numerous gradations, yet are marked, in their strongest forms, by very distinct characters. They are, the Ethiopian, the Indian, and one resembling the Berbers or original inhabitants of the Barbary states.

"The first is marked by prominent jaws, thick lips, a broad flattened nose, and projecting eyes. Such, according to LEDYARD, VOLNEY, LARREY, and other competent authorities, are the characters of the modern Copts *: such, too, according to the best descriptions and delineations in NORDEN, VOLNEY, DENON, and others, is the countenance of the great sphinx at Gizeh, and of many other ancient works of Egyptian art. The Egyptians themselves, according to the well-known passage of HERODOTUST, had these characters: and LUCIAN‡ gives a similar description of a young Egyptian at Rome §.

66

"Ethiopian form must be here understood in that wide acceptation which we give to the expression 'Ethiopian race,' in the arrangement of the human species; and not in the

• The Copts, who are regarded as the descendants of the ancient Egyptians, have “ a yellowish dusky complexion, which is neither Grecian nor Arabian: they have all a puffed visage, swoln eyes, flat noses, and thick lips; in short, the exact countenance of a Mulatto." Volney, Travels in Syria and Egypt.

I do not, however, find the Negro character expressed in the delineations of Copts by DENON, Voyage dans la Haute et Basse Egypte ; pl. 105. No. ii. ; pl.108. No. ii. and iii.; nor in those of the great Déscription de l'Egypte; see Etat Moderne, vol. ii. Costumes and Portraits. Neither have I succeeded in discovering representations of Negroes among the almost numberless sculptures of the ancient buildings represented in both these works. The human figures are marked by traits of a form altogether different. + He argues that the Colchians must have been a colony of Egyptians, because they were μελάγχροες καὶ οὐλότριχες-black-skinned and woolly-haired. Lib. ii.

‡ Navigium, S. Vota ; c. 2.

§ BLUMENBACH refers, in a note, to two figures with marked Negro form: one is engraved as a vignette to the Preface of his Contributions, part ii; and the other is described by P. a S. BARTHOLOMEO, in his Mumiographia Obiciana, p. 51.

more marked but narrower sense of what the English call the true Guinea face. Indeed, the physiological characters of the Negro, taken in a general sense, are as loosely defined as his geographical description; for, among Negroes, there are several who, in smoothness of the hair and general beauty of form, excel many Europeans.

"A complete contrast to this Ethiopian form is presented in the Hindoo-like character of other old remains, which consists of a long slender nose, long and narrow aperture of the eyelids running upwards to the temple, ears placed high on the head, short and slender trunk, and long legs. The female figure on the back of Capt. LETHIEULLIER'S mummy in the British Museum is a characteristic representation of this form, and accords entirely with the wellknown national make of the Hindoos.

"A very competent judge, the learned P. a S. BARTHOLOMEO, after carefully comparing together the various Egyptian works of art in the rich Italian collections, not only fully admits the justice of my three-fold division, but particularly confirms the strong contrast between the Ethiopian formation and that Hindoo character so well known to him from his long residence in Hindostan*.

"In accordance with this distinction, long smooth hair has been found in some mummies, and short curled hairt in others.

"The third and commonest kind of form resembles neither of the foregoing, and is characterized by a peculiar bloated habit, swoln and rather loose cheeks, short chin, large projecting eyes, and fleshy body. (See the vignette at the end of the Preface.) I call this the Berber character,

**"Stat ergo ea veritas, præter Æthiopicum vultum in Egypto, ejusque mumiis et monumentis, admittendum esse characterem quendam Indicum, qui Egyptiis non minus gentilitius et nativus est quam Æthiopicus."

For this fact GRYPHIUS is quoted.

because the great analogies which constitute the surest basis for conclusions respecting the descent and affinities of people, viz. those of form, language, and agreement in customs of marked peculiarity, are here all united."

I proceed to an osteological examination of the mummy heads; which, if performed with accuracy and discrimination, will supply us with sure data, as far as they go. We shall find that the bodies thus preserved, have the characters of the Caucasian variety; and we shall hardly discover, among a great multitude of examples, a single unequivocal instance of Negro formation.

In his Decades Craniorum, No. I. and XXXI., BLU-MENBACH has represented two Egyptian skulls. The first bears no marks of Ethiopian origin, nor does the author assign to it any such characters. "In universum hujus cranii habitus eundem characterem præ se ferre videtur, quem et ingentia Ægyptiaca artis veteris opera spirant, non quidem elegantem et pulchellum, ast magnum.” p. 13.

The European or Caucasian character of the second is quite obvious; yet, in the description, there appears a desire of fixing on it some mark of Negro descent. " Quod vero universum vultum attinet, differt quidem ille satis luculenter a genuino isto Nigritarum, qui Anglis vulgo facies Guineensis audit; Ethiopici tamen aliquid spirat, ita ut propius absit ab Habessinico, qualem curata icon exhibet, proxime autem ab eo, quem tot antiquissima Ægyptiacæ artis monumenta præ se ferunt.” The Abyssinians, to whom a comparison is here made, are of Arab descent, and have all the characters of the Caucasian variety.

SOEMMERRING describes the heads of four mummies which he has seen: two of them differed in no respects from the European formation; the third had the African character of a large space marked out for the temporal muscle: no other proof of Negro descent is mentioned;

• F. 130-137.

and what is stated concerning the face, rather contradicts the supposition: the characters of the fourth are not particularized.

"Caput mumiæ, quod Cassellis in museo servatur, nil fere ab Europæo differt*.

"Caput etiam mumiæ in theatro anatomico Marpurgensi servatum, cujus exacta delineatio ad manus est, nil a capite Europæo deflectit.

"Pulcherrima et optime servata, forsan virilis mumiæ calvaria optimæ ætatis, qua me MIEG, Professor Basileensis benevole donavit, quæque olim in collectione F. PLATERI fuit, distincte formam Africanam, alte progrediente vestigio insitionis musculi temporalis, repræsentat; vertex non est compressus, neque ossa faciei robustiora sunt ossibus Europæorum. Densum ordinem integri pulchri dentes sistunt, non nisi inferiores incisores et canini oblique priora et inferiora versus attenuati sunt, plurimum vero medium incisorum par, brevioribus ea de causa coronis instructum.

"Calvaria mumiæ hominis senis confecti, ab eodem MIEG mihi data, Ægyptiacam ossium faciei formam minus accurate repræsentat, verum dentes incisores exteriores inferiores, et dentes canini modo quem suprà indicavi, se habent; distant nimirum inter se, et in planum sunt attenuati +."

DENON states, of the female mummies, " que leurs cheveux étoient longs et lisses; que le caractère de la tête de la plupart tenoit du beau style. Je rapportois une tête de vicille femme, qui étoit aussi belle que celles des Sibylles de MICHEL ANGE."

The embalmed heads from the catacombs of Thebes (Quournah), engraved in the great French work, are of the finest European form, to which their abundant, long, and slightly-flowing hair fully corresponds. There is a

• BRUCKMANN'S Nachricht von einer Mumie; Brunswick, 1782. 4to. + De Corporis Humani Fabrica; t. i. p. 70, 71.

Voyage, p. 252.

male head, with the broad and fully developed forehead, small perpendicular face, and all the contours of our best models*. L'angle facial se rapproche beaucoup d'un angle droit; et les dents incisives sont plantées verticalement, et non inclinées ni avancées, comme elles le seroient dans une tête de Négre." The nose is finely arched; the jaws perpendicular; the mouth and chin well formed. The front and profile views of a female head+ are of the same character; the face completely European, the hair copious, and disposed in small masses or locks, a little turned. The same remarks are applicable to another head ‡, of which a section is also exhibited.

The skulls of four mummies in the possession of Dr. LEACH of the British Museum, and casts of three others, agree with those just mentioned in exhibiting a formation not differing from the European, without any trait of Negro character.

Lastly, so far as osteological proofs go, the question may be considered as completely decided by the strong evidence of CUVIER.

"It is now clearly proved, yet it is necessary to repeat the truth, because the contrary error is still found in the newest works,-that neither the Gallas (who border on Abyssinia), nor the Bosjesmen, nor any race of Negroes, produced that celebrated people who gave birth to the civilization of ancient Egypt, and from whom we may say that the whole world has inherited the principles of its laws, sciences, and perhaps also religion.

"BRUCE even imagines that the ancient Egyptians were Cushites, or woolly-haired Negroes: he supposes them to have been allied to the Shangallas of Abyssinia.

"Now that we distinguish the several human races by the bones of the head, and that we possess so many of the ancient Egyptian embalmed bodies, it is easy to prove that,

• Description de l'Egypte; Antiquités, t. ii. pl. 49.