authority of P. Tallandier, a French Jesuit, (quoted in Men. de Trevoux. 2715, art. 97.) who visited the island. "_Assi no dudo_," he adds, "_que este Fenix de las plantas es ten fingedo como el de las aves._"--Theat. Crit. _Tom. ii. Disc_. 2. § 65. What authority is due to the testimony of this French Jesuit I do not know, never having seen his book; but it appears, from the undoubted evidence of Glas, that its existence is believed in the Canaries, and positively affirmed by the inhabitants of Fierro itself.

"There are," says this excellent author, "only three fountains of water in the whole island, one of them is called Acof,[3] which, in the language of the ancient inhabitants, signifies river; a name, however, which does not seem to have been given it on account of its yielding much water, for in that respect it hardly deserves the same of a fountain. More to the northward is another called Hapio; and in the middle of the island is a spring, {178} yielding a stream about the thickness of a man's finger. This last was discovered in the year 1565, and is called the Fountain of Anton Hernandez. On account of the scarcity of water, the sheep, goats, and swine here do not drink in the summer, but are taught to dig up the roots of fern, and chew them, to quench their thirst. The great cattle are watered at those fountains, and at a place where water distils from the leaves of a tree. Many writers have made mention of this famous tree; some in such a manner as to make it appear miraculous; others again deny the existence of any such tree, among whom is Father Feyjoo, a modern Spanish author, in his _Theatro Critico_. But he, and those who agree with him in this matter, are as much mistaken as they who would make it appear miraculous. This is the only island of all the Canaries which I have not been in; but I have sailed with natives of Hierro, who, when questioned about the existence of this tree, answered in the affirmative.

The author of the History of the Discovery and Conquest has given us a particular account of it, which I shall relate here at large. "The district in which this tree stands is called Tigulahe; near to which, and in the cliff, or steep rocky ascent that surrounds the whole island, is a narrow gutter or gulley, which commences at the sea, and continues to the summit of the cliff, where it joins or {179} coincides with a valley, which is terminated by the steep front of a rock. On the top of this rock grows a tree, called, in the language of the ancient inhabitants, Garse, _i.e._ Sacred or Holy Tree, which, for many years, has been preserved sound, entire, and fresh. Its leaves constantly distil such a quantity of water as is sufficient to furnish drink to every living creature in Hierro; nature having provided this remedy for the drought of the island. It is situated about a league and a half from the sea. Nobody knows of what species it is, only that it is called Til. It is distinct from other, trees, and stands by itself; the circumference of the trunk is about twelve spans, the diameter four, and in height, from the ground to the top of the highest branch, forty spans: The circumference of all the branches together, is one hundred and twenty feet. The branches are thick and extended; the lowest commence about the height of an ell from the ground. Its fruit resembles the acorn, and tastes something like the kernel of a pine-nut, but is softer and more aromatic. The leaves of this tree resemble those of the laurel, but are larger, wider, and more curved; they come forth in a perpetual succession, so that the tree always remains green. Near to it grows a thorn, which fastens on many of its branches, and interweaves with them; and, at a small distance from the Garse, are some beech-trees, {180} bresos, and thorns. On the north side of the trunk are two large tanks, or cisterns, of rough stone, or rather one patera divided, each half being twenty feet square, and sixteen spans in depth. One of these contains water for the drinking of the inhabitants, and the other that which they use for their cattle, washing, and such like purposes. Every morning, near this part of the island, a cloud or mist arises from the sea, which the south and easterly winds force against the fore-mentioned steep cliff; so that the cloud, having no vent but by the gutter, gradually ascends it, and from thence advances slowly to the extremity of the valley, where it is stopped and checked by the front of the rock which terminates the valley, and then rests upon the thick leaves and wide-spreading branches of the tree; from whence it distils in drops during the remainder of the day, until it is at length exhausted, in the same manner that we see water drip from the leaves of trees after a heavy shower of rain. This distillation is not peculiar to the Garse, or Til, for the bresos which grow near it likewise drop water; but their leaves being but few and narrow, the quantity is so trifling, that, though the natives save some of it, yet they make little or no account of any but what distils from the Til; which, together with the water of some fountains, and what is saved in the winter season, is sufficient to {181} serve them and their flocks. This tree yields most water in those years when the Levant, or easterly winds, have prevailed for a continuance; for by these winds only, the clouds or mists are drawn hither from the sea. A person lives on the spot near which this tree grows, who is appointed by the Council to take care of it and its water, and is allowed a house to live in, with a certain salary. He every day distributes to each family of the district, seven pots or vessels full of water, besides what he gives to the principal people of the island."

"Whether the tree which yields water at this present time be the same as that mentioned in the above description, I cannot pretend to determine, but it is probable there has been a succession of them; for Pliny, describing the Fortunate Islands, says, "In the mountains of Ombrion, are trees resembling the plant Ferula, from which water may be procured by pressure: What comes from the black kind is bitter, but that which the white yields is sweet and palatable."--GLAS's _History of the Canary Islands_.

Cordeyro (_Historia Insulana_, lib. ii. c. 5.) says, that this tree resembles what in other places is called the _Til_, (_Tilia_,) the Linden Tree; and he proceeds, from these three letters, to make it an emblem of the Trinity. The water, he says, was called the _Agua Santa_, and the tree {182} itself the _Santa Arvore_,--appellations not ill bestowed. According to his account the water was delivered out in stated portions.

There is an account of a similar tree in Cockburne's Travels; but this I believe to be a work of fiction. Bernal Diaz, however, mentions one as growing at Naco, in Honduras, "_Que en mitad de la siesta, por recio sol que hiziesse, parecia que la sombra del arbol refrescava el corazon, caia del uno como rozio muy delgado que confortava las cabezas._"--206.

There may be some exaggeration in the accounts of the Fierro Tree, but that the story has some foundation I have no doubt. The islanders of St. Thomas say, that they have a sort of trees whose leaves continually are distilling water. (_Barbot. in Churckle_, 405.) It is certain that a dew falls in hot weather from the lime,--a fact of which any person may easily convince himself. The same property has been observed in other English trees, as appears by the following extract from the Monthly Magazine:

"In the beginning of August, after a sun-shine day, the air became suddenly misty about six o'clock; I walked, however, by the road side from seven to eight, and observed, in many places, that a shower of big drops of water was falling under the large trees, although no rain {183} fell elsewhere. The road and path continued dusty, and the field-gates showed no signs of being wetted by the mist. I have often noticed the like fact, but have not met with a satisfactory explanation of this power in trees to condense mist."

I am not the only poet who has availed himself of the Fierro Tree. It is thus introduced in the Columbus of Carrara,--a singular work, containing, amid many extravagancies, some passages of rare merit:

Ecce autem inspector miri dum devius ignis
Fertur, in occursum miræ magis incidit undæ.
Æquoris in medio diffusi largiter arbor
Stabat, opaca, ingens, ævoque intacta priori,
Grata qiues Nymphis, et grata colentibus umbram
Alitibus sedes, quarum vox blanda, nec ullâ
Musicus arte canor sylvam resonare docebat.
Auditor primum rari modulaminis, utque
Cominus admovit gressum, spectator et hæsit;
Namque videbat, uti de cortice, deque supernis
Crinibus, argentum guttatim mitteret humens
Truncus, et ignaro plueret Jove; moxque serenus
In concham caderet subjecti marmoris imber,
Donec ibi in fontem collectis undique rivis
{184}
Cresceret, atque ipso jam non ingratus ab ortu
Redderet humorem matri, quæ commodat umbram.

Dum stupet et quærit, cur internodia possit
Unda; per et fibras, virides et serpere rugas,
Et ferri sursum, genio ducente deorsum;
Adstitit en Nympha; dubitat decernere, Nais,
Anne Dryas, custos num fontis, an arboris esset;
Verius ut credam, Genius sub imagine Nymphæ
Ille loci fuerat. Quam præstantissimus Heros
Protinus ut vidit, Parce, o pulcherrima, dixit,
Si miser, et vestras ejectus nuper ad oras
Naufragus, idem audax videor fortasse rogando.
Dic age, quas labi video de stipite, lymphæ
Montibus anne cadant, per operta foramina ductæ,
Mox trabis irriguæ saliant in frondea sursum
Brachia, ramalesque tubos; genitalis an alvus
Umbrosæ genitricis alat; ceu sæpe videmus
Balsama de truncis, stillare electra racemis.
Pandere ne grave sit cupienti noscere causam
Vilia quæ vobis usus miracula fecit.

Hæc ubi dicta, silet. Tum Virgo ita reddidit, Hospes
Quisquis es, (eximium certe præsentia prodit)
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Deciperis, si forte putas, quas aspicis undas
Esse satas terrâ; procul omni a sede remota
Mira arbos, uni debet sua munera Cœlo.
Quâ ratione tamen capiat, quia noscere gestis
Edicam; sed dicendis ne tædia repant,
Hic locus, hæc eadem, de quâ cantabitur, arbor
Dat tempestivam blandis afflatibus umbram:
Hic una sedeamus; et ambo fontis ad undam
Consedere; dehinc intermittente parumper
Concentu volucrum, placido sic incipit ore.

Nomine Canariæ, de quâ tenet Insula nomen,
Virgo fuit, non ore minus, quam prædita raræ
Laude pudicitiæ, mirum quæ pectore votum
Clausit, ut esse eadem genitrix et virgo cupiret.
At quia in Urbe satam fuerat sortita parentem
Ortum rure Patrem, diversis moribus hausit
Hinc sylvæ austeros, teneros hinc Urbis amores.
Sæpe ubi visendi studio convenerat Urbes,
Et dare blanditias natis et sumere matres
Viderat ante fores, ut mater amavit amari.
Sæpe ubi rure fuit de nymphis una Dianæ,
Viderat atque Deam thalami consorte carentem,
Esse Deæ similis, nec amari ut mater amavit.
Sed quid aget? cernit fieri non posse quod optat;
{186}
Non optare tamen, crudelius urit amantem.
Noctis erat medium: quo nos sumus, hoc erat illa
Forte loco, Cœloque videns splendescere Lunam,
O Dea, cui triplicis concessa potentia regni,
Parce precor, dixit, si quæ nunc profero, non sum
Ausa prius; quod non posses audire Diana,
Cum sis Luna potes; tenebræ minuere pudorem.
Est mihi Virginitas, fateor, re charior omni,
Attamen, hâc salvâ, fœcundæ si quoque Matris
Nomina miscerem, duplici de nomine quantum
Ambitiosa forem; certe non parva voluptas
Me caperet, coram si quis me luderet infans
Si mecum gestu, mecum loqueretur ocellis,
Cumque potest, quacumque potest, me voce vocaret,
Cujus et in vultu multum de matre viderem.
Ni sinit hoc humana tamen nature licere,
Fiat quâ ratione potest; mutare figuram
Nil refert, voti compos si denique fiam.
Annuit oranti facilis Dea; Virgine digna
Et quia vota tulit, Virgo probat. Eligit ergo
De grege Plantarum ligni quæ cœlibis esset.
Visa fuit Platanus: placet hæc; si vertat in istam
Canariæ corpus, sibi tempus in omne futuram
Tam caram esse videt, quam sit sua laurea Phœbo.
Nec mora, poscenti munus, ne signa deessent
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Certa dati, movit falcatæ cornua frontis.
Virginis extemplo cœpere rigere crura
Tenvia vestiri duro præcordia libro,
Ipsaque miratur, cervix quod eburnea, quantum
It Cœlo, tantum tendant in Tartara plantæ;
Et jam formosâ de Virgine stabat et Arbos
Non formosa minus; qui toto in corpore pridem
Par ebori fuerat, candor quoque cortice mansit.
Sed deerat conjux uxoris moribus æque
Integer et cœlebs, et Virginitatis amator,
Quo fœcunda foret; verum tellure petendus
Hon hic, ab axe fuit. Quare incorruptus et idem
Purior e cunctis stellatæ noctis alumnis
Poscitur Hersophorus, sic Graii nomine dicunt,
Rorem Itali. Quocumque die (quis credere posset?)
Tamquam ex condicto cum Sol altissimus extat,
Sydereus conjux nebulæ velatus amictu
Labitur huc, niveisque maritam amplectitur alis:
Quodque fidem superat, parvo post tempora fœtum
Concipit, et parvo post tempore parturit arbor,
Molle puerperium vis noscere? consule fontem,
Qui nos propter adest, in quo mixtura duorum
Agnosci possit, splendet materque paterque.
Læta fovet genitrix, compos jam facta cupiti;
Illius optarat vultu se noscere, noscit;
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Cernere ludentem se circum, ludere cernit;
Illum audire rudi matrem quoque voce vocantem,
Et matrem sese dici dum murmurat, audit.
Nec modo Virgintas fæcunda est arboris, ipsæ
Sunt quoque fœcundæ frondes, quas excutit arbor.
Nam simul ac supra latices cecidere tepentes,
Insuper accessit Phœbei flamma caloris,
Concipiunt, pariuntque: oriturque tenerrimius ales
Nomine Canarius, qui pene exclusus in auras,
Tenvis adhuc, cœlique rudis, crudusque labori
Jam super extantes affectat scandere ramos,
Et frondes, quarum una fuit. Nidum inde sub illis
Collocat adversum Soli, cui pandere pennas
Et siccare queat; latet hic, nullâque magistrâ
Arte canit, matrisque replet concentibus aures.
Adde quod affectus reddit genitricis eosdem,
Utque puellari genitrix in pectore clausit,
Hinc sylvæ austeros, teneros hinc Urbis amores,
Sic amat hic sylvas, ut non fastidiat Urbes.
Tecta colit, patiturque hominem, nec divitis aulæ
Grande supercilium metuit sylvestris alumnus.
Imo loco admonitus, vix aulicus incipit esse,
Jam fit adulator, positum proferre paratus
In statione melos, domini quod vellicet aurem.
CARRARA. _Columbus_.

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The Walking-Leaf would have been better than the Canary Bird.

_Nared_.--VII. p. 67.

A very distinguished son of Brahma, named Nared, bears a strong resemblance to Hermes or Mercury; he was a wise legislator, great in arts and in arms, an eloquent messenger of the Gods either to one another, or to favoured mortals, and a musician of exquisite skill. His invention of the _Vina_, or Indian lute, is thus described in the poem entitled _Magha_: "Nared sat watching from time to time his large _Vina_, which, by the impulse of the breeze, yielded notes that pierced successively the regions of his ear, and proceeded by musical intervals."--_Asiatic Researches_, Sir W. JONES.

The _Vina_ is an Æolian harp. The people of Amboyna have a different kind of Æolian instrument, which is thus described in the first account of D'Entrecasteaux's Voyage: "Being on the sea-shore, I heard some wind-instruments, the harmony of which, though sometimes very correct, was intermixed with discordant notes that were by no means unpleasing. These sounds, which were very musical, and formed fine cadences, seemed to come from such a distance, that I for some time imagined the natives were having a concert beyond the road-stead, near a myriameter {190} from the spot where I stood. My ear was greatly deceived respecting the distance, for I was not an hundred meters from the instrument. It was a bamboo at least twenty meters in height, which had been fixed in a vertical situation by the sea-side. I remarked between each knot a slit about three centimeters long by a centimeter and a half wide; these slits formed so many holes, which, when the wind introduced itself into them, gave agreeable and diversified sounds. As the knots of this long bamboo were very numerous, care had been takes to make holes in different directions, in order that, on whatever side the wind blew, it might always meet with some of them. I cannot convey a better idea of the sound of this instrument, than by comparing them to those of the Harmonica."--LABILLARDIERE. _Voyage in Search of La Perouse_.

Nareda, the mythological offspring of _Saraswati_, patroness of music, is famed for his talents in that science. So great were they, that he became presumptuous; and, emulating the divine strains of _Krishna_, he was punished by having his _Vina_ placed in the paws of a bear, whence it emitted sounds far sweeter than the minstrelsy of the mortified musician. I have a picture of this joke, in which _Krishna_ is forcing his reluctant friend to attend to his rough-visaged rival, who is ridiculously touching the {191} chords of poor _Nareda's Vina_, accompanied by a brother bruin on the cymbals. Krishna passed several practical jokes on his humble and affectionate friend: He metamorphosed him once into a woman, at another time into a bear.--MOOR's _Hindu Pantheon_, p. 204.

----_The Sacrifice_
_That should, to men and gods, proclaim him Lord_
_And Sovereign Master of the vassal World._--VII. p. 71.

The Raisoo Yug, or Feast of Rajahs, could only be performed by a monarch who had conquered all the other sovereigns of the world.--HALHED. _Note to the Life of Creeshna_.

_Sole Rajah, the Omnipotent below._--VII. p. 71.

No person has given so complete a sample of the absurdity of oriental titles as the Dutch traveller Struys, in his enumeration of "the proud and blasphemous titles of the King of Siam,--they will hardly bear sense," says the translator, in what he elsewhere calls, by a happy blunder, "the idiotism of our tongue."

The Alliance, written with letters of fine gold, being full of godlike glory. The most Excellent, containing all wise sciences. The most Happy, which is not in the world among men. The Best and most Certain that is {192} in Heaven, Earth, and Hell. The greatest Sweet, and friendly Royal Word; whose powerful-sounding properties and glorious fame range through the world, as if the dead were raised by a godlike power, and wonderfully purged from ghostly and corporal corruption. At this both spiritual and secular men admire with a special joy, whereas no dignity may be herewith compared. Proceeding from a friendly, illustrious, inconquerable, most mighty, and most high Lord; and a royal Crown of Gold, adorned with nine sorts of precious stones. The greatest, clearest, and most godlike Lord of unblameable Souls. The most Holy, seeing every where, and protecting Sovereign of the city JUDIA, whose many streets and open gates are thronged by troops of men, which is the chief metropolis of the whole world, the royal throne of the earth, that is adorned with nine sorts of stones, and most pleasant valleys. He who guides the reins of the world, and has a house more than the Gods of fine gold and of precious stones; they the godlike Lords of thrones and of fine gold; the White, Red, and Round-tayl'd Elephants,--which excellent creatures are the chiefest of the nine sorts of Gods. To none hath the divine Lord given, in whose hand is the victorious sword; who is like the fiery-armed God of Battails, to the most illustrious.

The second is as blasphemous as the first, though hardly swells so far out of sense.

{193}

The highest PADUCCO SYRY SULTAN, NELMONAM WELGACA, NELMOCHADIN MAGIVIITHA, JOUKEN DER EAUTEN ALLAULA FYLAN, King of the whole world; who makes the water rise and flow. A King that is like a God, and shines like the Sun at noon-day. A King that gives a glance like the moon when it is at full. Elected of God to be worthy as the North Star, being of the race and offspring of the great Alexander; with a great understanding, as a round orb, that tumbles hither and thither, able to guess at the depth of the great sea. A King that hath amended all the funerals of the departed Saints, and is as righteous as God, and of such power that all the world may come and shelter under his wings. A King that doth right in all things, as the Kings of old have done. A King more liberal than all Kings. A King that hath many mines of gold that God hath lent him; who hath built temples half gold and half brass; sitting upon a throne of pure gold, and of all sorts of precious stones. A King of the white Elephant, which Elephant is the King of all Elephants, before whom many thousands of other Elephants must bow and fall upon their knees. He whose eyes shine like the morning-star. A King that hath Elephants with four teeth, red, purple, and pied. Elephants, _ay_, and a BYYTENAQUES Elephant; for which God has given him many and divers sorts of apparel {194} wrought with most fine gold, ennobled with many precious stones: and, besides these, so many Elephants used in battle, having harnesses of iron, their teeth tipt with steel, and their harnesses laid over with shining brass. A King that has many hundred horses, whose trappings are wrought with fine gold, and adorned with precious stones of every sort that are found in the universal world where the Sun shines, and these shod with fine gold: besides so many hundred horses that are used in war of every kind. A King who has all Emperours, Kings, Princes, and Sovereigns in the whole world, from the rising to the going down of the sun, under subjection;--and such as can obtain his favour are by him promoted to great honour; but, on the contrary, such as revolt, he burns with fire. A King who can show the power of God, and whatever God has made.

And so, by this time, I hope you have heard enough of a King of Elephants and Horses, though not a word of his Asses.--STRUYS.

_The Sacrifice._--VIII. p. 74.

The _Aswamedha_, or sacrifice of a horse. Considerable difficulties usually attended that ceremony; for the consecrated horse was to be set at liberty for a certain time, and followed at a distance by the owner, or his champion, {195} who was usually one of his near kinsmen; and, if any person should attempt to stop it in its rambles, a battle must inevitably ensue; besides, as the performer of a hundred _Aswamedhas_ became equal to the God of the firmament, _Indra_ was perpetually on the watch, and generally carried off the sacred animal by force or by fraud.--WILFORD. _Asiat. Res_.

Mr. Halhed gives a very curious account of this remarkable sacrifice:

"The Ashum-meed-Jugg does not merely consist in the performance of that ceremony which is open to the inspection of the world, namely, in bringing a horse and sacrificing him; but Ashum-meed is to be taken in a mystic signification, as implying that the sacrificer must look upon himself to be typified in that horse, such as he shall be described, because the religious duty of the Ashum-meed-Jugg comprehends all those other religious duties, to the performance of which all the wise and holy direct all their actions, and by which all the sincere professors of every different faith aim at perfection: The mystic signification thereof is as follows:

"The head of that unblemished horse is the symbol of the morning; his eyes are the sun; his breath the wind; his wide-opening mouth is the Bishwaner, or that innate warmth which invigorates all the world: His body typifies {196} one entire year; his back paradise; his belly the plains; his hoof this earth; his sides the four quarters of the heavens; the bones thereof the intermediate spaces between the four quarters; the rest of his limbs represent all distinct matter; the places where those limbs meet, or his joints, imply the months and halves of the months, which are called _peche_ (or fortnights): His feet signify night and day; and night and day are of four kinds, 1. the night and day of Birhma, 2. the night and day of angels, 3. the night and day of the world of the spirits of deceased ancestors, 4. the night and day of mortals; these four kinds are typified in his four feet. The rest of his bones are the constellations of the fixed stars, which are the twenty-eight stages of the moon's course, called the Lunar year; his flesh is the clouds; his food the sand; his tendons the rivers; his spleen and his liver the mountains; the hair of his body the vegetables, and his long hair the trees: the fore part of his body typifies the first half of the day, and the hinder part the latter half; his yawning is the flash of the lightning, and his turning himself is the thunder of the cloud: His urine represents the rain, and his mental reflection is his only speech. The golden vessels, which are prepared before the horse is let loose, are the light of the day, and the place where those vessels are kept is a type of the Ocean {197} of the East; the silver vessels, which are prepared after the horse is let loose, are the light of the night; and the place where those vessels are kept is a type of the Ocean of the West: these two sorts of vessels are always before and after the horse. The Arabian horse, which, on account of its swiftness, is called Hy, is the performer of the journies of angels; the Tajee, which is of the race of Persian horses, is the performer of the journies of the Kundherps (or good spirits); the Wazba, which is of the race of the deformed Tazee horses, is the performer of the journies of the Jins, (or demons;) and the Ashoo, which is of the race of Turkish horses, is the performer of the journies of mankind. This one horse, which performs these several services, on account of his four different sorts of riders, obtains the four different appellations. The place where this horse remains is the great ocean, which signifies, the great spirit of Perm-Atma, or the Universal Soul, which proceeds also from that Perm-Atma, and is comprehended in the same Perm-Atma. The intent of this sacrifice is, that a man should consider himself to be in the place of that horse, and look upon all these articles as typified in himself; and, conceiving the Atma (or divine soul) to be an ocean, should let all thought of self be absorbed in that Atma."--HALHED, _from Darul Shekuh_.

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Compare this specimen of eastern sublimity with the description of the horse in Job! Compare it also with the account of the Bengal horses, in the very amusing work of Captain Williamson,--"which said horses," he says, "have generally Reman noses, and sharp narrow foreheads, much white in their eyes, ill-shaped ears, square heads, thin necks, narrow chests, shallow girths, lank bellies, cat hams, goose rumps, and switch tails."--_Oriental Sports_, vol. ii. p. 206.

_The Bowl that in its vessel floats._--VIII. p. 78.

The day and night are here divided into four quarters, each of six hours, and these again into fifteen parts, of twenty-four minutes each. For a chronometer they use a kind of dish of thin brass, at the bottom of which there is a little hole; this is put into a vessel with water, and it runs full in a certain time. They begin their first quarter at six in the morning. They strike the quarters and subdivisions of time with a wooden hammer, upon a flat piece of iron or steel, of about ten inches in diameter, which is called a _garnial_, and gives a pretty smart sound, which can be heard at some distance. The quarters are first struck, and then as many times as the brass dish has run full in that quarter. None but the chief men of a district are allowed to have a _garnial_, and still they may {199} not strike the first division of the first quarter, which is a privilege reserved to the nabob alone. Those who attend at these clocks must be of the Bramin cast.--STAVORINUS.

_Lo, the time-taper's flame, ascending slow_
_Creeps up its coil._--VIII. p. 79.

They make a sort of paste of the dust of a certain sort of wood, (the learned and rich men of sandal, eagle-wood, and others that are odoriferous), and of this paste they make sticks of several sorts, drawing them through a hole, that they may be of an equal thickness. They commonly make them one, two, or three yards long, about the thickness of a goose-quill, to burn in the pagods before their idols, or to use like a match to convey fire from one thing to another. These sticks or ropes they coil, beginning at the centre, and so form a spiral conical figure, like a fisherman's wheel, so that the last circle shall be one, two, or three spans diameter, and will last one, two, or three days, or more, according as it is in thickness. There are of them in the temples that last ten, twenty, and thirty days. This thing is hung up by the centre, and is lighted at the lower end, whence the fire gently and insensibly runs round all the coil, on which there are generally five marks, to distinguish the five parts of the {200} night. This method of measuring time is so exact and true, that they scarce ever find any considerable mistake in it. The learned, travellers, and all others, who will rise at a certain hour to follow their business, hang a little weight at the mark that shews the hour they have a mind to rise at, which, when the fire comes thither, drops into a brass bason set under it; and so the noise of it falling awakes them, as our alarum-clocks do.--GEMELLI CARERI.

_At noon the massacre begun,_
_And night clos'd in before the work of death was done._
--VIII. p. 82.

Of such massacres the ancient and modern history of the East supply but too many examples. One may suffice:

After the surrender of the Ilbars Khan, Nadir prohibited his soldiers from molesting the inhabitants; but their rapacity was more powerful than their habits of obedience, or even their dread of his displeasure, and they accordingly began to plunder. The instant Nadir heard of their disobedience, he ordered the offenders to be brought before him, and the officers were beheaded in his presence, and the private soldiers dismissed with the loss of their ears and noses. The executioners toiled till {201} sun-set, when he commanded the headless trunks with their arms to be carried to the main-guard, and there to be exposed for two days, as an example to others. I was present the whole time, and saw the wonderful hand of God, which employs such instruments for the execution of his divine vengeance; although not one of the executioners was satisfied with Nadir Shah, yet nobody dared to disobey his commands:--a father beheaded his son, and a brother a brother, and yet presumed not to complain.--ABDUL KURREEM.

_Behold his lovely home,_
_By yonder broad-bough'd Plane o'ershaded._--IX. p. 84.

The plane-tree, that species termed the _Platanus Orientalis_, is commonly cultivated in Kashmire, where it is said to arrive at a greater perfection than in other countries. This tree, which in most parts of Asia is called the _Chinur_, grows to the size of an oak, and has a taper straight trunk, with a silver-coloured bark; and its leaf, not unlike an expanded hand, is of a pale green. When in full foliage, it has a grand and beautiful appearance; and, in the hot weather, it affords a refreshing shade.--FORSTER.

_The Marriage-Bower._--IX. p. 85.

The Pandal is a kind of arbour or bower raised before {202} the doors of young married women. They set up two or three poles, seven or eight foot in length, round which the leaves of the Pisan-tree, the symbol of joy, are entwined. These poles support others that are laid crossways, which are covered with leaves in order to form a shade. The Siriperes are allowed to set up no more than three pillars, and the infringing of this custom would be sufficient to cause an insurrection.--A. ROGER, _in Picart_.

_There, from the intolerable heat,_
_The buffaloes retreat._--IX. p. 87.

About noon, in hot weather, the buffalo throws herself into the water or mud of a tank, if there be one accessible at a convenient distance; and, leaving nothing above water but her nose, continues there for five or six hours, or until the heat abates.--BUCHANAN.

In the hot season, when water becomes very scarce, the buffaloes avail themselves of any puddle they may find among the covers, wherein they roll and rub themselves, so as in a short time to change what was at first a shallow flat, into a deep pit, sufficient to conceal their own bulk. The humidity of the soil, even when the water may have been evaporated, is particularly gratifying to these animals, which cannot bear heat, and which, if {203} not indulged in a free access to the water, never thrive.--_Oriental Sports_, vol. i. p. 259.

The buffalo not only delights in the water, but will not thrive unless it have a swamp to wallow in. There rolling themselves, they speedily work deep hollows, wherein they lay immersed. No place seems to delight the buffalo more than the deep verdure on the confines of jiels and marshes, especially if surrounded by tall grass, so as to afford concealment and shade, while the body is covered by the water. In such situations they seem to enjoy a perfect ecstacy, having in general nothing above the surface but their eyes and nostrils, the horns being kept low down, and consequently entirely hidden from view.--_Oriental Sports_, vol. ii. p. 49.

Captain Beaver describes these animals as to be found during the heat of the day in the creeks and on the shores of the island of Bulama, almost totally immerged in water, little more than their heads appearing above it.

_The market-flag._--IX. p. 86.

Many villages have markets on particular days, when not only fruits, grain, and the common necessaries of life are sold, but occasionally manufactures of various descriptions. These markets are well known to all the neighbouring country, being on appointed days of the {204} week, or of the lunar month; but, to remind those who may be travelling of their vicinity to the means of supply, a _naugaurah_, or large kettle-drum, is beat during the forenoon, and a small flag, usually of white linen, with some symbolic figure in colours, or with a coloured border, is hoisted on a very long bamboo, kept upright by means of ropes fastened to pins driven into the ground. The flags of Hindoo villages are generally square and plain; those of the Mussulmans towns are ordinarily triangular, and bear the type of their, religion, viz. a double-bladed scymitar.--_Oriental Sports_, vol. i. p. 100.

_Mount Meru._--X. p. 93.

According to the orthodox Hindus, the globe is divided into two hemispheres, both called _Meru_; but the superior hemisphere is distinguished by the name of _Sumeru_, which implies beauty and excellence, in opposition to the lower hemisphere, or _Cumeru_, which signifies the reverse: By _Meru_, without any adjunct, they generally mean the higher or northern hemisphere, which they describe with a profusion of poetic imagery as the seat of delights: while they represent _Cumeru_ as the dreary habitation of demons, in some parts intensely cold, and in others so hot that the waters are continually boiling. In strict propriety, Meru denotes the pole and the polar {205} regions; but it is the celestial north pole round which they place the gardens and metropolis of _Indra_, while _Yama_ holds his court in the opposite polar circle, or the Station of _Asuras_, who warred with the _Suras_, or gods of the firmament.--WILFORD. _Asiatic Researches_.

In the _Vayu Puráná_, we are told, that the water, or _Ogha_ of the ocean, coming down from heaven like a stream of _Amrita_ upon _Meru_, encircles it through seven channels, for the space of 84,000 _Yojanas_, and then divides into four streams, which, falling from the immense height of Meru, rest themselves in four lakes, from which they spring over the mountains through the air, just brushing the summits. This wild account was not unknown in the west; for this passage is translated almost verbally, by Pliny and Q. Curtius, in speaking of the Ganges. _Cum magno fragore ipsius statim fontis Ganges erumpit_, et magnorum montium juga recto alveo stringit, _et ubi primum mollis planities contingat, in quodam lacu hospitatur_. The words in Italics are from Pliny (vi. c. 18.) the others from Curtius (viii. c. 9.)--Capt. WILFORD. _As. Res_. vol. viii. p. 322. Calcutta edition.

The Swarganga, or Mandacini, rises from under the feet of Veeshno, at the polar star, and, passing through the circle of the moon, it falls upon the summit of Meru; where it divides into four streams, flowing toward {206} the four cardinal points. These four branches pass through four rocks, carved into the shape of four heads of different animals. The Ganges running towards the south passes through a cow's head: To the west is a horse's head, from which flows the Chaashu or Oxus; towards the east is the head of an elephant, from which flows the river Sita; and to the north is a lion's head, from which flows the Bhadrasama.--WILFORD. _As. Res_. vol. viii. 317. Calc. edition.

The mountains through which the Ganges flows at Hurdwar, present the spectator with the view of a grand natural amphitheatre; their appearance is rugged and destitute of verdure; they run in ridges and bluff points, in a direction east and west: At the back of the largest range, rise, towering to the clouds, the lofty mountains of Himmalayah, whose tops are covered with perpetual snow, which, on clear days, present a most sublime prospect. Their large jagged masses, broken into a variety of irregular shapes, added to their stupendous height, impress the mind with an idea of antiquity and grandeur coeval with the creation; and the eternal frost with which they are encrusted appears to preclude the possibility of mortals ever attaining their summit.

In viewing this grand spectacle of nature, the traveller may easily yield his assent to, and pardon the superstitious {207} veneration of the Hindoo votary, who, in the fervour of his imagination, assigns the summit of these icy regions as the abode of the great Mahadeo, or First Cause, where, seated on his throne of ice, he is supposed to receive the homage of the surrounding universe.--FRANKLIN's _Life of George Thomas_, p. 41.

At Gangóttara, three small streams fall down from impassable snowy precipices, and unite into a small bason below, which is considered by the Hindus as the source of the Ganges, over which, at that place, a man can step. This is one of the five _Tirthas_, or stations, more eminently sacred than the rest upon this sacred river. Narayana Shastri, who gave this account, had visited it.--BUCHANAN.

The mountain, called Cailasa Cungri is exceedingly lofty. On its summit there is a Bhowjputr tree, from the root of which sprouts or gushes a small stream, which the people say is the source of the Ganges, and that it comes from Vaicont'ha, or Heaven, as is also related in the Puránas; although this source appears to the sight to flow from the spot where grows this Bhowjputr tree, which is at an ascent of some miles; and yet above this there is a still loftier summit, where no one goes: But I have heard that, on that uppermost pinnacle, there is a fountain or cavity, to which a Jogui somehow penetrated, {208} who, having immersed his little finger in it, it became petrified.--PURANA POORI. _Asiatic Researches_.

Respecting the true source of the Ganges much uncertainty still prevails. In vain one of the most powerful sovereigns of Indostan, the emperor Acbar, at the close of the sixteenth century, sent a number of men, an army of discoverers, provided with every necessary, and the most potent recommendations, to explore the course of the mighty river which adorned and fertilised the vast extent of his dominions. They were not able to penetrate beyond the famous _Mouth of the Cow_. This is an immense aperture, in a ridge of the mountains of Thibet, to which the natives of India have given this appellation, from the fancied or real resemblance of the rocks which form the stupendous chasm, to the mouth of an animal esteemed sacred throughout Indostan from the remotest antiquity. From this opening the Ganges, precipitating itself into a large and deep bason at the foot of the mountains, forms a cataract, which is called Gangotri. The impracticability of scaling these precipitous rocks, and advancing beyond this formidable pass, has prevented the tracing whence this rushing mass of water takes its primary rise.--WILCOCKE, _Note to Stavorinus_.

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_The birth of Ganges._--X. p. 94.

I am indebted to Sir William Jones's Hymn to Ganga for this fable:

"Above the stretch of mortal ken,
On bless'd _Cailasa's_ top, where every stem
Glow'd with a vegetable gem,
Mahe'sa stood, the dread and joy of men;
While Párvati, to gain a boon,
Fix'd on his locks a beamy moon,
And hid his frontal eye, in jocund play,
With reluctant sweet delay.
All nature straight was lock'd in dim eclipse,
Till _Brahmans_ pure, with hallow'd lips,
And warbled prayers, restored the day;
When Ganga from his brow, by heavenly fingers press'd,
Sprang radiant, and, descending, graced the caverns of the west."

The descent of the Ganges is related in the Ramayuna, one of the most celebrated of the sacred books of the Bramins. This work the excellent and learned Baptist missionaries at Serampore are at this time employed in printing and translating; one volume has arrived in {210} Europe, and from it I am tempted here to insert an extract of considerable length. The reader will be less disposed to condemn the fictions of Kehama as extravagant, when he compares them with this genuine specimen of Hindoo fable. He will perceive, too, that no undue importance has been attributed to the Horse of the Sacrifice in the Poem.

"The son of Kooshika having, in mellifluous accents, related these things to Rama, again addressed the descendant of Kakootitha. Formerly, O hero! there was a king of Hyoodhya, named Sagura, the Sovereign of Men, virtuous, desirous of children, but childless; O Rama! the daughter of Vidurbhakeshinee, virtuous, attached to truth, was his chief consort, and the daughter of Urishtunemi, Soomuti, unequalled in beauty, his second spouse. With these two consorts, the great king, going to Himuvat, engaged in sacred austerities on the mountain in whose sacred stream Bhrigoo constantly bathed. A hundred years being completed, the sage Bhrigoo, clothed with truth, rendered propitious by his austerities, granted him this blessing: O sinless One! thou shalt obtain a most numerous progeny; thy fame, O chief of men! will be unparalleled in the universe. From one of thy consorts, O sire! shall spring the founder of thy race, and, from the other, sixty thousand sons.

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"The queens, pleased, approached the chief of men who was thus speaking, and, with hands respectfully joined, asked, O Brahman! whose shall be the one son, and who shall produce the multitude? We, O Brahman! desire to hear. May thy words be verified. Hearing their request, the most virtuous Bhrigoo replied in these admirable words: Freely say which of these favours ye desire, whether the one, founder of the family, or the multitude of valiant, renowned, energetic sons. O Rama! son of Rughoo, Keshinee hearing the words of the sage, in the presence of the king accepted the one son, the founder of the family; and Soomuti, sister of Soopurna, accepted the sixty thousand sons, active and renowned. The king, O son of Rughoo! having respectfully circumambulated the sage, bowing the head, returned with his spouses to his own city.

"After some time had elapsed, his eldest spouse Keshinee bore to Sugura a son, named Usumunja; and Soomuti, O chief of men! brought forth a gourd, from which, on its being opened, came forth sixty thousand sons. These, carefully brought up by their nurses, in jars filled with clarified butter, in process of time attained the state of youth;[4] and, after a long period, the {212} sixty thousand sons of Sugura, possessed of youth and beauty, became men. The eldest son, the offspring of Sugura, O son of Rughoo! chief of men, seizing children, would throw them into the waters of the Suruyoo, and sport himself with their drowning pangs. This evil person, the distresser of good men, devoted to the injury of the citizens, was by his father expelled from the city. The son of Usumunja, the heroic Ungshooman, in conversation courteous and affectionate, was esteemed by all.

"After a long time, O chief of men! Sugura formed the steady resolve, "I will perform a sacrifice." Versed in the Veda, the king, attended by his instructors, having determined the things relating to the sacrificial work, began to prepare the sacrifice.

"Hearing the words of Vishwa-mitra, the son of Rughoo, highly gratified in the midst of the story, addressed the sage, bright as the ardent flame, Peace be to Thee: I desire, O Brahman! to hear this story at large, how my predecessors performed the sacrifice. Hearing his words, Vishwa-mitra, smiling, pleasantly replied to Rama: {213} "Attend, then, O Rama! to the story of Sugura, repeated at full length. Where the great mountain Himuvat, the happy father-in-law of Shunkura, and the mountain Bindhyo, overlooking the country around, proudly vie with each other, there was the sacrifice of the great Sugura performed. That land, sacred and renowned, is the habitation of Rakshuses. At the command of Sugura, the hero Ungshooman, O Rama! eminent in archery, a mighty charioteer, was the attendant (of the horse.[5]) While the king was performing the sacrifice, a serpent, assuming the form of Ununta, rose from the earth, and seized the sacrificial horse. The sacrificial victim being stolen, all the priests, O son of Rughoo! going to the king, said, Thy consecrated horse has been stolen by some one in the form of a serpent. Kill the thief, and bring back the sacred horse. This interruption in the sacrifice portends evil to us all. Take those steps, O king! which may lead to the completion of the sacrifice. Having heard the advice of his instructors, the king, calling his sixty thousand sons into the assembly, said, I perceive that the Rakshuses have not been to this great sacrifice. A sacrifice of the Nagas is now performing by the sages, and some god, in the form of a serpent, {214} has stolen the devoted horse. Whoever he be, who, at the time of the Deeksha, has been the cause of this afflictive circumstance, this unhappy event, whether he be gone to Patala, or whether he remain in the waters, kill him, O sons! and bring back my victim. May success attend you, O my sons! At my command traverse the sea-girt earth, digging with mighty labour, till you obtain a sight of the horse; each one piercing the earth to the depth of a yojunga, go you in search of him who stole the sacred horse. Being consecrated by the Deeksha, I, with my grandson and my teachers, will remain with the sacrifice unfinished, till I again behold my devoted horse.