The Flood According to the Arapaho

Sherman Coolidge, an educated Arapaho, some years ago wrote an account of the Arapaho tradition of the flood, from which the following has been adapted: Long ago, before there was any animal life on the earth, the entire surface of the planet was covered with water, except the top of one high mountain. Upon this mountain sat a lone Arapaho, poor, weeping and in great distress. The Great Spirit saw him and felt sorry for him, and in his pity sent three ducks to the poor Indian. The Arapaho ordered the ducks to dive down into the waters and bring up some dirt. The first and second tried, but after remaining under water for a long time each returned without any dirt. Then the third went down and was gone so long that the surface of the water where he disappeared had become still and quiet. The Arapaho believed this duck to be dead when she returned to the surface with some dirt in her bill. As soon as the Arapaho received this bit of earth the waters began to subside.
In a short time the waters had receded so far that they could not be seen from the top of the highest mountain, but this Arapaho, who was endowed with supernatural wisdom and power, knew that they surrounded the earth, even as they do to this day. The Arapaho, who had been saved by the ducks, then became the sole possessor of the land. He made the rivers and made the trees to grow along them, the buffaloes, elks, deer and other animals, all the birds of the air and the fishes in the waters, and all the trees and bushes and all other things that can be grown by planting seeds in the ground.
Then all the other tribes—the Sioux, the Cheyenne, the Shoshone, etc.—came to this Arapaho, poor and on foot, and he gave them ponies. He also taught them to make bows and arrows and how to start a fire by rubbing two sticks together. This Arapaho god also had a peace pipe, which he gave to the people and told them to live at peace with each other, but especially with the Arapaho. The Cheyenne was the first of the tribes to come and receive gifts and knowledge of the Arapaho god. Among the gifts they received were ponies, in the use of which they became expert. The Shoshone had no lodges and the Arapaho taught them to construct skin tepees. Then all the tribes loved the Arapaho.

Bartlett, Ichabod S., History of Wyoming, Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing company, 1918, vol. 1, pp. 62-64.

The Fall in Egyptian Religion: the Serpent (2)

Lanzone, Ridolfo V., Dizionario di Mitologia Egizia, Torino: Litografia Fratelli Doyen, 1881, vol. 1, pl. civ (bet. pp. 432-433), img. 3.

The Fall in Egyptian Religion: the Serpent

Lanzone, Ridolfo V., Dizionario di Mitologia Egizia, Torino: Litografia Fratelli Doyen, 1881, vol. 1, pl. civ (bet. pp. 432-433), img. 1.

The Fall in Egyptian Religion: the Woman and the Tree

Lanzone, Ridolfo V., Dizionario di Mitologia Egizia, Torino: Litografia Fratelli Doyen, 1881, vol. 1, pl. cli (bet. pp. 432-433), img. 2.

The Fall in Egyptian Religion

Lanzone, Ridolfo V., Dizionario di Mitologia Egizia, Torino: Litografia Fratelli Doyen, 1881, vol. 1, pl. clxxii (bet. pp. 432-433).

Origin of the Title 'Vatican' According to the Vatican Curator, Ercole Massi

The Vatican Hill takes its name from the Latin word Vaticanus, a vaticiniis ferendis, in allusion to the oracles, or Vaticinia, which were anciently delivered here.

Massi, Ercole G., Compendious Description of the Museums of Ancient Sculpture, Greek and Roman, in the Vatican Palace, 2nd ed., enlarged and improved, Rome: Printing Establishment Morini, 1882, p. 5.

Origin of the Title 'Vatican' According to Aulus Gellius (2nd c. AD)

We have been told that the word Vatican is applied to the hill, and the deity who presides over it, from the vaticinia, or prophecies, which took place there by the power and inspiration of the god; [...]

Gellius, Aulus, Attic Nights, bk. 16, ch. 17.

(Gellius, Aulus, The Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius, trans. William Beloe, London: printed for J. Johnson, 1795, vol. 3, p. 247.)

"the set times and the laws" of Daniel 7:25

Fifth, this power attempted to do something with God's law. The prediction was that he will "try to change the set times and the laws" (vs. 25). There are two words for time in this verse. One is iddan, used to describe the duration of the little horn's persecution of the saints; it would last three and a half times ("a time, [two] times and half a time"). The word iddan means a span of time. The other word for time used in this verse is zeman (plural, zimmin). "He will . . . try to change the set times and the laws." This Aramaic word has more of a function of a point in time, but it is in the plural form indicating repeated points of time. These are connected with God's law (the word for "law" is singular in the original language). The feature of God's law that best fits this description is the fourth commandment where the recurring seventh day is featured as a point of time, or as regularly occurring points of time.

Shea, William H., Daniel, 2 vols., Boise, Idaho: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1996, vol. 2, p. 139.

The First "Sanctuary" After the Fall

placed . . . cherubim — The passage should be rendered thus: "And he dwelt between the cherubim at the east of the Garden of Eden, and a fierce fire or Shechinah unfolding itself to preserve the way of the tree of life." This was the mode of worship now established to show God's anger at sin and teach the mediation of a promised Saviour as the way of life as well as of access to God. They were the same figures as were afterward in the tabernacle and temple; and now, as then, God said, "I will commune with thee from between the cherubim" (Exodus 25. 22).

Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's commentary on Genesis 3:24, "placed...cherubim"

(Jamieson, Robert, Fausset, A. R., & Brown, David, A Commentary, 4 Vols, Toledo, Ohio: Jerome B. Names, 1883-1884, Old Testament, vol. 1, p. 9.)

The Hawaiian Devil and Fall

In his character as a culture god the name of Kane is generally coupled with that of Kanaloa. About Kanaloa as a god apart from Kane there is very little information. He is god of the squid, called in the Kumulipo Ka-he‘e-hauna-wela (The evil-smelling squid). [...] on the whole the squid is today looked upon with distrust as an aumakua.

This attitude is reflected in a tendency by Hawaiian antiquarians to equate Kanaloa with the Christian devil. His name is associated with various legends of strife against Kane in which Kanaloa and his spirits rebel and are sent down to the underworld. In the legend of Hawaii-loa belonging to the Kumu-honua epic account of the Kane tradition, Kanaloa is the leader of the first company of spirits placed on earth after earth was separated from heaven. These spirits are “spit out by the gods.” They rebel, led by Kanaloa, because they are not allowed to drink awa, but are defeated and cast down to the underworld, where Kanaloa, otherwise known as Milu, becomes ruler of the dead.

The legend places Kane and Kanaloa in opposition as the good and evil wishers of mankind. When Kane draws the figure of a man in the earth, Kanaloa makes one also; Kane’s lives but Kanaloa’s remains stone. Kanaloa is angry and curses man to die. He makes all kinds of poisonous things. It is he who seduces the wife of the first man in this version. Kanaloa of the great white albatross of Kane is the name given to him as responsible for driving the first man and the first woman out of the garden spot the gods have provided for them.

Beckwith, Martha Warren, Hawaiian Mythology, new intro. Katharine Luomala, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1970, pp. 60-61.

The Hawaiian Creation and Fall (version 5)

(e) Westervelt version. On the island-like peninsula of Mokapu on Oahu is the crater hill Mololani. On the east side near the sea red earth lies beside black soil. Kane makes an image of a man out of earth. . . . Ku and Lono catch a spirit of the air and give Kane’s figure life. They name him Wela-ahi-lani-nui. The man notices his shadow (aka) and wonders what it is. The woman is torn out of the man’s body by the god Kane; Ku and Lono heal the body. When the man sees her he names her Ke-aka-huli-lani after his own shadow.

Beckwith, Martha Warren, Hawaiian Mythology, new intro. Katharine Luomala, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1970, p. 46.

The Hawaiian Creation and Fall (version 4)

(d) Kamakau version. Kane, assisted by Ku and Lono and opposed by Kanaloa, makes the heaven and the earth. All is chaotic. Nothing exists but the upper regions and the spirit gods. Kane excels among the gods in wisdom and power. The triad of gods unite in forming the world. They begin on the twenty-sixth day of the month, the day dedicted to Kane, and in six days, including the days of Kane, Lono, Mauli, Moku, Hilo, Hoaka, form the heavens and the earth. The sabbath or holy day of Ku is established on the seventh day.

On Oahu between Kualoa and Kaneohe lies the first land planned by the gods. On the eastern flank of Mololani (a crater hill on Mokapu), at a place where fine red earth is mixed with bluish and blackish soil, the first man is formed by the three gods Kane, Ku, Lono. Kane draws a likeness of the gods with head, body, hands, and legs like themselves. Then he makes the image live and it becomes the first man. The gods place him in a house of kou wood and name him Huli-honua because he is “made out of earth.” The first man notices that his shadow always clings to him. While he sleeps the god makes a good-looking woman and when he awakes she lies by his side. He calls her Ke-aka-huli-lani (The shadow from the heavens).

Beckwith, Martha Warren, Hawaiian Mythology, new intro. Katharine Luomala, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1970, p. 45.

The Hawaiian Creation and Fall (version 3)

(c) Kepelino version. Kane as a triad, Kane, Kana (Ku), Lono, exists alone in the deep intense night which he has created, and brings about, first light, then the heavens, then the earth and the ocean, then sun, moon, and stars. Kane existing alone chants,

“Here am I on the peak of day, on the peak of night.
The spaces of air,
The blue sky I will make, a heaven,
A heaven for Ku, for Lono,
A heaven for me, for Kane,
Three heavens, a heaven.
Behold the heavens!
There is the heaven,
The great heaven,
Here am I in heaven, the heaven is mine.”

During the first five periods the heavens and earth are created and the sun, moon, and stars, and plants to clothe the earth. In the sixth period man is formed.

Kane, Ku, Lono, conceived as a single godhead, mold Kumuhonua, the first man, out of wet soil and he becomes living soil. They make him a chief to rule over the whole world and place him with his wife Lalo-honua in Ka-aina-nui-o-Kane (The great land of Kane), where they live happily until Lalo-honua meets the “Great seabird with white beak that stands fishing” (Aaia-nui-nukea-a-ku-lawaia) and is seduced to eat the sacred apples of Kane. She goes mad and becomes a seabird. The seabird carries them both away into the jungle, the trees part and make a path for them, but the trees return to their places and the path is lost, hence the name “Hidden land of Kane” for this first garden home. . . . Death is the penalty for Kumuhonua because he did not keep the command of the god. He gains the name Kane-la‘a-uli and is jeered at by the people as he goes weeping and lamenting along the highway. For countless years he dwells as a refugee on the hill called Pu‘u-o-honua, then he returns to Kahiki-honua-kele and is buried on a mountain called Wai-hon(u)a-o-Kumuhonua. There his descendants also are buried and the place is called “the heaping place of bones” (O-ke-ahuna-iwi).

Beckwith, Martha Warren, Hawaiian Mythology, new intro. Katharine Luomala, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1970, pp. 44-45.

The Hawaiian Creation and the Fall (version 2)

(b) Fornander version (2). The three gods Kane, Ku, Lono come out of the night (po) and create three heavens to dwell in, the uppermost for Kane, the next below for Ku, and the lowest for Lono, “a heaven for the parent (makua), a heaven for Ku, a heaven for Lono.” Next they make the earth to rest their feet upon and call it “The great earth of Kane” (Ka-honua-nui-a-Kane). Kane then makes sun, moon, and stars, and places them in the empty space between heaven and earth. He makes the ocean salt, in imitation of which the priests purify with salt water. Next an image of man is formed out of earth, the head out of white clay brought from the seas of the north, south, east, and west, the body out of red earth (apo ula) mixed with spittle (wai nao). The right side of the head is made of clay brought from the north and east, the left side is made of clay from the south and west. Man is formed after the image of Kane with Ku as the workman, Lono as general assistant. Kane and Ku spit (or breathe) into the nostrils, Lono into the mouth, and the image becomes a living being. “I have shaped this dirt (lepo); I am going to make it live,” says Kane. “Live! live!” respond Ku and Lono. The man rises and kneels. They name him Ke-li‘i-ku-honua (the chief Ku(mu)-honua) or Honua-ula because made out of “red earth.” They give him a delightful garden to live in called Kalana-i-hauola, but later Paliuli, situated in the land of Kahiki-honua-kele (The land that moved off), and fashion a wife for him out of his right side and call her Ke-ola-Ku-honua (or Lalo-hana). “Great Hawaii of the green back and mottled seas” this land is called. A law is given him but he breaks the law and is then known as Kane-la‘a-(kah)uli, “a god who fell because of the law.”

In the original garden of Kumuhonua and Lalo-hana his wife, are to be found the pig, dogs of various varieties, mo‘o of many sorts. A tapu tree, sacred apples which cause death if eaten by strangers, and tapu bark cloth forbidden to all but the high chiefs are spoken of. Some think that the laau (law or tree) which caused the expulsion of the pair from the garden refers to these things. The garden, which is very sacred, goes by a multiplicity of names. It is the great white albatross of Kane that drove them out of the garden (Ka Aaia-nukea-nui-a-Kane). Kumuhonua-mokupuni is the land to the eastward to which Kumuhonua retreats after he has broken the law, and he returns to Kapakapa-ua-a-Kane and is buried in a place called Kumu-honua-pu‘u, which was afterwards called Ka-pu‘u-po‘o-kanaka (the hill of human heads).

Beckwith, Martha Warren, Hawaiian Mythology, new intro. Katharine Luomala, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1970, pp. 43-44.

Hawaiian Creation and Fall (version 1)

(a) Fornander version (1). In the first era Kane dwells alone in continual darkness (i ka po loa); there is neither heaven nor earth. In the second era light is created and the gods Ku and Lono, with Kane, fashion the earth and the things on the earth. In the third era they create man and woman, Kumu-honua (Earth beginning) and Lalo-honua (Earth below). In the fourth era Kane, who has lived on earth with man, goes up to heaven to live and the man, having broken Kane’s law, is made subject to death.

Beckwith, Martha Warren, Hawaiian Mythology, new intro. Katharine Luomala, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1970, pp. 42-43.

The Fall's Curse Upon the Serpent Recorded in Egypt

Across the river from Thebes, in the Valley of the Kings, frescoes in the tomb of Sethos I (Seti) tell a strange story. Snakes on the wall have been painted with legs and scaly feet. They grin menacingly, and the accompanying hieroglyphs indicate an ancient knowledge that snakes were not always without legs. According to the Sethos I inscriptions, "the serpent's forebears possessed feet." [...]

The Sethos I inscriptions connect the snake's ancestors with an evil curse, which was cast upon them for one offense or another when the world was still very young. The nature of the offense is not described, but the punishment is clear: Their legs were taken away, and henceforth they were obliged to crawl upon their bellies.

Pellegrino, Charles, Return to Sodom and Gomorrah: Bible Stories from Archaeologists, New York: Random House, 1994, pp. 51-53.

Misery is Due to a Woman According to the Chinese

It is with a different spirit we find woman spoken of in the traditions of the Chinese; but perhaps it may be considered equally unflattering:—

Tien (the Creator) placed man upon a high mountain, which Tai-Wang (the first man) rendered fruitless by his own fault. He filled the earth with thorns and briers, and said: “I am not guilty, for I could not do otherwise. Why did he plunge us into so much misery? All was subjected to man at the first; but a woman threw us into slavery. The wise husband built up a bulwark of walls; but the woman, by an ambitious desire of knowledge, demolished them. Our misery did not come from heaven, but from a woman. She lost the human race. Ah, unhappy Pao See! [first woman] thou kindlest the fire that consumes us, and which is every day augmenting. Our misery has lasted many ages. The world is lost. Vice overflows all things like a mortal poison.” 

Emerson, Ellen Russell, Indian Myths or Legends, Traditions, and Symbols of the Aborigines of America, Boston: James R. Osgood and company, 1884, p. 129.

The Flood According to the Taino of Hispaniola

They said that there once lived in the island a mighty cacique, whose only son conspiring against him, he slew him. He afterwards collected and picked his bones, and preserved them in a gourd, as was the custom of the natives with the relics of their friends. On a subsequent day, the cacique and his wife opened the gourd to contemplate the bones of their son, when, to their astonishment, several fish, great and small, leaped out. Upon this the cacique closed the gourd, and placed it on the top of his house, boasting that he had the sea shut up within it, and could have fish whenever he pleased. Four brothers, however, born at the same birth, and curious intermeddlers, hearing of this gourd, came during the absence of the cacique to peep into it. In their carelessness they suffered it to fall upon the ground, when it was dashed to pieces, and there issued forth a mighty flood, with dolphins, and sharks, and great tumbling whales; and the water spread, until it overflowed the earth, and formed the ocean, leaving only the tops of the mountains uncovered, which are the present islands.

Irving, Washington, A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, 4 vols., London: John Murray, 1828, v. 2, pp. 118-119.

The Origin of Man According to the Taino of Hispaniola

They believed that mankind issued from another cavern, the large men from a great aperture, the small men from a little cranny. They were for a long time destitute of women, but, wandering on one occasion near a small lake, they saw certain animals among the branches of the trees, which proved to be women. On attempting to catch them, however, they were found to be as slippery as eels, so that it was impossible to hold them. At length they employed certain men, whose hands were rendered rough by a kind of leprosy. These succeeded in securing four of these slippery females, from whom the world was peopled.

Irving, Washington, A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, 4 vols., London: John Murray, 1828, v. 2, pp. 117-118.

The Supreme Being of the Taino of Hispaniola

They believed in one supreme being, who inhabited the sky, who was immortal, omnipotent, and invisible; to whom they ascribed an origin, who had a mother, but no father. They never addressed their worship directly to him, but employed inferior deities, called Zemes, as messengers and mediators.

Irving, Washington, A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, 4 vols., London: John Murray, 1828, v. 2, pp. 111-112.

The Māori Creation of Man

Of Tiki little is preserved: his great work was that of making man, which he is said to have done after his own image. One account states, that he took red clay and kneaded it with his own blood, and so formed the eyes and limbs, and then gave the image breath. Another, that man was formed of clay, and the red ochreous water of swamps, and that Tiki bestowed both his own form and name upon him, calling him Tiki-ahua, or Tiki's likeness.

Taylor, Richard, Te Ika a Maui or New Zealand and its Inhabitants, London: Wertheim and Macintosh, 1855, p. 23.

Echos of the Fall at Philae in Egypt?

Taylor, Richard, Te Ika a Maui or New Zealand and its Inhabitants, 2nd ed., London: William Macintosh, 1870, p. 61.

The Egyptian hieroglyphic given of Adam and Eve recently found in the temple of Philæ, represents most clearly our first parents, with the serpent at the base of the tree looking up to Eve. Adam seems to be returning from tilling the garden, with some tool or implement of husbandry in his hand; the fi rst work given him to do when placed in Paradise, was to dress it, and to keep it. This hieroglyphic is therefore singularly faithful, and establishes the fact that the Egyptians were early acquainted with the scriptural narrative, and it is not improbable also with its general outlines, before the time when Moses was inspired to write it, and that it forms a portion of the original tradition handed down to them from the patriarchal times.

Taylor, Richard, Te Ika a Maui or New Zealand and its Inhabitants, 2nd ed., London: William Macintosh, 1870, p. 662.

Josephus and the Tower of Babylon

The Sibyl also makes mention of this tower, and of the confusion of the language, when she says thus:—"When all men were of one language, some of them built a high tower, as if they would thereby ascend up to heaven; but the gods sent storms of wind and overthrew the tower, and gave every one his peculiar language; and for this reason it was that the city was called Babylon."

 Josephus, Flavius, Antiquities of the Jews, bk. 1, ch. 4, vs. 3.
(Josephus, Flavius, The Complete Works of Flavius Josephus, trans. William Whiston, London: T. Nelson and Sons, 1860, p. 35.)

Josephus on the Flood

Now all the writers of barbarian histories make mention of this flood and of this ark; among whom is Berosus the Chaldean; for when he is describing the circumstances of the flood, he goes on thus:—"It is said there is still some part of this ship in Armenia, at the mountain of the Cordyaeans; and that some people carry off pieces of the bitumen, which they take away, and use chiefly as amulets for the averting of mischief." Hieronymus the Egyptian, also, who wrote the Phoenician Antiquities, and Mnaseas, and a great many more, make mention of the same. Nay, Nicolaus of Damascus, in his ninety-sixth book, hath a particular relation about them, where he speaks thus:—"There is a great mountain in Armenia, over Minyas, called Baris, upon which it is reported that many who fled at the time of the Deluge were saved; and that one who was carried in an an ark came on shore upon the top of it; and that the remains of the timber were a great while preserved. This might be the man about whom Moses, the legislator of the Jews, wrote." 

 Josephus, Flavius, Antiquities of the Jews, bk. 1, ch. 3, vs. 6.
(Josephus, Flavius, The Complete Works of Flavius Josephus, trans. William Whiston, London: T. Nelson and Sons, 1860, p. 34.)

The Relationship of Food to Disease Brought Out by Hippocrates

And this I know, moreover, that to the human body it makes a great difference whether the bread be fine or coarse; of wheat with or without the hull, whether mixed with much or little water, strongly wrought or scarcely at all, baked or raw—and a multitude of similar differences; and so, in like manner, with the cake (maza); the powers of each, too, are great, and the one nowise like the other. Whoever pays no attention to these things, or, paying attention, does not comprehend them, how can he understand the diseases which befall a man?

Hippocrates, On Ancient Medicine, vs. 14.

(Hippocrates, The Genuine Works of Hippocrates, 2 vols., trans. Francis Adams, London: Printed for the Sydenham Society, 1849, vol. 1, p. 169-170.)

Tracks of a Dinosaur Seen by Missionaries in Africa in as Early as the 1700's

The missionaries have observed in passing along a forest, the track of an animal which they have never seen; but it must be monstrous, the prints of its claws are seen on the earth, and formed an impression on it of about three feet in circumference. In observing the posture and disposition of the footsteps, they concluded that it did not run in this part of its way, and that it carried its claws at the distance of seven or eight feet one from the other.

Proyart, Lievain Bonaventure, History of Loango, Kakongo, and Other Kingdoms in Africa in John Pinkerton, trans., A General Collection of Voyages and Travels, 17 vols., London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1808-1814, v. 16, p. 557.

Les Missionnaires ont observé, en passant le long d'une forêt, la piste d'un animal qu'ils n'ont pas vu; mais qui doit être monstrueux: les traces de ses griffes s'appercevoient sur la terre, & y formoient une empreinte d'environ trois pieds de circonférence. En observant la disposition de ses pas, on a reconnu qu'il ne couroit pas dans cet endroit de son passage, & qu'il portoit ses pattes à la distance de sept à huit pieds les unes des autres.

Proyart, Lievain Bonaventure, Histoire de Loango, Kakongo, et Autres Royaumes d’Afrique, 1776, pp. 38-39.

Pre-Flood Life-spans According to Josephus

Now I have for witnesses to what I have said, all those that have written Antiquities, both among the Greeks and barbarians; for even Manetho, who wrote the Egyptian History, and Berosus, who collected the Chaldean Monuments, and Mochus, and Hestiaeus, and besides these, Hieronymus the Egyptian, and those who composed the Phoenician History, agree to what I here say: Hesiod also, and Hecataeus, Hellanieus, and Acusilaus; and besides these, Ephorus and Nicolaus relate that the ancients lived a thousand years: but as to these matters, let every one look upon them as he thinks fit.                  

Josephus, Flavius, Antiquities of the Jews, bk. 1, ch. 3, vs. 9.
(Josephus, Flavius, The Complete Works of Flavius Josephus, trans. William Whiston, London: T. Nelson and Sons, 1860, p. 35.)

Josephus, Flavius, Antiquities of the Jews, bk. 1 107-108 (ch. 3, vs. 9).

(Josephus, Flavius, Flavii Iosephi Opera, 7 vols., ed. Benedictus Niese,  Berolini: Apud Weidmannos, 1887, v. 1, Antiquitatum Iudaicarum Libri I-V, p. 25.)

The Appearance of the First Man and the First Woman Involves a Tree According to the North American Indians

We asked him, where he believed he came from? He answered from his father. " And where did your father come from? " we said, "and your grandfather and great-grandfather, and so on to the first of the race?" He was silent for a little while, either as if unable to climb up at once so high with his thoughts, or to express them without help, and then took a piece of coal out of the fire where he sat, and began to write upon the floor. He first drew a circle, a little oval, to which he made four paws or feet, a head and a tail. " This," said he, " is a tortoise, lying in the water around it," and he moved his hand round the figure, continuing, "This was or is all water, and so at first was the world or the earth, when the tortoise gradually raised its round back up high, and the water ran off of it, and thus the earth became dry." He then took a little straw and placed it on end in the middle of the figure, and proceeded, " The earth was now dry, and there grew a tree in the middle of the earth, and the root of this tree sent forth a sprout beside it and there grew upon it a man, who was the first male. This man was then alone, and would have remained alone; but the tree bent over until its top touched the earth, and there shot therein another root, from which came forth another sprout, and there grew upon it the woman, and from these two are all men produced."

Danckaerts, Jasper, Journal of Jasper Danckaerts, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1913, pp. 77-78.

The Fall and the Origin of Woman According to the North American Indians

The different tribes have very different traditions: some of them are truly ludicrous, and are related with a seriousness not very reputable to their credulity and understanding; of this nature is the following: it is often repeated by the women themselves. It states that the red men were furnished with long tails, but that, having offended the Great Spirit, he deprived them of these ornaments, and from them created the women. As an additional punishment, he sent large swarms of mosquitoes to prey upon them, which, when they were thus mutilated, could torment them with greater impunity.

Hunter, John D., Memoirs of a Captivity Among the Indians of North America, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1823, p. 306.

According to the Hindus, In the Beginning...

Waters were the world at fi rst, the moving ocean; Prajapati, becoming wind, rocked about on a lotus leaf; [...]

Taittiriya Sanhita, v, 6.4.
(Keith, Arthur Berriedalle, The Veda of the Black Yajus School entitled Taittiriya Sanhita, Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Harvard University Press, 1914, v. 2, p. 458.)

This was in the beginning the waters, the ocean. In it Prajapati becoming the wind moved.

Taittiriya Sanhita, vii, 1.5.

(Keith, Arthur Berriedalle, The Veda of the Black Yajus School entitled Taittiriya Sanhita, Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Harvard University Press, 1914, v. 2, p. 560.)

Chipewyan Creation and Fall

The notion which these people entertain of the creation, is of a very singular nature. They believe that, at the first, the globe was one vast and entire ocean, inhabited by no living creature, except a mighty bird, whose eyes were fire, whose glances were lightning, and the clapping of whose wings were thunder. On his descent to the ocean, and touching it, the earth instantly arose, and remained on the surface of the waters. This omnipotent bird then called forth all the variety of animals from the earth, except the Chepewyans, who were produced from a dog; and this circumstance occasions their aversion to the flesh of that animal, as well as the people who eat it. This extraordinary tradition proceeds to relate, that the great bird, having finished his work, made an arrow, which was to be preserved with great care, and to remain untouched; but that the Chepewyans were so devoid of understanding, as to carry it away; and the sacrilege so enraged the great bird, that he has never since appeared.

Mackenzie, Alexander, Voyages from Montreal, on the river St. Laurence, through the continent of North America, to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans, London: , 1801, pp. cxvii-cxviii.

The Hindu Náráyana

The waters are called nárá, because they were the production of NARA, or the spirit of GOD; and, since they were his first ayana, or place of motion, he thence is named NÁRÁYANA, or moving on the waters.

Menu, The Laws of Menu, son of Brahmá, ch. 1, vs. 10.

(Jones, William, Sir, Institutes of Hindu Law, Calcutta: printed by order of the government; London: reprinted, for J. Sewell ...; and J. Debrett, 1796, p. 2.)

Protein, Especially that of Milk, and Cancer Growth

In fact, dietary protein proved to be so powerful in its effect that we could turn on and turn off cancer growth simply by changing the level consumed.

[...]

[...] What protein consistently and strongly promoted cancer? Casein, which makes up 87% of cow's milk protein, promoted all stages of the cancer process. What type of protein did not promote cancer, even at high levels of intake? The safe proteins were from plants, including wheat and soy.

Campbell, T. Colin & Campbell, Thomas M., The China Study, Dallas, Texas: BenBella, 2006, p. 6.

Samuel Morse in Italy and the Roman Catholic Church

While Mr. Morse was in Italy in the years 1830 and 1831, he became acquainted with several ecclesiastics of the Church of Rome, one of whom, a cardinal, made a vigorous attack upon the faith of the young artist. A correspondence between them ensued, and frequent interviews. Mr. Morse was led to believe, from what he learned in Home, that a political conspiracy, under the cloak of a religious mission, was formed against the United States of America. When he came to Paris in 1832 and enjoyed the confidence and friendship of Lafayette, he stated his convictions to the General, who fully concurred with him in the reality of such a conspiracy.

Prime, Samuel Irenæus, The Life of Samuel F. B. Morse, New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1875, p. 728.

Contemplative Prayer: the Thoughtlessness of the Cloud of Unknowing of the Desert Fathers

[...] take thee but a little word of one syllable: for so it is better than of two, [...]

This word shall be thy shield and thy spear, whether thou ridest on peace or on war. With this word, thou shalt beat on this cloud and this darkness above thee. With this word, thou shall smite down all manner of thought under the cloud of forgetting.

Underhill, Evelyn, The Cloud of Unknowing, 2nd Edition, London: John M. Watkins,1922, pp. 93-94.

Sabbath and the Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864)

At this time, Hung prohibited the use of opium, and even tobacco, and all intoxicating drinks, and the Sabbath was religiously observed.

Lindley, Augustus F., Ti-ping Tien-kwoh, London: Day & Son, 1866, v. 1, p. 48.

The seventh day is most religiously and strictly observed. The Ti-ping sabbath is kept upon our Saturday [...]

Lindley, Augustus F., Ti-ping Tien-kwoh, London: Day & Son, 1866, v. 1, p. 319.

Armenians of the Hindostan and the Sabbath (19th century)

The Armenians in Hindostan are our own subjects. [...] They have preserved the Bible in its purity; and their doctrines are, as far as the Author knows, the doctrines of the Bible. Besides, they maintain the solemn observance of Christian worship, throughout our Empire, on the seventh day [...]

Buchanan, Claudius, Christian Researches in Asia, Cambridge : J. Deighton ; London : Cadell & Davies, 1811, p. 233.