NOAHS ARK.

Inangahua Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1303, 28 September 1883, Page 4

NOAHS ARK.

The Ark story has reached London. The Pall Mall Gazette of July 27th has the following comments upon the story :— There is oue cheering item of hews from the East at the present moment which will do much to divert people's minds from dwelling on the subject of cholera, the Suez Canal, and other pleasant subjects of that sort. A Constantinople contemporary announces the discovery of Noah's Ark. It appears that some Turkish Commissioners appointed to iuves igate the question of avalanches on Mount Ararat suddenly came upon a gigantic structure of very dark wood protruding from I a glacier. They made inquiries of the i inhabitants (Q. 17125 in tneir report). These had seen it for six years, but had been afraid to approach it because a spirit of fierce aspect had been seen looking out of the upper window. Turkish Commissioners, however, are bold ; men, not deterred by such trifles and i they determined to reach it, Situated as ' it was among the fastnesses of one of the glens of Mount Ararat, it was a work of enormous difficulty, and it was only after incredible hardsharp that they succeeded. The ark, one will be glad to j hear, was in a good state of preservation, j although the angles — observe not the bow or stern — had been a good deal broken inits descent. They recognised it an once. There was an Englishman among them who had presumably read his Bible, and he saw it was mtide of the ancient gopher wood of Scripture, which, as everyone knows, only grows on the plains of the Euphrates. Effecting an entrance into the structure, which was painted brown, they found that the Admiralty requirements for the conveyance of horses had been carried out, and the interior was divided into partitions 15ft. high Intothree oftheso only could they get, the others being full of ice, and how far the ark extended into the glacier they could not tell. If, however, on being uncovered it turns out to he 300 cv its long it will go hard with disbelievers in the Book of Genesis. Needless to say, an American was soon on the spot, and negotiations have been entered into with the local pasha for jts speedly transfer to ihe United States.