the waters. It is true that in the Babylonian version a dove, a swallow,
and a raven are sent forth in that order, instead of a raven and the
dove three times. But such slight discrepancies only emphasize the
general resemblance of the narratives.

In any comparison it is usually admitted that two accounts have been
combined in the Hebrew narrative. I should like to point out that this
assumption may be made by any one, whatever his views may be with
regard to the textual problems of the Hebrew Bible and the traditional
authorship of the Pentateuch. And for our purpose at the moment it is
immaterial whether we identify the compiler of these Hebrew narratives
with Moses himself, or with some later Jewish historian whose name has
not come down to us. Whoever he was, he has scrupulously preserved his
two texts and, even when they differ, he has given each as he found it.
Thanks to this fact, any one by a careful examination of the narrative
can disentangle the two versions for himself. He will find each gives a
consistent story. One of them appears to be simpler and more primitive
than the other, and I will refer to them as the earlier and the later
Hebrew Versions.(1) The Babylonian text in the Epic of Gilgamesh
contains several peculiarities of each of the Hebrew versions, though
the points of resemblance are more detailed in the earlier of the two.

(1) In the combined account in Gen. vi. 5-ix. 17, if the
following passages be marked in the margin or underlined,
and then read consecutively, it will be seen that they give
a consistent and almost complete account of the Deluge: Gen.
vi. 9-22; vii. 6, 11, 13-16 (down to "as God commanded
him"), 17 (to "upon the earth"), 18-21, 24; viii. 1, 2 (to
"were stopped"), 3 (from "and after")-5, 13 (to "from off
the earth"), 14-19; and ix. 1-17. The marked passages