D’Herbelot (vol. i. p. 179) calls them the Haiathelah or Indoscythae, and says that they were apparently from Thibet, between India and China. De Guignes (tome i. p. 325) is offended with this explanation, and says: “Cette conjecture ne peut avoir lieu, les Euthélites n’ayant jamais demeuré dans le Thibet.” A branch of the Huns, however, did most assuredly dwell in that quarter, though we will not positively assert that they were the Abtelites. The Haihaya was a great branch of the Lunar race of Yayati, and appears early to have left India for the northern regions, and would afford a more plausible etymology for the Haiathelah than the Te-le, who dwelt on the waters (_ab_) of the Oxus. This branch of the Hunnish race has also been termed Nephthalite, and fancied one of the lost tribes of Israel [?]. Footnote 4.1.37: Ferishta, in the early part of his history [i. Introd. lxviii f.], observes that, some centuries prior to Vikramaditya, the Hindus abandoned the simple religion of their ancestors, made idols, and worshipped the host of heaven, which faith they had from Kashmir, the foundry of magic superstition. Footnote 4.1.38: Divested of allegory, it means simply that the supply of water was rendered impure, and consequently useless to the Hindus, which compelled them to abandon their defences and meet death in the open field. Alau-d-din practised the same _ruse_ against the celebrated Achal, the Khichi prince of Gagraun, which caused the surrender of this impregnable fortress. “It matters not,” observes an historian whose name I do not recollect, “whether such things are true, it is sufficient that they were believed. We may smile at the mention of the ghost, the evil genius of Brutus, appearing to him before the battle of Pharsalia; yet it never would have been stated, had it not assimilated with the opinions and prejudices of the age.” And we may deduce a simple moral from “the parent orb refusing the aid of his steed to his terrestrial offspring,” viz. that he was deserted by the deity. Fountains sacred to the sun and other deities were common to the Persians, Scythians, and Hindus, and both the last offered steeds to him in sacrifice. Vide _History of the Tribes_, article ‘Aswamedha,’ p. 91. Footnote 4.1.39: The Baldan, or sacrifice of the bull to Balnath, is on record, though now discontinued amongst the Hindus. [_Baldān_ = _balidāna_, ‘a general offering to the gods.’] Footnote 4.1.40: Pinkerton, who is most happy to strengthen his aversion for the Celt, seizes on a passage in Strabo, who describes him as having recourse to the same mode of purification as the Guebre. Unconscious that it may have had a religious origin, he adduces it as a strong proof of the uncleanliness of their habits. ----- CHAPTER 2