2BT. 83.] TRADITION OF THE FLOOD. 38*7 



of Wimborne, and on the high ground E. and N.E. of Ford- 

 ingbridge. Probably they are best developed on the hills 

 between Lyndhurst and Salisbury. The Gravel on St Catherine's 

 Hill does not belong to the Old Solent. The latter forms the 

 extensive beds of Gravel on the cliffs between Poole Harbour and 

 Lymington. I shall be glad to see the specimens of flint imple- 

 ments you have found at St Catherine's Hill, or hear further 

 about the Solent Gravels; and I am most truly yours, 



JOSEPH PRESTWICH. 



Another letter of interest from Mr Gladstone, dis- 

 cussing the ' Tradition of the Flood,' is given here. He 

 had written on June 9, 1895, to Sir Henry Acland : "It 

 was a great honour, as I thought, to receive Mr Prest- 

 wich's book, and I have put it up for careful perusal 

 on the voyage. One curious thing is the way in which 

 the Deluge connects itself with the unity of the entire 

 present family of man." 



W. E. Gladstone to J. Prestwich. 



TANTALLON CASTLE, OFF KIEL, 20th June 1895. 



MY DEAR SIR, I have read with great interest the work which 

 you did me the honour and kindness of sending me. 



The perusal of it leaves behind a lively hope that Geology may 

 ere long invade the regions of the Noachian tradition, and enable 

 you and others similarly endowed to learn whether Nature in 

 those regions tells a tale in any way analogous to that which you 

 have unfolded. I am not sure whether I have apprehended ac- 

 curately your remarks on the Accadian tradition of the Flood. It 

 is indeed of the utmost value and importance. But I cannot 

 agree with those who treat it as the original record, and the 

 Hebrew account as one altered and adopted from it. To me both 

 of them are secondary forms, based upon an older and original 

 record. I am able to follow a number of particulars in which 

 the record on the tablets appears to present marks of a nearer 

 approach (as I understand) to historic truth. But there are two 

 points in which the Biblical account appears not only to be 



