LETTER It was a natural consequence both of such an event, and of the transmitted remembrances of it, that some countries would claim to be the locality, where the preserving vessel rested as the tempestuous waters subsided. Parnassus was the mountain reported in part of Greece to be the place, where those who escaped were saved. But the highest point of the Armenian chain was supposed by others to be the station on which they descended from the ark, 29 An ancient writer related that the person preserved went from Armenia into Syria.30 Such pretensions are further evidences of the diffusion of the persuasion, that a catastrophe like this had occurred to mankind. Mount Ararat in Armenia, has obtained the dis in their city; a great chasm opened and received all the water, and that Deucalion built a temple to Juno over it.' The author adds, "I have seen the aperture. It is under the temple. Whether it was formerly larger, or such as it now is, I know not. What I beheld was small. They say that twice every year water comes from the sea into the temple. Not only the priests there, but all Syria and Arabia, carry water to it. 'Many men come even from Euphrates to the sea, and all bring up water and first pour it out in the temple. It goes into the chasm, and tho it be small, it receives a great quantity of water. In doing this they say the custom was established by Deucalion as a memorial of the calamity and of his preservation.' Luc. de Dea Syria. 28 Pausanius, p. 619. "The universal history of Nicolaus Damascenus has perished; but Josephus has preserved a passage from his 96th book, which states that ́in Armenia is a great mountain called Baris, on which the account is that many were saved from a flood, and that one person was carried in an ark (λapvaкoç) to its summit. The remains of its wood were preserved there a long time.' 30 Melo, in his book against the Jews, is quoted by Alexander Polyhistor, to say, that 'the man who escaped from the deluge with his sons, was driven out of Armenia, and passing thro the intermediate country, settled in the mountain deserts of Syria.' Eusebius Pref. Ev. lib. ix. c. 19. p. 420. XVI. tinction from most writers, of being the position to LETTER which Moses alluded in his words, And the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat.'31 Among the ancient PERSIANS, the orthodox Magi believed the Deluge to have extended over the whole earth, while some of the sects of their superstitions disputed or doubted its universality.32 31 Gen. viii. 4. Grotius remarks, that the Hebrew name Ararat, used by Moses, has been translated by his Chaldee interpreters, Kardu, and that Josephus calls it the Cordyæan mountains. Curtius mentions the Cordæan mountains in Armenia which Strabo, Pliny and Ptolemy write 'Gordyæos.' Grot. de Ver. p. 192. It is just to the memory of this celebrated man to say, that he was one of the first who called the attention of mankind to most of these ancient testimonials of the flood, which Bayle observes, he 'a assemblé fort curieusement.' Œuvr. Crit. v. ii. p. 328. They were cited in the notes to his intelligent work on the truth of Christianity. "See Hyde Rel. Vet. Pers. p. 171. The opinions of those who made it a partial inundation, seem to have been far more modern than the others. Thus the Parian marbles, which notice it as if only in Greece, were not inscribed until after the 264th year before the Christian era, or nearly 300 years after Solon. Whenever some Greeks place any historical events before their Deucalion, I think that, like the Egyptian priest to Solon, they allude to some imperfect traditions of what concerned the antediluvian world. XVII. LETTER XVII. THE TRADITIONS OF THE FLOOD IN CHINA-IN THE PARSEE LETTER THE historical traditions recapitulated in the preceding Letter were those of the ancient world: if we extend our view from these to the modern nations who have become prominent around us, we shall find that similar impressions have also prevailed among them, altho more mingled with fantastic absurdities, in proportion to the inferiority of their intellectual cultivation, and to the extravagance of their popular superstitions. The CHINESE literature has several notices of this awful catastrophe. The Chou-king, the history of China written by Confucius, opens with a representation of their country being still under the effect of the waters. The opposing school of the Tao-see also speak of the Deluge as occurring under Niu-hoa, whom they make a female. The seasons were then Yao, their most ancient sovereign, acknowleged by Confucius, is introduced abruptly as saying to his ministers, Alas! the deluging waters are spreading destruction. They surround the mountains. They overtop the hills. They rise high, and extend wide as the spacious vault of heaven.' Chou-king, translated by De Guignes, p. 1, 2, and Dr. Morrison's citation from it, in his preface to the Chinese Dictionary. The Han-lin commentators on the Chou-king and Houngan-koue remark, that this deluge did not happen in the time of Yao, but before him. The text of the Tchin-tsee, and the commentary of the Tehun-meou, are cited on this point in the Dissertation written by Ko, a Chinese, prefixed to Mem. des Chin. v. i. p. 159. 2 Fong-sou-long says, 'Niuhoa conquered the waters by wood, and made a vessel fit for a long course.' Mem. Ch. i. p. 157. XVII. changed day and night confounded: great waters LETTER overspread the universe, and men were reduced to the condition of fishes.3 Other Chinese writers refer to the same event. The modern Parsees or Guebres have succeeded to the Magi of antiquity in their fire worship, and to many of their ideas. Their mussulman conquerors drove them out of Persia; but they have found a home on the north-western shores of the Indian Peninsula, where they pursue their peculiar system.3 In one of their sacred books attached to their Zendavesta, the deluge is wildly but obviously alluded to." The ancient and venerated books of the HINDOOS in their Sanscrit literature, distinctly and copiously commemorate this destruction. It forms a prominent part of their great and revered poem, the Mahabharat. It is also the subject of the first of their 3 Lopi, as quoted in Mem. p. 157. The celebrated Kong-in-ta adds, that the waters overwhelmed the animals and all habitations.' Ib. 158. Tcha-che alludes to them; and Mong-tsee remarks, ' Under Yao, the empire was not yet formed. The stagnant waters of the Deluge still covered the plains, and what was not under water was covered with trees.' Ib. 159. By cutting large canals, Yao made the country habitable. Ib. 160. We are indebted to the enthusiastic Anquetil's curiosity for a translation of the Zendavesta and other books of the ancient Parsees. 6 This is the Boun-dehesch translated by Anquetil. Its account is, that after the world had been created, Ahriman, the evil principle, lay bound for 3,000 years. He then roused himself, and went into the world to destroy it. He bruised and burnt it. Ormuzd exerted his power, and poured down his rain. The earth became covered with water to the height of a man. The rain fell in drops as large as a bull's head. It rained for ten days and nights. The Kharfaters, the creatures of Ahriman, perished in the waters. A wind then arose for three days, and drove the waters from the earth. Trees, animals and men were then renewed. Boun-dehesch in Anq. Zendavesta, pp. 350, 361, 367. Bopp published a translation of this portion at Berlin in 1829. LETTER Puranas, the sacred writings which they revere next XVII. 8 to the Vedas, entitled, Matsya, or the Fish. In the 8th Book of the Bhagawata Purana, it is also narrated at length, with true Hindoo peculiarities; but the account is remarkable for making eight persons the number of those who were preserved. It is also noticed in others of their venerated Puranas.' Mohammed has preserved the traditions of the old ARABIANS about it in his Koran, in which it is mentioned in several chapters, and as sent from Heaven as a punishment to mankind." The Turkish 9 The substance of the account is, that the Lord of the Universe appeared to the pious King Manu, and apprised him that a general inundation would come on, and ordered him to build a vessel, to place in it the seeds of all vegetables, and to enter it. Manu obeyed. The ship, led and protected by the Divinity, floated many years on the waters, till at last it grounded on the summit of the Himovan mountains, to which it was fastened by the Divine command. This point is called to this day Nau-band-hanam, or, 'the tying of the ship.' Bepp. Diluv. Mahab. • This is a sacred poem, which consists of 14,000 stanzas. See Sir W. Jones, in Asiat. Res. v. i. p. 230. and Wilford's Account, ib. v. iii. According to this narration, the second chief Hindu deity appeared to the pious King Satya Vrata in the form of a fish, which thus addressed him: 'I am Vishnou, the object of your devotion. In seven days the Dinacalpam ends, when there will be a revolution in the universe, and the sea will overwhelm the world. I mean to save you and the seven holy men from this deluge. Prepare for it. I will send you a vessel, in which you will put all sorts of seeds, fruits and roots. You will enter it and be in darkness, and be carried on the waters. An enormous serpent will try to shipwreck you, but fear it not, but fasten him to my horn. I take the form of a fish to preserve you.' Baga Vadam, translated into French from the Tamul version of the Sanscrit, p. 213. Paris, 1788. This is the 18th Purana, chiefly on the life of Chrishna. The Puranas are stated to have been composed by Vyasa. 1 Asiatic Researches, p. 341. 10 The Brehme Pooran alludes to it in its second Adhyaye. In the period of the Varahekelp the whole earth was covered with water, and all the keeshees, or holy persons, with great affliction addressed their god Vishnou, who recovered the earth from beneath the water. Br. P. p. 75. "In the 23d chap.-' And we revealed our orders to him (Noah), Make the ark in our sight: and when our decree cometh, and the oven |