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of hospitality, nor showed mercy to those who sued for it. On this account they were doomed to destruction; and for this purpose there was a mighty eruption of waters from the earth, attended with heavy showers from above, so that the rivers swelled and the sea overflowed, till the whole earth was covered with a flood, and all flesh drowned. Deucalion alone was preserved to repeople the world. This mercy was shown him on account of his justice and piety. His preservation was effected in this manner. He put all his family, both his sons and their wives into a vast ark, which he had provided; and he went into it himself. At the same time animals of every species, boars, horses, lions, serpents, whatever lived upon the face of the earth, followed him by pairs; all which he received into the ark, and experienced no evil from them. As to what happened after this, there is an ancient tradition among those of Hierapolis, that in their country a great chasm opened and received all the water; whereupon Deucalion erected altars and built the temple of Juno over the chasm." Plutarch mentions that Deu

calion sent out a dove from the ark, whose return indicated a continuance of the deluge; but its neglect to return, when sent out the second time, or as some say its return with muddy feet, showed that the waters had disappeared.

The Noah of Egypt appears to have been Osiris. Typhon a personification of the sea - enticed him into an ark, which being closed, he was forced to sea; and it is a curious fact, that he embarked on the seventeenth day of the month Athyr, the very day, most probably, when Noah entered the ark.

Now how can this remarkable coincidence of circumstances be explained, without supposing one original source from which all proceeded? Some of them are so peculiar, that the most fertile imagination never could have invented them. Much less would they have occurred to men of different nations, opinions and education.

5. This conclusion is strengthened by the fact, that as we approach the country of Armenia, where Noah's ark rested, the more nearly do the traditions of deluges coincide with the Mosaic account. Probably, however, the account we have already given from Lucian, corresponds as nearly with the Mosaic history as any on record. Yet it ought to be recollected that this writer was a native of Samosata, on the banks of the Euphrates; and although he professes to give the Grecian account, it would be strange if he had not added some circumstances, which he

doubtless learnt in early life in his native place. For we know that very distinct traditions concerning a mighty deluge existed in that region. For example; Berosus, a Chaldean priest, who lived 270 years before Christ, after stating that before the flood "there was a great city of giants, called Aeno, situated near Libanus, who governed the whole world," and who became excessively corrupt, proceeds thus: "There was one among the giants who reverenced the gods and was more wise and prudent than all the rest; his name was Noa; he dwelt in Syria, with his three sons, Sem, Japet, Cham, and their wives, the great Tidea, Pandora, Noela and Noegla. This man, fearing the destruction which he foresaw from the stars would come to pass, began, in the 78th year before the inundation, to build a ship covered like an ark. Seventy-eight years from the time he began to build this ship, the ocean of a sudden broke out, and all the inland seas and the rivers and fountains bursting from beneath, (attended with the most violent rains from heaven for many days), overflowed all the mountains; so that the whole human race was buried in the waters, except Noa and his family, who were saved by means of the ship; which being lifted up by the waters, rested at last upon the top of the Gordyaean mountain, of which, it is reported, there now remaineth some part, and that men take away the bitumen from it, and make use of it by way of charm or expiation to avert evil. - We must, therefore, allow from these premises, that which both the Chaldeans and Scythians write of, that after the earth was dried from the waters, there were no more than the above-mentioned eight persons in Armenia, and that from these all men upon earth sprung; and for this reason it is, that the Scythians justly call Noa the father of all the greater and lesser gods, the author of the human race, the chaos, and seed of the world."

The tradition of the Assyrians on this subject, appears from a passage quoted by Eusebius from Abydenus. "After whom others reigned, and then Sisithrus; to whom Saturn foretold that there should be a great flood of waters, (or many showers), upon the fifteenth day of the month Desius; and ordered him to hide whatever writings he could find, in Heliopolis, a city of the Sippari. Sisithrus having performed this, immediately sailed towards Armenia; and instantly after, those things which God had foretold came to pass. And on the third day, when the tempest was ceased, he made a trial by sending out birds, to see if they could espy any land uncovered of water.

But

they finding nothing but the immense ocean, and not knowing which way to direct themselves, returned to Sisithrus; and after these he sent out others; that the third time it answered, for the birds returned with their feet all mudded. But as for Sisithrus the gods took him from among men. And the ship was carried to Armenia and afforded the people of the country amulets of wood to expel diseases."*

Among the ancient Persians, the belief of a deluge prevailed with those who professed to hold to their religion in its purity. Zoroaster taught that it was occasioned by the wickedness of one Malcus; and one of their authors asserted that Noah himself dwelt in the mountain from which the waters burst forth.

It would seem, then, that in the countries around Armenia, the traditions of a deluge are less altered from the Mosaic account than in countries more remote, and less of fable is mixed with them. If that account be the original source from which all others were derived, we might expect that such would be the fact; and therefore it is a presumption in favor of such an opinion.

6. Analogous traditions respecting a deluge are found scattered over the whole globe. Some doubts had been expressed whether such a belief prevailed among the Chinese. But Sir William Jones says, "I may assure you, after full inquiry and consideration, that the Chinese believe the earth to have been wholly covered with water, which in works of undisputed authenticity, they describe as flowing abundantly, then subsiding, and separating the higher from the lower age of mankind; and that the divisions of time from which their poetical history begins, just preceded the appearance of Fohi in the mountains of China."+

The Hindoo tradition is very explicit. The following is Sir William Jones's abridged account of it, as it is contained in the poem of the Bhagavat. "The demon Hayagriva having purloined the vedas from the custody of Brahma, while he was reposing at the close of the sixth Manwantara, the whole race of men became corrupt, except the seven Rishis, and Satyavrata, who then reigned in Dravira, a maritime region to the south of Carnata. This prince was performing his ablutions in the river Critamala, when Vishnu appeared to him in the shape of a small

* See Bryant's Analysis of Ancient Mythology, Vol. 2. p. 212, † Asiatic Researches, Vol. 2. Diss. on the Chinese.

fish, and after several augmentations of bulk in different waters, was placed by Satyavrata in the ocean, where he thus addressed his amazed votary: In seven days all creatures who have offended me shall be destroyed by a deluge, but thou shalt be secured in a capacious vessel miraculously formed. Take, therefore, all kinds of medicinal herbs, and esculent grain for food, and together with the seven holy men, your respective wives, and pairs of all animals, enter the ark without fear; then shalt thou know God face to face, and all thy questions shall be answered.' Saying this he disappeared; and after seven days the ocean began to overflow the coasts and the earth to be flooded by constant showers, when Satyavrata, meditating on the Deity, saw a large vessel moving on the waters. He entered it, having in all respects conformed to the instructions of Vishnu; who in the form of a vast fish, suffered the vessel to be tied with a great sea-serpent, as with a cable, to his measureless horn. When the deluge had ceased, Vishnu slew the demon, and recovered the vedas, instructed Satyavrata in divine knowledge, and appointed him the seventh Menu, by the name of Vaivaswata."* "And according to the Pauranias and the followers of Buddhu," says Capt. Wilford, "the ark rested on the mountain of Aryavarta, Aryawart, or India; an appellation which has no small affinity with the Ararat of Scripture."†

Sir William Jones has given some further particulars from the Hindoo traditions concerning this Satyavrata, which present a still more striking coincidence with the history of Noah subsequent to the deluge. "To Satyavarman, that sovereign of the whole earth, were born three sons; the eldest Sharma ; then Charma," (in the common dialect according to Wilford pronounced Sham, and Cham,) " and the third Jyapeti by name. They were all men of good morals, excellent in virtue and virtuous deeds; skilled in the use of weapons, to strike with or to be thrown; brave men, eager for victory in battle. But Satyavarman, being continually delighted with devout meditation, and seeing his sons fit for dominion, laid upon them the burden of government, while he remained honoring and satisfying the gods, and priests, and kine. One day, by the act of destiny, the king having drunk mead, became senseless, and lay asleep naked; then was he seen by Charma, and by him were his two

* Asiatic Researches, Vol. 2. On Chronology of the Hindoos. Same work, Vol 6. p. 521.

brothers called, to whom he said, 'what has now befallen? In what state is this our sire?' By those two was he hidden with clothes, and called to his senses again and again. Having recovered his intellect, and perfectly knowing what had passed, he cursed Charma, saying, 'Thou shalt be the servant of servants, and since thou wert a laughter in their presence, from laughter shalt thou acquire a name.' Then he gave to Charma the wide domain on the south of the snowy mountains and to Jyapeti he gave all on the north of the snowy mountains, but he (Satyavarman) by the power of religious contemplation attained supreme bliss."*

If we pass now to the aboriginal nations of America, we shall find the same tradition prevalent, although fewer particulars are preserved, and the facts are more distorted. Acosta says that the Indians generally believed in a deluge, and "that all men were drowned in it. And they (the Mexicans) report that out of the great lake Titicaca came one Vivacocha, which staid in Tiguanaco and so began mankind to multiply. Others report that six, or I know not what number of men, came out of a certain cave by a window; by whom men first began to multiply; and for this reason they call them Pacaritampo." According to Herrera, the Mechoachans, a people comparatively in the neighborhood of Mexico, believed that a single family was preserved during a deluge, in an ark, and a sufficient number of animals to people the new world. While confined in the ark several ravens were sent out, one of which returned with the branch of a tree. The Iroquois relate, that the world was created by a spirit, called Otkon, and repaired after a deluge by another, called Messore. The deluge happened in consequence of Otkon's dogs, when hunting, having got lost in a large lake, which in a short time covered the whole earth." The inhabitants of Cuba, related "that an old man knowing the deluge was to come, built a great ship, and went into it, with his family and abundance of animals, that he sent out a crow, which did not return; staying to feed on the dead bodies; and afterwards returned with a green branch; with other particulars, as

Asiatic Researches, Vol. 3. p. 263.

+ Acosta's History of Indies, as quoted by Catcott on the Deluge, p. 71.

Hennepin's Continuation of the New Discovery, &c., as quoted in the same work, p. 72.

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