Hartley Neita, Contributor
THE LAKES which recently covered Cave Valley in St. Ann and Newmarket in St. Elizabeth in the wake of hurricane 'Ivan the Terrible', reminded me of another equally famous lake which from time to time covers the Moneague valley in St. Ann. Legend says that this latter lake appears once in every generation and that it does not disappear until it takes the life of a child. The last time it flooded the valley was in the 1970s, but a childhood memory some time in the 1930s is of a majestic lake covering hundreds of acres with scores of families enjoying picnics on its banks and being rowed on boats across the water.
Geologists say these lakes are formed when the underground caves become choked during heavy rains and are unable to take and absorb the water. It must have been so, on a more grand scale, when Noah built his cruise boat with his family as the crew, and instead of passengers created a zoo floating for months somewhere in the Middle East. Now, this boat was 300 cubits long, its width fifty and height thirty. According to my dictionary, a cubit was approximately the length of one's forearm, and so Noah's cubit was about one foot. That means this boat was the size of a football field, and three storeys high. And the reason for having three separate storeys was to separate the animals and reptiles. So that the fierce ones like the lions, tigers, panthers, leopards, buffaloes, bears and boa constrictors were on one floor in separate compartments, with the elephants, gorillas and hippos nearby.
The giraffes had to be placed on the roof of the boat. Noah, the story says, was 600 years old. There is no record of the age of his wife, but she could not have been far behind; unless Noah liked them young and kept changing these marital partners every 25 years or so. And the story also says that his sons and their children were on the Ark with him, so many of his descendants could also have accompanied him, apart from those mentioned in the Good Book.
MAMMOTH TASK
Getting this project off the ground must have been a mammoth task. Obviously, of course, he must have been a wealthy man to be able to afford to pay for all the lumber, nails, screws and bolts, and the iron bars for the cages which were needed. It must also have taken many years to construct the boat. The major task, however, was to arrange with tribes in Africa, Europe and Asia to capture these animals, trek with them across deserts and mountains, and sell them to him. He also had the problem of identifying the males and females of some. For example, it was easy to see the difference between the male and female donkeys, but it was a problem to identify the male and female alligators, snakes and turtles.
BUCKET BRIGADE
There was also the problem of food. For the animals he stored grass, oats, wheat and barley. For himself and his family he took on board, hundreds of bammies, loaves of bread, fried fish, corned beef and pork. For water he placed barrels on the deck which were filled from the gutters he attached to the roof. Noah's major problem while they remained on the boat for the many months it took for the water to subside, was to clean the dung deposited by the animals. To do this he organised a daily bucket brigade among the children. They had to spend at least half each morning gasping at the stench.
Cooped up as they all were for the many months of their voyage, it was only natural for nature to take its course. It began with the rabbits, then the goats, the cows, the lions and panthers. There was also cross-breeding resulting, for example, with the hybrid mule. This was because it was dark when a horse can become an ass. So when you read that Noah finally left the Ark and built an altar and roasted the beasts and fowls on it, these were the surplus which came from the matings on board. Jack man dorey, me no choose none.
