We see, then, that Noah took into the ark _of all kinds_ of beasts, of _fowls_, and of every thing that creepeth, _two of every sort_, and that this was "_as God had commanded Noah_." This clearly shows that the writer of these words knew nothing of the command to take in _clean beasts_, and _fowls_ of the air, by _sevens_. We are further assured, that, "_Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him_." After Noah and his family, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, the fowls of the air, and every creeping thing, had entered the ark, the Lord shut them in. Then "were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, _and the windows of heaven were opened_. And the rain was upon the earth _forty days and forty nights_. . . . . And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. Fifteen cubits upwards did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man. And Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark."[21:1] The object of the flood was now accomplished, "_all flesh died that moved upon the earth_." The Lord, therefore, "made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged. The fountains of the deep, and the windows of heaven, were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. And the waters decreased continually. . . . . And it came to pass at the end of _forty days_, that Noah opened the window of the ark, which he had made. And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth. He also sent forth a dove, . . . but the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark." . . . At the end of _seven_ days he again "sent forth the dove out of the ark, and the dove came in to him in the evening, and lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf, plucked off." At the end of another _seven_ days, he again "sent forth the dove, which returned not again to him any more." And the ark rested in the _seventh_ month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. Then Noah and his wife, and his sons, and his sons' wives, and every living thing that was in the ark, went forth out of the ark. "And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord, . . . and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a sweet savour, and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake."[21:2] We shall now see that there is scarcely any considerable race of men among whom there does not exist, in some form, the tradition of a great deluge, which destroyed all the human race, except _their own_ progenitors.