Confining our attention for the moment to this one locality, we may imagine that the young population would not be deterred by any apprehension of physical danger from reinhabiting such of the old cities as remained recognizable; since we see that men do not hesitate to recommence the building of cities overthrown by earthquake shocks almost before the last tremblings are over; or, as in the case of Herculaneum and Pompeii, within the range of volcanoes which may have already repeatedly vomited destroying floods of lava. Yet, in this instance, they would probably invest the calamity with a supernatural horror, and regard it, as the text expresses it, as a chastisement from the gods for their impiety. If this were so, the very memory of such cities would soon be lost, and with it all the treasures of art and literature which they contained.[110] The Hindu account is taken from the _S'atapatha-Brâhmana_, a work of considerable antiquity, being one of a series which Professor Max Müller believes to have been written eight hundred years before Christ. A literal translation of the legend, as given in this venerable work, is as follows:-- "To Manu in the morning they brought water for washing, just as they bring it for washing the hands. As he was using the water, a fish came into his hand. This (fish) said to him, 'Preserve me, and I will save thee.' (Manu said), 'From what wilt thou preserve me?' (The fish replied), 'A flood will carry away all these creatures; from that I will preserve thee.' (Manu said), 'How is thy preservation (to be effected)?' (The fish replied), 'As long as we are small, there is great danger of our destruction; fish even devours fish: at first preserve me in a jar. When I grow too big for that, cut a trench, and preserve me in that. When I outgrow that, carry me to the sea; then I shall be beyond (the reach of) danger.' Soon it became a great fish; it increased greatly. (The fish said), 'In so many years the flood will come; make a ship and worship me. On the rising of the flood enter the ship, then I will preserve thee.' Having preserved the fish he brought it to the sea. In the same year indicated by the fish (Manu) made a ship and worshipped the fish. When the flood rose he entered the ship; the fish swam near him: he attached the cable of the ship to his (the fish's) horn. By this means the fish carried him over the northern mountain (Himalayas). (The fish said), 'I have preserved thee: fasten the ship to a tree. But lest the water cut thee off whilst thou art on the mountain, as fast as the water subsides thou wilt descend with it.' Accordingly he descended (with the water); hence this became 'Manu's Descent' from the northern mountain. The flood had carried away all those creatures, Manu alone was left. He being desirous of offspring performed a sacred rite; there also he offered a _pâka_-sacrifice. With clarified butter, coagulated milk, whey, and curds, he made an offering to the waters.