NEWLY-DISCOVERED VERSION OF THE STORY OF THE FLOOD. 141 



storm ceased, the raging flood, which had contended like a whirl- 

 wind, quieted ; the sea shrank back, and the hurricane and deluge 

 ended. I noticed then the sea making a noise, and that all 

 mankind had turned to corruption."^ Like a bay (1) the shore (1) 

 advanced. I opened my window, and the light fell upon my face 

 — I fell back dazzled, I sat down, I wept : over my face flowed my 

 tears. I noted the region — the shore of the sea — for twelve 

 measures the land arose. The ship had stopped at the land of 

 Nisir. The mountain of Nisir seized the ship, and would not let 

 it pass." 



For six days the ark rested there, and at the end of that time 

 Ut-napistim, it being then the seventh day, sent forth a dove, 

 a swallow and a raven. The first two came back to him, not 

 finding a resting-place ; but the third, seeing the floating 

 corpses, fed on them, and did not return. This portion of the 

 account is rather difficult to understand, but probably the 

 Babylonian writer did not regard the plucking off of a leaff 

 as sufficient proof that the waters were shallow enough for 

 the animals which were in the ark to find safe and sufficiently 

 dry resting-places. The raven, however, according to the 

 Babylonian version, " ate, waded, croaked, and did not return." 

 The water having receded so that the raven could go about, it 

 was to be supposed that there were sufficiently dry tracts for 

 most of the animals which were with him in the ark, and also 

 for Ut-napistim and his family. Coming forth, therefore, he made 

 an offering on the peak of the mountain,! pouring out a libation, 

 and setting incense- vases in sevens, with incense of cane, cedar, 

 and myrtle. The sweet savour which arose from this offering 

 attracted the gods, who clustered around the sacrificer like flies, 

 so content were they to receive again the homage and the 

 incense-offering of a human being. Then came the goddess 

 Mah, the great mother of mankind, raising on high the great 

 signets which Anu, tlie god of the heavens, had made for her. 

 She conjured the gods not to forget these dreadful days for 

 ever ; and though the gods might come to the sacrifice, Enlila 

 (Ellil or Illil) was not to come, for he had been inconsiderate 

 and made a flood, consigning her people to destruction. 



It has been supposed, and probably correctly, that the signets 

 raised by Mah, and the lapis-stone of her neck, which she refers 

 to, was the rainbow, set in the sky as a sign that such a visita- 

 tion should not come upon the earth again. Enlil, the god who 



* Lit. "clay." t Gen. viii, 11. I Ziqqurat sadi. 



