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 470 NOAH NOAILLES Vetluga, Sura, and Oka, and has direct com- munication by water both with Moscow and St. Petersburg. Steamers proceed by the Vol- ga to Astrakhan, and by the Kama to Perm. The surface is generally level, with a few low hills, nowhere more than 500 ft. high, and composed chiefly of limestone. The 3N. E. portion, enclosed by the Volga and Vetluga, is covered with forests mostly of fir and birch, and has a sandy and in some places marshy soil. The climate is 10 colder than that of the surrounding country. The habitations are almost wholly confined to a few scattered hamlets. The rest of the government is ex- tremely fertile, and, having a mild climate, produces abundance of grain, hemp, flax, and fruit. The forests yield excellent timber. The mineral productions are iron and gypsum. The principal manufactures are coarse cloth, canvas, cordage, leather, and soap. II. A city, capital of the government, on the Volga, where it is joined by the Oka, 250 m. E. by N. of Moscow ; pop. in 1867, 40,742. The principal part of the town is built on a steep triangular promontory, about 400 ft. high, between the Volga and Oka, and consists mainly of three handsome streets which radiate from an open space in the centre. At the point of the prom- ontory stands the Kremlin or citadel, defend- ed by a wall 30 ft. high flanked with towers. The chief public buildings, including two cathe- drals, a Protestant church, and the governor's palace, are situated within the walls. There are about 60 churches, of which the two cathedrals and the church of the Nativity of the Holy Virgin are the most noteworthy. The houses are mostly of wood, but the shops and ware- houses are generally of more substantial mate- rials. The trade, which is at all seasons very extensive, reaches an extraordinary height du- ring the three annual fairs. (See FAIE, vol. vii., p. 59.) A particular quarter is set apart for these great gatherings, and at all other times remains unoccupied. NOAH, a patriarch in Biblical history, son of the second Lamech, and the tenth in descent from Adam. It is related that he was chosen by the Lord on account of his piety to be the father of the new race of men that should peo- ple the earth after the flood. He was warned of the approaching deluge, and built an ark into which he entered, with his family and all kinds of animals. The flood came, and all living things perished save those preserved in the ark. After the waters had subsided and the dry land began to appear, the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat, in Armenia, where Noah offered a sacrifice to the Lord, who ac- cepted it and made a covenant with him, rati- fying it by the sign of a rainbow in the clouds. Noah then "began to be a husbandman;" he planted a vineyard, " and he drank of the wine and was drunken, and was uncovered within his tent." His son Ham ridiculed the exposure of his father, but his two other sons, Shem and Japheth, covered him with a garment. When Noah awoke and knew what had hap- pened to him, he blessed Shem and Japheth, but cursed Canaan, the son of Ham, prophe- sying of him that he would be a servant of ser- vants to his brethren. There are coincidences between the Biblical history of Noah and the traditions of other nations. (See DELUGE.) NOAH, Mordecai Manuel, an American journal- ist, born of Jewish parents in Philadelphia, July 19, 1785, died in New York, March 22, 1851. After attempting some mechanical busi- ness, he studied law, and when quite young went to Charleston, S. C., where he soon be- came known as a local politician. In 1811 he was appointed consul at Riga, and in 1813 con- sul at Tunis, with a mission to Algiers. The vessel in which he sailed was captured by a British man-of-war, and he was kept a prison- er for several weeks. At length returning to America, he published " Travels in England, France, Spain, and the Barbary States " (New York, 1819). Taking up his residence in New York, he became editor of several newspapers successively established. About 1820 he formed a scheme for a Jewish settlement on Grand isl- and in the Niagara river, where he erected a monument with the inscription: "Ararat, a City of Refuge for the Jews, founded by Mor- decai M. Noah in the month of Tishri, 5586 (September, 1825), and in the 50th year of the American independence." This monument, all that ever existed of the city, has disap- peared. Mr. Noah held various offices in New York, among which were those of sheriff, judge of the court of sessions, and surveyor of the port. In 1840 a translation of the so- called " Book of Jasher " was published under his direction ; and in 1845 he issued a collec- tion of his newspaper essays under the title, "Gleanings from a Gathered Harvest." He also wrote several dramas, which were pro- duced upon the stage with moderate success. NOAILLES, a French family, called after a vil- lage of that name in the ancient province of Limousin and the present department of Cor- reze, and which traces its origin to the 10th century. The following are its most celebrated members. I. Antoine de, born Sept. 4, 1504, died in Bordeaux, March 11, 1562. He distin- guished himself at the battle of Ceresole in 1544, was appointed grand admiral by Henry II. in 1547, and negotiated the truce of Vau- celles in 1556, after having been for three years ambassador in London, where he was succeeded by his brother Francois (1519-'85). Their joint work, Negotiations en Angleterre, was published by the abb6 Vertot (3 vols., 1763). n. Anne Jules, duke de, a descendant of the preceding, and a son of Anne, count and afterward duke de Noailles, born in Paris, Feb. 5, 1650, died in Versailles, Oct. 2, 1708. He was actively employed in the campaigns against Spain (1668) and Holland (16 72), where he was aide-de-camp of Louis XIV. He was made governor of Languedoc in 1682, and showed great leniency toward the Calvinists after the