Arat, was the district where the Patriarch and

his family first resided.

21

20

It was upon the river Araxes, and one of the mediterranean provinces of Armenia. It was called " Ararat and Araratia, from the mountain, and seems to have been a fine country, productive of every thing necessary for life. The whole of Armenia appears to have been "fruitful; and we have the attestation of Strabo, that it produced the olive. It seems, for the most part, to have been of a very high situa tion. One province was styled, on this account, Armenia Alta. It bordered upon Araratia westward; and the account given of it by Moses Chorenensis is remarkable. 23 Armenia Alta inter omnes regiones revera altissima est; quippe quæ ad quatuor cœli partes fluvios emittit. Habet præterea montes tres, feras plurimas, aves utiles,

19 The Araxes is properly the river of Arach, or Aracha, which signifies the river of the ark.

20

Isaiah. c. 37. v. 38. and 2 Kings. c. 19. v. 37. Ararat, regio Armeniæ. Hieron. in Isaiam. Araratia, in medio regionum (Armenia) loco, Moses Chorenensis, Geog. p. 361.

21

Habet Araratia montes camposque, atque omnem fœcunditatem. Idem. P: 361.

22

Habet Armenia rerum ubertatem. Id. p. 358. Strabo says of Armenia, πολλοί αυλώνες, οι μεν μεσως, οι δε σφοδρα, ευδαιμονες, καθαπερ το Αράξηνον πεδίον. 1. 11. p. 800.

23 Geog. p. 358.

thermas, salinas, atque aliarum rerum ubertatem, et urbem Carinam. Armenia Alta is one of the highest regions in the world; for it sends out rivers in contrary directions towards the four cardinal points in the heavens. It has three mountains, and abounds with wild animals, and species of fowl for food, also with hot baths, and mines of salt, and with other things of utility; and the chief city is called Carina. The region styled Araratia was also very high, though it had fine plains and valleys between the mountains. A country of this nature and situation must, after the flood, have been soonest dried, and consequently the soonest habitable. And it seems also, in an eminent degree, to have contained every requisite for habitation. The mountain still has the name of Ararat, which it has retained through all ages; and the province beneath is at this day peculiarly styled 25 Ar-Meni. This name seems by the natives to have been originally limited to the 26 region of

2+ Some of the principal cities in Armenia were Carina, Arca, Comana, Ararathia, Cucousus, See Hierocles Euvexonμes. p. 703. These names are very remarkable.

25 Ermenia of D'Anville. See his curious map of Armenia, entitled, Carte generale de la Georgie et de l'Armenie, desinée a Petersbourg, en 1738, d'apres les Cartes, Memoires, et Observations des Gens du Pays, &c. publiée en 1766.

26 It was the same as Ararat, which was extended in the same

the ark; but writers in aftertimes have spoken of it with a greater latitude, and extended it to a large country. It was of great repute, and its chief city very ample, before it was ruined by the Tartars. The learned Roger Bacon mentions, that it once had eighty churches: "Fuerunt in eâ civitate octoginta ecclesiæ Hermenorum.

The mountain was also called 28 Masis, and likewise Thamanim and Shamanim, the purport of which is remarkable. I have before taken notice of the sacred Ogdoas in Egypt, which was held in great veneration. It consisted of eight" personages described in a boat, who were esteemed the most antient gods of the country. This number was held sacred, and esteemed mysterious by other nations. It is observable, that the Chinese have somewhat more than two hundred principal elementary characters; and out of these all other representations are formed, by which, in writing, they express their ideas. By these combinations, the characteristic is, in some

manner. But Jerome says, Ararat non est totą Armenia. 1. 11. in Esaiam.

27

Rogeri Baconi Pars major de Aquilonaribus Mundi partibus.

See Purchas. vol. 3. p. 55.

28

p. 772.

See Cartwright's Travels. p. 30. and William de Rubruquis. 6. 48. Μασιον ορος εν Αρμενια. Strabo. l. 11. 29 See vol, iii. of this work, p. 63.

degree, made a definition of the thing represented, and it has often a relation to the original history. Some of these have a reference to this mystical number eight, of which I shall give two instances of a very curious nature. They are taken from the letter of that learned Jesuit at 30 Pekin, who wrote in answer to some queries sent by the Royal Society at London. Le caractere de barque, vaisseau, est composé de la figure de vaisseau, de celle de bouche, et du chiffre huit: ce qui peut faire allusion au nombre des personnes, qui étoient dans l'arche. On trouve encore les deux caracteres huit, et bouche avec celui d'eau pour exprimer navigation heureuse. Si c'est un hazard, il

The same reference to

s'accorde bien avec le fait. the number eight is to be observed in the history of Mount Masis, or Ararat. It was called the Mountain Thamanim, or Tshamanim; and there was a town towards the foot of the mountain of the same name, which was supposed to have been built by Noah. Now Thaman is said, in the antient language of the country, to have signi-. fied eight, and was analagous to the , Shaman, of the "Hebrews, which denotes the same num

3o Lettre de Pekin sur le Genie de la Langue Chinoise, &c A Bruxelles, 1773. p. 32.

3 See Bochart. Geog. Sacra. 1. 1. p. 18.

32

ber. Ebn 3 Patricius mentions the Ark resting upon Ararat, and calls the district below the region of the Thamanim. He also mentions the city of the same name; and he says, that it was so called from the eight persons who came out of the Ark. Other writers express it Thamanim, which is a plural from Thaman. Terra Thamanim signifies the region of the eight persons, whose history needs no explanation. It is so rendered by Elmacini, who speaks of the town, and styles it 33 pagum, quem extruxit Noa, postquam ex Arcâ egressus est: the place which Noah built, after that he came out of the ark. William de Rubruquis, who travelled into Tartary in the year 1253, and returned by Armenia, has a remarkable passage to this purpose. 34 Near the

32,

Vol. 1. p. 40. Vocatur autem hodie terra Thamenin. In another place he adds, Cumque egressi essent, urbem extruxerunt, quam Thamanin appellârunt, juxta numerum suum, quasi dicas, Nos Octo sumus. p. 43.

33 L. 1. c. 1. p. 14. Thamininum vel Thsamininum pagum. Περι τα Καρούχια εις κώμην Θαμενων. Agathias. 1. 4.

34 See Purchas. vol. 3. p. 50. but especially the original. Araxi et Naxuanæ duos imminere montes Massis nomine; in quibus Arca resedit: et Cemainum oppidum ab octo illis ibi conditum, qui ab Arcâ exiverunt: idque patere ex ipso nomine, quo octo significatur. Rubruquis. The town of Naxuan is mentioned by Ptolemy. 1. 5. c. 13. and placed upon the Araxes. In the