'forty foot broad, and forescore ells long' - it makes one wonder whether Elizabethans used 'forty' and 'fourscore', not as precise measurements but rather as a general but imprecise indication of large size or number. ======================== The Bible reflects the use of "forty" in much the same way. Forty days and forty nights of rain and wasn't it forty years of wandering in the desert? An imprecise length of time but a long time. Gary