6 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I02 



that the holy Patriarch Noah and his sons might escape the Flood 

 and the human race be preserved in them, He commanded him in the 

 year 1556 to build the Ark, which took lOO years in the making; that 

 same year of 1556 there was born to him his eldest son, Japhet, and 

 2 years later, Shem in 1558, and the third. Ham, in 1562. 



15. On finishing the Ark in the hundredth year of its building, in 

 the year 1656, at God's command the holy Patriarch Noah entered 

 it with his three sons and his wives, making eight in all, in whom was 

 preserved the human race ; and together with them there entered all 

 the animals and birds, as Holy Scripture records. In that same year 

 1656, after everything had been arranged as God had ordained and 

 commanded the holy Patriarch, it rained 40 days and nights without 

 stopping, and all the springs and fountains gushed forth water, which 

 caused the world-wide Flood, in which perished and died not only men 

 but animals and birds, only those escaping who had entered the Ark 

 for reproduction and sacrifices. The waters lasted from the Flood 

 (before it was possible to dwell on earth again) that whole year of 

 1656, during which the First Age closed ; and the Second began in 



1657. 



16. After the Flood had passed and the waters had ceased and 

 abated in the year 1657, Noah left the Ark with his sons, and in 

 ofifering thanks to God he made sacrifice of clean animals and birds, 

 and God being pleased with the sacrifice blessed them and said : 

 "Increase and multiply and fill the earth, for I promise you and give 

 my word that I shall never again drown you or your ofifspring" ; as 

 is stated in the 9th chapter of Genesis in the following words : "And 

 God said : I will establish my covenant with you ; neither shall all 

 flesh be cut ofif any more by the waters of a flood ; neither shall there 

 any more be a flood to destroy the earth; and when I shall obscure 

 the sky with clouds, my bow shall appear in the clouds, and I will 

 remember my covenant, which I have established with you, and there 

 shall never again be waters for the destruction of all flesh." 



17. After the passing of the Flood, there began the Second Age, 

 in the year 1657, which lasted till the year 1949, when Abraham was 

 born — a period of 292 years. The sons of Noah scattered over vari- 

 ous parts of the world. Japhet, the eldest, went with his seven sons 

 and their descendants to Europe and settled it, and to Spain, and the 

 northern part of Asia. Ham, the third son, went with his offspring 

 in the direction of Africa and settled Bactria, Judaea, Arabia, Egypt, 

 Ethiopia, and all Guinea, and it appears that the curse which his 

 father Noah laid upon him, reached especially all his descendants in 

 those regions of Ethiopia and Guinea, not merely because they are 



