“All the genera which are now unknown, as the Palæotheria, Anapalæotheria, and with the localities of which we are thoroughly acquainted, are found in the most ancient of the formations of which we are now treating, or those which are placed directly over the coarse limestone strata. It is chiefly they which occupy the regular strata which have been deposited from fresh waters, or certain alluvial beds of very ancient formation, generally composed of sand and rounded pebbles.
“The most celebrated of the unknown species belonging to known genera, or to genera nearly allied to those which are known, as the fossil elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamos, and mastodon, are never found with the more ancient genera, but are only contained in alluvial formations. Lastly, the bones of species which are apparently the same with those that still exist alive, are never found except in light and alluvial dispositions.”
From all which, this philosopher draws the following just conclusion, namely:—“Thus we have a collection of facts, a series of epochs anterior to the present time, and of which the successive steps may be ascertained with perfect certainty, though the periods which intervened cannot be determined with any degree of precision. These epochs form so many fixed points, answering as rules for directing our inquiries respecting this ancient chronology of the earth.”
To return—“God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh is come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”[303]
Now, we see that the earth has not been destroyed, and this single circumstance, in itself, ought to have been enough to show us that the whole register was but figurative. The raven and the dove were indispensable auxiliaries to the structure of the allegory: the former typifies the massacre that prevailed during the period of the contest; and the latter, in its meek and its tender constancy, the invariable attendant, besides, of Venus and the boat, characteristically pourtrays the overtures made for an accommodation, until, after a second embassy, the olive-branch of peace was saluted, and the cessation of hostilities was the consequence.[304]
Behold, then, the folly of those dreamers who would make Thebith so called, as if the ark had rested upon it! Why, sir, in the entire catalogue of local names, there is no one half so common as that of Thebith and Thebæ! And surely you will not claim for your ideal man-of-war, in addition to other properties, that of ubiquity also, by making it perch upon all those places, at one and the same time!
No, these scenes have been all denominated from the form of religion which they recognised, and of which the Pith, Yoni, or sacred Boat, was the conventional sign: as the countries of Phut, that is, But, and Buotan, were so designated likewise, from their adopting the opposite symbol, namely, the Budh, Phallus, or sacred Lingam!
Perplexed in this entanglement, and tossed about in “a sea of speculation,” Mr. Jacob Bryant, in some respects a clever man, after a fatiguing cruise of somewhat more than half a century, fell at last a victim in the general shipwreck.
“Your wise men don’t know much of navigation.”
The Gentiles, says he, worshipped Noah’s ark! Yes they did; but not in the sense in which he understood it.[305]