harbour). Manu was accompanied by
seven rishis.[229]

In the Celtic (Irish) account of the flood, Cessair, granddaughter of
Noah, was refused a chamber for herself in the ark, and fled to the
western borders of the world as advised by her idol.[230] Her fleet
consisted of three ships, but two foundered before Ireland was
reached. The survivors in addition to Cessair were, her father Bith,
two other men, Fintan and Ladru, and fifty women. All of these
perished on the hills except Fintan, who slept on the crest of a great
billow, and lived to see Partholon, the giant, arriving from Greece.

There is a deluge also in Egyptian mythology. When Ra, the sun god,
grew old as an earthly king, men began to mutter words against him. He
called the gods together and said: "I will not slay them (his
subjects) until I have heard what ye say concerning them." Nu, his
father, who was the god of primeval waters, advised the wholesale
destruction of mankind.

Said Ra: "Behold men flee unto the hills; their heart is full of fear
because of that which they said."

The goddess Hathor-Sekhet, the Eye of Ra, then went forth and slew
mankind on the hills. Thereafter Ra, desiring to protect the remnant
of humanity, caused a great offering to be made to the goddess,
consisting of corn beer mixed with herbs and human blood. This drink
was poured out during the night. "And the goddess came in the morning;
she found the fields inundated, she rejoiced thereat, she drank
thereof, her heart was rejoiced, she went about drunken and took no
more cognizance of men."[231]

It is obvious that the Egyptian myth refers to the annual inundation
of the Nile, the "human blood" in the "beer" being the blood of the
slain corn god, or of his earthly representative. It is probable that
the flood legends of North and South America similarly reflected local
phenomena, although the possibility that they were of Asiatic origin,
like the American Mongoloid tribes, cannot be overlooked. Whether or
not Mexican civilization, which was flourishing about the time of the
battle of Hastings, received any cultural stimulus from Asia is a
question regarding which it would be unsafe to dogmatize, owing to the
meagre character of the available data.

The Mexican deluge was caused by the "water sun", which suddenly
discharged the moisture it had been drawing from the earth in the form
of vapour through long ages. All life was destroyed.

A flood legend among the Nahua tribe