The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-08-22
deserve to be more widely known.

ueSerVe 10 De more WlQely kHOWn. There is no distinct statement on the tablet that the measurements refer tc the ark, but fail to see with what else the figures given could be concerned
 The first three lines read simply, "39(
 cublts long, 150 cubits broad, 660 cubits high" The whole tablet Is written ir | the ideographic style, and some of the kilograms used are not to be found in published Fists of signs and kilograms But these lines only em-
 ploy such signs as are well known from
 their use in the historical inscriptions, and I assign to them the meanings
 which they always have in such texts
 as concerns the dimensions of build
 ings
 But this would be very large build-
 ing indeed. The great Temple of
 Merodach at Babylon, by many identi-
 fled with the Tower of Babel. was only
 180 cubits high. If we consider these
 dimensions as those of tower 1t must
 have been nearly 1000 feet high. Such
 height could only be that of a noun
 tain Then it would be difficult to &C.,
 count for the presence of the animals
 
 mals kept in the Tower of Babel, so
 far as we are told. The animals whose
 names can be recognized are not such as we have any reason to suppose were kept by the Kings of Ninevah in
 menagerie or geological gardens.
 The mythical character of the build
 ing seems evident. The next two lines give other dimensions in precisely simi- lar terms to those used in describing the terraces or platforms on which the
 Kings erected their palaces. Inter- preting the signs in the same way as Is always done in such cases, the sub structure of this strange building was 40 cubits across 7SS cubits along It's side. There is no suggestion of height.
 Now, the Ninevite version of the Chaldean tradition, above referred to contemplates the ark as house on boat or raft, It may be questioned whether in these texts height" neces- sarily means vertical height"
 If not, we may suppose boat 7SS cubits in length over all and 40 cubits in breadth amidships, carrying a box shaped house 600 cubts long, 80 cubits broad and 150 cubits high above the deck. It is possible that the roof sloped from a central ridge. Also the dimen- sions given may be those of a rectangu- lar raft Tn either case there would be a free space ten cubits wide along the sides and sixty-four cubits wide at the ends, to serve as "deck promenade" If we prefer to take 600 cubits as the height. part of this may have been sub merged; but, in any case, we should have curious shape for an ark, though one quite admissible for an imaginary temple tower.
 The animals named, so far as I am able to recognize their ideographic de- scriptions, are dromedaries, camels, horses mules asses, both male and fe- male of each species, forming one group; then oxen and cows of various sorts, sheep goats, antelopes or gazelles, hares, with their young ones. and of both sexes, forming a second group. The first group seems to be the anil mas mans helpers and servants; the second group is possible those clean animals used for food. It may be noted that the antelope or gazelle is ire 1uently depicted as associated with [shtar, or Venus, who plays such a prominent part in the tradition of the food. No numbers are given in mark ,d contrast to the Biblical narrative, put there were evidently pairs in the first group, and it would not be difficult 10 make out seven for the bovine race I md sheep. In the many herd lists of Kings the numbers of each sort are of course. always given. Hence we can scarcely think of the lnimals in a farmyard.
 Then follows a list of birds. most of which are not yet to be identified with thy certainty though nearly all the deograms occur also in the lists of of- erings made to the gods. Such birds were in all probability used for food. The list ends with 'the dove, the swal- ow the raven" Now in the Nineyite ,ersion of the story, Noah sent forth, when the waters began to abate, first he dove then the swalloow, then the | aven. The order is the same. The | aven would hardly be keot in any | |omestic establishment; few of the ther creatures, except, perhaps, ante | opes, would be kept in nenagerie.
 The extraordinary dimensions of the | uilding, the singular selection of anil nals. as remarkable for its omissions S for it's contents, seem suited to no | ther explanation than that we have ere a summary estimate of the size nd contents of Noal's ark.
 I may add that the shape of the tab .t is unusual, one side being fiat, the ther convex. The contour is a long, val. like that of pressed fig. The ,riting reads the same way on both ides, contrary to the usual custom Of he scribes who turned over" from top , bottom, not from left to right, as we O. and as in the case of this tablet. he text is a sort of palimpset, in that .veral lines are written upon partly rased character. The ideographic tyle seems to indicate that this was n extract or abstract from larger nd .nrobably older Work.-From the