and on that, they outstretched their arms over all nations, with mercy.

And Absal, he it was who went out before the host, from the land of the elements of which our great fathers were formed.

And Daire was he, who conducted the children of the land to this side Affreidg-eis-and the race of Daire were chiefs of the earth. (ƒ)

Attend again, my Son,-When twice nine hundred rings, and thrice three rings were marked on the banks of Affreidg-eis, a multitude from the sun's rising, beneath the land of the first abode of our great fathers, poured in upon the land of our fathers that then lived, like unto a swarm of locusts, or clouds of burning sands, yea even as a torrent of mighty waters, that overwhelmeth all things.

And the multitudes for numbers not to be counted, as the sands of the sea, as the stars of the heavens,speaking with a thousand tongues diverse one from another-fierce and cruel, came over our fathers.

And many of the Gaal were made captives-and many lay in death, whose state was happier than that of his fellow.

And Ardfear, chief of the race, and all the heads of the people who stood in the presence of the chief, dwelling round about the tents of Ard-fear, escaped from the edge of the sword of Eis Soir. (g)

And Ardfear floated on the bosom of Blessed Affreidg-eis, and the waters bare up his little skiff, till he lighted on the plain of Ard-mionu.

And all that went forth from Magh-sean-ar dwelled in Ard-mionu, and Ard-fear ruled that land as aforetime-but in person.

And the foemen of the east sheathed not the sword for one entire ring; and when one ring was complete there was peace.

And Eis Soir made the earth to groan for the weight which they laid on the places where theretofore had stood the tents of Ardfear, and the heads of the Gaal. (h)

Did they not raise up dwellings durable, and walls round about, and a watch tower to look over the land on every side? (i)

And multitudes of the Gaal flocked to the tents of Ard-fear in Ard-mionu, and they encreased exceedingly.

And when Ard-fear had ruled for the course of one score and eleven rings in Ard-mionu, then and there he died.

And all the children of the land aforetime, and of the Gaal, gathered themselves together, and they placed the bulk of Ard-fear in the boat, in which he was borne from Magh-sean-ar even unto Ard-mionu on the waters of the Blessed Affreidg-eis.

And they set the boat on the spot where it had rested, when Ard-fear came therefrom unto the land. And they raised the boat charged with the weight of the chief from the water, and it was conveyed on the shoulders of the nobles for the space of nine hundred paces, from the margin of the water, towards the sun's going.

And there was the boat in which lay the form of Ard-fear set down, and there was his heap raiseda memorial for ever.

And all the people moaned inwardly, and they poured forth lamentations loudly, invoking the spirit

of Ard-fear, calling him Naoi, the chosen of Baal, for the preservation of the race of Absal and the Gaal-Nasi, whom the streams of Blessed Affreidgeis did bear in safety to Ard-mionn. (k)

NOTES TO CHAPTER I.

(a) Eolus here gives the tradition of his nation concerning the origin of this world,—from which it appears their idea was that this Earth always existing, became a member of this solar system by the rolling of the waters from off its surface.

That such was the opinion of the Eastern nations, we learn from Trogus Pompeius, in his relation of the controversy of the Scythians and Egyptians for antiquity, and that such was the opinion of the Hebrews the only people known to us, to have given a circumstantial detail of a creation, is apparent from the first Chapter of Genesis, where we find,

V. 1. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2. And the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep-and the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

3. And God said, let there be light, and there was light.

9. And God said, let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place—And let the dry land appear.

10. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas."

From which it is evident, that the Hebrews supposed the heaven, and the earth, the waters and the air existed, antecedently to the work of the six days.-These had been created from the beginning. Light was the production of the first day.

A firmament, and the separation of waters theretofore in being, were the work of the second day.

And the operation of the third day, was the gathering together into one place, the portion of the waters under the firmament, when God said "Let the dry land appear"---and it was so.---And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of waters called he Seas; God did now but give names to the land, and to the waters, upon the face of which (previously to the appearance of the dry land,) the air (beautifully expressed by the spirit of God) did move.

These authorities are, in my judgment, conclusive, as to the ideas of all nations of antiquity, that this earth had been originally submersed in the waters---a much more rational opinion than the whimsical theories of any of those modern systemizers, who have taken such a world of words on a subject that admits not of proof, nor any thing approaching thereunto.

(b) It seems from this expression that the Scythians fancied that man and all animals had originally been inhabitants of the waters--it is somewhat remarkable that the Hebrew names for Adam and Eve are Isch and Ischa, which in the language of Eri, at this day, means a male and female fish---that the Hebrew language is a dialect of the Scythian---of which the language of Eri is also a dialect, hath been sufficiently shewn by the dissertation--and by the Glossary annexed to this work.

(c) Here Eolus gives the ideas of his nation concerning the production of man, which they attributed to the influence of the Sun, on the combination of all the other elements---the mass they conceived to be composed of earth, air, and water, brought into animation and perception, by the operation of fire, breathed into it by Baal, of whose majesty and power the Sun was the emblem.

They imagined that the human species and all things were the production of every climate, so long as the elements were sufficiently powerful for that purpose.

In this idea we learn divers people of old agreed, by their contending for a never-ceasing occupation of their lands by their progenitors--for their being indigenous of that soil, having no tradition ever so remote of the emigration of their forefathers from any other place.

The Hebrews are the only people whose traditions have come down to us, who take upon them to speak positively on the subject.--They personify the first cause, and assert the creation of one male, and one female only of the human race, in the land of Eden in Mesopotamia, from whom have sprung mankind, in which notion, and which alone do they differ from other nations of remote antiquity---as is evident by looking on the 2d Chapter of Genesis. V. 6. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

7. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and he became a living soul.

Words so clear as to leave no room to doubt of their notions on this subject.

The animal formed of the dust of the ground, watered by the mist, (impregnated with air it must have been) received the spirit of fire from the lips of the Creator, most eloquently expressed by the breath of life—and thus man became a living soul.

(d) For this rare curiosity of the antique world, I beg leave to refer you to the plate annexed of Bael-ainn.

(e) From Herodotus, Clio c. 4, "we learn that the Persians esteemed Asia, with all its various and barbaric nations, as their own peculiar possessions;" and Calliope, c. 116, "the Persians consider all Asia their own."

(f) Here is a difference of fifty-three years between the traditionary accounts of Eolus and the Hebrews-the former declaring that the ascendancy of the Scythians over what is indefinitely called Asia, endured for the course of one thousand eight hundred and nine years the latter counting from their creation, which I take to be the commencement of the Scythian power on the banks of Euphrates, to the overthrow of their nation in the days of Noah, by Nimrod or Bel, and the building of Ba-Bel, have computed the time at one thousand seven hundred and fifty-six years.

(g) In these few words is to be found the brief account of the Assyrian invasion of Mesopotamia, by Bel, Belus, Nimrod, when Ardfear, the Noe of the Hebrews, called also Naoi, by Eolus, was chief of the Scythian race, his tents standing on Magh-sean-ar, the land of Shinar, of the Hebrews, and of the flight of Noe to Ardmenia.

By turning to the few notices that have escaped the devastation of war in all its various shapes, we learn that at the precise time mentioned by Eolus, writers of ancient days have placed this event. They say that Asia had been subject to the Scythians for the space of fifteen hundred years, which time obtained the name of the Scythian age of the world; and that they were succeeded by the Assyrians, who built Ba-Bel, which became the metropolis of the Assyrian empire.

And now if we examine the traditions of the Hebrews, recorded in the 7th, 8th, and 11th chapters of Genesis, an account will be

found of this very revolution, described under the metaphors of a deluge, and a raven, a dove, and olive branch.

After giving the picture of the horrors of the deluge, in the 7th