This is called by the Hindus Aksha. It is reckoned from Lanka and carried to the 52nd degree of latitude. All within this region is populous, but less so up to 14° further (north) on account of the severity of the cold. The Greeks reckon their latitude from the equator, and as their circle passes through Lanka, there is no discrepancy and the result is the same. The latitude of a place is an arc extending from the equator between the meridian of the place, and its upper intersection with the equinoctial. In short it is the distance of the meridian of the city from the equinoctial, and that is the degree of the elevation of the pole (above the horizon of the place).
To find the latitude.* Take the altitude of a (circumpolar) star that is constantly visible, and ascertain its highest and lowest points of ascension Subtract the lesser from the greater and add half the remainder to the lesser, or subtract it from the greater. The result of this process of addition and subtraction gives the latitude of the place. Or
During either equinox, take the altitude of the sun at noon. Subtract this from 90° and the remainder is the latitude of the place. Or
When the sun enters the first of Cancer, take its greatest altitude and subtract its total declination. The remainder will give the co-latitude. Subtract this from 90° and the remainder gives the latitude of the place.
Every place whose longitude is less than 90° is called west longitude, and greater than 90° east longitude. According to the Hindus it is the reverse. Every place whose latitude is less than 33°, is south, and greater than 33°, north latitude.*
In order to ascertain the (times of) wordly events, at the sun's first entry into Aries, they observe its rising at Lanka, and finding the horoscope, they assemble to determine the calculation and this they call Lankúdaya Lagna.* The oblique ascension is used to determine the relative conditions of any particular place, and is called Nagr-udaya Lagna. The Greeks observe this system, but they have two ascendens or horoscopes, one at the extreme east to ascertain the circumstances of one hemisphere and the second at the cupola of the earth which is the means of discovering the conditions of the other. They consider that as the circle of the meridian cuts the globe of the earth, it appears as a circle on its circumference and intersects the equatorial line. The point of intersection (Lanka) is called the cupola or the centre of the earth. Some suppose the cupola to be in the middle of the <Greek>, that is at a spot situated in Lon. 90°, Lat. 33°. Others place it in the fourth climate, Lon. 9°, Lat 36°.
A brief description of the cosmogony according to the strange theories of Hindu sages having been given, I here note some particulars of the system of the Greeks to relieve the dryness of this exposition.
There are nine integral* heavens. 1. The greatest heaven, called also the crystalline, whose revolution is the cause of night and day. 2. The heaven of the fixed stars. 3. The heaven of Saturn. 4. The heaven of Jupiter. 5. The heaven of Mars. 6. The heaven of the Sun. 7. The heaven of Venus. 8. The heaven of Mercury. 9. The heaven of the Moon. There are besides fifteen minor spheres. Again, the elemental spheres* are nine in number.
The first is of Fire: its convex adjoins the concave of the sphere of the moon.
The second, of Air: of this there are four strata, viz., 1. volatilised where the fluid is permeated by vapour, for the ascending vapours do not reach this point but become dissipated. It is here that comets, Zodiacal light,* luminous streams and meteors and the like have their origin. The Hindus regard them all as astral bodies of which they number a thousand kinds, and believe that they are always in existence but only occasionally visible:* 2. predominant, where the shooting stars are observed: 3. boreal, which is a vaporous wind and extremely cold in which clouds, lightning, thunder and thunderbolts take their rise: 4. dense, and this adjoins the spheres of Water and Earth.
The third, of Water: this surrounds the earth and from the effect of light and contact with earth, does not retain its original purity and thus waters varying in sweet, saline, clear, and turbid qualities spring from the soil and are diverse in their scantiness, excess, limpidity and density.
The fourth, Earth: this according to their notions lies in three strata (<Greek>) that which by the bounty of the Creator came forth from the waters and subjected to heat became dry land, wherein is the region of mountain and mine and the habitat of the greater number of animals; (<Greek>) clay, which is earth mixed with water; (<Greek>) earth simple, and this is about the centre of the globe.
Some writers blindly following traditional lore hold that the Earth like the heavens consists of seven vaults, and another school believes that the heavens overshadow them all, and that each earth is surrounded by a mountain, as the mountain of Ḳáf* surrounds this habitable world. They also assert that the earths are of gold, and ruby and the like. Some pretend that beyond Ḳáf there are seventy regions of gold, followed by as many of musk and imagine similar extraordinary strata. Though fable may create a hundred other such fancies, no proof can substantiate them.