This kind of boat is generally used to carry bitumen, salt,
and lime to Hillâh, Basrah, and even to Baghdad, sometimes
through the Saklâwiyah, but more generally the Haï canal.
When arrived at her destination she is broken up, and the
bitumen with which she was coated is sold, as well as the
cargo.
Supposed It was probably in this manner that Noah constructed the ark. iSjfo. Of the details we know little, beyond the fact that this floating
habitation was constructed of “ Gopher wood, covered within and
without with pitch.” The kind of wood used by the patriarch
Various trees is uncertain, but of the various trees which have been named,
represent the either the pine, the cedar, or the cypress seems to have the
Genesis°f best claim to be considered as the representative of the Gopher
wood of Genesis. All these are found in the regions adjoining
Babylonia, in which they may be said to be indigenous, especially
the last, the Cupressus sempervirens, whose compactness
and durability make it most probable that it furnished one of
the two materials1 of which the antediluvian vessel was constructed.
Mineral pitch (chemer) was the other substance,
and was better adapted than almost anything else to exclude
water, vessel worms, and to prevent decay.
Muhammedan Scaliger, following Eusebius, states thatNoah’s three sons were
respecting born beyond the Euphrates,2 probably on the high ground near
Noah. Sinjâr, in which neighbourhood the cypress tree and bituminous
fountains still exist, the former in the Hamrin mountains and
the latter near Kerkuk. This might correspond with the
Muhammedan tradition that Noah was reviled for his useless
labour in preparing a huge vessel in a place where it could
not, by any apparent possibility, be floated.3 He was, they add,
engaged on this work for two years after he returned from
warning Zohak, the king of Persia, of the approaching flood.
Dimensions The ark, as we are all aware, was three hundred cubits in
ofih?aA.ty length, fifty cubits in breadth, and thirty cubits in height,
finished in a cubit, or sloping roof. These dimensions, presuming
the smallest cubit to have been in use, would give
450 feet for the length, 75 feet for the breadth, and 45 feet for
1 See above, p. 5, and Gen., chap. V I., v. 14.
3 Cumberland’s Sanchoniatho, p. 174. 3 See above, p. 6.
the depth of this enormous structure, whose burthen, making
an allowance for the cross-beams with which it was braced1 and
the supports, would be upwards of 40,000 tons. From the
description just given of the Hit boats, it will be seen that there
is not anything to prevent the people of that town, or of the
neighbouring country, from constructing such a vessel,2 a larger
scantling only being necessary for the frame-work. The lower its compart-
story being intended for quadrupeds, must necessarily have been “ ¡ts
divided into compartments; and these divisions, as a matter of construction,
course, would support the second floor, which was appropriated
for the people, whose apartments, again, supported the upper
story, or that allotted for the birds.3 As this arrangement
required three floors and a roof, the divisions and the necessary
supports would have given sufficient stability to the whole
structure; therefore the objections raised on account of the supposed
difficulty of the work, may be considered as obviated,
more particularly as the ark was destined to remain and be
floated on the same spot; for we are told that “ the waters
increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.”4
Round boats, similar to those of the ancients, still float on The round
the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. Herodotus describes them Herodotus.
a& being round, like a shield, without any distinction of stem
or stern; formed of willow, lined within with straw or rushes,
and covered without with leather.
They were of various sizes, and some were even capable of Description,
carrying a cargo of the weight of 5,000 talents, which, if the the cargo °f
greater Attic talent-be meant, would be about 164j tons, and y
if the lesser, 127s tons. They were managed by two men
standing up, one of whom propelled an oar, whilst the other
drew one back. The smallest-sized boat had an ass on board,
and the largest several; these animals were used to carrv back
to Armenia the skins with which the boats were covered, all
the other materials having been sold at Babylon. The ordi-
1 See above, p. 6.
3 run. The beth is used, Gen., chap. V I., v. 14 ; and repeated, in speaking
of the ark in which the infant Moses was saved, Exodus, chap. I I ., v. 3.
3 Muhammed Tabari, pp. 101, 102.
4 Gen., chap. V II., v. 17.