India passed to America in the XVIth century of our
era.

How long did it take to bring this people out of savagery, and to
build up so many flourishing cities? The learned did not readily resign
themselves to a confession of ignorance on the subject. As they
had depicted the primordial chaos, the birth of the gods, and their
struggles over the creation, so they related unhesitatingly everything
which had happened since the creation of mankind, and they laid claim to
being able to calculate the number of centuries which lay between their
own day and the origin of things. The tradition to which most credence
was attached in the Greek period at Babylon, that which has been
preserved for us in the histories of Berossue, asserts that there was
a somewhat long interval between the manifestation of Oannes and
the foundation of a dynasty. The first king was Aloros of Babylon, a
Chaldaean of whom nothing is related except that he was chosen by the
divinity himself to be a shepherd of the people. He reigned for ten
sari, amounting in all to 36,000 years; for the saros is 3600 years, the
ner 600 years, and the soss 60 years.

[Illustration: 041.jpg TWO FISH-LIKE DEITIES OF THE CHALDAEANS.]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from an intaglio in the British Museum.

After the death of Aloros, his son Alaparos ruled for three sari, after
which Amillaros, of the city of Pantibibla, reigned thirteen sari. It
was under him that there issued from the Bed Sea a second Annedotos,
resembling Oannes in his semi-divine shape, half man and half fish.
After him Ammenon, also from Pantibibla, a Chaldaean, ruled for a term
of twelve sari; under him, they say, the mysterious Oannes appeared.
Afterwards Amelagaros of Pantibibla governed for eighteen sari; then
Davos, the shepherd from Pantibibla, reigned ten sari: under him there
issued from the Red Sea a fourth Annedotos, who had a form similar to
the others, being made up of man and fish. After him Bvedoranchos of
Pantibibla reigned for eighteen sari; in his time there issued yet
another monster, named Anodaphos, from the sea. These various monsters
developed carefully and in detail that which Oannes had set forth in a
brief way. Then Amempsinos of Larancha, a Chalaean, reigned ten sari; and
Obartes, also a Chaldaean, of Larancha, eight sari. Finally, on the death
of Obartes, his son Xisuthros held the sceptre for eighteen sari. It
was under him that the great deluge took place. Thus ten kin