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nautical miles an hour. In less than three hours after the occurrence of the earthquake, it reached and inundated the port of Coquimbo, in Chili, some 800 miles from Arica; and an hour later arrived at Constitucion, 450 miles still farther south, where for some three hours the sea rose and fell with strange violence. On the other hand, it travelled with equal swiftness northward, and swept the shores of southern California, rising upward of sixty feet above the ordinary sea-level, and presenting the most imposing of all the effects of the great shock. Even in San Pedro Bay, full 5000 miles from the centre of disturbance, a wave twice the height of an ordinary house rolled in with unspeakable violence only a few hours after the earthquake.

Not only did this fearful billow rush in upon the shores, the tremendous energy of the upheaving force sent it also outward into the open ocean. The Sandwich Islands, which lie 6300 miles from Arica, it might be imagined, would have been safe from its effects. But on that very night the sea around this group rose in a surprising manner, insomuch that the inhabitants thought the islands were sinking, and would shortly lie beneath the waves. Some of the smaller islands, indeed, were for a time completely submerged. Before long, however, the sea fell again, and as it did so the people were under the impression that the islands were rising bodily out of the water. For no less than three days this strange oscillation of the sea continued to be experienced, the most remarkable ebbs and flows being noticed at Honolulu. Onward, and still onward, over the broad bosom

of the Pacific the great sea-wave swept, and on the 14th reached Japan, where, 10,500 miles from Arica, enormous billows poured in succession upon the shores,-having travelled over considerably more than two-fifths of the earth's circumference, a distance which the swiftest ships could not traverse in less than six or seven weeks.

As over the northern hemisphere, so over the southern did this tremendous wave sweep. At about half past two on the morning of the 14th it rolled in upon the Samoa Isles; the watchmen startled the inhabitants from their sleep with the cry, that the sea was about to overwhelm them; and already, when the terrified people rushed upon their houses, the sea was found to have risen far above the highest water-mark. But it presently began to sink again, and then commenced a series of oscillations, which lasted for several days, and were of a remarkable nature. It occupied but a little space more before the huge billow arrived at the New Zealand Islands; four times did the sea retire, and four times. did it return upon these shores with great power, at intervals of about two hours. It finally reached the coast of Australia, in five well-marked waves, and then gradually subsided.

Such were the effects of the earthquake of Arica. It has been calculated that the width of this immense wave varied from 200 to 1000 miles, and that its length in mid Pacific could not have been less than 8000 miles. Who can contemplate this enormous volume of water moving at such a fearful speed, and not be filled with awe in view of the power that sent it abroad!

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Now, to come back to Noah-let us suppose that as soon as he and his living cargo had been shut up within the ark, the shock of an upheaval, like that of Arica, had been given to the ocean beds encompassing that region of the earth inhabited by the antediluvians, sending forth vast waves similar to the above; and that this had been repeated at intervals for many weeks, lifting the bottom of the seas higher and higher; while at the same time the coasts and the whole of that region occupied by men, as would be the necessary consequence, gradually sunk lower and lower; and that the atmosphere, affected by these commotions, poured down torrents of rain :*— supposing this to have taken place, and the deluge of Noah is before us in all its commotion and terror and destruction; the heavens are darkened by the descending torrents-rivers forsake their channels, or flow back upon their sources-vast and successive waves are everywhere rushing across the shores, choking the valleys, and overspreading the plains-cities are swept away— forests are submerged-and still, day after day, roll in the fearful tides, appearing to the doomed population as if "the fountains of the great deep were broken up -higher and yet higher rise the waters-"they prevail exceedingly"-at length, not a voice is to be heard, not

* It is worthy of notice, as evidence of the accuracy of Scripture history, that just such rains as are indicated by the forcible expression, "the windows of heaven were opened," are the usual concomitants of convulsions and cataclysms, such as was the deluge. "Subterranean movements and volcanic eruptions," says Lyell, "are often attended, not only by incursions of the sea, but also by violent rains.”—Principles of Geology, Vol. I., p. 595.

a hill, or a mountain top to be seen, under the whole heaven!

It was after some such manner as this, we may suppose, the Noahian deluge was brought about; at any rate, many of our eminent geologists hold that some of the formidable cataclysms of the pre-Adamite periods were occasioned in this way, by the sudden upheaval of vast tracts of the sea-bed, which, by displacing great bodies of water, and rolling them outwards in the form of enormous waves, inundated wide regions elevated hundreds of feet over the ocean level, and strewed them over with the clays, gravels, and organic remains of deep sea bottoms.

After the lapse of some five months, or 150 days, the deluge of Scripture began to subside, and continued to do so, till, at the end of a year and ten days, the water was gone, and the ground left dry once more. This, we are left to suppose, was effected by a reversal of the order of the events by which the Flood was brought on, namely, by the subsidence of the ocean beds to their former depths, and the elevation of the lands to the height at which they stood before. As these two changes were gradually going on, the waters, aided by the propelling "wind which the Lord made to pass over the earth," would gradually return to their place in the great deep.

5. Where the ark rested. The Scripture account of the deluge, definite as it may seem to the general reader, does not enable us to determine the locality at which the favored occupants of the ark disembarked. And

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where the scene of a great event, which transpired in the remote past, is not settled by the definite statements of authentic history, it is not uncommon for various localities to put forth their claims to have been that scene; no less than seven cities contend for the honor of having given birth to the poet Homer, and the scene of our Saviour's transfiguration has been laid on three dif ferent and distant mountains, Tabor, Hermon, and the Mount of Olives. In likemanner various locations have claimed the honor and distinction of having been the resting-place of Noah's ark.

The earliest tradition that has come down to us fixed this memorable event in a mountain range of Kurdistan. This was the common belief among the Chaldeans; and the Syriac translators and commentators, and all the Syrian Churches, have followed the same.

A very remarkable record of the Flood and the ark has recently been brought to light from the ruins of the palace of King Assurbanipal, at Nineveh. It was found inscribed on a tablet. The narration is delivered in the person of the rescued (Noah). This legend appears to be a copy of a still older record, made for this monarch's library; the original composition, in the opinion of Mr. George Smith of the British Museum, must have been written as early as the seventeenth century before the Christian era, and perhaps much earlier. The inscription is in the form of verse, and is quite lengthy. Assured that it will be of interest to the reader, we quote what relates to the stranding of the ark—it is as follows:

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