56 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS 



mythology, the incarnation of Vishnu into a fish, is supposed by Sir 

 Wm. Jones, to bear reference to the deluge. The world having 

 become corrupt and a flood sent to destroy man, the reigning Prince 

 and his family were deemed worthy of preservation, and by command 

 of Vishnu, entered an ark prepared for the occasion called Cahitra, 

 Vishnu took on himself the form of a huge fish, to which the ark 

 was moored by a vast serpent, which being again fastened to the horn 

 of Vishnu, rode securely through the flood. 



The Greek and Roman traditions of the deluge are known to 

 every school-boy and do not require mention. The ancient Druid- 

 ical tradition is handed down through their Bards, as follows : " The 

 profligacy of mankind had provoked the great Supreme to send a 

 pestilential wind upon the earth ; a fierce poison descended, every 

 blast was death. At this time the patriarch distinguished for his 

 integrity was shut up, together with his select company, in the en- 

 closure with a strong door. Presently a tempest of fire arose, it split 

 the earth asunder to a great depth. The waves of the sea lifted 

 themselves up around the borders of Britain. The rain poured down, 

 the waters covered the earth and the flood which swept away from 

 the surface of the earth the expiring remains of the patriarch's con- 

 temporaries, raised his vessel on high from the ground and bore it 

 safe on the summit of the waves." 



The Peruvians had the following account : They believed, by 

 tradition, that it once rained so heavily as to deluge their country. 

 A universal destruction of the human species took place, a few only 

 excepted, who took refuge on the top of a mountain. When the 

 rain ceased they sent out two dogs, which returned covered with mud. 

 After a certain interval they sent out two more dogs, which coming 

 back dry, they concluded the earth was again inhabitable, and leav- 

 ing the mountains they became the progenitors of the present race 

 of men. The Brazilians have a somewhat similar legend of a man 

 and a woman escaping on a raft. In the Sandwich Islands, all the 

 earth was said to have been covered with water, except one of their 

 mountain peaks, on which one pair of mortals saved themselves 

 from destruction, and from them sprang all the present races. 



The Mexican tradition is that a mighty inundation swept from 

 the earth all the generations of man. One man and a woman with 

 their children embarked in a spacious bark, with a great store of 

 provisions, a variety of animals and every sort of grain. In this vast 



