ANCIENT EGYPT THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

NOTES TO BOOK 5

[1] [Not from Geil. Source.]

[2] [Daily Chronicle, August 10th, 1904.]

[3] [Daily Mail, March 2nd, 1904.]

[4] [Rit. ch. 164.]

[5] [Source.]

[6] [Rit. ch. 143.]

[7] [PSBA, March 6th, 1894, p. 152.]

[8] [Erman, Life in Ancient Egypt, p. 280.]

[9] [In Maspero, Dawn of Civilisation, p. 32, note 6. 'The African origin of the donkey was first brought to light by H. Milne-Edwards, in the Comptes rendus de l'Academie des Sciences, 1869, vol. lxix, p. 1259.']

[10] [Ibid., p. 57, note 5. 'The burying place of Abydos, especially the most ancient, have furnished us with millions of shells, pierced and threaded, as necklaces: they all belong to the species of cowries used in Africa as money at the present day.' The cowrie shell, is of course, a symbol of the female vulva, and is still worshipped as such by many African, as well as Asian, tribes. Abydos, incidentally, has been identified as the burying place of the pharaoh known as the Scorpion King who united upper and lower Egypt in the dynasty now known as Dynasty 0.]

[11] [Macdonald, Africana, vol. 1, p.?]

[12] [New Light on Dark Africa: Being the Narrative of the German Emin-Pasha Expedition, p. 378. 'The early dawn found us, as usual, on the march. A broad road led us over two more ridges of hills, now ever in a southerly direction; from all sides crowds of people came hurrying along, either to offer us joyful greetings or in respectful silence to watch us as we marched by. To the right I noticed a line of buildings, which looked, from a to the distance, like pyramids, but were in reality cone-shaped. I learned afterwards that they were funeral monuments of Mtesas and the kings of the Wakintu dynasty.']

[13] [Rit. ch. 142, line 17, Prisse Papyrus, 41.]

[14] [Ibid?]

[15] [Rit. ch. 4.]

[16] [Africana, vol. 1, p. 115.]

[17] [Op cit., vol. 2, p. 700.]

[18] [Rit. ch. 42. Renouf's tr.]

[19] [Rit. ch. 80.]

[20] [Last Journals of David Livingstone, vol. 1, entry date: 4th Dec. 1868. 'A sort of idol is found in every village in this part, it is of wood, and represents the features, markings and fashion of the hair of the inhabitants: some have little huts built for them—others are in common houses. The Babemba call them Nkisi ("Sancan" of the Arabs): the people of Rua name one Kalubi; the plural, Tulubi; and they present pombe, flour, bhang, tobacco, and light a fire for them to smoke by. They represent the departed father or mother, and it is supposed that they are pleased with the offerings made to their representatives, but all deny that they pray to them.']

[21] [Ellis, Ewe-speaking Peoples, p. 13.]

[22] [Johnston, The Uganda Protectorate.]

[23] [Geil, Yankee in Pygmy Land, p. 250.]

[24] [Three Years in Savage Africa, pp. 343-46.]

[25] [Macdonald, Africana, vol. 1, pp. 123-26; Rit. ch. 82. Renouf's tr.]

[26] [Personal communication.]

[27] [Callaway, Religious System of the Amazulu, p. 9. 'IT was said at first before the arrival of missionaries, if we asked, "By what were the stones made?" "They were made by Umvelingangi." It is said that we men came out of a bed of reeds, where we had our origin.'
Note: 'Umhlanga is a bed of reeds. We must not confound umhlanga with uhlanga. Umhlanga is the place where they broke off or out-came from Ualanga.']

[28] [Hieroglyphica, bk. 1. 30. 'To denote ancient descent they depict a BUNDLE OF PAPYRUS, and by this they intimate the primeval food; for no one can find the beginning of food or generation.']

[29] [Brugsch.]

[30] [Cook, 'Hymn to the Nile,' RP, 4, 113.]

[31] [Matthews.]

[32] [Rit. ch. 172.]

[33] [Johnston, The Uganda Protectorate.]

[34] [Naville, 'Destruction of Mankind,' RP, 6, 103.]

[35] [Plutarch, Of Isis and Osiris, ch. 50.]

[36] [Stern, 'Festival of the Nile,' RP, 10, 42.]

[37] [Cook, 'Hymn to the Nile,' RP, 4, 105; also Rit. ch. 149.]

[38] [Rit. ch. 149.]

[39] [Rit. ch. 186.]

[40] [The Uganda Protectorate.]

[41] [Rit. ch. 108 and 109.]

[42] [Maspero, Dawn of Civilisation, p. 84, e.g. 'They know that Hathor, the milch cow, had taken up her abode in their land from very ancient times, and they called her the Lady of Pûanît, after the name of her native country.']

[43] [Rit. ch. 15.]

[44] [Maspero, Histoire Ancienne, p. 5. Wrong p. no. Unable to trace.]

[45] [Inscription, Rohan. Uncertain of this title.]

[46] [Petrie, Egyptian Tales, First Series, pp. 82, 90. 'As for me I am prince of the land of Punt, and I have perfumes.'
'"As for me, I am prince of the land of Punt, and I have perfumes"―and the scene of departure. All of these points show a firm hand and practised taste, although there is still a style of simplicity clinging to it which agrees well to its date in the XIIth Dynasty.']

[47] [Source.]

[48] [Source.]

[49] [Herodotus, Histories, bk. 3.26. 'Thus fared the expedition against the Ethiopians: and those of the Persians who had been sent to march against the Ammonians set forth from Thebes and went on their way with guides; and it is known that they arrived at the city of Oasis, which is inhabited by Samians said to be of the Aischrionian tribe, and is distant seven days' journey from Thebes over sandy desert: now this place is called in the speech of the Hellenes the "Isle of the Blessed." It is said that the army reached this place, but from that point onwards, except the Ammonians themselves and those who have heard the account from them, no man is able to say anything about them; for they neither reached the Ammonians nor returned back. This however is added to the story by the Ammonians themselves: they say that as the army was going from this Oasis through the sandy desert to attack them, and had got to a point about mid-way between them and the Oasis, while they were taking their morning meal a violent South Wind blew upon them, and bearing with it heaps of the desert sand it buried them under it, and so they disappeared and were seen no more. Thus the Ammonians say that it came to pass with regard to this army.' Tr. Macauley.]

[50] [Maspero, Dawn of Civilisation, Eng. tr., p.183. 'After being equipped with the formulas and amulets wherewith his prototype, Osiris, had been furnished, he set forth to seek the "Field of Reeds."]

[51] [Stanley, My Dark Companions and their Strange Stories, pp. 4-28. 'IN the old, old time, all this land, and indeed all the whole-earth was covered with sweet water. But the water dried up or disappeared somewhere, and the grasses, herbs, and plants began to spring up above the ground, and some grew, in the course of many moons, into trees, great and small, and the water was confined into streams and rivers, pools and lakes, and as the rain fell it kept the streams and rivers running, and the pools and lakes always fresh. There was no living thing moving upon the earth, until one day there sat by one of the pools a large Toad. How long he had lived, or how he came to exist, is not known; it is suspected, however, that the water brought him forth out of some virtue that was in it. In the sky there was only the Moon glowing and shilling on the earth there was but this one Toad. It is said that they met and conversed together, and that one day the Moon said to him:
"I have an idea. I propose to make a man and a woman to live on the fruits of the earth, for I believe that there is rich abundance of food on it tit for such creatures."
"Nay," said the Toad, "let me make them, for I can make them fitter for the use of the earth than thou canst, for I belong to the earth, while thou belongest to the sky."
"Verily," replied the Moon, "thou hast the power to create creatures which shall have but a brief existence; but if I make them, they will have something of my own nature ; and it is a pity that the creatures of one's own making should suffer and die. Therefore, O Toad, I propose to reserve the power of creation for myself, that the creatures may be endowed with perfection and enduring life."
"Ah, Moon, be not envious of the power which I share with thee, but let me have my way. I will give them forms such as I have often dreamed of. The thought is big within me, and I insist upon realising my ideas."
"An thou be so resolved, observe my words, both thou and they shall die. Thou I shall slay myself and end utterly; and thy creatures can but follow thee, being of such frail material as thou canst give them."
"Ah, thou art angry now, but I heed thee not. I am resolved that the creatures to inhabit this earth shall be of my own creating. Attend thou to thine own empire in the sky."
Then the Moon rose and soared upward, where with his big, shining face he shone upon all the world.
The Toad grew great with his conception, until it ripened and issued out in the shape of twin beings, full-grown male and female. These were the first like our kind that ever trod the earth. The Moon beheld the event with rage, and left his place in the sky to punish the Toad, who had infringed the privilege that he had thought to reserve for himself. He came direct to Toad's pool, and stood blazingly bright over it.
"Miserable," he cried, "what hast thou done?" "Patience, Moon, I but exercised my right and power. It was within me to do it, and lo, the deed is done."
"Thou hast exalted thyself to be my equal in thine own esteem. Thy conceit has clouded thy wit. and obscured the memory of the warning I gave thee. Even hadst thou obtained a charter from me to attempt the task, thou couldst have done no better than thou hast done. As much as thou art inferior to me, so these will be inferior to those I could have endowed this earth with. Thy creatures are pitiful things, mere animals without sense, without the gift of perception or self-protection. They see, they breathe, they exist; their lives can be measured by one round journey of mine. Were it not out of pity for them, I would even let them die. Therefore for pity's sake I propose to improve somewhat on what thou hast done: their lives shall be lengthened, and such intelligence as malformed beings as these can contain will I endow them with, that they may have guidance through a life which with all my power must be troubled and sore. But as for thee, whilst thou exist my rage is perilous to them, therefore to save thy kin I end thee."
Saying which the Moon advanced upon Toad, and the fierce sparks from his burning face were shot forth, and fell upon the Toad until he was consumed.
The Moon then bathed in the pool, that the heat of his auger might be moderated, and the water became so heated that it was like that which is in a pot over a fire, and he stayed in it until the hissing and bubbling had subsided.
Then the Moon rose out of the pool, and sought the creatures of Toad: and when he had found them, he called them unto him, but they were afraid and hid themselves.
At this sight the Moon smiled, as you sometimes see him on fine nights, when he is a clear white, and free from stain or blurr, and he was pleased that Toad's creatures were afraid of him. "Poor things," said he, "Toad has left me much to do yet before I can make them fit to be the first of earthly creatures." Saying which he took hold of them, and bore them to the pool wherein he had bathed, and which had been the home of Toad. He held them in the water for some time, tenderly bathing them, and stroking them here and there as a potter does to his earthenware, until he had moulded them into something similar to the shape we men and women possess now. The male became distinguished by breadth of shoulder, depth of chest, larger bones, and more substantial form; the female was slighter in chest, slimmer of waist, and the breadth and fulness of the woman was midmost of the body at the hips. Then the Moon gave them names; the man he called Bateta, the woman Hanna, and he addressed them and said: "Bateta, see this earth and the trees, and herbs and plants and grasses; the whole is for thee and thy wife Hanna, and for thy children whom Hanna thy wife shall bear unto thee. I have re-made thee greatly, that thou and thine may enjoy such things as thou mayest find needful and fit. In order that thou mayest discover what things are not noxious but beneficial for thee, I have placed the faculty of discernment within thy head, which thou must exercise before thou canst become wise. The more thou prove this, the more wilt thou be able to perceive the abundance of good things the earth possesses for the creatures which are to inhabit it. I have made thee and thy wife as perfect as is necessary for the preservation and enjoyment of the term of life, which by nature of the materials the Toad made thee of must needs be short. It is in thy power to prolong or shorten it.
Some things I must teach thee. I give thee first an axe. I make a fire for thee, which thou must feed from time to time with wood, and the first and most necessary utensil for daily use. Observe me while I make it for thee."
The Moon took some dark clay by the pool and mixed it with water, then kneaded it, and twisted it around until its shape was round and hollowed within, and he covered it with the embers of the fire, and baked it ; and when it was ready he handed it to them.
"This vessel," continued the Moon, "is for the cooking of food. Thou wilt put water into it, and place whatsoever edible thou desirest to eat in the water. Thou wilt then place the vessel on the fire, which in time will boil the water and cook the edible. All vegetables, such as roots and bulbs, are improved in flavour and give superior nourishment by being thus cooked. It will be come a serious matter for thee to know which of all the things pleasant in appearance are also pleasant for the palate. But shouldst thou be long in doubt and fearful of harm, ask and I will answer thee."
Having given the man and woman their first lesson, the Moon ascended to the sky, and from his lofty place shone upon them, and upon all the earth with a pleased expression, which comforted greatly the lonely pair.
Having watched the ascending; Moon until he had reached his place in the sky, Bateta and Hanna a rose and travelled on by the beautiful light which he gave them, until they came to a very large tree that had fallen. The thickness of the prostrate trunk was about twice their height. At the greater end of it there was a hole, into which they could walk without bending. Feeling a desire for sleep, Bateta laid his fire down outside near the hollowed entrance, cut up dry fuel, and his wife piled it on the fire, while the flames grew brighter and lit the interior. Bateta took Hanna by the hand and entered within the tree, and the two lay down together. But presently both complained of the hardness of their bed, and Bateta, after pondering awhile, rose, and going out, plucked some fresh large leaves of a plant that grew near the fallen tree, and returned laden with it. He spread it about thickly, and Hanna rolled herself on it, and laughed gleefully as she said to Bateta that it was soft and smooth and nice; and opening her arms, she cried, "Come, Bateta, and rest by my side."
Though this was the first day of their lives, the Moon had so perfected the unfinished and poor work of the Toad that they were both mature man and woman. Within a month Hanna bore twins, of whom one was male and the other female, and they were tiny doubles of Bateta and Hanna, which so pleased Bateta that he ministered kindly to his wife who, through her double charge, was prevented from doing anything else.
Thus it was that Bateta, anxious for the comfort of his wife, and for the nourishment of his children, sought to find choice things, but could find little to please the dainty taste which his wife had contracted. Whereupon, looking up to Moon with his hands uplifted, he cried out:
"O Moon, list to thy creature Bateta! My wife lies languishing;, and she has a taste strange to me which I cannot satisfy, and the children that have been born unto us feed upon her body, and her strength decreases fast. Come down, O Moon, and show me what fruit or herbs will cure her longing."
The Moon heard Bateta's voice, and coming out from behind the cloud with a white, smiling face, said, "It is well, Bateta; lo! I come to help thee."
When the Moon had approached Bateta, he showed the golden fruit of the banana which was the same plant whose leaves had formed the first bed of himself and wife.
"O Bateta, smell this fruit. How likest thou its fragrance?"
"It is beautiful and sweet. O Moon, if it be as wholesome for the body as it is sweet to smell, my wife will rejoice in it."
Then the Moon peeled the banana and offered it to Bateta, upon which he boldly ate it, and the flavour was so pleasant that he besought permission to take one to his wife. When Hanna had tasted it she also appeared to enjoy it; but she said, "Tell Moon that I need something else, for I have strength, and I am thinking that this fruit will not give to me what I lose by these children."
Bateta went out and prayed to Moon to listen to Hanna's words which when he had heard, he said, "It was known to me that this should be, wherefore look round, Bateta, and tell me what thou seest moving yonder."
"Why, that is a buffalo."
"Rightly named," replied Moon. "And what follows it?"
"A goat."
"Good again. And what next?"
"An antelope."
"Excellent, Bateta; and what may the next be?"
"A sheep."
"Sheep it is, truly. Now look up above the trees, and tell me what thou seest soaring over them."
"I see fowls and pigeons."
"Very well called, indeed," said Moon. "These I give unto thee for meat. The buffalo is strong and fierce, leave him for thy leisure; but the goat, sheep, and fowls, shall live near thee, and shall partake of thy bounty. There are numbers in the woods which will come to thee when they are filled with their grazing and their pecking. Take any of them either goat, sheep, or fowl bind it, and chop its head off with thy hatchet. The blood will sink into the soil; the meat underneath the outer skin is good for food, after being boiled or roasted over the fire. Haste now, Bateta; it is meat thy wife craves, and she needs naught else to restore her strength. So prepare instantly and eat."
The Moon floated upward, smiling and benignant, and Bateta hastened to bind a goat, and made it ready as the Moon had advised. Hanna, after eating of the meat which was prepared by boiling, soon recovered her strength, and the children throve, and grew marvellously.
One morning Bateta walked out of his hollowed house, and lo! a change had come over the earth.
Right over the tops of the trees a great globe of shining, dazzling light looked out from the sky, and blazed white and bright over all. Things that he had seen dimly before were now more clearly revealed. By the means of the strange light up ill the sky he saw the difference between that which the Moon gave and that new brightness which now shone out. For, without, the trees and their leaves seemed clad in a luminous coat of light, while underneath it was but a dim reflection of that which was without, and to the sight it seemed like the colder light of the Moon.
And in the cooler light that prevailed below the foliage of the trees there were gathered hosts of new and strange creatures; some large, others of medium, and others of small size.
Astonished at these changes, he cried, "Come out, O Hanna, and see the strange sights without the dwelling, for verily I am amazed, and know not what has happened."
Obedient, Hanna came out with the children and stood by his side, and was equally astonished at the brightness of the light and at the numbers of creatures which in all manner of sizes and forms stood in the shade ranged around them, with their faces towards the place where they stood.
"What may this change portend, O Bateta?" asked his wife.
"Nay, Hanna, I know not. All this has happened since the Moon departed from me."
"Thou must perforce call him again, Bateta, and demand the meaning of it, else I shall fear harm unto thee, and unto these children."
"Thou art right, my wife, for to discover the meaning of all this without other aid than my own wits would keep us here until we perished."
Then he lifted his voice, and cried out aloud upward, and at the sound of his voice all the creatures gathered in the shades looked upward, and cried with their voices; but the meaning of their cry, though there was an infinite variety of sound, from the round, bellowing voice of the lion to the shrill squeak of the mouse, was: "Come down unto us, O Moon, and explain the meaning of this great change unto us; for thou only who madest us can guide our sense unto the right understanding of it."
When they had ended their entreaty unto the Moon, there came a voice from above, which sounded like distant thunder, saying, "Rest ye where ye stand, until the brightness of this new light shall have faded, and ye distinguish my milder light and that of the many children which have been born unto me, when I shall come unto you and explain."
Thereupon they rested each creature in its own place, until the great brightness, and the warmth which the strange light gave faded and lessened, and it was observed that it disappeared from view on the opposite side to that where it had first been seen, and also immediately after at the place of its disappearance the Moon was seen, and all over the sky were visible the countless little lights which the children of the Moon gave.
Presently, after Bateta had pointed these out to Hanna and the children, the Moon shone out bland, and its face was covered with gladness, and he left the sky smiling, and floated down to the earth, and stood not far off from Bateta, in view of him and his family, and of all the creatures under the shade.
"Hearken, O Bateta, and ye creatures of prey and pasture. A little while ago, ye have seen the beginning of the measurement of time, which shall be divided hereafter into day and night. The time that lapses between the Sun's rising and its setting shall be called day, that which shall lapse between its setting and re-rising shall be called night. The light of the day proceeds from the Sun, but the light of the night proceeds from me and from my children the stars; and as ye are all my creatures, I have chosen that my softer light shall shine during the restful time wherein ye sleep, to recover the strength lost in the waking time, and that ye shall be daily waked for the working time by the stronger light of the Sun. This rule never-ending shall remain.
"And whereas Bateta and his wife are the first of creatures, to them, their families, and kind that shall be born unto them, shall be given pre-eminence over all creatures made, not that they are faster, or swifter, but because to them only have I given understanding and a gift of speech to transmit it. Perfection and everlasting life had also been given, but the taint of the Toad remains in the system, and the result will be death, death to all living things, Bateta and Hanna excepted.
In the fulness of time, when their limbs refuse to bear the burden of their bodies and their marrow has become dry, my first-born shall return to me, and I shall absorb them. Children shall be born innumerable unto them, until families shall expand into tribes, and from here, as from a spring, mankind will outflow and overspread all lands, which are now but wild and wold, ay, even to the farthest edge of the earth.
"And hearken, O Bateta, the beasts which thon seest, have sprung from the ashes of the Toad. On the day that he measured his power against mine, and he was consumed by my fire, there was one drop of juice left in his head. It was a life-germ which soon grew into another toad. Though not equal in power to the parent toad, thou seest what he has done. Yonder beasts of prey and pasture and fowls are his work. As fast as they were conceived by him, and uncouth and ungainly they were, I dipped them into Toad's Pool, and perfected them outwardly, according to their uses, and, as thou seest, which specimen has its mate. Whereas, both thou and they alike have the acrid poison of the toad, thou from the parent, they in a greater measure from the child toad, the mortal taint when ripe will end both man and beast. No understanding nor gift of speech has been given to them, and they are as inferior to thyself as the child toad was to the parent toad. Wherefore, such qualities as thou mayst discover in them, thou mayst employ in thy services. Meantime, let them go out each to its own feeding-ground, lair, or covert, and grow and multiply, until the generations descending from thee shall have need for them. Enough for thee with the bounties of the forest, jungle, and plain, are the goats, sheep, and fowls. At thy leisure, Bateta, thou mayst strike and eat such beasts as thou seest akin in custom to these that will feed from thy hand. The waters abound in fish that are thine at thy need, the air swarms with birds which are also thine, as thy understanding will direct thee.
"Thou wilt be wise to plant all such edibles as thou mayest discover pleasing to the palate and agreeable to thy body, but be not rash in assuming that all things pleasant to the eye are grateful to thy inwards.
"So long as thou and Hanna are on the earth, I promise thee my aid and counsel; and what I tell thee and thy wife thou wilt do well to teach thy children, that the memory of useful things be not forgotten for after I take thee to myself, I come no more to visit man. Enter thy house now, for it is a time, as I have told thee, for rest and sleep. At the shining of the greater light, thou wilt waken for active life and work, and family care and joys. The beasts shall also wander each to his home in the earth, on the tops of the trees, in the bush, or in the cavern. Fare thee well, Bateta, and have kindly care for thy wife Hanna and the children."
The Moon ended his speech, and floated upward, radiant and gracious, until he rested in his place in the sky, and all the children of the Moon twinkled for joy and gladness so brightly, as the parent of the world entered his house, that all the heavens for a short time seemed burning. Then the Moon drew over him his cloudy cloak, and the little children of the Moon seemed to get drowsy, for they twinkled dimly, and then a darkness fell over all the earth, and in the darkness man and beast retired, each to his own place, according as the Moon had directed.
A second time Bateta waked from sleep, and walked out to wonder at the intense brightness of the burning light that made the day. Then he looked around him, and his eyes rested upon a noble flock of goats and sheep, all of whom bleated their morning welcome, while the younglings pranced about in delight, and after curvetting around, expressed in little bleats the joy they felt at seeing their chief, Bateta. His attention was also called to the domestic fowls; there were red and white and spotted cocks, and as many coloured hens, each with its own brood of chicks. The hens trotted up to their master cluck, cluck, clucking the tiny chicks, following each its own mother cheep, cheep, cheeping while the cocks threw out their breasts and strutted grandly behind, and crowed with their trumpet throats, "All hail, master."
Then the morning wind rose and swayed the trees, plants, and grasses, and their tops bending before it bowed their salutes to the new king of the earth, and thus it was that man knew that his reign over all was acknowledged.
A few months afterwards, another double birth occurred, and a few months later there was still another, and Bateta remembered the number of months that intervened between each event, and knew that it would be a regular custom for all time. At the end of the eighteenth year, he permitted his first-born to choose a wife, and when his other children grew up he likewise allowed them to select their wives. At the end of ninety years, Hanna had born to Bateta two hundred and forty-two children, and there were grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, and countless great-great-grandchildren, and they lived to an age many times the length of the greatest age amongst us now-a-days. When they were so old that it became a trouble to them to live, the Moon came down to the earth as he had promised, and bore them to himself, and soon after the first-born twins died and were buried in the earth, and after that the deaths were many and more frequent. People ceased to live as long as their parents had done, for sickness, dissensions, wars, famines, accidents ended them and cut their days short, until they at last forgot how to live long, and cared not to think how their days might be prolonged. And it has happened after this manner down to us who now live. The whole earth has become filled with mankind, but the dead that are gone and forgotten are far greater in number than those now alive upon the earth.
Ye see now, my friends, what mischief the Toad did unto all mankind. Had his conceit been less, and had he waited a little, the good Moon would have conceived us of a nobler kind than we now are, and the taint of the Toad had not cursed man. Wherefore abandon headstrong; ways, and give not way to rashness, but pay good heed to the wise and old, lest ye taint in like manner the people, and cause the innocent, the young, and the weak to suffer. I have spoken my say. If ye have heard aught displeasing, remember I but tell the tale as it was told unto me.
"Taking it as a mere story," said Baraka, "it is very well told, but I should like to know why the Moon did not teach Bateta the value of manioc, since he took the trouble to tell him about the banana."
"For the reason," answered Matageza, "that when he showed him the banana, there was no one but the Moon could have done so. But after the Moon had given goats and sheep and fowls for his companions, his own lively intelligence was sufficient to teach Bateta many things. The goats became great pets of Bateta, and used to follow him about. He observed that there was a certain plant to which the goats flocked with great greed, to feed upon the tops until their bellies became round and large with it. One day the idea came to him that if the goats could feed so freely upon it without harm, it might be also harmless to him. Whereupon he pulled the plant up and carried it home. While he was chopping up the tops for the pot his pet goats tried to eat the tuber which was the root, and he tried that also. He cat up both leaves and root and cooked them, and after tasting them he found them exceedingly good and palatable, and thenceforward manioc became a daily food to him and his family, and from them to his children's children, and so on down to us."
"Verily, that is of great interest. Why did you not put that in the story?"
"Because the story would then have no end. I would have to tell you of the sweet potato, and the tomato, of the pumpkin, of the millet that was discovered by the fowls, and of the palm oil nut that was discovered by the dog."
"Ah, yes, tell us how a dog could have shown the uses of the palm oil nut."
"It is very simple. Bateta coaxed a dog to live with him because he found that the dog preferred to sit on his haunches and wait for the bones that his family threw aside after the meal was over, rather than hunt for himself like other flesh-eating beasts. One day Bateta walked out into the woods, and his dog followed him. After a long walk Bateta rested at the foot of the straight tall tree called the palm, and there were a great many nuts lying on the ground, which perhaps the monkeys or the wind had thrown down. The dog after smelling them lay down and began to eat them, and though Bateta was afraid he would hurt himself, he allowed him to have his own way, and he did not see that they harmed him at all, but that he seemed as fond as ever of them. By thinking of this he conceived that they would be no harm to him ; and after cooking them, he found that their fat improved the flavour of his vegetables, hence the custom came down to us. Indeed, the knowledge of most things that we know to-day as edibles came down to us through the observation of animals by our earliest fathers. What those of old knew not was found out later through stress of hunger, while men were lost in the bushy wilds."
When at last we rose to retire to our tents and huts, the greater number of our party felt the sorrowful conviction that the Toad had imparted to all mankind an incurable taint, and that we poor wayfarers, in particular, were cursed with an excess of it, in consequence of which both Toad and tadpole were heartily abused by all.]

[52] [Higgins, Names of the Stars and Constellations, p. 36. 'Piscis Australis = The Southern Fish,
The Latins called this, Piscis Major = The greater Fish.
The Arabs called this, Dhifda al awla = Frog the first.
Beta = Dhifda al Tania, of the Whale, being Frog the second.
Name on charts, Arabic,   Meaning,
Alpha (Fomalhaut) Fom = The mouth.']

[53] [De Groot, Fetes d'Emoui, vol. 1, p. 74.]

[54] [Antiquities of the Jews, bk. 1, ch. 2, 3. 'Now Adam, who was the first man, and made out of the earth, (for our discourse must now be about him,) after Abel was slain, and Cain fled away, on account of his murder, was solicitous for posterity, and had a vehement desire of children, he being two hundred and thirty years old; after which time he lived other seven hundred, and then died. He had indeed many other children,(8) but Seth in particular. As for the rest, it would be tedious to name them; I will therefore only endeavour to give an account of those that proceeded from Seth. Now this Seth, when he was brought up, and came to those years in which he could discern what was good, became a virtuous man; and as he was himself of an excellent character, so did he leave children behind him who imitated his virtues.(9) All these proved to be of good dispositions. They also inhabited the same country without dissensions, and in a happy condition, without any misfortunes falling upon them, till they died. They also were the inventors of that peculiar sort of wisdom which is concerned with the heavenly bodies, and their order. And that their inventions might not be lost before they were sufficiently known, upon Adam's prediction that the world was to be destroyed at one time by the force of fire, and at another time by the violence and quantity of water, they made two pillars, (10) the one of brick, the other of stone: they inscribed their discoveries on them both, that in case the pillar of brick should be destroyed by the flood, the pillar of stone might remain, and exhibit those discoveries to mankind; and also inform them that there was another pillar of brick erected by them. Now this remains in the land of Siriad to this day.']

[55] [Plato refers to these columns as pillars, identifying them (in the Timaeus) with the Straits of Gibraltar: 'This great island lay over against the Pillars of Heracles, in extent greater than Libya and Asia put together, and was the passage to other islands and to a great ocean of which the Mediterranean sea was only the harbour; and within the Pillars the empire of Atlantis reached in Europe to Tyrrhenia and in Libya to Egypt. This mighty power was arrayed against Egypt and Hellas and all the countries bordering on the Mediterranean. Then your city did bravely, and won renown over the whole earth. For at the peril of her own existence, and when the other Hellenes had deserted her, she repelled the invader, and of her own accord gave liberty to all the nations within the Pillars. A little while afterwards there were great earthquakes and floods, and your warrior race all sank into the earth; and the great island of Atlantis also disappeared in the sea. This is the explanation of the shallows which are found in that part of the Atlantic ocean.']

[56] [The Origine and Antiquity of our English Weights and Measures.]

[57] [Source.]

[58] [Goodwin, 'Upon an Inscription in the Reign of Shabaka,'—in Chabas' 'Stele of Beka,' 3rd series.]

[59] [Grimm's Fairy Tales, A New Translation by Mrs H. B. Paull, pp. 322-7, London, n.d. 'THE GOLD CHILDREN.
A LONG time ago there lived in a little cottage a poor fisherman and his wife, who had very little to live upon but the fish the husband caught. One day as he sat by the water throwing his net, he saw a fish dnawn out which was quite golden. He examined it with wonder; but what was his surprise to hear it say, ''Listen, fisherman, if you will throw me again in the water I will change your little hut into a splendid castle."
The fisherman replied, " What would be the use of a castle to me when I have nothing to eat?"
"On that account," said the gold fish, "I will take care that there shall be a cupboard in the castle, in which, when you unlock it, you will find dishes containing everything to eat that heart can wish."
"If it is so," said the man, "then I am quite willing to do as you please."
"There is, however, one condition," continued the fish; "you must not mention to a living creature in the world, be it who it may, the source of your good fortune ; if you utter a single word, it will at once be at an end."
The man, upon this, threw the fish back into the water, and went home. But where his little hut had once stood now rose the walls of a large castle.
He stared with astonishment, and then stepped in, and saw his wife dressed in costly clothes, and sitting in a handsomely-furnished room. She seemed quite contented, and yet she said: "Husband, how has all this happened? I am so pleased."
"Yes," said the man, " it pleases me also; but I am so hungry, give me something to eat in our fine house."
"Oh, dear," she replied, " I have nothing, and I don't know where any is to be found here."
"There will be no trouble on that account," he replied. "Do you see that great cupboard ? just unlock it."
When the cupboard was opened, they saw with surprise that it contained every requisite for a beautiful feast. Bread, meat, vegetables, cake wine, and fruit.
"Dear husband," cried the wife, full of joy, "what more can we desire than this?"
Then they sat down, and ate and drank together in great comfort.
After they had finished, the wife said: "Husband, where do all these good things and riches come from?"
"Ah!" he replied, "do not ask me, I dare not tell you. If I disclose anything, all our good fortune will come to an end."
"Very well," she replied, "if I am not to be told, I shall not desire to know;" but this was merely pretence, for she gave her husband no peace night or day, and she tormented and worried the poor man so terribly that she exhausted his patience, and he told her at last.
"This good fortune," he said, "all comes from a wonderful gold fish which I caught, and afterwards gave it freedom by throwing it back into the water."
No sooner had he uttered these words than 'the castle with its wonderful cupboard disappeared, and they were again sitting in the fisherman's hut.
The husband was now again obliged to follow his trade and go fishing, and, as luck would have it, he again caught the golden fish.
"Listen," cried the fish, "if you will again throw me into the water, I will once more give you a castle and a cupboard full of good things; but be firm this time, and reveal to no one from whom it comes, or all will be again lost."
"I will keep it to myself," answered the fisherman, and threw the fish into the water.
Everything at home now was in its former splendour, and the fisherman's wife joyful over their good fortune; but her curiosity gave her no peace, and two days had scarcely passed before she began to ask how it all happened, and what was the cause.
Her husband kept silence for a long time, but at last she made him so angry that he incautiously revealed the secret. In a moment the castle and all that it contained vanished, and they were again sitting in their little old hut.
"See what you have done !" he said, "we shall have again to starve with hunger."
"Oh, well," she replied, "I would rather not have such riches if I am not to know where they come from; it destroys my peace."
The husband again went fishing, and, after a time, what should he again pull up in his net but the gold fish for the third time.
"Listen," cried the fish, "I see I am always to fall into your hands; therefore, you must take me to your house, and cut me in two pieces. These you must place in the ground, and you will have gold enough to last your life!"
The man took the fish home, and did exactly as he had been told.
It happened, after a while, that from the pieces of the fish placed in the earth, two golden lilies sprung up, which were taken great care of.
Not long after the fisherman's wife had two little children, but they were both golden, as well as the two little foals in the stable. The children grew tall and beautiful, and the lilies and the foals grew also.
One day the children came to their father: "We should like to ride out and see the world on our golden steeds. Will you let us?"
But the parents answered sorrowfully: "How shall we able to endure the thought that you are far away from us, and perhaps ill, or in danger?"
"Oh," they replied, "the two golden lilies will remain, and by them you can always tell how we are going on. If they are fresh, we are in health ; if they fade, we are sick ; and when they fall, we shall die!"
So the parents let them go, and they rode away for some time till they came to an inn where a number of people were staying. But when they saw the two gold children, they began to laugh and make a mockery of them.
As soon as one of them heard the laughter and mocking words, he would not go any farther, but turned back and went home to his father. The other, however, rode on till he came to a large forest As he was about to enter the forest, some people came by and said: "You had better not ride there, for the wood is full of robbers, who will overcome you and rob you, especially when they see that you and your horse are golden, and you will both be
killed."
He would not, however, allow himself to be frightened, but said: "I must and will ride through!"
He took bearskins and threw them over himself and his horse that the gold might not be seen, and rode confidently into the wood. He had not ridden far when he heard a rustling in the bushes, and voices speaking audibly to each other.
"That is one," said a voice ; but the other said: "No; let him alone he has nothing on but a bearskin, and is, I dare say, as poor and cold as a church mouse. What do we want with him?"
So the gold child rode through the wood, and no harm happened to him.
One day he came to a town, in which he 'saw a maiden, who appeared to him so beautiful that he did not think there could be another so beautiful in the world.
And as his love became stronger for her, he went to her and said: "I love you with my whole heart. Will you be my wife?"
The maiden was so pleased 'that she answered willingly: "Yes; I will be your wife, and be true to you as long as I live."
Very soon after they were married, and just as they were enjoying themselves with the guests on the wedding-day, the bride's father returned home. When he found his daughter already married, he was much astonished, and said: "Where is the bridegroom?" He was pointed out to him, and he still wore the bear-skin dress. On seeing him, he exclaimed in great anger, "My daughter shall never have a bearskin wearer for her husband," and wanted to murder him.
But the bride interceded for him as much as she could, and said, "He is already my husband, and I shall always love him with my whole heart." And at last her father was appeased. However, he could not help thinking about it all night, and in the morning, when the bridegroom was dressing, he peeped into his room, and saw a noble-looking golden man, and the bearskin lying on the ground. Then he went back to his own room, and said to himself, "How fortunate it is that I restrained my anger last night, or I should have committed a great crime."
The same morning the gold child told his wife that he had dreamed of being in the hunt, and catching a beautiful stag, so that he must on that day go out hunting.
She was very uneasy at the thought, and said: "Pray, don't go; a misfortune might so easily happen to you."
But he replied, "I will and must go." As soon as he was ready he rode out into the wood, and had not been there long before he saw just such a stag as the one in his dream. He raised his gun to shoot it, but the stag sprang away, and he followed it over hedges and ditches the whole day without feeling tired. At last, as night came on, it vanished from his eyes.
Then the gold child looked round him, and saw close by a small house in which sat an old woman, who was a witch, but he did not know it. He knocked at the door, and she came out and asked him what he wanted so late as that in the middle of the wood.
He said, "Have you seen a stag pass this way?"
"Yes," she replied, "I know the stag well." And while she spoke, a little dog, that had come out of the house with the old woman, began to bark furiously.
"Be quiet, will you," he cried, "you spiteful cur, or I will shoot you."
"What! you will kill my dog?" cried the old witch, in a rage. "Ah, I'll soon stop that." And in a moment he lay on the ground turned into stone.
His bride waited for his return in vain, and thought, "Something has certainly happened to him, or else why am I so anxious and troubled in my heart?"
On the same evening, the brother, who was at home, was standing by the golden lily when it suddenly fell drooping on its stem.
"Ah ! me!" he exclaimed, "there has some misfortune happened to my brother; I must go to him. Very likely I shall be able to save him."
Then said his father: "No, no; stay here; if I were to lose both of you, what should I do?"
But the youth answered, "I must and will go and find my brother." Then he mounted his golden horse, and rode away quickly to the wood where his brother lay turned to stone.
The old witch saw him in the distance, and came out of her house, and tried to mislead him about his brother, and called to him to come in. But he would not go near her, and, raising his gun, he cried, " If you do not this moment restore my brother to life, I will shoot you dead."
She saw he was in earnest, yet she moved unwillingly towards a stone that lay near the dc or, touched it with her finger, and immediately the gold child stood before his brother in his own form. They were both overjoyed to meet again, and kissed and embraced each other. Then they rode together out of the wood, and there they parted, the one to hasten back to his bride, the other home to his parents.
"Ah," said his father, "we knew that your brother had been released from his trouble, for the golden lily is again erect and in full-bloom."
And after this they lived in happiness and contentment for the rest of their days.']

[60] [Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of Central Australia, pp. 226-7. 'It is necessary also to remember that ceremonial objects, such as the Waninga, which figure largely in some districts, are unknown in others where their place is taken by entirely different objects. Thus, for example, in the northern [P.227] part of the Arunta and in the Ilpirra tribe, a sacred pole called a Nurtunja is used, and in these parts this has precisely the significance of the Waninga, which is never met with in the northern districts, just as the Nurtunja is never met with in the south.']

[61] [A term borrowed by Grant to designate the nether side of the Tree of Life. See Kenneth Grant, Nightside of Eden.]

[62] [Johnston, British Central Africa, p. 40, 42. 'But the year is clearly divided into seasons of rain and drought. The rainy season generally begins at the end of the month of November and heavy rains fall in December.'
'In the rainy season the wind usually blows from a northerly direction and is what one may call a benign wind, being warm and wet. During the dry season the cursed south-eastern prevails. This hated wind comes up from the South Pole and is cold and dry. It is the equivalent of our east wind in England and produces much the same effects on health when it blows strongly.']

[63] [City of God, bk.18, ch. 39, in N & PNF, 2, 383-4. 'Now we must not believe that Heber, from whose name the word Hebrew is derived, preserved and transmitted the Hebrew language to Abraham only as a spoken language, and that the Hebrew letters began with the giving of the law through Moses; but rather that this language, along with its letters, was preserved by that succession of fathers. Moses, indeed, appointed some among the people of God to teach letters, before they could know any letters of the divine law. The Scripture calls these men UrammateisaUpUeij, who may be called in Latin inductores or introductores of letters, because they, as it were, introduce them into the hearts of the learners, or rather lead those whom they teach into them. Therefore no nation could vaunt itself over our patriarchs and prophets by any wicked vanity for the antiquity of its wisdom; since not even Egypt, which is wont falsely and vainly to glory in the antiquity of her doctrines, is found to have preceded in time the wisdom of our patriarchs in her own wisdom, such as it is. Neither will any one dare to say that they were most skillful in wonderful sciences before they knew letters, that is, before Isis came and taught them there. Besides, what, for the most part, was that memorable doctrine of theirs which was called wisdom but astronomy, and it may be some other sciences of that kind, which usually have more power to exercise men's wit than to enlighten their minds with true wisdom? As regards philosophy, which professes to teach men something which shall make them happy, studies of that kind flourished in those lands about the times of Mercury, whom they called Trismegistus, long before the sages and philosophers of Greece, but yet after Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, and even after Moses himself. At that time, indeed, when Moses was born, Atlas is found to have lived, that great astronomer, the brother of Prometheus, and maternal grandson of the eider Mercury, of whom that Mercury Trismegistus was the grandson.' Donaldson's tr.]

[64] [HL, p. 397. 'The decipherment of the cuneiform inscriptions has shown that the belief in Babylonian "Sabaism" was, after all, not altogether a chimera.
Babylonia was really the cradle of astronomical observations. Long before the lofty zigurrdti or "towers" of the temples were reared, where the royal astronomers had their stations and from whence they sent their reports to the king, the leading groups of stars had been named, a calendar had been formed, and the eclipses of the sun and moon had been noted and recorded.']

[65] [Robert Brown, Jun, Researches into the Origin of the Constellations of the Greeks, Phoenicians, and Babylonians, vol. 1, p. 19. 'Although Egypt may have obtained her god-system or a very important portion of it from the Euphrates Valley, she was not indebted to any foreign region for her original scheme of constellations, which are entirely or almost entirely distinct from those of Babylonia, Phoenicia, Kanaan and Greece.']

[66] [Rit. ch. 39.]

[67] [Phaenomena, p. 412. 'High runs the path of Arcturus, but sooner passes the Altar to the western sea. But that Altar even beyond aught else hath
ancient Night, weeping the woe of men, set to be a mighty sign of storm at sea.' G. R. Mair's tr.]

[68] [Astronomicon, bk. 1, lines 420-1: 'mundo templum est, victrixque solutis/ Ara nitet sacris.']

[69] [Sayce, 'Babylonian Story of Creation,' RPNS, 1, 149. See also Sayce, 'Ancient Babylonian Legend of the Creation,' RP, 11, 109.]

[70] [Rit. ch. 83.]

[71] [Rit. ch. 125.]

[72] [Sayce, 'Magical Texts,' HL, p. 199. 'They were the demons "who had been created in the lower part of heaven," and who warred against the Moon-god when he suffered eclipse. They were likened to all that was most noxious to man. The first, we are told, was "the sword (or lightning) of rain;" the second, "a vampire" the third, "a leopard;" the fourth, "a serpent;" the fifth, "a watch-dog" (?); the sixth, "a violent tempest which (blows) against god and king ;" and the seventh, "a baleful wind."'
Also p. 463. See note below.]

[73] [Sayce, HL, 'Magical Text,' pp. 463-69. 'Col. iv. 35. The 9th tablet (of the series beginning:) A spell for diseases of the head: thoroughly complete.
36. The palace of Assur-bani-pal, the king of legions, king of Assyria,
37. who puts his trust in Assur and Nin-lil."

IV. The 16th tablet concerning evil spirits (W.A.I, iv. 5, 6).
Col. i. 1. "The reptiles that creep round and round, the evil gods are they
2. The warrior spirits (sedu) that spare not, who were created in the cloudy vault of heaven, are they.
3. They are they who produce disease.
4. Enlarging (their) evil heads, .... to lay the yoke (upon it they march).
5. Among those seven, the first is a scorpion of rain,
6. The second is a monster (whose) mouth (no) one (can bridle).
7. The third is the lightning-flash, the strong son of ....
8. The fourth is a serpent ....
9. The fifth is a watch-dog which (rages) against (his foes).
10. The sixth is a rushing (tempest) which to god and king (submits not).
11. The seventh, like a messenger, is the evil wind which (Ami made ?).
12. Those seven are the messengers of Anu their king.
13. In city after city do they cause the rainy wind.
14. The storm that is in heaven they bind together strongly.
15. The fleecy clouds that are in heaven making the rainy wind are they.
16. The rushing blast of the wind which produces darkness on a clear day are they.
17. With baleful wind, with evil wind, they darted forth.
18. The deluge of Rimmon, mighty whirlwinds are they,
19. at the right hand of Rimmon they march.
20. On the horizon of heaven like the lightning (they flash).
21. To impose the yoke they march in front.
22. In the wide heaven, the seat of Anu the king, they set them selves with evil purpose and had no rival.
23. On that day Mul-lil heard of this matter and carried the word to his heart.
24. With Ea, the supreme adviser of the gods, he was king, and
25. had appointed Sin, Samas and Istar to direct the cloudy region of heaven.
26. Along with Ami he had divided among them the sovereignty of the hosts of heaven.
27. Among the three of them, the gods his children,
28. he had divided the night and the day; that they cease not (their work) he urged them.
29. On that day those seven, the evil gods, in the cloudy region of heaven darted forth.
30. In front of Nannar violently they beset the Moon-god.
31. The hero Samas and Rimmon the warrior returned to their quarters;
32. Istar set (her) holy seat with Anu the king, and over the kingdom of heaven is exalted.

Col. ii. [The first 19 lines are destroyed.]
20 (Sin) was troubled and sat in grief;
21. (night and) day in darkness, on the throne of his dominion seated not.
22. The evil gods, the messengers of Anu their king,
23. enlarging (their) evil heads, assisted (one another).
24. Evil they plotted together.
25. From the midst of heaven, like the wind on the land they swooped.
26. Mul-lil beheld the darkness of the hero Sin in heaven.
27. The lord (Bel) says to his messenger Niisku:
28. Niisku, my messenger, carry my word to the deep;
29. the news of my son the Moon-god, who is grievously darkened in heaven,
30. to Ea in the deep convey.
31. Niisku exalted the word of his lord;
32. to Ea in the deep he went with the message.
33. To the divine prince, the counsellor supreme, the lord, the sovereign of the world,
34. Niisku conveyed the word of his lord on the other side.
35. Ea in the deep listened to the tale, and
36. he bit his lip, with outcry he filled his mouth.
37. Ea addressed his son Merodach and roars out (isakhkhats) the word:
38. Go, my son Merodach!
39. Grievous is the eclipse of the son of the festival, the Moon-god;
40. his eclipse in heaven is proceeding.
41. Those seven, the evil gods, the serpents of death, who have no fear,
42. those seven, the evil gods, who swoop (tebuni) like the deluge,
43. swoop upon the world like a storm.
44. Before Nannar, the Moon-god violently (they beset);
44. the hero Samas and Kimmon the warrior (return) to their quarters;
45. (Istar plants her holy seat with Anu the king, and over the kingdom of heaven is exalted).

[Many lines are lost here.]
Col. iii. 31. In the gate of the palace the mask (fold) doubly ....
32. In a cloak of many colours, the skin of a suckling still ungrown the skin of an ungrown calf, make supplication.
32. Bind (the magic knots) round the hands and feet of the king, the son of his god;
33. the king, the son of his god, who, like Nannar, the Moon-god, completes the life of the land;
34. like Nannar, the resplendent, his head upholds favour.

[Many lines lost.]
46. make his .... pure and brilliant;
47. the evil (god), the evil spirit (utuk), the evil gallu:
48 the evil incubus (maskim).
49. Never may they enter (the house);
50. never may they approach (the doors) of the palace;
51. never may they approach (the chamber) of the king;
52. never may they surround the . ...
53. never may they enter the ....

[Col iv. containing another incantation against the evil spirits, in which "the spirit of Mul-lil" is invoked and "the spell of Ea" named, is too mutilated for translation.]

Col. v. 36. Conclusion (of the spell) for cursing the evil gods accursed.
37. Incantation. The huge reed of gold, the pure reed of the marsh,
38. the pure dish of the gods,
39. the reed of the double white cup which determines favour,
40. the messenger of Merodach am I.
41. When I deliver the pure incantation,
42. I lay a foundation of bitumen below in the centre of the gate.
43. May the god of the house dwell in the house!
44. May the propitious spirit (utuk) and the propitious god enter the house!
45. May the evil utuk, the evil (god), the evil ekimrnu, the evil gallu, and the evil (alu)
46. (never approach) the king.
47. spirit of heaven, conjure! (O spirit of earth, conjure!)
48. Conclusion (of the spell) cursing the evil gods.

[The beginning of the next incantation is lost.]
Col. vi. 1. Never may they enter the palace;
2. never may they approach the king!
3. spirit of heaven, conjure ! spirit of earth, conjure!
4. Conclusion (of the spell) of the light-coloured goat-skin which is ....
5. Incantation. Evil is the evil man, evil is that man;
6. that man among men is evil, that man is evil;
7. in the bed of a man he places a snake.
8. That man among men lays a snare misleadingly to ensnare (others).
9. The fear of him is the herald of his cry; the breath of the man
10. The place of his sickness the evil creeps into; his heart it cuts (in two).

[The following lines are too mutilated for translation.]
17. Conclusion (of the spell) cursing the evil gods.
18. Incantation. The Sun-god ....
19. The 16th tablet (of the series beginning) the evil spirits.
20. Palace of Assur-bani-pal, the king of legions, the king of Assyria,
21. who has put his trust in Assur and Nin-lil,
22. to whom Nebo and Tasmit
23. have given broad ears,
24. that he might have seeing eyes;
25. the store of written tablets,
26. as regards which, among the kings that have gone before me,
27. there was none who undertook this business;
28. the hidden wisdom of Nebo, the lines of characters as many as singly exist,
29. on tablets I wrote, I connected together, I published, and
30. for the inspection of my readers
31. I placed within my palace.
32. Thine is the kingdom, Assur, light of the king of the gods!
33. Whoever carries (them) away and his name with my name
34. shall write, may Assur and Mn-lil mighty and violently
35. overthrow him and destroy his name (and) his seed in the land."

1. [Lost.]
2. "never may they approach ... his hands.
3. Against such and such a man, the son of his god, may (the evil spirits) never come.
4. Like a dove may he ascend .... to his place may he never return.
5. Whatever is evil, whatever is bad, which is in the body of such and such a man,
6. like the water [perspiration] of his body and the purifications (?) of his hands,
7. may he strip off, and may the river carry to the bottom of its bed.
8. The curse, spirit of heaven, conjure ! spirit of earth, conjure!
9. The coal (which) the great gods have polished, on the torch I have kindled
10. I offer the corn-god, the assembler of the gods of heaven and earth.
11. May the establishers of the fortresses of the great gods station themselves here, and
12. may they promise life to such and such a man, the son of such and such a man, the son of his god.
13. May his god and his goddess remain here, and on this day may they grant him grace.
14. Incantation. The milk of a light-coloured goat I prepare in plenty, and I light the fire.
15. The coal I place, I burn the whole offering.
16. The libation pure and white of Ea, the messenger of Merodach am I.
17. May the gods, as many as I have invoked, produce a flame.
18. May Ea and Merodach never have (wrath), though the god and the goddess are angry.
19. (The coal I have kindled), the fire I have quieted, I burn, I increase;
20. the corn-god I have offered; I am great and glorious.
21. May (the god of herbs), the assembler of god and man, deliver from his bond.
22. Like a coal I have blazed, I have quieted the bird:
23. like the fire I have burned, I have increased food;
24. like the corn-god I have offered, I am great and glorious.
25. May the god of herbs, the assembler of god and man, deliver from his bond.
26. Deliver such and such a man the son of his god, and may he be saved.
27. Incantation. The directress ascends, the offspring of the house of the life of the prince.
28. Like its old copy, written and published.
29. Tablet of Adar-sum-tir-su the Zoganes (sagan), the librarian: his utterance."']

[74] [Talbot, 'War of the Seven Evil Spirits,' RP, 5, 161; also Sayce, 'Accadian Poem on Spirits,' 9, 143.]

[75] [Drummond, Œdipus Judaicus, pl. 2.]

[76] ['BEL AND THE DRAGON
1. And king Astyages was gathered to his fathers, and Cyrus of Persia received his kingdom.
2. And Daniel conversed with the king, and was honoured above all his friends.
3. Now the Babylons had an idol, called Bel, and there were spent upon him every day twelve great measures of fine flour, and forty sheep, and six vessels of wine.
4. And the king worshipped it and went daily to adore it: but Daniel worshipped his own God. And the king said unto him, Why dost not thou worship Bel?
5. Who answered and said, Because I may not worship idols made with hands, but the living God, who hath created the heaven and the earth, and hath sovereignty over all flesh.
6. Then said the king unto him, Thinkest thou not that Bel is a living God? seest thou not how much he eateth and drinketh every day?
7. Then Daniel smiled, and said, O king, be not deceived: for this is but clay within, and brass without, and did never eat or drink any thing.
8. So the king was wroth, and called for his priests, and said unto them, If ye tell me not who this is that devoureth these expences, ye shall die.
9. But if ye can certify me that Bel devoureth them, then Daniel shall die: for he hath spoken blasphemy against Bel. And Daniel said unto the king, Let it be according to thy word.
10. Now the priests of Bel were threescore and ten, beside their wives and children. And the king went with Daniel into the temple of Bel.
11. So Bel's priests said, Lo, we go out: but thou, O king, set on the meat, and make ready the wine, and shut the door fast and seal it with thine own signet;
12. And to morrow when thou comest in, if thou findest not that Bel hath eaten up all, we will suffer death: or else Daniel, that speaketh falsely against us.
13. And they little regarded it: for under the table they had made a privy entrance, whereby they entered in continually, and consumed those things.
14. So when they were gone forth, the king set meats before Bel. Now Daniel had commanded his servants to bring ashes, and those they strewed throughout all the temple in the presence of the king alone: then went they out, and shut the door, and sealed it with the king's signet, and so departed.
15. Now in the night came the priests with their wives and children, as they were wont to do, and did eat and drink up all.
16. In the morning betime the king arose, and Daniel with him.
17. And the king said, Daniel, are the seals whole? And he said, Yea, O king, they be whole.
18. And as soon as he had opened the dour, the king looked upon the table, and cried with a loud voice, Great art thou, O Bel, and with thee is no deceit at all.
19. Then laughed Daniel, and held the king that he should not go in, and said, Behold now the pavement, and mark well whose footsteps are these.
20. And the king said, I see the footsteps of men, women, and children. And then the king was angry,
21. And took the priests with their wives and children, who shewed him the privy doors, where they came in, and consumed such things as were upon the table.
22. Therefore the king slew them, and delivered Bel into Daniel's power, who destroyed him and his temple.
23. And in that same place there was a great dragon, which they of Babylon worshipped.
24. And the king said unto Daniel, Wilt thou also say that this is of brass? lo, he liveth, he eateth and drinketh; thou canst not say that he is no living god: therefore worship him.
25. Then said Daniel unto the king, I will worship the Lord my God: for he is the living God.
26. But give me leave, O king, and I shall slay this dragon without sword or staff. The king said, I give thee leave.
27. Then Daniel took pitch, and fat, and hair, and did seethe them together, and made lumps thereof: this he put in the dragon's mouth, and so the dragon burst in sunder : and Daniel said, Lo, these are the gods ye worship.
28. When they of Babylon heard that, they took great indignation, and conspired against the king, saying, The king is become a Jew, and he hath destroyed Bel, he hath slain the dragon, and put the priests to death.
29. So they came to the king, and said, Deliver us Daniel, or else we will destroy thee and thine house.
30. Now when the king saw that they pressed him sore, being constrained, he delivered Daniel unto them:
31. Who cast him into the lions' den: where he was six days.
32. And in the den there were seven lions, and they had given them every day two carcases, and two sheep: which then were not given to them, to the intent they might devour Daniel.
33. Now there was in Jewry a prophet, called Habbacuc, who had made pottage, and had broken bread in a bowl, and was going into the field, for to bring it to the reapers.
34. But the angel of the Lord said unto Habbacuc, Go, carry the dinner that thou hast into Babylon unto Daniel, who is in the lions' den.
35. And Habbacuc said, Lord, I never saw Babylon; neither do I know where the den is.
36. Then the angel of the Lord took him by the crown, and bare him by the hair of his head, and through the vehemency of his spirit set him in Babylon over the den.
37. And Habbacuc cried, saying, O Daniel, Daniel, take the dinner which God hath sent thee.
38. And Daniel said, Thou hast remembered me, O God: neither hast thou forsaken them that seek thee and love thee.
39. So Daniel arose, and did eat: and the angel of the Lord set Habbacuc in his own place again immediately.
40. Upon the seventh day the king went to bewail Daniel: and when he came to the den, he looked in, and behold, Daniel was sitting.
41. Then cried the king with a loud voice, saying, Great art Lord God of Daniel, and there is none other beside thee.
42. And he drew him out, and cast those that were the cause of his destruction into the den: and they were devoured in a moment before his face.'

See Witton Davies' introduction to this book in Charles' Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, pp. 652-3. 'Bel and the Dragon forms the third of the Apocryphal Additions to Daniel, and was written originally almost certainly in Hebrew, though none of the Hebrew original has survived. The other two Additions are the Song of the Three Children and Susanna. In the Greek and Latin texts the three Additions to Daniel constitute an integral part of the canonical Book of Daniel, and were recognized as such, and therefore as themselves canonical, by the Council of Trent.' The Song of the Three Children is, however, the only one of the three which has a necessary connexion with the Hebrew canonical Book of Daniel, standing in the Greek and Latin texts between Dan. iii. 24 and 25. The other two Additions are appended, and appear to have an origin independent of the book to which they are attached and also of each other, though in all three, as also in the canonical book, the name and fame of Daniel forms the principal theme.

§ I. Name and Position in the Canon.
In the Greek Codd. Bel and the Dragon stands at the end of the canonical Book of Daniel, bearing therefore no distinct title. In Codd. A and B of  it is, however, preceded by the words 'Vision xii'; i.e. it forms the twelfth and last of the series of visions into which this enlarged Book of Daniel is divided. In the LXX it is called 'Part of the prophecy of Habakkuk the Son of Jesus of the tribe of Levi' : see note on v. 1. In the Vulgate Bel and the Dragon forms ch. xiv of Daniel.
In Syriac (see § 3) the Story of Bel is preceded by the heading 'Bel the idol', that of the Dragon having at its beginning the words, 'Then follows the Dragon.'
Bel and the Dragon is the title in all the Protestant versions of the Apocrypha, these versions keeping the books now known as Apocryphal apart as being, it was thought, deutero- or non- canonical. In a Nestorian list of biblical works mentioned by Churton―it is called 'The Lesser Daniel.'

§ 2. Contents.
The two stories as told in common by LXX and may be thus summarized.
1. The Story of Bel, vv. 1-22. There is in Babylon an image of Bel (Marduk, Merodach) which Daniel refuses to worship, though no form of worship is mentioned besides that of supplying the god with food. The king, identified in with Cyrus, remonstrates with the delinquent Hebrew, pointing him to the immense quantity of food consumed daily by Bel as a proof that the god thus recognized is a living, true deity. Daniel denies that the food is eaten by the god, and asks permission to put the matter to a test. This request being granted, he is shown the lectisternia, the sacred tables, covered with food which it is alleged the god will consume during the night. It is agreed that the doors of Bel's temple shall be closed and sealed for the night after the departure of the priests. But in addition, Daniel takes the precaution of having, without the priests' knowledge, the floor of the temple strewn lightly with ashes. When the morning breaks, the doors are still closed and the seals intact, but the food has disappeared, evidence, the king thinks, that it has been consumed by Bel. Daniel, however, points to the tracks of bare feet on the ash-strewn floor as evidence that the priests have entered the temple by secret doors and removed the food. Angered by the trick which the priests had played on him, the king has them put to death and the image destroyed.
2. The Dragon Story, vv. 23-42. There is in Babylon a great live serpent (dragon) worshipped by a large number of the inhabitants, who feed it lavishly. In the present case the god is represented by a living creature which can be fed and which needs feeding. Daniel refuses to bow down before the serpent, and throws out a challenge to the king, that, if permission is given him, he will destroy the creature alleged to be a god. Receiving the requested permission, Daniel makes a mixture of which pitch is the principal ingredient, and thrusting it down the serpent's throat this creature bursts asunder and dies. Infuriated at the death of their god, the populace demand the death of this god-murderer. The king yields, and has Daniel cast into the den of lions, the usual punishment of persons found guilty of capital charges. But though Daniel remained in the company of seven lions for seven days, he suffers no injury. On the sixth day Daniel, being naturally hungry, is miraculously supplied with food. The prophet Habakkuk has prepared the midday (?) meal for his reapers, and is on the way to the field where they are. An angel arrests him, telling him he is to carry the meal to Daniel in the lions' den in Babylon. On his alleging his ignorance of the location of the lions' den, and even of Babylon itself, the angel lays hold of the hair on the crown of his head and conveys the prophet to the den, where, seeing Daniel, he hands him the food, and seems as safe among the lions as Daniel himself. The angel then restores Habakkuk to his Palestine home. Seeing that Daniel was preserved (the Habakkuk incident is an evident interpolation), the king magnifies God, sets Daniel at liberty, and substitutes for him in the den Daniel's accusers, who are at once devoured by the lions.
The meaning of the word 'dragon.' The Greek word translated 'dragon' denotes originally a large serpent. Homer uses [Gr.] and [Gr.] interchangeably without the least apparent difference. Even the drakoti of Greek mythology remains essentially a serpent. In the East the serpent came to be commonly used as a symbol of the principle of evil. In the LXX [Gr.] translates most frequently (twelve times) the Hebrew (tannin), rendered in the A. V. generally (eight times) 'dragon.' sometimes (thrice) 'serpent.' In two passages (Amos ix. 3, Job xxvi. 3) the usual Hebrew word for serpent  is represented in the LXX by [Gr.]. There is no good reason for departing from the simple impression which the narrative gives that in the present tale the dragon is a live snake worshipped as a god. Perhaps such worship is to be regarded as a survival of totemism. There is abundant evidence of snake worship in various parts of the ancient world, and there is good reason for believing that it obtained in Babylon, (1) The god Nina was worshipped in the form of a serpent. (2) On Babylonian seals men are figured worshipping gods apparently serpentine in form, their lower parts consisting of serpent coils with worshippers in front. (3) Both Berosus and Helladius speak of gods worshipped as serpents in Babylon." (4) Jensen, quoted by Baudissin (PRE v, p. 6), says there was a serpent god called in Sumerian Serah. For traces of serpent worship among the Hebrews, see Num. xxi. 8 f , 3 Kings xviii. 4. There is no certain proof that in ancient Babylon the live serpent as in distinction from the image of a serpent was worshipped, but there is no conclusive evidence to the contrary, and the analogy of other countries favours a decision in the affirmative.
Fritzsche holds that the story was composed in Egypt, where serpent worship is known to have existed in early times, but that the author inaccurately transferred it to Babylon. But since Fritzsche's time fresh evidence of such worship in Babylon has presented itself. Modern writers generally maintain that the dragon in this story represents a mythical monster with a serpent's head and neck, an eagle's legs, a lion's body, and a unicorn's horn.* In this or some similar form a very large number of Babylonian inscriptions picture this monster or other monsters (we can never be quite sure as to this) as in conflict with Marduk or some other Babylonian deity. The monster has been very commonly identified with the mythological dragon, but no decisive proof of the identity has been furnished. W. Hayes Ward has made a careful attempt to bring together the various forms in which the 'dragon-myth' has been portrayed on Babylonian-Assyrian inscriptions,' and he assumes throughout that in all it is the Marduk-Tiamat conflict of the Babylonian Creation legend that is set forth, but he gives no proof of this, for the name Tiamat is not once connected with the representation. Indeed it seems now generally understood that Tiamat was a snake deity, and that the dragon of the story now under consideration is no other than Tiamat: so Sayce, Ball, Gunkel, Marshall, Toy.
The present writer ventures with Jensen and Baudissin to dispute and even deny this, and for the following reasons:
1. There is no evidence in the Baby Ionian-Assyrian inscription that Tiamat was conceived as a serpent. The serpentine forms pointed out cannot be shown to be intended for Tiamat.
2. Berosus does not once translate the Babylonian Tiamat by dragon or by any word denoting serpent. He uniformly transliterates the word, though not as we should do now, but as Thalatth.
3. The idea embodied in Tiamat differs from that of the dragon or serpent. In Babylonian mythology Tiamat stands for the female principle, expressing itself in darkness and disorder, older than the gods themselves, since the birth of the gods took place through their separation from the primaeval chaos ( = Tiamat). Tiamat is usually identified with the primaeval ocean, wild and rebellious, needing to be subdued. We are probably to see a reference to it in the Dinn rendered by English versions 'the deep': LXX [Gr.]: Vulg. Abyssus.
4. In the present story the dragon is a god alongside of Bel in the preceding story: there is not the remotest hint that he is regarded other than as a Babylonian deity worshipped in the form of a serpent or dragon.']

[77] [Ibid. See above note.]

[78] [Schiaparelli, Astronomy in the Old Testament, p. 22. 'The earth's disk. Limits of the regions known to the Jews. The earth's foundations. The abyss and Sheol. The firmament. The upper and lower waters. Theory of subterranean waters and of springs, of rain, snow, and hail: the clouds. General idea of Hebrew cosmography.
13. ABOUT the form and general arrangement of the visible world the Jews had much the same ideas as we find originally in all peoples, ideas which have satisfied at every time the greater part of men even among nations with a pretence to culture: in fact, the cosmography of appearances.']

[79] [Rit. ch. 88.]

[80] [WAI, 2. 16, 37-71. 'In the first year there made its appearance, from a part of the Erythraean sea which bordered upon Babylonia, an animal endowed with reason, who was called Oannes. (According to the account of Apollodorus) the whole body of the animal was like that of a fish; and had under a fish's head another head, and also feet below, similar to those of a man, subjoined to the fish's tail. His voice, too, and language was articulate and human; and a representation of him is preserved even to this day.
This Being, in the day-time, used to converse with men; but took no food at that season; and he gave them an insight into letters, and sciences, and every kind of art. He taught them to construct houses, to found temples, to compile laws, and explained to them the principles of geometrical knowledge. He made them distinguish the seeds of the earth, and showed them how to collect fruits. In short, he instructed them in everything, which could tend to soften manners and humanise mankind. From that time, so universal were his instructions, nothing material has been added by way of improvement. When the sun set it was the custom of the Being to plunge again into the sea, and abide all night in the deep, for he was amphibious.' From Alexander Polyhistor, preserved by Syncellus in his Chronology, and Eusebius in his Chronicon, from Cory's Ancient Fragments, p. 57. See also NG 2:390.]

[81] [Sayce, HL, p. 281. 'here was yet another animal with which the name of Ea had been associated. This was the serpent. The Euphrates in its southern course bore names in the early inscriptions which distinctly connect the serpent with Ea on the one hand, and the goddess Innina on the other. It was not only called "the river of the great deep" a term which implied that it was a prolongation of the Persian Gulf and the encircling ocean; it was further named the river of the sulur Ulli, "the shepherd's hut of the lillu" or "spirit," "the river of Innina," "the river of the snake," and "the river of the girdle of the great god." In-nina is but another form of Innana or Nana, and we may see in her at once the Istar of Eridu and the female correlative of Anuna. Among the chief deities reverenced by the rulers of Tel-loh was one whose name is expressed by the ideographs of "fish" and "enclosure," which served in later days to denote the name of Nina or Nineveh.']

[82] [Bunsen, Egypt's Place in Universal History, vol. 2. p. 77. 'The King AN, however, was found by Lepsius among the old monumental names on a tomb of the field of Pyramids of Gizeh. The change in the position of the fish, here placed at the top of the scutcheon, was merely calligraphic.']

[83] [Sayce, HL, p. 67-8. 'Sallimmanu, "the god of peace," was a god honoured particularly in Assyria, where the name of more than one famous king (Shalman-eser) was compounded with it. As the name of Nineveh was ideographically expressed by a fish within a basin of water,* while the name itself was connected in popular etymology with the Assyrian nunu, "a fish," it is possible that the cult of Sallimman or Solomon in Assyria was due to the fact that he was a fish-god, perhaps Ea himself.
*The ideograph also represented the name of the goddess Nina a word which means "the Lady" in Sumerian who was the daughter of Ea the god of Eridu (W. A. I. iv. 1, 38). There was a city or sanctuary in Babylonia of the same name (K 4629, Rev. 8), which explains the statement of Ktesias that Nineveh stood on the Euphrates (ap. Diod. ii. 3).']

[84] [Chabas, 'Magic Papyrus,' RP, 10, 135. See 149. ]

[85] [Ibid. See above note.]

[86] [Omoroca is translated as Thalatth in the Chaldee and Thalassa in Greek, not Tiavath or Thavath. Cory believes Omoroca is a corruption of the Aramaic word AMQUIA, i.e., the deep, or ocean, and that the translation in Chaldee or Greek is 'tha', i.e., the, plus the Greek for salt, hence, the sea. See Cory's Ancient Fragments, p. 59, and notes. See note 94 below.]

[87] [Rit. ch. ?]

[88] [Chabas, 'Magic Papyrus,' RP, 10, 135. See 148.]

[89] [Ibid. See above note.]

[90] [Moures, Egyptian Calendar of Astronomical Observations.]

[91] [Aratus, line 399. Brown's tr.]

[92] [Book of Enoch, 58, 10. 'Then I asked of another angel to show me the power of those monsters, how they became separated, how they became separated on the same day, one being in the depths of the sea, and one in the dry desert.']

[93] [Cory's Ancient Fragments, p. 58. 'There was a time in which there was nothing but darkness and an abyss of waters, wherein resided most hideous beings, which were produced of a twofold principle.']

[94] [Ibid., p. 59. 'The person who was supposed to have presided over them, was a woman named Omoroca; which in the Chaldee language is Thalath; which in Greek is interpreted Thalassa, the sea.' See note 86 above.]

[95] [Ibid., p. 59. 'All things being in this situation, Belus came, and cut the woman asunder; and, out of one half of her he formed the earth, and of the other half the heavens, and at the same time he destroyed the animals in the abyss. The deity (Belus) above-mentioned, cut off his own head; upon which the other gods mixed the blood, as it gushed out, with the earth; and from thence men were formed.' See also NG 1:514.]

[96] [Of Isis and Osiris, ch. 34.]

[97] [Source.]

[98] [Source.]

[99] [Pinches, 'The Non-Semitic Version of the Creation Story,' RPNS, 6, 107; Sayce, 'Assyrian Story of Creation,' RPNS, 1, 122 & 147.]

[100] [HL, p. 377. 'If Bahu, therefore, was ever identified with the deep in the mind of the southern Babylonian, it must have been when the deep had ceased to be the watery abyss of chaos and had become the home of the creator Ea, deriving its waters from the heavens above.
But it is more probable that the identification was due to a total misconception of the true character of Bahu. In the Phoenician mythology as in Genesis, Bohu is simply "chaos," but it is the chaos which existed on earth, not within the waters of the abyss. It represents that pre-human age which, according to the legend of Cutha, witnessed the creation of the monsters of Tiamat. These monsters had their home, their "city," in "the ground;" there was therefore already an earth by the side of the deep. But this earth was the abode of chaos, of Bahu, and had originated, like the sky, out of the waters of the abyss. There were thus two representatives of chaos, the primaeval Apzu, the Tiamat of the Semitic epoch, and the secondary Bahu who presided over the chaos of the earth.']

[101] [Source.]

[102] [Berosus, in Cory's Ancient Fragments, pp. 51-70.
See also Sayce, HL, pp. 368-71. 'First of all, however, let us read the account given by Berossos of the creation of the world, and professed by him to be derived from the writings of Cannes, that semi-piscine being who rose out of the waters of the Persian Gulf to instruct the people of Chalda3a in the arts and sciences of life. It is pretty certain that Berossos had access to documents which purported to come from the hand of Cannes or Ea, and consequently to deal with events which preceded the appearance of man on the earth. The Chaldean system of astronomy which Berossos translated into Greek was likewise asserted by him to have been composed by a god, namely Bel; and the fragments of the original work which we now possess show that his assertion was correct, inasmuch as the work bears the title of the Observations of Bel. The inscriptions, moreover, expressly inform us that Ea was not only the god of wisdom, but himself an author. We learn from a tablet, "with warnings to kings against injustice," that if the king "decrees according to the writing of Ea, the great gods will establish him in good report and the knowledge of justice." There is, there fore, no reason to doubt the statement of B crosses that the account of the creation which he gives was extracted from a document that professed to have been inscribed by the god of Eridu himself.
"The following is the purport of what he said: There was a time in which there existed nothing but darkness and an abyss of waters, wherein resided most hideous beings, which were produced by a two fold principle. There appeared men, some of whom were furnished with two wings, others with four, and with two faces. They had one body, but two heads; the one that of a man, the other of a woman; they were likewise in their several organs both male and female. Other human figures were to be seen with the legs and horns of a goat; some had horses feet, while others united the hind-quarters of a horse with the body of a man, resembling in shape the hippocentaurs. Bulls like wise were bred there with the heads of men; and dogs with four-fold bodies, terminated in their extremities with the tails of fishes; horses also with the heads of dogs; men, too, and other animals, with the heads and bodies of horses and the tails of fishes. In short, there were creatures in which were combined the limbs of every species of animal. In addition to these, there were fishes, reptiles, serpents, with other monstrous animals, which assumed each other s shape and countenance.
Of all which were preserved delineations in the temple of Belos at Babylon.
The person who was supposed to have presided over them was a woman named Omoroka, which in the Chaldaean language is Thalatth (read Thavatth), which in Greek is interpreted Thalassa (the sea); but according to the most true interpretation it is equivalent to the Moon. All things being in this situation, Belos came and cut the woman asunder, and of one half of her he formed the earth, and of the other half the heavens, and at the same time destroyed the animals within her (in the abyss).
All this was an allegorical description of nature. For, the whole universe consisting of moisture, and animals being continually generated therein, the deity above-mentioned (Belos) cut off his own head; upon which the other gods mixed the blood, as it gushed out, with the earth, and from thence men were formed. On this account it is that they are rational, and partake of divine knowledge. This Belos, by whom they signify Zeus, divided the darkness, and separated the heavens from the earth, and reduced the universe to order. But the recently-created animals, not being able to bear the light, died. Belos upon this, seeing a vast space unoccupied, though by nature fruitful, commanded one of the gods to take off his head, and to mix the blood with the earth, and from thence to form other men and animals, which should be capable of bearing the light. Belos formed also the stars and the sun and the moon and the five planets."
The account of the cosmological theories of the Babylonians thus given by Berossos has not come to us immediately from his hand. It was first copied from his book by Alexander Polyhistor, a native of Asia Minor, who was a slave at Rome for a short period in the time of Sulla; and from Polyhistor it has been embodied in the works of the Christian writers Eusebios and George the Synkellos. It is not quite certain, therefore, whether the whole of the quotation was originally written by Berossos himself. At all events, it evidently includes two inconsistent accounts of the creation of the world, which have been awkwardly fitted on to one another. In one of them, the composite creatures who filled the watery chaos, over which Thavatth, the Tiamat or Tiavat of the inscriptions, presided, were represented as being destroyed by Bel when he cut Thavatth asunder, forming the heavens out of one portion of her body, and the earth out of the other. In the second version, the monsters of chaos perished through the creation of light, and their places were taken by the animals and men produced by the mixture of the earth with the blood of Eel. What this blood meant may be gathered from the Phoenician myth which told how the blood of the sky, mutilated by his son Kronos or Baal, fell upon the earth in drops of rain and filled the springs and rivers. It was, in fact, the fertilising rain.
Both versions of the genesis of the universe reported by Berossos agree not only in the representation of a chaos that existed before the present order of things, but also in the curious statement that this chaos was peopled with strange creatures, imperfect first attempts of nature, as it were, to form the animal creation of the present world. In these chaotic beginnings of animal life we may see a sort of anticipation of the Darwinian hypothesis. At any rate, the Babylonian theory on the subject must have been the source of the similar theory propounded by the Ionic philosopher Anaximander in the sixth century before our era. The philosophical systems of the early Greek thinkers of Asia Minor came to them from Babylonia through the hands of the Phoenicians, and it is consequently no more astonishing to find Anaximander declaring that men had developed out of the fish of the sea, than to find his predecessor Thales agreeing with the priests of Babylonia in holding that all things have originated from a watery abyss.
The fact that Anaximander already knew of the Babylonian doctrine shows that it could not have been suggested to Berossos himself, as we might be tempted to think, by the colossal bulls that guarded the gates, and the curious monsters depicted on the walls, of the temple of Bel. And we are now able to carry the belief back to a period very much earlier than that of Anaximander.']

[103] [Sayce, HL, p. 99. '"(Thou art) the king of the land, the lord of the world!
O first-born of Ea, omnipotent over heaven and earth.
mighty lord of mankind, king of (all) lands,
(Thou art) the god of gods,
(The prince) of heaven and earth who hath no rival,
The companion of Anu and Bel (Mul-lil),
The merciful one among the gods,
The merciful one who loves to raise the dead to life,
Merodach, king of heaven and earth,
King of Babylon, lord of A-sagila,
King of E-Zida, king of E-makh-tilla (the supreme house of life),
Heaven and earth are thine!
The circuit of heaven and earth is thine,
The incantation that gives life is thine,
The breath that gives life is thine,
The holy writing of the mouth of the deep is thine:
Mankind, even the black-headed race (of Accad),
All living souls that have received a name, that exist in the world,
The four quarters of the earth wheresoever they are,
All the angel-hosts of heaven and earth
(Regard) thee and (lend to thee) an ear."']

[104] [Oliver, An Historical and Descriptive Account of the Collegiate Church of Wolverhampton, in the County of Stafford, p. 109.]

[105] [Whitley Stokes, Three Middle Irish Homilies. '"He sained three hundred victorious crosses, Three hundred wellsprings that were swift, An hundred booksatchels, With an hundred croziers, with an hundred wallets."']

[106] [Rit. ch. 17.]

[107] [Longstaffe, Richmondshire, its Ancient Lords & Edifices, p. 96.]

[108] [Rit. ch. 64.]

[109] [Cook, 'Hymn to the Nile,' RP, 4, 105.]

[110] [Should be 'Hymn 13'. See above note.]

[111] [Cook, 'Hymn to the Nile,' RP, 4, 105. Hymn 13. ]

[112] [Hieroglyphica, bk. 1. 21. 'To signify the rising of the Nile, which they call in the Egyptian language NOUN, and which, when interpreted, signifies New, they sometimes pourtray a LION, and sometimes THREE LARGE WATERPOTS, and at other times HEAVEN AND EARTH GUSHING FORTH WITH WATER. And they depict a LION, because when the sun is in Leo it augments the rising of the Nile, so that oftentimes while the sun remains in that sign of the zodiac, half of the new water [Noun, the entire inundation?] is supplied; and hence it is, that those who anciently presided over the sacred works, have made the spouts [?] and passages of the sacred fountains in the form of lions. Wherefore, even to this day in prayer for an abundant inundation .... And they depict THREE WATERPOTS, or HEAVEN AND EARTH GUSHING FORTH WITH WATER, because they make a waterpot like a heart having a tongue,—like a heart, because in their opinion the heart is the ruling member of the body, as the Nile is the ruler of Egypt, and like [a heart with?] a tongue, because it is always in a state of humidity, and they call it the producer of existence. And they depict three waterpots, and neither more nor less, because according to them there is a triple cause of the inundation. And they depict one for the Egyptian soil, as being of itself productive of water; and another for the ocean, for at the period of the inundation, water flows up from it into Egypt; and the third to symbolise the rains which prevail in the southern parts of Ethiopia at the time of the rising of the Nile. Now that Egypt generates the water, we may deduce from this, that in the rest of the earth the inundations of the rivers take place in the winter, and are caused by frequent rains; but the country of the Egyptians alone, inasmuch as it is situated in the middle of the habitable world, like that part of the eye, which is called the pupil, of itself causes the rising of the Nile in summer.' See also BB 1:32 for other refs to this chapter.]

[113] [Source.]

[114] [Source.]

[115] [Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of Central Australia, p. 632. Massey errs here as I can find no reference to the Orantja he mentions throughout the entire text of this work, nor to the Apapa.]

[116] [Wilkinson.]

[117] [Rit. ch. 80.]

[118] [Theal, Kaffir Folkore, p. 163. 'THERE was once a woman who had occasion to leave her home for a short time, and who left her children in charge of a hare. The place where they lived was close to a path, along which droves of wild animals were accustomed to pass.
Soon after the woman left, the animals appeared, and the hare at sight of them became frightened. So she ran away to a distance, and stood to watch. Among the animals was one terrible monster, which called to the hare, and demanded to know what children those were. The hare told their names, upon which the animal swallowed them entire.
When the woman returned, the hare told her what had happened. Then the woman gathered some dry wood, and sharpened two pieces of iron, which she took with her and went along the path.
Now this was the chief of the animals; therefore, when she came on a hill over against him, the woman began to call out that she was looking for her children. The animal replied: "Come nearer, I cannot hear you."
When she went, he swallowed her also. The woman found her children alive, and also many other people, and oxen, and dogs. The children were hungry, so the woman with her pieces of iron cut some pieces of flesh from the animal's ribs. She then made a fire and cooked the meat, and the children ate.
The other people said: "We also are hungry, give us to eat."
Then she cut and cooked for them also.
The animal felt uncomfortable under this treatment, and called his councillors together for advice, but they could suggest no remedy. He lay down and rolled in the mud, but that did not help him, and at last he went and put his head in the kraal fence, and died.
His councillors were standing at a distance, afraid to approach him, so they sent a monkey to see how he was. The monkey returned and said: "Those whose home is on the mountains must hasten to the mountains; those whose home is on the plains must hasten to the plains; as for me, I go to the rocks."
Then the animals all dispersed.
By this time the woman had succeeded in cutting a hole through the chief's side, and came forth, followed by her children.
Then an ox came out, and said "Bo! bo! who helped me?"
Then a dogy who said: "Ho! ho! who helped me?
Then a man, who said: "Zo! zo! who helped me?"
Afterwards all the people and cattle came out. They agreed that the woman who helped them should be their chief.
When her children became men, they were out hunting one day, and saw a monstrous cannibal, who was sticking fast in a mud hole. They killed him, and then returned to tell the men of their tribe what they had done. The men went and skinned the cannibal, when a great number of people came out of him also. These joined their deliverers, and so that people became a great nation.']

[119] [Ibid., p. 79. 'There was once in a certain village an old man who was very poor. He had no children, and only a few cattle. One day, when the sky was clear and the sun was bright, he sat down by the cattle-fold. While he was sitting there, he noticed some birds close by which were singing very joyfully. He listened for a while, and then he stood up to observe them better, They were very beautiful to look upon, and they sang differently from other birds. They had all long tails and topknots on their heads. Then the old man went to the chief and told him what he had seen.
The chief said: "How many were they?
The old man replied: "There were seven."
The chief said: "You have acted wisely in coming to tell me; you shall have seven of the fattest of my cows. I have lost seven sons in battle, and these beautiful birds shall be in the place of my seven sons. You must not sleep to-night, you must watch them, and to-morrow I will choose seven boys to catch them. Do not let them out of your sight by any means."
In the morning the chief ordered all the boys of the village to be assembled at the cattle-fold, when he spoke to them of the birds. He said "I will choose six of you, and set my son who is dumb, over you, that will make seven in all. You must catch those birds. Wherever they go, you must follow, and you must not see my face again without them." He gave them weapons, and instructed them that if any one opposed them they were to fight till the last of them died.
The boys set off to follow those beautiful birds. They chased them for several days, till at last the birds were exhausted, when each of the boys caught one. At the place where they caught the birds they remained that night.
On the morning of the next day they set out on their return home. That evening, they came to a hut in which they saw a fire burning, but no one was there. They went in, and lay down to sleep. In the middle of the night one of those boys was awake. He heard some one saying: "There is nice meat here. I will begin with this one, and take this one next, and that one after, and the one with small feet the last." The one with the small feet was the son of the chief. His name was Sikulume, for he had never been able to speak till he caught the bird. Then he began to talk at once.
After saying those words the voice was still. Then the boy awakened his companions, and told them what he had heard.
They said: "You have been dreaming; there is no one here how can such a thing be?"
He replied: "I did not dream; I spoke the truth."
Then they made a plan that one should remain awake, and if anything happened, he should pinch the one next him, and that one should pinch the next, till all were awake.
After a while the boy who was listening heard some one come in quietly. That was a cannibal. He said the same words again, and then went out for the purpose of calling his friends to come to the feast. The boy awakened his companions according to the plan agreed upon, so that they all heard what was said. Therefore, as soon as the cannibal went out, they arose and fled from that place. The cannibal came back with his friends, and when the others saw there was no one in the hut, they killed and ate him.
As they were going on, Sikulume saw that he had left his bird behind. He stood, and said: "I must return for my bird, my beautiful bird with the long tail and topknot on its head. My father commanded that I must not see his face, again unless I bring the bird."
The boys said: "Take one of ours. Why should you go where cannibals are?"
He replied: "I must have the one that is my own."
He stuck his assagai in the ground, and told them to look at it. He said: "If it stands still, you will know I am safe; if it shakes, you will know I am running; if it falls down, you will know I am dead." Then he left them to return to the hut of the cannibals.
On the way he saw an old woman sitting by a big stone. She said: "Where are you going to?" He told her he was going for his bird. The old woman gave him some fat, and said: "If the cannibals pursue you, put some of this on a stone."
He came to the hut and got his bird. The cannibals were sitting outside, a little way back. They had just finished eating the owner of the hut. When Sikulume came out with his bird they saw him and ran after him. They were close to him, when he took some of the fat and threw it on a stone. The cannibals came to the stone, and began to fight with each other.
One said: "The stone is mine."
Another said: "It is mine."
One of them swallowed the stone. When the others saw that, they killed him and ate him. Then they pursued again after Sikulume. They came close to him again, when he threw the remainder of the fat on another stone. The cannibals fought for this also. One swallowed it, and was killed by the others.
They followed still, and Sikulume was almost in their hands, when he threw off his mantle. The mantle commenced to run another way, and the cannibals ran after it. It was so long before they caught it that the young chief had time to reach his companions.
They all went on their way, but very soon they saw the cannibals coming after them. Then they observed a little man sitting by a big stone.
He said to them: "I can turn this stone into a hut."
They replied: "Do so."
He turned the stone into a hut, and they all went inside, the little man with them. They played the "iceya" there. The cannibals came to the place and smelt. They thought the hut was still a stone, for it looked like a stone to them. They began to bite it, and bit till all their teeth were broken, when they returned to their own village.
After this, the boys and the little man came out.
The boys went on. When they reached their own home they saw no people, till at length an old woman crept out of a heap of ashes. She was very much frightened, and said to them: "I thought there were no people left."
Sikulume said: "Where is my father?"
She replied: "All the people have been swallowed by the inabulele" (a fabulous monster).
He said: "Where did it go to?"
The old woman replied: "It went to the river."
So those boys went to the river, and Sikulume said to them: "I will go into the water, and take an assagai with me. If the water moves much, you will know I am in the stomach of the inabulele; if the water is red, you will know I have killed it." Then he threw himself into the water and went down.
The inabulele swallowed him without tearing him or hurting him. He saw his father and his mother and many people and cattle. Then he took his assagai and pierced the inabulele from inside. The water moved till the inabulele was dead, then it became red. When the young men saw that, they cut a big hole in the side of the inabulele, and all the people and the cattle were delivered.
One day Sikulume said to another boy I am going, to the doctor's; tell my sister to cook food for me, nice food that I may eat." This was done.
He said to his sister: "Bring me of the skin of the inabulele which I killed, to make a mantle." She called her companions, and they went to the side of the river. She sang this song:

The body of the inabulele then came out. She cut two little pieces of the skin for sandals, and a large piece to make a mantle for her brother.
When he was a young man, Sikulume said to his friends: "I am going to marry the daughter of Mangangezulu."
They replied: "You must not go there, for at Mangangezulu's you will be killed."
He said: "I will go."
Then he called those young men who were his chosen friends to accompany him. On the way they came to a place where the grass was long. A mouse came out of the grass, and asked Sikulume where he was going to.
He replied: "I am going to the place of Mangangezulu."
The mouse sang this song:

Sikulume replied: "I shall not turn back."
The mouse then said: "As it is so, you must kill me and throw my skin up in the air."
He did so.
The skin said: "You must not enter by the front of the village; you must not eat off a new mat; you must not sleep in a hut which has nothing in it."
They arrived at the village of Manggangezulu. They entered it from the wrong side, so that all the people said: "Why is this?"
They replied: "It is our custom."
Food was brought to them on a new mat, but they said It is our custom to eat off old mats only."
An empty hut was given to them to sleep in, but they said: "It is our custom only to sleep in a hut that has things in it."
The next day the chief said to Sikulume and his companions: "You must go and tend the cattle."
They went. A storm of rain fell, when Sikulume spread out his mantle and it became a hut as hard as stone, into which they all went. In the evening they returned with the cattle. The daughter of Mangangezulu came to them. Her mother pressed her foot in the footprint of Sikulume, and he became an eland.
The girl loved the young chief very much. When she saw he was turned into an eland, she made a great fire and drove him into it. Then he was burned, and became a little coal. She took the coal out and put it in a pot of water, when it became a young man again.
Afterwards they left that place. The girl took with her an egg, a milksack, a pot, and a smooth stone. The father of the girl pursued them.
The girl threw down the egg, and it became mist. Her father wandered about in the mist a long time, till at length it cleared away. Then he pursued again.
She threw down the milksack, and it became a sheet of water. Her father tried to get rid of the water by dipping it up with a calabash, but he could not succeed, so he was compelled to wait till it dried up. He followed still.
The girl threw down the pot, and it became thick darkness. He waited a long time till light came again, when he followed them. He could travel very quickly.
He came close to them, and then the girl threw down the smooth stone. It became a rock, a big rock with one side steep like a wall. He could not climb up that rock, and so he returned to his own village.
Then Sikulume went home with his wife. He said to the people: "This is the daughter of Mangangezulu. You advised me not to go there, lest I should be killed. Here is my wife."
After that he became a great chief. All the people said: "There is no chief that can do such things as Sikulume."']

[120] [Rit. ch. 85.]

[121] [Planisphere of Denderah.]

[122] [From Lockyer—see p. 151. See Budge, Gods of the Egyptians, vol. 2, p. 313, Maspero, Dawn of Civilisation, p. 92.]

[123] [Epic of Gilgamesh.]

[124] [Dawn of Civilization, Eng. tr., p. 90. 'In Upper Egypt there is a widespread belief in the existence of a monstrous serpent, who dwells at the bottom of the river, and is the genius of the Nile. It is he who brings about those falls of earth (hatahit) at the decline of the inundation which often destroy the banks and eat whole fields. At such times, offerings of dura, fowls, and dates are made to him, that his hunger may be appeased, and it is not only natives who give themselves up to these superstitious practices. Part of the grounds belonging to the Karnak hotel at Luxor having been carried away during the autumn of 1884, the manager, a Greek, made the customary offerings to the serpent of the Nile (Maspero, Etudes de Mythologie el d'Archeologie l'Egyptiennes, vol. ii. pp. 412, 413).]

[125] [Brugsch, Egypt Under the Pharaohs, p. 210, Eng. tr. in one vol. 'They shall become like the hellish snake Apophis on the morning of the new year; they shall be overwhelmed in the great flood.']

[126] [Cited by Maspero, from Birch (Inscriptions, pl. xxix) and Chabas (Sur une stele hieratique, in Melanges, 2nd series, p. 334), in The Dawn of Civilization, Eng. tr., p. 159. 'Pierced with wounds, Apophi the serpent sank into the depths of the Ocean at the very moment when the new year began.']

[127] [Rit. ch. 39.]

[128] [Phainomena, line 449. 'Another constellation trails beyond which men call the Hydra. Like a living creature it winds afar its coiling form. Its head comes beneath the middle of the Crab, its coil beneath the body of the Lion, and its tail hangs above the Centaur himself. Midway on its coiling form is set the Crater, and at the tip the figure of a Raven that seems to peck at the coil.' G. R. Mair's tr.]

[129] [Matt. 11:28. 'Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.']

[130] [Rit. ch. 42.]

[131] [Rit. ch. 63A.]

[132] [Hesiod, Theogony, 120. 'Verily at the first Chaos came to be, but next wide-bosomed Earth, the ever-sure foundations of all the deathless ones who hold the peaks of snowy Olympus, and dim Tartarus in the depth of the wide-pathed Earth, and Eros (Love), fairest among the deathless gods, who unnerves the limbs and overcomes the mind and wise counsels of all gods and all men within them.' Tr. White.]

[133] [Lockyer, Dawn of Astronomy, p. 224. 'This star, although so little familiar to us northerners, is one of the most conspicuous of the stars in the southern portion of the heavens, and its heliacal rising heralded the solstice and the rise of the Nile before the heliacal rising of Sir his was useful for that purpose!
In Phact we have the star symbolised by the ancient Egyptians under the name of the goddess Amen-t or Teχi, whose figure in the month table at the Ramesseum leads the procession of the months.']

[134] [NG.]

[135] [NG. Plate.]

[136] [Hieroglyphica, bk. 1. 21. See note 112 above.]

[137] [Moures, Egyptian Calendar, AD 1878, p. 19.]

[138] [Phainomena, lines 130-140. 'Above both her shoulders at her right wing wheels a star, whereof the name is the Vintager of such size and with such brightness set, as the star that shines beneath the tail of the Great Bear. For dread is the Bear and dread stars are near her.' G. R. Mair's tr]

[139] [Plates in l'Origine de Tous les Cultes, No. 10. See also Eng. tr. of this important work here.]

[140] [Source.]

[141] [Rit. ch. 39.]

[142] [Zodiac of Esné.]

[143] [Birch, 'Egyptian Magical Text,' RP, 6, 113.]

[144] [Talbot, 'Legend of the Descent of Ishtar,' RP, 1, 141.]

[145] [Of Isis and Osiris, ch. 52.]

[146] [See Lane, Modern Egyptians, p. 254 of vol. 2, p. 453 of single ed. 'The night of the 17th of June, which corresponds with the 11th of the Coptic month of Ba-ooneh, is called "Leylet en-Nuktah" (or the Night of the Drop); as it is believed that a miraculous drop then falls into the Nile, and causes it to rise. Astrologers calculate the precise moment when the "drop" is to fall; which is always in the course of the night above mentioned.'
See also Maspero, Dawn of Civilisation, p. 21, note 2. 'The legend of the tears of Isis is certainly a very ancient one. During the embalmment, and then throughout all the funerary rites of Osiris, Isis and Nephthys had been the wailing women, and their tears had helped to bring back the god to life. Now, Osiris was a Nile god. "The night of the great flood of tears issuing