' It is the Tien-Chan, 'the
celestial mountain-land, . . . the enchanted gardens' of the Chinese and
Tartars, watered by the four perennial fountains of Tychin, or
Immortality; it is the hill-encompassed Ila of the Singhalese and
Thibetians, 'the everlasting dwelling-place of the wise and just.' It is
the Sineru of the Buddhist, on the summit of which is Tawrutisa, the
habitation of Sekra, the supreme god, from which proceed the four sacred
streams, running in as many contrary directions.
It is the Slavratta, 'the celestial earth,' of the Hindoo, the summit of
his golden mountain Meru, the city of Brahma, in the centre of
Jambadwipa, and from the four sides of which gush forth the four
primeval rivers, reflecting in their passage the colorific glories of
their source, and severally flowing northward, southward, eastward, and
westward."
It is the Garden of Eden of the Hebrews:
"And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put
the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to
grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the
tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge
of good and evil.
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