182 THEORY OF THE EARTH. 



are at perpetual variance with each other, even 

 regarding the number and names of their empe- 

 rors, and are not universally approved by their 

 countrymen. Fouhi, with the body of a serpent, 

 the head of an ox, and the teeth of a tortoise, to- 

 gether with his successors, who are not less mon- 

 strous, are altogether absurd, and have no more 

 existed than Enceladon and Briareus. 



Is it possible that mere chance could have pro- 

 duced so striking a result, as to make the tradi- 

 tional origin of the Assyrian, Indian, and Chi- 

 nese monarchies agree in being referred to an 

 epoch of nearly 4000 years from the present pe- 

 riod ? Would the ideas of nations which have 

 had so little communication with each other, and 

 whose language, religion, and laws are altogether 

 different, have corresponded upon this point, had 

 they not been founded upon truth ? 



We could not expect precise dates from the 

 natives of America, who had no real writings, 

 and whose oldest traditions extended only to a few 

 centuries before the arrival of the Spaniards. And 

 yet, even among them, traces of a deluge are ima- 

 gined to be found in their rude hieroglyphics. 

 They have their Noah, or Deucalion, as well as 

 the Indians, Babylonians, and Greeks *. 



* See the excellent and magnificent work of M. de Hum- 

 boldt upon the Mexican monuments. 



