The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1906-06-06
STORY OF THE FLOOD
THERE ARE MANY AND VAaiEO VER-
SONS OF THE DEUCE.

/ StSNS OF ire CEIuCE.
| Gho Great Event In ChFon1elea Eoa
0aHy In the To1nad end HkoFan, bat
J sn tho Legends OR Al,aost EveEy
| Race That Ever Lived ON Earth.
| One Of the most powerful and vivid
| descriptive portions of tho book OF
Genesis Is that devoted to the wonder
ful story Of the deluge. Together with
The accounts OF Adams fall. the slay-
fng Of Abel and the turning Of Lots
wife into pillar Of salt. every one
remembers from childhood how Noah
was warned Of the doom impending
| over the children Of men and how he
constructed u huge ark IN which he did
live, himself and hls family and two
| OF every beast Of the field and fowl Of
! the air, for the spcce Of 100 days, or
| until the waters subsided and the dry
lnnG appeared. But the Biblical recital
of this terrible visitation Of divine
wrath Is by no means the only one.
In fact the most skeptically inclined
must believe that something of the sort
actually occurred long ago, for It nas
been perpetuated not only In the Tai
mud and Koran, but In the legends Of
! almost every nation and race that ever
| lived on the face of the EARTH including
| the Chinese, the ancient Aztecs Of
| Mexico, the Indian tribes of North and
South America and even the savages
| OF Africa.
| The story, Of course, varies material
ly In the multitudinous traditions, but
the gist OF 1t 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 Tor
his pains by the wicked. When the
time prescribed for the punishment Of
mankind arrived. water was seen to
flow from the burning oven of Noah's
wife, and Immediately ell the veins
ssnd arteries ef the earth broke and
spuSted out watsr.
Noah was then admonished in these
words: "Tako 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 tho faith
fui and even the unbelisvlng, 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 ono
for the men and tho provisions and the
hold for the beasts. Canaan, the son
Of Ham, refused to be saved. The-e-
fore Noah cursed him, and his posteri-
ty became black and were ensleved.
The Persians assert that Ham incurred
his fathers malediction as well. 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 en-
tered 1t-the pig and the cat. Concern
ing the latter we have this interesting
| piece OF information: When the rats be-
gan to make trouble the voyagers COM
planned to Noah. Whereupon the patri-
arch ''passed his hand down the back
Of the lion, who sneezed, and the cat
lesnea ot1t 5f is uose. and the cat ato
the rats"
! According to tho Taimud, Noah and
his family and one pair Of each kind oe
beast were to be saved In the ark, bot
of every clean beast seven were to en=
j! Ter In. Inc rhinoceros, however, lad
! to be left out, Tor the simple but sutE-
cient reason that It's neck alone was
three miles lcag. Nevertheless all the
rabbinic' writer's agrea that the rhl.
rocercB survived the Aool; hsYcez IT. ts1
reasonable to; suppose that the huge
beast was taken In tow by rope at
tached to 1ts horn. Some authorities
likewise declare tat Noah extended
his hospitality to another outsider I'm
the shape OF Og, the giant, who Climb
ed ON the roof Of the ark and received
his daily food through a iaoie 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 co called after Arai the Fair, az
ancient Armenian king, WHO lived
about 1750 b. G., He fell In bioc:.y
battle with the Babylonians, and the
scene OF his death was thenceforth
known as Arai-Arat, or the Fall of
Arai. Josephus refers to the mountain
as Nazuana and declares that tho re-
mains of the ark were there to be seen
carefully preserved. ... F..
1 Almost ali the Asiatic traditions
| closely resemble the Biblical account.
Retosus in his Chaldee history B. C.
26O sneaks Of ten kings, who appear
to correspond to the ten patrlarchs in
Genesis before the food. The last of
these kings was called xisuthrus. Be.
rosus relates that "Kronos appeared to
Xfsuthrus In q dream and warned fliE
! that sall men would be destroyed by q
deluge on the 10Th of the month Dae-
cios and commanded him. to write
down all the learning and science Of
men and to hide It in the sun city
Sipnris and then to build ship and
enter 1t along with his family and rela-
! tives and nearest friends and to take
/ into it with him food and drink anu
beasts and winged fowl. When he was
asked whittier he was about to sail, he