, 1881-02-20

tected by 4 wall, and to cause the germs of
men, i,e.- beasts and plants to enter it Accord
'9GS %Gh ;th IN me delnge came the garden Of
ala me message Of safety was Brought
thither BY. the bird Karshipfa, the envoy vf
tte.: we Hlvlnity; As regards the more familiar
y,e. 1reek m ana fhryglan Legends, we need only
especially to embody the conception Of uni
versal deluge. OF this food, while some limit
ca Its operation to Greece, many authors at
nrneu I that 1t extended to the whole earth, and
also noteworthy, when we remember that the
worn translated lark "in Genesis signifies
-cofter,' and not vessel. that Deucalioi also
should be said to have escaped, not BY boat
Ga La' oqi tbat II ho; Gest or Golfer The term
sallan forms OF the old myth were shaped By
q noh-maritilne people,, and it is not unlikely
tilat IN thls respect they ydiverge less from the
primitive 1 "Reminiscences than did the old
Various. types Of the flood story may be
discovered among other otfshootss from the
Aryan stock. There is little doubt, fur iu-
stance, that the Cymri possessed an indig-
not easy to eliminate from the extant ac-
counts the features borrowed from Genesis.
What seems to be the nucleus OF the tale
recountS three sweeping devastatiolis of
Brltain !3Ilt by flood, by fire, and by drought.
the eruption OF the lake OF waves and the
inundation of the whole country, by which
all mankind was drowned with the exception
of Dwyfan and Dwyfach, who saved thenl-
by then, that the Island of Britain was re-
same Ssu''u legend in the 'ss Scandinayian In tn
mythology, IN which some would ideu-
tify the eataclysn dirnly recorded with The
Dorr, and grandsoEs Of Burr. the first
man, say Ylnir, the father Of the ice giants,
from whose wounds blood flows III such
abundance that all the race Of giants is
himself, with his wife, in Il buat Again, the
Lithnanians, whose language is deemed
nearest to the original Aryala, have a legend
of catastrophe whose. groundwork seems
very ancient. but in which lire plays the part
elsewhere assigned to water. According to
their myth, a god, seeing the earth full Of
iniQuity, sends TWO giants fire and windy to
lay it waste. These OyerthreW everything in
their fury, and only one aged and t, cllildleSs
them the god sent his rainbow, and babe
them jump *On the bones Of the EARTH"
which recalls the oracle directing the Deuca~
lion TO throw behind him the ''bones ot the
old people jumped nine times, a1ld nine pairs
were the result, who BECAME the ancestors Of
the nine Lithuanian tribes.
II. .Lehornlantdwellse especially on tho strik-
l1E pOlulS u 1tScHtuiullCE cLHEEH LIE AE-
counts Of the deluge in Genesis and the Cfal-
daic recital. Of which three coples were dis
covered in the library Of the palace Of Mill
eyel. These copies were engraved IN the
eighth century !. e: from a very ancient
tablet in saceriutal library founded BY the
| monareils Of the first Chaldean Empire. 1t
! is considered certain that the date of the
| original goes back ut least seventeen cent-
llries before our era1 and probably further,
for there are signs that the old Inscription OF
rsrr;.,t fffa i39rsS
| collection must itself have been !: reprodnc-
| tion Of a more ancient manuscript. We should
mention that ". 1-eMor1ilant has made al i'll
| dependent translation of the cylinder texts,
| based partly Oh the version Ut Smith and
partly on that of (}ppert, bsltcontAinlng luue|l
original Work. Tie Cl,aIdean narrative is
| long, but its main features can be condensed
| in 4 lew sentences. We are toll that
| on the Eupi'ra1es, was warned ~ dream,
| by Ea, tue fish god, that all life. shouId
! perish by a fidod. Following the directions
! Of the deity, tie man built a. vessel :. t0o Gil.
night, roofed it, and carefully, cat'SeI the
seams with asphalt'tn;: lie then filled It
| with provisions and implements, and caused
| his family and servants, together with 10
| nlastic and wild animals, IL enter 1t. ~ 4
signal from the god .c closed the door Of his
| floating dwelling, wherenpoll the rain feli,
and all in,,lltAtinn hroke over the earth. The
| flood continued III full force fur six days ad
as many nights, but on the stventtltlay the
| rain grew weaker, the waterspouts ceased,
| and tile vessel grounded on the peak OF
Mar, q mountain III Armenia. Looking
forth from, his ark, khasiS:,tra saw That tht:
whole OF humanity had reiurned TO mud,'
came over his face.'' 1t the dawn OF the
| seventh day he had IouseA 4 dove, but it
! came back: he neSt let 20 u swallow, which
| also found no paceto light on. and returned.
| Finally lie loosed a raven. which, Spying tne
| FIN 1s.rfsir fftrilf jhan
| remained. Soon atterward khasisatra sent
| forth all that we're III the vessel. aud offered
sacrifice to the gods. 1t is curious fact that
a Greek version Of tho narrative inscribed
from from Beroslts third century 3. C.), who
| made compilations from the sacred books OF
! Babylon According to Derosns portion OF
the vessel which had grounded on the mount
| aims Of Armenia was sin 10 oe 1ounu lneIc
[ in his time, anu pilgrims were accustomed 70
| bring away scrapings of the asphalt With
which its timbcrs na1t been smearett.
| It is now generally admitted that Genesis
| has transmitted to us two different accounts
Of the leluge, the one taken from an El9lilst'
| the other from Jehovist document, WHICH,
| howeyer, are skiitftlty interviewer by the
| list compiler Of the I'entateuch: Between
each Of these and the Cha;taic relation there
! arc some disagreemcnts Of detail. There IS a
| sions of the ark. the proportion OF length 70
| breadth being stated in Genesis as SIX 10 one.
| and on the cu1elform tablet as zen 70 nlle; "
| may further be noticed that, III the Bib!lcai
| narrative, not only is the Term s'cotfer., -
used instea,l of vessel, but nothing is said
about launching the ark, or about
| blot: whereas numerous instances lle1l-
Toned in the Chaldaic sketch show
It to have been composed amid q
maritime population Morf e. ,!,|oasaa Important
regarding the duration of the delugc; The
Sineyeh tablets, as VIC have seen, make the
ool last six days after which tSn The Fa,;c{ MatGr{
uarratiyt,. Which has been unraye!ed from
the the rest osGencsis by MieEaelis, Ew;!ld, and
others the delnes bfEan about the nIt1s llss Of
| wear, plus eleven days, although the great
force i. It the water lasted but $50 days. 1t is
certainly renlarkah!e coin:lAencs That IN !,,c
| der the climatic conditions OF Babylonia, ne
I autumn rains, with which the lcve! OF the
Euphrates and Tigris rises. begin toward the
end Of November, while tfe perlodlc3l 3 eyer r.
| How OF the rivers occurs IN the nlludle OF
| .o{A of