184 GEOLOGY AND HISTORY 



and that we are to regard the document as referring, 

 not to the genealogical affiliations of nations, but to 

 their accidental geographical positions at the time of 

 the record. 



Now this is precisely what the writer, with a sure 

 scientific instinct, carefully guards against, and ex- 

 plicitly informs us he did not intend. He tells us 

 that he gives the ' generations of the sons of Noah' 

 and their descendants, and at the ends of the three 

 lists relating to these sons, he is careful to say that 

 he has given them ' in their lands, each according to 

 his language, after their families, in their nations/ or 

 the formula is slightly varied into ' after their families, 

 after their tongues, in their lands, in their nations.' 

 Lastly, in the conclusion of the whole table he 

 reiterates, * These are the families of the sons of 

 Noah, according to their generations, after their 

 nations.' All these statements, let it be observed, 

 are acknowledged to be parts of one (Elohistic) 

 document. It is clear, therefore, that the writer 

 intends us to understand that the determining elements 

 of his classification are neither physical characters 

 nor accidents of geographical distribution, but descent 

 an I original language two primary and scientific 

 grounds of classification, and which common sense 

 requires us to adhere to in interpreting the document, 

 whose value will depend on the certainty with Which 

 the writer could ascertain facts as to these criteria : 

 criteria which are, of course, less open to the observa- 

 tion of later inquirers, who may find difficulty in 



