Tradition : Principally with Reference to Mythology and the

CHAPTER XL
DILUVIAN TRADITIONS IN AFRICA AND AMERICA.
BOULANGER (1722-59), a freethinker, and the friend and
correspondent of Voltaire, was so dominated by his
belief in the universal Deluge as a fact, that he made
its consequences the foundation of all his theories.
Writing in the midst of a scepticism very much resembling
that of the present day, he says, "What! you
believe in the Deluge ? " Such will be the exclamation of
a certain school of opinion, and this school a very
large one. Nevertheless, this profound writer, by the
exigencies of his theory, was irresistibly brought to the
recognition of the fact. " We must take," he continues,
"
a fact in the traditions of mankind, the truth of which
shaH be universally recognised. What is it? I do not
see any, of which the evidence is more generally attested,
than those which have transmitted to us that famous
physical revolution which, they tell us, has altered the
face of our globe, and which has occasioned a total renovation
of human society: in a word, the Deluge appears
)" in the
history of nations. Not only is the tradition which has
transmitted this fact the most ancient of all, but it is
moreover clear and intelligible ; it presents a fact which
can be justified and confirmed." He proceeds, and
the drift and animus of the writer will be sufficiently
apparent in the passage-" It is then by the Deluge that