CHAPTER XII 



THE NEANTHROPIC DISPERSION AND ALLIED 

 TOPICS 



THE remarkable record of the early distribution of 

 the sons of Noah (' Toledoth ' of the sons of Noah) 

 in Genesis x. may be regarded, relatively to most of 

 the nations it refers to, as a scrap of prehistoric lore 

 of the most intensely interesting character. From 

 the old ' Phaleg ' of Bochart to the recent commen- 

 taries of Delitzsch and other German scholars, it has 

 received a host of more or less conjectural explana- 

 tions ; and while all agree in extolling its value and 

 importance as a * Beginning of History,' nothing can 

 be more various than the views taken of it. Only 

 in the light of the recent discoveries and researches 

 already referred to can we arrive at a clear conception 

 of its import ; but with these and some common sense 

 we may hope to be more fortunate than the older 

 interpreters. It is necessary, however, to explain 

 here that, for want of a little scientific precision, 

 many modern archaeologists still fail in their inter- 

 pretations. They tell us that the Toledoth are not 

 properly 'ethnological,' but rather * ethnographical, 1 



