WHERE THE ARK RESTED.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 740, 12 February 1910, Page 6

WHERE THE ARK RESTED.

;VCaptaiiir Berfeain';,:;,Dickson (says' the "DaUy ',Telegraph").'.l'gave;.'an, interesting,' 'aoboun't '; at "a meeting pf. 'the .Epyal .'Geo-'E^aphical.-Society'of. some'pf; the, journeyshe made; in; Kurdistan,;: whilst,, occupying. ,the 1 post. of ;military i consul at' JTani";. He spoke, chieny'of; the 'chains in the' country east:,of ;the;'-:Kgris,".'known,, he said,: to ; the T ancient; as - the Mountains '■ of 'Nairi,''. and ;atother ..times the i Niphates.'.' and .the,., Mountains,, ;of TJrartu;.-. from",.,which.'.-, came; : : Ararat. Vv*", ;*: r:-'.-; The, Bible took--.the account 'of - the. Ark '■'resting-.- on Ararat from the Chaldean .legend,; which- made it-, rest ■ oil the mountains -of Urartu, whilst, local traditions, ,Christian; :Moslem; and .Yezidi (or devil-wprshippers) i.alik'3; , :made'. 'it Jebel-■ Judi;-.'a striking,'-' sheer: reeky:wall of '7000 ft., > which frowned ever -Mesopotamia.' . Common sense'; also eiiggesWd that, with-a,-subsiding fioPd in-the'iplains.'a boat .would, more J probablj.: run aground on the high - ilthe'-edge' of . the' plain .'rather/ ; than ';on ; a peak; miles:. from', the]. plains,; with '.many ■ high' ranges" intervening.' ■ He;.thought himself that the local; tradition''had 'the. greatest element' of truth.; . . • '• -; .

There "was a'; large : sanctuary ;at the; top-.', of .Jebel Judi',; where "every, year, in August, 1 was; held a;-great,;:.fete,'',-at-tended ■,by.:; thousands:;, of energetic Moslems,'-: Christians, ;-.and: -Yezidis, who clinibed • the 'steepest of., trails - 'for -7000 ft. in. the terrifioi-,summer's'heat; to \ do, .homage to-Npah. This mountain seems to have been ..held ..sacred"at'-, all tinies;': and certainly iit; had van ifeesom'e - i'ascinatioli about :it; '.with ; its : hugp-' precipices , niid jagged, tangled.crags;'watching overvthe* vast M;esopotamian--plain. Tlic locol vil- ' lagers-: could show.-'one , the v exact :-spot: wOiere Noah.descended; whilst in one .vil,age, Hassana,.'they 'showed his'grave and. 'tho..vineyard--.'where he "was: reputed to have indulged I ov'er-freely.: in '• the • jiiico" of' tlie grape, the ' owner. declaring ; that- the vines had been passed; from-father to son ■ever.-since.'. . '; '• ' - -

Contain' Dickson recounted'some 1 curious ' sferies.of the inhabitants of these-regions, 1 particularly, the .'Kurds.- '-These- people," he said,. claimed- to ■be ■ the;? desceuda'nfe of Solomon, and • though nominally' one' race, they: were;split up: into;numerous-hostile' clans, with littlo/iircpmhlph but their:religion, their language; and, their; lovo : of; a gun 1 arid: 'cartridges.-;.r", Their,internecine* jealousies were .stronger than; tho Chris-: tiau-Mosleril hate.,ii;'Last' year' a:,miracle was "alleged '"to: havo''.be'en performed'ill. thu mountains. A-. Kurd came to 'theSheikh of Shcnedirian (a certain; powerful chief),. and said- that 'lio: had--a cock which,had spokeni'on,;.threo.,separate; oc:' casions, saying,' '."Christ's religion is . the only faith."-'' I'lo .asked the siiPikh 'whether. he shpuld.:tiirn ,Christian, or kill, the cock, as. an", infidel.'' The sheikh,' , ; after. much thought,'..decided that., they ,'must. keep the. oock, -to, see u-liich of Christ's religions it .said' was .the true religion,'' and in tlie '.meiiriwhile' they would coli ; tinue to be Moslems.' . f.;