which they journeyed on horseback till they
came to a strait which separated them from a beautiful land. Eirek
crossed over and found himself in Paradise, and, strange to say, an
excellent cold luncheon waiting for him. It took him seven years to get
home again, and, as he died soon after his return, the map of the route
was lost.

Still, Eirek's Paradise may not improbably have been Ceylon.

The latest location of the Garden of Eden is by a recent traveller in
Somaliland, in the north-east shoulder of Africa and south of the Gulf
of Aden. This is in the neighbourhood of the country of Prester John,
but in its present aspects can by no means be regarded as a Terrestrial
Paradise.

Sir John Mandeville's description of the Terrestrial Paradise which he
discovered gives it as the highest place on the earth--so high that the
waters of the Flood could not reach it. And in the very centre of the
highest point is a well, he said, that casts out the four streams,
Ganges, Nile, Tigris, and Euphrates--all sacred streams. Now, in the
Encyclopaedia of India it is stated that 'The Hindus at Bikanir Rajputana
taught that the mountain Meru is in the centre surrounded by concentric
circles of land and sea. Some Hindus regard Mount Meru as the North
Pole. The astronomical views of the Puranas make the heavenly bodies
turn round it.' So here again we have a mountain as the terrestrial
centre.

In the Avesta there is reference to a lofty mountain at the centre of
the world from which all the mountains of the earth have grown, and at
the summit of which is the fountain of waters, whereby grow two
trees--the Heavenly Soma, and another tree which yields all the seeds
that germinate on earth. From this fountain, according to the Buddhist
tradition, flow four streams to the four points of the compass, each of
them making a complete circuit in its descent.

This central mountain is the Navel of Waters where originated all
matter, and where sits Yama under the Soma tree--just as in the Norse
legend the Norns, or Fates, sit by the great central earth-tree,
Yggdrasil.

According to the Greek tradition, Jupiter, in order to settle the true
centre of the earth, sent out two eagles, one from east and one from
west. They met on the spot on which was erected the Temple of Delphi,
and a stone in the centre of that temple was called the Navel of the
World. A golden eagle was placed on each side of this stone. The design
is preserved in many examp