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tinctij co the Deluge of Scripture. In visions of the night, 
we are told, the god Chronus appeared to Xisuthrus, then 
monarch of Babylon, warned him that a flood was imminent 
which would destroy the race, and commanded him to write a 
history of the past, and bury the document in the city of the 
Sun at Sippara. This done, the monarch built a huge vessel, 
put his family, property, and sundry animals on board, and 
waited for the threatened flood. It came that very day, but 
when the work of destruction was effected, the waters began 
to decrease. Xisuthrus then sent out birds, which finding no 
resting-place, returned. After a while he sent out others, 
which came back with mud upon their feet. Encouraged by 
this evidence of the abating waters, he despatched them a third 
time. They returned not. Then he quitted his vessel, and 
concerned himself with building cities and re-peopling the 
earth. With a change of names this remarkable record might 
be accepted as, on the whole, an accurate epitome of the 
Mosaic history of the Deluge. 
The Hindoo mythology introduces us to a demon named 
Hayagriva, who stole the Yedas from Brahma. In conse- 
quence of this abstraction of the sacred Books, the whole 
race, with the exception of a prince and a few followers, 
became utterly corrupt. One day, while the good prince was 
bathing, Yishnu appeared to him in the form of a fish, which, 
increasing in size as it was removed to various waters, was at 
length placed in the Ocean. Then the fish-god spoke. He 
warned the prince that in seven days a deluge would sweep 
the depraved race from the face of the earth, assured him that 
a vessel would be provided in which he would find protection 
during the catastrophe, and commanded him to put his family, 
sundry animals, and a sufficient store of food on board. This 
done, the threatened deluge came ; but amidst the surging 
waters the god-provided vessel was safe, being moored by the 
great sea-serpent to Vishnu's horn. 
The story contained in the Persian Zendavesta, divested of 
its Oriental drapery, may be briefly stated thus : — Ahriman, 
the Evil One, having corrupted the world, the divine man-bull 
was commissioned to destroy it, which he did by bringing 
upon it a universal flood. In this deluge the entire race 
perished. 
The Chinese also give us characteristically grandiloquent 
accounts of a deluge which overspread the whole earth, “ and 
separated the higher from the lower age of mankind." 
The Scandinavian tradition assumes, as might be expected, 
a horrible form. Their entire mythology is monstrous. Nor 
is this to be wondered at, when we remember the gloomy 
