S60 M. Rauraer's Contribution to the Biblical Geography of 



end of the Mediterranean to the sea of Marmora *, Euxine, 

 Sea of Azof, Caspian ; farther on, to the lakes of Aral, Aksakal, 

 Tchan, to which we may reckon the lakes of Baikal and Saisan, 

 which stand in connexion with the Icy Sea-f-. Ararat here 

 again lies in the middle of this great chain of lakes, half-way 

 between Gibraltar and the lake of Baikal. 



I refrain from drawing any conclusions, wishing to confine 

 myself to facts which prove that Mount Ararat (even all Arme- 

 nia, the source of the Euphrates, Tigris, and Araxes), has a 

 very elevated site: 1. From the waters surrounding the moun- 

 tain ; 2. Because it is situate nearly in the centre of the great 

 Africo-Asiatic chain of deserts, probably at some former period 

 the bottom of the sea ; 3. From the continuous range of inland 

 lakes from Gibraltar to the sea of Baikal ; hence it follows, 4. 

 That it is nearly the centre of the great axis or backbone of the 

 old world, extending from the Cape of Good Hope to the 

 Straits of Behring. I draw, I say, no conclusions. May it, 

 however, suffice, to cause the reader to reflect, that no chance 

 but " Wisdom, which governed the just on the waters ;{:," could 

 have landed that preacher of righteousness, the second progeni- 

 tor of the human race, on the mountain of Ararat. 



Piso^i. 

 Mr Buckland has most distinctly shewn in his profound 

 work Reliquiae Diluviance, that the most prominent features of 

 the physiognomy of the Earth^s surface were not altered by the 

 Deluge. What was dry land before the irruption of the waters, 

 again became so after their retreat. England, which is not very 

 much elevated above the level of the sea, was, even before the 

 Deluge, peopled by hyaenas, elephants, &c. 



• See Stieler's Atlas, No. 41. 



+ By the Irtisch and Jenisei. For the indubitable evidence of a former 

 connexion of the Black Sea with the Caspian, of the latter with the Lake 

 Aral, and the farther extension of these inland waters to the north and east, 

 as well as for proofs of the continual drying up of these regions, see the fol- 

 lowing article, " Pison." Further, the Gihou seems to have mixed the cha- 

 racter of the southern -ange of deserts with that of the northern range of 

 lakes, being on the frontiers of both, and at a low level ; here, amid arid 

 sands, is great abundance of water. (Ritter, ii. '125.) 



i Wisdom. 10. 4. 



