.

but they extend it to the general dispersion of mankind. All those who did not perish in the inundation, say they, were transformed into fishes, save seven, who fled into caverns. When the waters subsided, one of these called Xelhua, surnamed the architect, went to Cholollan; where, as a memorial of the mountain Tlaloc, which had served for an asylum to himself and his six brethren, he built an artificial hill in form of a pyramid. He ordered bricks to be made in the province of Tlamanalco, at the foot of the Sierra of Cocotl, and to convey them to Cholula, he placed a file of men, who passed them from hand to hand. The gods beheld with wrath this edifice, the top of which was to reach the clouds. Irritated at the daring attempt of Xelhua, they hurled fire on the pyramid. Numbers of the workmen perished; the work was discontinued, and the monument was afterwards dedicated to Quetzalcotl, the god of the air.*

The Savages of South America, believed that a priest called Tezpi, was saved from a general inundation, by retiring with his wife and children into a box made of wood, in which he had also gathered together a many animals, and excellent seeds of all sorts; and that after the retreat of the waters he let fly a bird called Aura, which returned not back; and successively several others which also came not back; but that the least of those

Mexican Ms. in the Vatican.-Humb. Resear. in Amer.

birds, that which these Indians esteemed the most, soon appeared again with the branch of a tree in its mouth. These accounts, preserved by men in almost a savage state; in a quarter of the globe unknown in ancient times, and certainly debarred by nature from any communication with the inhabitants of the eastern continent, approximate very nearly to those of Moses.

Enquire we now what was the belief of the British Druids in this particular; for, on every subject, I studiously bring before your notice the creed and practice of our ancestors, because their opinions cannot fail to be peculiar interesting.

In the mysteries of Britain, a tradition of the deluge was undoubtedly preserved, perverted indeed and localized like those of other nations, but bearing characteristic marks of the same event. In the time of the great god Hu, mankind were involved in an universal profligacy of manners. A communication was therefore made from heaven that the corruptions of the world should be purified by fire and water; that the Lake Llion should burst, and overflowing its banks, the torrent of water, with irresistible violence, should deluge the land, and destroy all its inhabitants. In con

sequence of this revelation, a vessel was constructed without sails, in which were preserved a male and female of every species of animals, and also a man and a woman named Dwivan and Dwyvach.,

Howard's Thoughts on the Structure of the Globe. p. 120,

When these were safely inclosed within the womb of the vessel; a pestilential wind arose, replete with poisonous ingredients, which spread devastation and death throughout the land. Then followed a fiery deluge, which melted the rocks, and split the earth asunder. After this, the Lake Llion burst forth,* inundated the earth, and destroyed the whole creation of men and animals, except the favoured few who had sought protection in the sacred vessel. And thus the world was purified by fire and water from the pollutions which the sins of men had accumulated upon it. When the destruction was complete, the Avanc or Beaver, a symbol of the floating Ark, was drawn to land by the oxen of Hu Gadarn; Gwidion (the British Mercury) formed the Rainbow, as a fair attendant on the Sun; and an assurance was given to the man and woman, by whom the world was to be repeopled, that the Lake should burst no more.†

In all these several legends, we have sufficient traits of similarity to enable us to detect their origin in the deluge of Noah. The bursting of the Lake evidently refers to the true account contained in the seventh chapter of Genesis, where it is said that the fountains of the great deep were broken up. And this was a much more rational belief than was entertained by some other nations. In the Hindoo mythology, the disruption is referred to the act of quitting the Ark after the waters had subsided.

*Dav. Celt. Res. p. 157.

+ Dav. Druids p. 95,

The body of Sita, the wife of Maha Deva is said to have burst, and the hero gods, or Noah and his sons are violently thrown from her womb.* In the parallel superstition of Scandinavia, the giant Ymer is represented as slain, and the blood bursting from the wound, formed a deluge which drowned all the families of the giants, except one who saved himself in his bark. And in Egypt the "bursting" was applied to an Egg, broken by Typhon during his contest with Osiris. But the bursting of a lake was the most prevalent belief.

In tracing the mysterious institutions of different nations, we are surprized with a wonderful variety of fables, all bearing a reference to this same transaction. Thus in one system the deity is said to have remained for a specific period in the belly of a fish; in another to have sailed over the sea in a golden cup; in a third to have been enthroned on the broad leaf of the lotos. Again, he was believed to have been saved from drowning by a princess, who humanely used for that purpose, a rope made of her own hair; and many other traditions of a similar nature were taught, equally alluding to the salvation of Noah. And, whether the deity were fabled to have been preserved from the effects of a general destruction in a vessel without sails, on the back of a crocodile, in a navel,

‡ Asiat. Res, vol. vi. p. 479.—Apollod. Bibl. 1. ii. c. 5.-Jambl. de Myst, s. 7.

in a cup, upon a mare, by a dove, or by a rainbow ;-whether he were said to be born from a cavern, a cloud, or a door; hewn out of a rock, produced from the side of a virgin without the cooperation of a father, from an egg, a cow, or the moon, the reference is undoubtedly the same. All these legends owe their origin to Noah and the Ark; for the foundation of every known system of idolatry was the worship of the Great Father and the Great Mother, symbolized by the sun and moon.*

But the great father and mother were often confounded, and made to represent the same person ; for the deity, in all the countries which practised an idolatrous worship, was considered as possessing both sexes in common.† This being the case, the worship of the great father was probably introduced with some reference to the first prophecy of the Messiah, for Noah was considered an incarnation of the divinity. And there is nothing very repugnant to the principles of sound analogy in the ultimate reference to the Sun, Moon, and Planets, which soon became objects of divine worship. Every principle of false religion rested on some foundation of truth, either direct or implied; and the worship of the host of heaven might be derived from the highly figurative language by which the true God

* Fragm. Stesich. in Fab. Cab. c. vii.-Asiat. Res. vol. vi. p. 521.— Hyg. Fab. 62.-Just. Mart. dial. cum. Tryph. p. 168. &c.

+ Cudw. Int. Syst. 1, i. c. 4.-Ordin. of Menu. Sir W. Jones's Works. vol. iii. p. 70.