The Hill of _Sectee_, in the talook of Colar, where the giant was destroyed, is (according to this tradition) formed of the ashes of Busmaa-soor: It is held in particular veneration by this sect, as the chief seat of their appropriate sacrifice; and the fact of its containing little or no moisture, is held to be a miraculous proof that the ashes of the giant continue to absorb the most violent and continued rain. This is a remarkable example of easy credulity. I have examined the mountain, which is of a sloping form, and composed of coarse granite.--_Hist. Sketches of the South of India_, vol. i. p. 442, note. _The Ship of Heaven._--VI. p. 56. 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