hastened to make all things ready, and they waited till the waters rose up to the highlands of Phthia and floated away the ark of Deukalion. The fishes swam amidst the old elm-groves, and twined amongst the gnarled boughs on the oaks, while on the face of the waters were tossed the bodies of men; and Deukalion looked on the dead faces of stalwart warriors, of maidens, and of babes, as they rose and fell upon the heavy waves." When the flood began to abate, the ark rested on Mount Parnassus, and Deucalion, with his wife Pyrrha, stepped forth upon the desolate earth. They then immediately constructed an altar, and offered up thanks to Zeus, the mighty being who sent the flood and saved them from its waters.[26:3] According to Ovid (a Grecian writer born 43 B. C.), Deucalion does not venture out of the ark until a dove which he sent out returns to him with an olive branch.[26:4] It was at one time extensively believed, even by intelligent scholars, that the myth of Deucalion was a corrupted tradition of the Noachian deluge, _but this untenable opinion is now all but universally abandoned_.[27:1] The legend was found in the West among the Kelts. They believed that a great deluge overwhelmed the world and drowned all men except Drayan and Droyvach, who escaped in a boat, and colonized Britain. This boat was supposed to have been built by the "Heavenly Lord," and it received into it a pair of every kind of beasts.[27:2] The ancient _Scandinavians_ had their legend of a deluge. The _Edda_ describes this deluge, from which only one man escapes, with his family, by means of a bark.[27:3] It was also found among the ancient Mexicans. They believed that a man named Coxcox, and his wife, survived the deluge. Lord Kingsborough, speaking of this legend,[27:4] informs us that the person who answered to Noah entered the ark with six others; and that the story of sending birds out of the ark, &c., is the same in general character with that of the Bible. * * * * *