y others that it rested on the head of a snake, or the back
of a huge tortoise; but as they did not provide a resting place for either
the pillars or the tortoise, the whole theory fell to the ground for want
of proper foundation.

The Brahmins assert, that the heavens rest upon the earth, and the sun and
moon swim therein like fishes in the water, moving from east to west by
day, and gliding along the edge of the horizon to their original stations
during the night;[2] while, according to the Pauranicas of India, it is a
vast plain, encircled by seven oceans of mild, nectar, and other delicious
liquids; that it is studded with seven mountains, and ornamented in the
center by a mountainous rock of burnished gold; and that a great dragon
occasionally swallows up the moon, which accounts for the phenomena of
lunar eclipses.[3]

Beside these, and many other equally sage opinions, we have the profound
conjectures of Aboul-Hassan-Aly, son of Al Khan, son of Aly, son of
Abderrahman, son of Abdallah, son of Masoud el-Hadheli, who is commonly
called Masoudi, and surnamed Cothbeddin, but who takes the humble title of
Laheb-ar-rasoul, which means the companion of the ambassador of God. He
has written a universal history, entitled, "Mouroudge-ed-dharab or the
Golden Meadows, and the Mines of Precious Stones."[4] In this valuable work
he has related the history of the world, from the creation down to the
moment of writing; which was under the Khaliphat of Mothi Billah, in the
month Dgioumadi-el-aoual of the 336th year of the Hegira or flight of the
Prophet. He informs us that the earth is a huge bird, Mecca and Medina
constitute the head, Persia and India the right wing, the land of Gog the
left wing, and Africa the tail. He informs us moreover, that an earth has
existed before the present (which he considers as a mere chicken of 7,000
years), that it has undergone divers deluges, and that, according to the
opinion of some well-informed Brahmins of his acquaintance; it will be
renovated every seventy thousandth hazarouam; each hazarouam consisting of
12,000 years.

These are a few of the many contradictory opinions of philosophers
concerning the earth, and we find that the learned have had equal
perplexity as to the nature of the sun. Some of the ancient philosophers
have affirmed that it is a vast wheel of brilliant fire;[5] others that it
is merely a mirror or sphere of transparent crystal;[6] and a third class,
at the head of w