the holy sage, the account is as follows-the fish continuing his divine directions: “When the awful time approaches, hear from me what thou must do. In a little time, O blessed, all this firm and seated earth, All that moves upon its surface, Near it comes, of all creation All the fixed and all the moving, Lo, of all the time approaches, the tremendous time of doom. Build thyself a ship, O Manu! strong with cables well prepared, And thyself, with the seven sages, mighty Manu, enter in. All the living seeds of all things, by the Brahmans named of yore, From thy ship keep watch, O hermit, Hornéd shall I swim before thee; by my horn thoul't know me well. This the work thou must accomplish. Over those tumultuous waters none without mine aid can sail. Doubt not thou, O lofty minded, of my warning speech the truth.' To the fish thus answered Manu; 'All that thou requirest I will do.'" Manu, having done as directed, and launched his vessel on the sea with its precious freight, the fish appears, and the vessel is bound to his head, and "Dancing with the tumbling billows, dashing through the roaring spray, Like a trembling, drunken woman, reeled that ship, O king of men. Earth was seen no more, no region, nor the intermediate space; All around a waste of waters, water all, and air, and sky. In the whole world of creation, princely son of Bharata, None was seen, but those seven sages, Years on years, and still unwearied There at length it came, and smiling, thus the fish addressed the sage: 'To the peak of Himalaya bind thou now thy stately ship.' At the fish's mandate quickly, to the peak of Himavan Bound the sage his bark, and ever from the binding of the bark. thus with fixéd look bespake: 'I am Lord of all creation, Brahmá, higher than all height; But from thee new tribes of creatures, All the worlds must be created, all that moves, or moveth not, By an all-surpassing penance, this great work must be achieved. Through my mercy, thy creation to confusion ne'er shall run.' Spake the fish, and on the instant, to the invisible he passed." Manu immediately begins his penance and the work of creation. The legend closes, — "Such the old, the famous legend, named the Story of the Fish, Which to thee I have related; this for all our sins atones. He that hears it, -Manu's legend, in the full possession he Of all things complete and perfect, to the heavenly world ascends." While the ark floats fastened to the fish, Manu enters into conversation with his divine guide and preserver; and his questions and the replies of the deity form, in the Purana, the main substance of the compilation. The principal subjects are, as usual in these books, an account of the creation, the royal dynasties, the duties of the different orders, and various mythological legends. The foregoing are but specimens of the traditions. which are found among all nations respecting the great events of the primitive ages. The curious reader will find very much in the authorities cited, and others, that will well repay his researches into this subject. We ask now, in view of these facts, of the number of these traditions, their striking resemblances both to the Bible narrative and to each other, with just those differences that show independent lines of descent from the beginning, how they can be explained but upon the supposition that they are reminiscences coming down from a period in the history of mankind when as yet they were an unbroken family. That they could have been derived by one nation from another, will be conceded, by all familiar with the history of these nations, to be impossible. That they should have sprung up spontaneously among peoples so wide apart in lineage, in abode, and in speech, no one will maintain. We regard them, |