TCD MS 3414 folio 11 recto
[1915]
Later in Genesis we read that Noah sent his sons out into the world to multiply, one went to the Persian Hills, the other North, & the 3rd stayed with his father. The son that went north, or more correctly, n.west is believed to have reached Babylon. Now in order to ascertain if all mankind was exterminated by the flood, which he probably doubted as he could see the Pushti-Khu Mts, he built a high tower, the Tower of Babel at Babylon, to attract anyone who might be living. We read in the bible that this scheme proved a success, & that many people all speaking different languages thronged there. The story of Jonah & the whale as told by these people is that Nineveh, which was situated 2 ½ miles from the present town of Mosul & which now consists merely of a shapless mound of sand, was known as the “City of the Big Fish” in the days when Jonah lived. The story is a paradox: the prophet Jonah was “swallowed up” by his enemys in that city, having in all probability been ejected from his “mahella” by his comrades in the first place <and after residing for some days – “in the belly of the whale” or “within the City of the Big Fish” he eventually quitted that city in as much as he was “vomited up”.> <Amongst> Other places of biblical interest are Ur of the Chaldees the birthplace of Abraham; the Chaldaens are still existing, they are Roman Catholicks & an infinitely more enlightened race than any other found in these neighbourhoods. The prophet Daniel died at Suss near Alwaz, & tablets have