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in Geneva-; from whence it removed into Poland ; but, at 
length, it degenerated in a great meafure into Soeinianifm. 
Af.ius, one of the principal Centaurs, who fought with 
the Lapithse. 
ARJUZAN', a town of France, in the department of 
'Landes, and chief place of a canton, in the diftricl of Tar- 
tas, eleven miles north of Tartas. 
ARl'ZA, a town of Spain, in Arragon, fituated on the 
Xalon, eight leagues above Calataiud. 
ARK, f. \_aica, I.at. a chert.] A floating vcifel built 
by Noah, for the preferyation of his family and the leve- 
ral fpecies of animals during the deluge. '1 he wood w here¬ 
of the ark was built is called in the Hebrew Gopher-wood , 
and in tlie Septuagint fquare timbers. Some ttunflate Hie 
original cedar, others five, others box, &c. Pelletier pre¬ 
fers cedar, on account of its .incorruptibility, and the great 
plenty of it in Alia; whence Herodotus and Theophraftus 
relate, that the kings of Egypt and Syria built whole fleets 
thereof, inrtead of deal. The learned Mr. Fuller, in his 
Mifcellanies, has obferved, that the wood whereof the 
ark was built was nothing but that which the Greeks call 
xiTra ,;or the cyprcjs-tree ; tor, taking away the ter¬ 
mination, kupar and gopher differ very little in found. This 
obfervation the great Bochart has confirmed, and (hewn 
very plainly that no country abounds fo much with this 
wood as that part of Alfyria which lies about Babylon. 
In w hat place Noah built Ills ark, is no lefs a matter of 
deputation. But the mod probable opinion is, that it was 
built in Clialdea, in the territories of Babylon, where there 
w as a great quantity of cyprefs; and this eonjetShire is con¬ 
firmed by the Chaldean tradition, which makes Xitluirus 
(another name for Noah) let fail from that country. 
The dimenfions of the ark, as given by Mof'es, are three 
hundred cubits in length, fifty in breadth, and thirty in 
height ; which fome have thought too fcanty, confidering 
the number of things it was to contain ; and lienee an ar¬ 
gument has been drawn againft the authority of tlie rela¬ 
tion. But Buteo and Kircher have proved geometrically, 
that, taking the common cubit of a foot and a half, the 
ark was abundantly fufficient for all the animals fuppofed 
to be lodged in it. Snellius computes the ark to have been 
half an acre in area. F. Lamy (hews, that it was no feet 
longer than the church of St. Mary at Paris, and fixty-four 
feet narrower: and, if fo, it mult have been longer than 
St. Paul’s church in London, from w eft to eart, and broader 
than that church is high in the infide, and fifty-four feet 
of our meafure in height; and Dr. Arbuthnot computes 
it to have been 81,062 tons. 
The things contained in it were, befides eight perfons 
of Noah’s family, one pair of every fpecies of unclean ani¬ 
mals, and feven pair of every fpecies of clean animals, 
with provifions for them all during the whole year. The 
former appears, at firft view, almoft infinite; but, if we 
come to a calculation, the number of fpecies of animals 
will be found much lefs than is generally imagined ; out 
of which, in this cafe, are excepted fuch animals as can 
"live in the water: and birtiop Wilkins fliews, that only 
feventy-two of the quadruped kind needed a place in the 
ark. Upon the whole, the learned bifhop remarks, that 
of the two, it appears much more difficult to aflign a num¬ 
ber and bulk of neceflary things to anfwer the capacity of 
the ark, than to find fufficient room for the feveral (pecies 
.of animals already known to have been there. This he 
attributes to the imperfection of our lilt of animals, efpe- 
cia-lly thofe of the unknown parts of the earth ; adding, 
that the moft expert mathematician at this day could not 
aflign the proportion of a vertel better accommodated to 
the purpofe than is here done ; and lienee lie finally con¬ 
cludes, that the capacity of the ark, which had been made 
an objection againft feripture, ought to be efteemed a con¬ 
firmation of its divine authority : fmee, in thofe ruder 
ages, men, being lefs verfed in arts and philofophy, were 
more obnoxious to vulgar prejudices than now ; fo that, 
had it been an human invention, it would have been con¬ 
trived, according to thofe wild apprehenfions which aril's 
ARL 
from a con ft: fed and general view of things, as much too 
big as it had been reprefented too little. See Deluge. 
Ark. of the Covenant, a ('mail chert or coffer, three 
feet nine inches in length, two feet three inches in breadth, 
and th.e fame in height. In it were contained the golden 
pot that had manna, Aaron’s rod, and the tables of the 
covenant. This coffer was made of fhittim-wood, and co¬ 
vered with a lid of (olid gold. The ark was depolited in 
the holieft place of the tabernacle. It was taken by the 
Philiftines, and detained twenty, fome fay forty, years, at 
Kirjath-jearim ; but the people, being afflifted with eme- 
rods on account of it, returned it with divers prefents. 
It was afterwards placed in the temple. The lid or co¬ 
vering of the ark was called the propitiatory or mercy-feat ; 
over which were two cherubims, with expanded wings of 
a peculiar form. Here the Schechinah refted both- in the 
tabernacle and temple in a vifible cloud : hence were iffued 
the divine oracles by an audible voice ; and the high priert: 
appeared before this mercy-feat once every year on the 
great day of expiation ; and the Jews, wherever they wor- 
(hipped, turned their faces towards the place where the 
ark flood. In the fecond temple there was alfo an ark, 
made of the fame fhape and dimenfions with the firft, and 
put in the fame place, but without any of its contents and 
peculiar honours. It was ufed as a reprefentativc of the 
former on the day of expiation, and as a repofitory of the 
original copy of the holy feriptures, collected by Ezra and 
the men of the great fvnagogue, after the captivity. And 
in imitation of this, the Jews to this day have a kind of 
ark in their fvnagogues, wherein their facred books are de¬ 
posited. This they call arcs. Leo of Modena gives a de- 
feription thereof in his Account of the Cuftoms and Cere¬ 
monies of thofe of his Nation. “ The Jews, (fays lie,) in 
the eaftern fide of their fynagogues, have an ark, or ar¬ 
mory, called aron, in memory of the ark of the covenant. 
I11 this are preferved the. five books of Mofes, written on 
vellum, wifh ink made on purpofe,” &c. Some have fup¬ 
pofed that the figure of this ark is ftill remaining on the 
triumphal arch of Titus at Rome ; others are of opinion, 
that it is the table of fliew-bread. Tertullian calls this ark 
Armarium Judaicum ; whence the phrafe, to be in the armory 
of the fynagoguc ;_q. d. in the number of canonical writings. 
A chell or coffer, very nearly refembling the Jewifli ark, 
and called the houfe of God, was found in Huaheine, one of 
the iflands in the South Sea. The particulars are given 
in Hawkefworth’s Voyages, vol. ii. p. 252. 
ARK ADINSKAI'A, a townof Ruffian Tartary, in the 
country of the Koftacks, on tile river Medveditza, 240 
miles north-eaftof Azoph, and 1 24 fouth-weft of Saratov. 
Lat.50. 10. N. Ion. 50.60. E. Ferro. 
AR'KIT-K AN, a town of Afiatic Turkey, in the pro¬ 
vince of Caramania, eighteen miles eaft of Akrtiehr. 
ARK'I-OW, a neat market-town and fea-port in the 
county of Wicklow. The tide flows very little here. It 
is thirteen miles fouth of Wicklow, and twenty-fix of 
Dublin. Lat. 52. 42. N. Ion, 6.5. W. 
Arklow Bank, land banks in the Irifti Sea, about 
ten miles in length, but hardly.one in breadth ; five miles 
from the coaft of Ireland, the town of Arklow being nearly 
oppofite the centre. 
ARL (Grofs), a town of Germany, in the circle of Ba¬ 
varia, and birtiopric of Salzburg, ten miles fonth-weft of 
Radftadt, and thirty-eight fouth-fouth-eaft of Salzburg. 
ARL ANT', a town of France, in the department of 
Pay de Dome, and chief place of a canton, in the diftriCV 
of Ambert, three leagues fouth of Ambert. 
ARLAN'ZO, a town of Spain, in Old Caftile, three 
leagues from Lerhia. 
ARLAY', a town of France, in the department of jura, 
and chief place of a canton, in the diftrict of Lons-le-Sau- 
nier, five miles north of Lons-le-Saunier. 
AR'LEN, a town of Germany, in the county of Tyrol, 
fituated on a mountain, eight miles north-weft of Landeck. 
AR'LES, a city of France, in the department of the 
Mouths of the Rhone, in Provence, feated on the eart: 
fide 
