46 



HISTORY OF THE SEA. 



kind of animals were brought from a distance, — a fact which 

 renders it probable that Noah only saved pairs of the species 

 which had become natives of the territory which he inhabited. 

 This would be to suppose that many species perished in the flood 

 and were consequently never renewed, — a supposition which de- 

 rives strong support from the numerous discoveries made in 

 modern times of the exuviae of animals which no longer exist, 

 and whose destruction is attributed to the Deluge. A list of 

 such extinct species was drawn up by Cuvier. 



The presumptive evidence which may be adduced in support 

 ■of the scriptural history of the preparation of the ark is very 

 strong ; it is, indeed, the only solution of an otherwise insuper- 

 able difficulty. The early records of the whole Gentile world, 

 as has been stated, concur in declaring the fact of a universal 

 deluge; and yet the human race and all the more useful and 

 important species of animals survived it. Now, the people of 

 those times had no ships and were totally unacquainted with 

 navigation : it is evident, therefore, that they were not saved by 

 vessels in ordinary use. Even though we were to suppose them 

 possessed of shipping, it is impossible to believe that they 

 would or could have provisioned them for a year's cruise, unless 

 we suppose them to have been forewarned precisely as Moses 

 relates ; and it is certainly as easy to believe the whole of the 

 Bible narrative as a portion. Such a structure as the ark, for the 

 preservation and sustenance of the human race and of the animal 

 kingdom, seems, then, to have been absolutely indispensable. 



3. Its Form. From the dimensions given in the sixth chapter 

 of Genesis, it is evident that the ark had the shape of an oblong 

 square, with a sloping roof and a flat bottom ; that it was fur- 

 nished with neither helm, mast, nor oars; that it was intended 

 to lie upon the water without rolling, and formed to float rather 

 than to sail. Its proportions, it has been remarked, nearly 

 agree with those of the human figure, — three hundred cubits in 

 length being six times its breadth, fifty cubits, and the average 



