moon, and stars, birds, beasts, and fishes, and finally of man. The
outer circle belongs to Adam and Eve. Adam names the animals; his rib is
extracted; Eve, a curiously forbidding woman, rather a Gauguinesque
type, results; she is presented to Adam; they eat the fruit; they take
to foliage; they are judged; the leaves become real garments; they are
driven forth to toil, Adam with an axe and Eve with a distaff.

On the sides is the story of Cain and Abel carried back to an earlier
point than we are accustomed to see it. Later, to the altar Cain brings
fruit and Abel a lamb; a hand is extended from heaven to the fortunate
Abel while Cain sulks on a chair. The two brothers then share a
sentry-box in apparent amity, until Cain becomes a murderer.

We next come, on the sides, to the story of Noah and the Tower of Babel.
Noah's biography is vivid and detailed. We see him receiving Divine
instruction to build the ark, and his workmen busy. He is next among the
birds, and himself carries a pair of peacocks to the vessel. Then the
beasts are seen, and he carries in a pair of leopards, or perhaps pumas;
and then his whole family stand by while two eagles are inserted, and
other big birds, such as storks and pelicans, await their turn. I
reproduce this series. On the other side the rains have begun and the
world is drowning. Noah sends out the dove and receives it again; the
waters subside; he builds his altar, and the animals released from the
ark gambol on the slopes of Ararat. The third series of events in the
life of Noah I leave to the visitor to decipher. One of the incidents so
captured the Venetian imagination that it is repeated at the eastern
corner of the Ducal Palace lagoon façade.

The second dome tells the history of Abraham, and then three domes are
given to the best story in the world, the story of Joseph. The first