to pass, after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. In the 600th year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. In the self-same day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons, with them, into the ark; they, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort. And they went unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the Lord shut him in. And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bore up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly, upon the earth; and all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail, and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: all in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth; and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with

him in the ark. And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days."

of the Flood.

The ark was prepared for the reception Commentary on the Scrip- of its living freight. Noah and his family tural Legend had embarked, and the prescribed number of animals, male and female, had assembled in their floating home. The provisions were on board, for the text stated that "Noah did according unto all that the Lord had commanded him;" and it was an express command "to take of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee, and it shall be for food for thee, and for them."

But we are appalled at the stock of provisions needful for one year's supply for this prodigious menagerie. Naturalists are of opinion that the animal creation existing on the surface of the land does not fall short of half a million of species. We must remember that a species includes many varieties. Zoologists have succeeded in classifying and describing a thousand species of mammals, six thousand species of birds, two thousand species of reptiles, and one hundred and twenty thousand species of insects; and in what manner these congregated animals, all of them in pairs, and many in septules, found accommodation within the long narrow trough, destined as their place of refuge, baffles the imagination. Supposing them to be enclosed within the three stories of the ark, their situation must have been dreadful in the extreme. They were embarked for a very long voyage. Their confinement on shipboard had to endure for one entire year. Packed together in a dense mass, without the means of ventilation, beyond what was furnished by

one door, and one small window, vital life could not have supported itself for an hour.

In a voyage made by a steam-packet between Ireland and England a very few years ago, there arose during the night a storm of wind, with a raging sea, and the captain, for the safety of the ship, was compelled to batten down the hatches, which nautical term implies that he caused all the openings leading from the deck to the cabin to be closed up. The unfortunate passengers, deprived of the renewal of the atmospheric air, soon found their position insupportable. The supply of the vital fluid was debarred them. By the action of their lungs, the quantity in the cabin was soon consumed, and converted into carbonic acid gas. In their agony they used every means to make their condition known to the captain and to the sailors, but the violence of the wind, and the dashing of the waves, rendered their frantic efforts inaudible, and the succeeding morning found many of them dead, and others in a dying state. But if such were the fatal consequence to a small number of passengers within a packet-ship during an obstruction of the atmosphere for a few hours, what must have been the condition of this unhappy multitude of animals, placed within the lower and middle stories of their wooden vault, pitched within and without with pitch, and debarred the smallest aperture for the admission of the wholesome element! Those on the upper story, who had the good fortune to be placed near to the door, or to the small window, may possibly have inhaled a sufficiency of the precious fluid to have prolonged their miserable existence. As for the re

mainder, the almost instantaneous consumption of the life-supporting ingredients in the atmosphere, and the substitution by the life-destroying, must soon have terminated their sufferings.

But we will suppose them to have lived; and immediately another difficulty presents itself. No miraculous means were interposed by the Deity for their subsistence. On the contrary, Noah had received the divine command, "to take of all food that is eaten, and that is good for food for him, and for them." But where was the food to find stowage room? The ark was already filled to overflowing with animals. A fleet of at least one hundred arks, of a size equal to that containing the living freight, would be needed for the reception of the quantity of provisions required for a year's consumption. This would have involved a further extension in the humane exception to the general destruction. The Deity had determined to destroy man and beast, and the fowls of the air, and every creeping thing, but previously to the fulfilment of the decree, a more merciful feeling pervaded the divine nature, and Noah and his family are the first "to find grace in the eyes of the Lord," and are made exceptions to the exterminating decree. Then two members, male and female, of each of the inferior animals, are excepted. Afterwards, seven clean animals of each species are excepted, so that in the compassionating tone of the divine mind, it would not be too exacting to expect an exemption for a number of mariners, sufficient for the navigation of the hundred arks laden with provisions. It is, perhaps, an oversight in the author of the legend, who has omitted to record the occurrence. But we scarcely remove one difficulty before another suggests itself.

It has been remarked that naturalists estimate the number of the species of the inferior animals at about half a million. With much labour they have classified and described one hundred and fifty thousand species, and we shall content ourselves with this number, as that of the inferior animals, that entered the ark.

We have permitted ourselves to suppose their stock of provisions also found room within the ark. The briny ocean, we will take for granted, became so modified by the opening of the windows of heaven, and by the breaking up of the fountains of the great deep, as to have furnished Noah with potable water from alongside. But what an amount of labour awaited Noah and his three sons! They must have possessed herculean strength, to have drawn up, by buckets, a sufficiency of water to have supplied the wants of a hundred and fifty thousand species of pressing claimants, panting with thirst in that poisonous atmosphere.

con

The aqueous duty of Noah and his sons cluded, how insignificant the amount of it compared with that which followed! They must proceed to hoist up from below, and to distribute to their hundred and fifty thousand species, the various qualities of food adapted for each species. Then, without taking rest, a new form of labour awaited them, in cleansing and disposing of the evacuations proceeding from one hundred and fifty thousand species of animals. It must, indeed, have proved an arduous task for these devoted men, who, if in the course of their interminable duty, they should incautiously have desired to exchange places with certain of their friends who had fallen victims to the flood, the sinful wish would have been venial, for their toil was indeed trying!