country became better known, it was transferred beyond the ocean.  In proportion as the limits of the Chaldaean horizon were thrust further and further away by mercantile or warlike expeditions, this mysterious island was placed more and more to the east, afterwards to the north, and at length at a distance so great that it tended to vanish altogether.  As a final resource, the gods of heaven themselves became the hosts, and welcomed into their own kingdom the purified souls of the heroes.

These souls were not so securely isolated from humanity that the inhabitants of the world were not at times tempted to rejoin them before their last hour had come.  Just as Gilgames had dared of old the dangers of the desert and the ocean in order to discover the island of Khasisadra, so Etana darted through the air in order to ascend to the sky of Anu, to become incorporated while still living in the choir of the blessed.  The legend gives an account of his friendship with the eagle of Shamash, and of the many favours he had obtained from and rendered to the bird.  It happened at last, that his wife could not bring forth the son which lay in her womb; the hero, addressing himself to the eagle, asked from her the plant which alleviates the birth-pangs of women and facilitates their delivery.  This was only to be found, however, in the heaven of Anu, and how could any one run the risk of mounting so high, without being destroyed on the way by the anger of the gods?  The eagle takes pity upon the sorrow of his comrade, and resolves to attempt the enterprise with him. “‘Friend,’ she says, ’banish the cloud from thy face!  Come, and I will carry thee to the heaven of the god Anu.  Place thy breast against my breast—­place thy two hands upon the pinions of my wings—­place thy side against my side.’  He places his breast against the breast of the eagle, he places his two hands upon the pinions of the wings, he places his side against her side;—­he adjusts himself firmly, and his weight was great.”  The Chaldaean artists have more than once represented the departure of the hero.  They exhibit him closely attached to the body of his ally, and holding her in a strong embrace.  A first flight has already lifted them above the earth, and the shepherds scattered over the country are stupefied at the unaccustomed sight:  one announces the prodigy to another, while their dogs seated at their feet extend their muzzles as if in the act of howling with terror.  “For the space of a double hour the eagle bore him—­then the eagle spake to him, to him Etana:  ’Behold, my friend, the earth what it is; regard the sea which the ocean contains!  See, the earth is no more than a mountain, and the sea is no more than a lake.’  The space of a second double hour she bore him, then the eagle spake to him, to him Etana:  ’Behold, my friend, the earth what it is; the sea appears as the girdle of the earth!  ’The space of a third double hour she bore him, then the eagle spake to him, to him Etana:  ’See, my friend, the earth, what it is:—­the sea is no more than the rivulet made by a gardener.’”