Merodach is then ordered to fetch “the laurel, the baleful tree that breaks in pieces the incubi, the name whereof Hea remembers in his heart, in the mighty enclosure, the girdle of Eridu,” in order that the seven evil spirits may be driven away. Can this laurel-tree be the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? It must be remembered that Hea was “the lord of wisdom,” and under the form of a fish as Oannes or _Hea Khan_ was supposed to have ascended from the Persian Gulf, and taught the primitive Babylonians the elements of culture and civilization. At the head of the seven evil spirits stood Tiamtu, the representative of chaos and darkness. One of the most remarkable Babylonian legends yet discovered is one which tells of the primæval struggle between Tiamtu and Merodach, between light and darkness or good and evil, and which does but embody in a new shape the conception which found expression in the myth of the war against the moon. The tablets which contain this legend are unfortunately in a very fragmentary condition. The first of these is K 4832, too mutilated to translate; it contains speeches of the gods before the war. The second fragment, K 3473, contains also speeches, and shows the gods preparing for battle. It is so terribly broken that translation is impossible, and all that can be made out is a line here and there. The third fragment, K 3938, is on the same subject; some lines of this give the following general meaning:— 1. winged thunderbolts .... 2. fear he made to carry .... 3. their sight very great (?) .... 4. their bodies may he destroy and .... 5. he raised; it was suitable, the strong serpent .... 6. Udgallum, Urbat[14] and the god .... 7. days arranged, five (?) .... 8. carrying weapons unyielding .... 9. her breast, her back .... 10. flowing (?) and first .... 11. among the gods collected .... 12. the god Kingu subdued .... 13. marching in front before .... 14. carrying weapons thou ... 15. upon war .... 16. his hand appointed .... There are many more similar broken lines, and on the other side fragments of a speech by some being who desires Tiamtu to make war. All these fragments are not sufficiently complete to allow us to translate them with certainty, or even to ascertain their order. The fourth fragment, K 3449, relates to the making of weapons to arm the god who should meet in war the dragon. This reads with some doubt on account of its mutilation: 1. The scimitar he had made the gods saw 2. and they saw also the bow how it had been stored up. 3. The work he had wrought (on his shoulder) 4. he raised and Anu in the assembly of the gods 5. kissed the bow; it (he addressed), 6. and he spake of the bow thus (and said) 7. The illustrious wood I have drawn out once and twice, 8. thrice also, her punishment the star of the bow in heaven (shall effect) 9. and I have made (it) the protection (of mankind). 10. From the choice of .... 11. and place his throne ....