Note 208 — The very remote Antiquity attributed to certain Nations is not supported by History.
Reading edition
The following are Mr Wilfort’s own words, in his memoir on the Testimonies of Ancient Hindoo Books, respecting Egypt and the Nile, Calcutta Memoirs, vol. iii. p. 433 of the 8vo edition:
—“Having desired my pundit, who is a learned astronomer, to point out in the heavens the constellation of Antarmada, he directed me immediately to Andromeda, which I had taken care not to shew him as a constellation that I knew. He afterwards brought me a very rare and curious book, in Sanscrit, in which there was a particular chapter on the Upanacshatras, or extra-zodiacal constellations, with figures of Capeya, of Casyape, seated, and holding a lotus-flower in her hand; of Antarmada, chained, with the fish near her; and of Parasica, holding the head of a monster, which he had killed, dropping blood, and having snakes for hair.”
Who does not recognise in this, Perseus, Cepheus, and Cassiope? But we must not forget that this pundit of Mr Wilfort’s has become much suspected.