Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1895-12-06
THE GREAT DELUGE.
SOME OF THE MANY AND VARIED
VERSIONS OF THE FLOOD.

The MHt Specifically Inclined Must Be
heTe That Something of the Sort Aotu-
ally Occurred, For It Has Been Perpet-
uated by Almost Every Nation and Race,
One OF the most powerful and vivid de-
scriptive portions of the book of Genesis is
that devoted to the wonderful story of the
deluge. Together with the accounts of
Adams fall, the Staying of Abel and the
turning of Lots wife into a pillar of salt,
every one remembers from childhood how
Noah was warned of the doom impending
over the children of men and how he CON
structed huge ark in which he did live,
himself and his family and two Of every
beast of the field and fowl of the air for
the space of 100 days, or until the waters
subsidized and the dry land appeared. But
the biblical recital Of this terrible vista
ton of divine wrath is by no means the
only enc. In fact, the most scientifically in
clined must believe that something of the
sort actually occurred long ago, for it has
been perpetuated not only in the Talmud
and Koran, but in the legends of almost
every nation and race that ever lived on
the face Of the earth, including the Chi
nese, the ancient Aztecs of Mexico. the
Indian tribes of North and South America
and even the savages of Africa.
The story, of course, varies materially
in the multitudinous traditions, but the
| gist of it remains substantially the same
namely, that the earth was once visited by
great flood in which nearly every living
thing was overwhelmed and lost. Thus in
the Koran we read that Noah constructed
the ark with divine assistance and was
rallied at for his pains by the wicked.
When the time prescribed for the punish
ment of mankind arrived, water was seen
to flow from the burning oven of Noah's
wife, and Immediately all the veins and
arteries of the earth broke and spurted out
water.
Noah was then admonished in these
words: "Take and bring into the ark two
couples of every kind of animal, male and
female, with all your family except him
who has been condemned by your mouth,
and receive the faithful and even the I'M
believing, but few only will enter" The
Koran also says that the ark was built in
two years, and that it contained three
stories, the upper one for the birds, the
middle one for the men and the provisions
and the hold for the beasts. Canaan, the
son of Ham, refused to be saved There
fore Noah cursed him, and his posterity
became black and were enslaved. The
Persians assert that Ham incurred his ia
theirs maledictiOn as we'll. When six
months had passed, the ark rested on the
top of Mount Djondi (Ararat), after having
made the circuit of the world. Tabari
says that two sorts of animals left the ark
which had not entered 1.-THE pig and the
cat. Concerning the latter we have this
interesting piece of information: When the
rats began to make trouble, the voyagers
complained to Noah. Whereupon the pa
triaroh ''passed his hand down the back of
the lion, who sneezed, and the cat leaped
out of its nose. And the cat ate the rats"
According to the Talmud Noah and his
family and one pair Of each kind of beast
were to be saved in the ark but of every
clean beast seven were to enter in The
rhinoceros, however, had to be left out, for
the simple but sufficient reason that its
neck alone was three miles long. Never
theless all the rabbinic writers agree that
the rhinoccros survived the flood; hence it
is reasonable to suppose that tho huge
beast was taken in tow by rope attached
to its horn. Some authorities likewise de-
clare that Noah extended his hospitality to
another outsider in the shape of Og. the
giant, who climbed ON the roof of the ark
and received his daily food through a hole
bored in the side of the vessel.
Ararat has been known under this name
for 5000 years, and an Armenian writer
declares that an entire country was so
called after Arai the Fair, an ancient Ar
menian king, who lived about 1850 B. G. |
He fell in bloody battle with the Baby |
lonians and the scene Of his death was |
thenceforth known as Arai-Arat, or the |
Fall of Arai. Josephus refers to the noun |
tain as Nazuana and declares that the re-
mains of the ark were there to be seen |
carefully preserved.
Almost all the Asiatic traditions closely
resemble the Biblical account. Berosus in
his Chaldee history (B. G.. 260) speaks of
ten kings, who appear to correspond to the
ten patriarchs in Genesis before the flood.
The last of these kings was called Xisuth-
rus. Berosus relates that "KrOnos ap-
peared to &isuthrus in dream and warned
him that all men would be destroyed by "a
dcluge on the 10Th of the month Daesios
and commanded him to write down all
the learning and science of men and to
hide 1t in the sun city Siparis, and then to
build ship and enter it along with his
family and relatives and nearest friends,
and to take into it with him food and
drink and beasts and winged fowl. When
he was asked whittier he was about to sail,
he was hidden to reply, To the gods to
pray them that men may prosper )" Xis-
uthrus did as he was commanded, and
when the flood showed signs of abating he
sent out three birds in succession. The
first and second came back, the latter with
mud on its feet, but the third returned
not. Soon after this the ship was stranded
on mountain, and Xisuthrus disem-
parked with his family, offered thanks to
the gods and vanished. Subsequently the
survivors heard his voice in the
heavens bidding them fear God and to
take his writings out of Siparis and from
them instruct men.-New York Post.
He Took Her Back.
A