Part 6

Yet farther south are the darker Berber tribes called Siwahs or Shouas, who are said by Major Denham to have “free open countenances, with aquiline noses and large eyes; their complexion is a light copper colour. They possess great cunning with their courage, and resemble, in appearance, some of the best favoured Gypsies in England.” Dark as they are, he remarks that “in comparison with the Negresses they are almost white.” They are vastly numerous throughout all Soudan, Houssa and Bornou, and the Sultan of the latter country has no less than 15,000 of them in his army.[52]

In other instances, although they are few in comparison, the Berbers assimilate more to the Negro on account of the proximity of the two races; a remark which is especially made by Dr. Oudney in reference to the Tuaricks of Mourzouk, who have black and curling hair, but which, “from a Negro mixture, is inclined to be crispy.”[53]

Here then are the various gradations of the Caucasian type which appear to have marked the ancient Egyptians, together with a degree of that intermixture of the Negro race which is revealed in the catacombs, and perpetuated in the modern Coptic population.

In connexion with this subject, it is curious to remark that the Guanches of the Canary Islands were a branch of the Berber or Libyan stock; and the singular perfection to which they brought the art of embalming, long since led to the supposition that they might have been affiliated with the Egyptians. The only Berber skull in my possession is of this insular branch of that race, and like the one figured by Professor Blumenbach, bears a striking resemblance to the Egyptian conformation.[54]

THE ETHIOPIANS.—Every one who has paid the slightest attention to the present inquiry, is aware of the entire vagueness of the name _Ethiopia_ (Cush) as used by the ancients; which, like _India_ in modern times, was applied to countries very remote from each other, and whose inhabitants were remarkably dissimilar. Thus Austral-Egyptians, Hindoos, Arabs, and Negroes, and even the Egyptians themselves, have each in turn been embraced in this designation.

Our present inquiry, however, relates to that people who occupied the valley of the Nile, from Philæ to Meroë, and perhaps yet farther south; a region at the present time inhabited by the Nubians, Senàaree and the Abyssinians, with all those endless varieties of race which necessarily result from immemorial proximity to the Negro countries. It is a point of great interest and importance to ascertain the physical characteristics of the _aboriginal_ communities of this branch of the Nilotic family; but they become at an early period so blended with exotic nations that their distinctive features must be chiefly derived from the monuments, unless the catacombs of Meroë should hereafter throw additional light on the subject. Of the monumental evidence we have already spoken: we have seen that the proper Egyptian physiognomy, the same which abounds at Thebes, is every where conspicuous on the tombs and temples of the Meröite[55] or monumental Ethiopians. That these people had no affinity, even in the remotest times, to the Negro race, would appear from the evidence already adduced, and also from other facts which remain to be noticed. Among the paintings of the Grand Procession (epoch of Thotmes IV.,) at Thebes, Mr. Hoskins remarks that the Negro is represented with all the characteristic features of his race, but that the Ethiopians are painted red like the Egyptians, having their hair dressed in curls above their foreheads, and in ringlets upon their shoulders.[56] (Plate XIV., Fig. 22.) So also in the voyage of Scylax, B.C. 360, the Ethiopians are described as a beautiful people, with long hair and beard; and the distinguished English traveller just quoted remarks that the heads sculptured on the pyramids of Meroë have a nearly European profile. Two of these, which are associated with the same legend, are represented by the subjoined figures.[57] The one to the left hand (that of an unknown king) has mixed lineaments, neither strictly Pelasgic nor Egyptian; while the right hand personage, who appears to be a priest doing homage, presents a countenance which corresponds in essentials to the Egyptian type, although the profile approaches closely to the Grecian.

The annexed head, also of a king, and bearing some resemblance to the one above figured, is copied from Mr. Waddington’s[58] drawing of a group over the portico of the Fifth Pyramid at Djebel Birkel (the ancient Armada?) supposed to be among the oldest sculptures in Nubia.

We have already alluded to the opinion of Prof. Ritter and others, that the old Bejas and the modern Bishareens were derived from the Berber or Libyan stock of nations. I am ready to go farther and adopt the sentiment of the learned Dr. Murray, that the Egyptians and monumental Ethiopians “were of the same lineage, and probably descended from a Libyan tribe.”

This view of the case at once reconciles the remark of Champollion, Rosellini, Heeren and Rüppell, that they could detect the present Nubian physiognomy every where on the monuments; but at the same time it supersedes the necessity of their inference that Nubia was the cradle of civilization, and that the arts, descending the river, were perfected in Egypt. The latter question cannot be definitively settled until the archæologists decide on the relative antiquity of the Egyptian and Nubian monuments. In the present state of the discussion, however, the preponderance of facts is greatly in favour of Egypt.[59]

Without attempting to discuss this intricate question on the present occasion, I will merely add my conviction that the original Meröites were neither Arabs nor Hindoos, (although, as we shall explain, they became greatly modified by these nations in after time) but that they formed an unequivocal link in the Libyan chain of primitive Caucasian nations.

THE FELLAHS.—These people, also called Arab-Egyptians, are found every where in the valley of the Nile, of which they are the principal cultivators. “Their heads,” observes Mr. Lane, “are a fine oval, the forehead of moderate size, not high, but generally prominent; their eyes are deep sunk, black and brilliant; the nose is straight and rather thick; the mouth well formed; the lips are rather full than otherwise; the teeth particularly beautiful, and the beard is commonly black and curly, but scanty.”[60] They have a yellowish complexion, and are, in general, a strong, well formed people. There can be little question that the Fellahs are a mixture of the Arab stock with the old rural population of Egypt; an amalgamation which dates chiefly from the seventh century of our era, (A. D. 640,) when the Saracens under Amrou conquered the country, and separated it from the Greek empire. The constant influx of Arab population from that time to the present must have more or less modified the features of the previous inhabitants; and yet even now we are assured by Jomard and others, that the Fellahs of upper Egypt present a striking resemblance, in all respects, to the monumental paintings and sculptures. “A l’aspect des hommes du territoire d’Esné, d’Ombos, ou d’Edfoû, ou des environs de Selsélé, il semblerait (pour emprunter une image du plus célèbre des ecrivains modernes) que les figures des monuments de Latopolis, d’Ombos, ou d’Apollinopolis Magna, se sont détachées des murailles, et sont descendues dans la campagne.”[61]

Mr. Gliddon’s kindness has furnished me with eight Fellah skulls, of which five are represented in the subjoined wood-cuts. Three of them only are adult, and all are small, and present a remarkable prominence of the face (termed _prognathous_ by Dr. Prichard;) a feature which appears exaggerated in the following outlines, on account of the occiput and teeth being drawn on the same plane.

The large receding forehead,[62] so characteristic of both Arabs and Fellahs (and, as we have seen, of the several links of the great Semitic chain of nations,) is well marked in most of these crania, together with the long and salient nose.

That several of them are in feature more Arab or even Hebrew than Egyptian (A, C,) is obvious, and the reason has been already given; yet how far the Fellahs will compare, in the details of physical character, with the true Libyan or Berber tribes, remains for future investigation. When this shall have been accomplished, it may be found that the Fellahs preserve the nearest approximation to the ancient Egyptians of any people now inhabiting the valley of the Nile.

2. THE PELASGIC RACE.[63]

The proofs that people of the Pelasgic stock were in early times the rulers of Egypt is attested by history and the monuments. Manetho states that the XVI. dynasty was composed “Of thirty-two Hellenic shepherd kings, ([Greek: poimenes Ellênes basileis],[64]) who reigned five hundred and eighteen years.” It is not to be supposed that the number of either kings or years is accurately given: all that is necessary to our purpose is the main fact of Hellenic dominion in Egypt, which is moreover sustained by monumental evidence; for happily the tombs and temples preserve the portraits of the Nilotic sovereigns, executed with so much individuality of feature and expression, as to leave little doubt of the general fidelity of the likenesses. These effigies, which are now indelibly preserved in the great works of Champollion and Rosellini, present the following interesting results.[65]

The oldest identified human effigy now extant is that on the _Tablet of Wady Halfa_, preserved in the gallery of Florence.[66] This venerable relic, which has been satisfactorily proved to date more than two thousand two hundred years before the Christian era,[67] represents Osortasen the First in the form of Ammon, and receiving from the god Monthou (Mars) the people of Lybia bound with cords as captive nations.

The features of the king are strictly Pelasgic; and the facial angle, (allowing for the unnatural elevation of the ear,) measures upwards of eighty degrees. It is also remarkable that this head is strikingly like those of the Ptolemaic sovereigns of Egypt, and especially corresponds in every feature with the portrait of Ptolemy Euergetes II., although eighteen centuries elapsed between their respective reigns. We therefore recur to our proposition, that whether this effigy be a portrait or not, it at least proves that the artists of those primeval times derived their ideas of the human countenance from Caucasian models.

The next of these heads which can be identified with its epoch, is that of Amunoph I. This again presents a fine cast of European features; such, in fact, as would embellish a Grecian statue; and yet this monarch reigned in the valley of the Nile, and held his court in Memphis more than eighteen hundred years before the birth of Christ. (Plate XIV., Fig. 1.) And if from this remote period we trace the physiognomy of the kings and queens of the subsequent reigns, we perceive among them many equally beautiful models, some of which are not inferior to the _beau ideal_ of classic art. Take, for example, the heads of Menepthah and Rameses III., in the character of priest,—Rameses X., Rameses XI., and Amenmeses,—the queens Nofre-Ari, and Nitocris, and the daughter of Phisham (or Pihmé,) the regent priest, and let me ask among what people we shall find more graceful facial lines, or more varied intellectual expression? (Plate XIV.)

It may be suggested that in some of these heads the Pelasgic character is not wholly unmixed, and especially in reference to Amunoph the First. In this instance there is something of the Egyptian, or, as Professor Blumenbach would express it, the Hindoo physiognomy. I wish it to be understood, however, that I do not assert all these sovereigns to have been of the Pelasgic or Japetic stock; for some of them, as Rameses the Third, and Menepthah the First, are on other occasions represented with decidedly Egyptian features. These mixed and varied Caucasian lineaments may perhaps have been derived from the antecedent Hellenic kings, who in giving place again to the native Egyptians, must doubtless have left their national characteristics more or less blended with those of the indigenous families.

The following heads, which are all of strictly Caucasian proportions, are _fac simile_ copies from Rosellini. They are derived from groups of figures engaged in various mechanical and other operations, as represented in the tombs and temples of Thebes, and various other parts of Egypt.

The annexed head, (1) that of a reaper, is one of a great number executed in bas-relief in the celebrated tombs of Eilethyas, which possess a greater interest and value in ethnography on account of their venerable antiquity; for they date with and before the eighteenth dynasty, and consequently are at least three thousand six hundred years old.[68] The great French work, (Déscription de l’Egypte,) contains an extended series of illustrations from the same remarkable tombs in which a similar cast of features is almost every where apparent.[69]

The same style of face is not less decidedly expressed in another head (2) from Rosellini,[70] of which the original painting is preserved in the Royal Gallery at Florence. It represents an artisan. How admirably do the features conform to the Grecian type!

I repeat the remark, and yet more emphatically, in reference to the admirable battle scene at Abousimbel, of the age of Rameses the Third, wherein eighty soldiers are depicted in a single group, each one bearing a shield and spear.[71] Are they mercenaries from one of the Hellenic tribes? I select the two subjoined examples; (3) for a close resemblance pervades them all. Here again every line is Grecian; and yet when these paintings were executed, the wandering Pelasgi had hardly begun to associate themselves in civilized communities, and the arts of Greece were unknown.

Paintings of a similar ethnographic character are seen in profusion at Beni-Hassan, whence is derived the annexed outline, representing one of the leather-dressers of that group. The straight line for the nose and forehead is strictly Pelasgic, and conforms in most respects to the other facial traits. (4)

The same general physiognomy is often much more rudely expressed, as in the tomb of Imai, at Gizeh, which is of the age of Shufo, of the fourth dynasty, and consequently the period of disputed chronology. Rude as these figures are, and identified with an humble sphere of life, they have the Caucasian form, and partake of the same ethnographic lineaments with the more elaborately finished

outlines delineated above. It may be observed, with respect to Egyptian art, that while the bas-reliefs are for the most part executed with remarkable beauty and precision, the paintings, owing to the use of a single colour, and the absence of perspective or shading, are often coarse and defective; and the two annexed drawings will serve to illustrate this negligent style of art.

It is thus that we trace the Pelasgic type of feature and expression through all the various castes of the Egyptian population, beginning with kings and ending with peasants and plebeians. The illustrations have been purposely selected from those remote times wherein chronology becomes confusion, down to the later periods of recorded history,—a vast period of thirteen centuries, of which the latest date looks back nine hundred years before the birth of Christ!

People of Pelasgic features and complexion are often seen on the monuments as prisoners taken in war. One of these is copied, Plate XIV., Fig. 23. It is from Abousimbel, and dates with Rameses III. The very fair skin, regular features and black hair seem to point to a nation of southern Europe. The nose is nearly straight, and on the same line with the forehead, although the latter recedes more than is consistent with our ideas of the Grecian profile.[72]

3. THE SEMITIC RACE.[73]

That people of this great family were numerous in Egypt is amply attested both by sacred and profane history; and the proximity of their respective countries necessarily brought the Semitic and Egyptian communities into frequent contact for war or for peace. This fact is abundantly proved by the monuments. The Jewish people, however, appears, for the most part, to have been admitted into Egypt upon sufferance; for the Exodus, and all subsequent annals, are conclusive on this subject.

Those peculiar lineaments which, from very remote times, have characterized some of the Semitic nations, have been already noticed. How many of these nations possessed these physical characters, cannot now be determined; but it is probable that all partook of them in degree. It is in the temple of Beyt-el-Wàlee, in Nubia, in paintings of the age of Rameses II., (B.C. 1579,) that we meet with one of the earliest unquestionable delineations of these people. (Plate XIV., Fig. 24.)

An additional illustration is that given in the margin. It is also preserved in the temple of Bey-el-Wàlee, and is of the same date as the head above described. These people are generally represented as enemies or bondsmen; nor have I any doubt that the figures in the celebrated _Brickmaker’s scene_, in the tomb of Rekshari, at Thebes, of the age of Thotmes IV., are those of a Semitic nation, and, in all probability, Hebrews. Their features obviously correspond with those of the latter people; and their scanty beards, which have been made an objection to this view of their nationality, may be regarded as a compulsory badge of captivity. Perhaps the most Hebrew _portrait_ on the monuments is that of Aahmes-Nofre-Ari, Queen of Amunoph I., who is said by the hieroglyphists to have been by birth a Meröite. (Plate XIV., Fig. 13.) Semitic features, as we have already shown, are occasionally found among the embalmed heads from the catacombs; in proof of which I refer, with confidence, to Plate XI., Fig. 2; and also, though less strongly marked, to Plate II., Fig. 8, Plate VI., Figs. 2 and 8, and to Plate XII., Figs. 1 and 2.

My studies have not qualified me for philological comparisons and inferences, but I cannot forbear introducing the following views of the learned Dr. Lepsius, on account of their direct bearing upon this interesting question. Speaking of the Egyptian and Coptic tongues, he says:—“I have now discovered, in the essence of the language itself, not only that there is no appearance whatever of any grammatical change, and that it possesses, perhaps in a higher degree, that principle of stability so peculiar to the Semitic dialects, but also that it has preserved in its formation traces of a higher antiquity than any Indo-Germanic or Semitic language wherewith I am acquainted, which traces will therefore be most unexpectedly important even for these two families. At the same time the Coptic cannot be termed either Semitic or Indo-Germanic. It has its own peculiar formation, though, at the same time, _its fundamental relationship with these two families_ is not to be mistaken.”[74]

THE ARABS.—The southern or peninsular Arabs are a people of middle stature, with a complexion varying from a sallow hue to a very dark colour. They have sharp, bold features, a rather prominent face, and a straight or gently aquiline nose. The head is, moreover, comparatively small, and the forehead rather narrow and sensibly receding; to which may often be added a meagre and angular figure,[75] long, slender limbs, and large knees. Some tribes are also remarkable for the small stature of the men, which, according to Burckhardt, does not exceed five feet two or three inches; while, with a thick head of hair, they possess a short, thin, and pointed beard.[76]

Such are some of the Bedouins; but the most formidable Arab tribes have always been the Hemyarites of Yemen; a restless and enterprising people, whose migrations have been chiefly directed to Africa, and especially to the valley of the Nile; a region which they have invaded and more or less occupied from the earliest times, through the reigns of the Pharaohs, Ptolemies, and Cæsars, down to a recent period of our own era. What language can be stronger than that of Juba, (about the commencement of our own era,) that the inhabitants of the valley of the Nile, from Philæ to Meroë, were not Ethiopians, but Arabs? So, also, in the days of Strabo, half the population of _Coptos_ itself was made up of the same people.

The cranial resemblances between the Arabs and ancient Egyptians impressed me forcibly from the commencement of my inquiries; which last I have been able to prosecute in a more satisfactory manner by means of a series of Arab skulls, obtained in Egypt by Mr. Gliddon. I subjoin outline drawings of five of them, in order that the reader may judge for himself.

These skulls are all adult, and though comparatively small, give a mean internal capacity of eighty-four cubic inches, which is above the Egyptian average. The analogy, however, is greater in form than in size, as may be observed by comparing the above outlines with several of the embalmed heads from the catacombs, and especially that figured Plate VI., Fig. 7. In fact, the resemblance between the Egyptian and Arab head is so striking, that nothing but a faithful study of the monuments has satisfied me that the two nations were primitively distinct from each other; and that what I at first believed to be the _Austral-Egyptian_ conformation, is no other than the Egyptian itself. Some very ancient paintings, copied by Rosellini from the temple decorations at Beyt-el-Wàlee, in Nubia, appear, also, to pertain to the Arab physiognomy. (Plate XIV., Figs. 19, 20.) In these the yellowish-red complexion indicates, we might suppose, some affinity with the Egyptian nation, while the small, pointed beard, and sharp, prominent face, point to the Arabian stock of nations. Their name reads _Tohen_ on the monuments; and they pertain to the age of Rameses II., and illustrate the conquests of that monarch 1579 years before Christ.

Without entering into a philological discussion, it is worthy of remark, that the Gheez or Ethiopic language, the oldest of the known tongues of Abyssinia, is directly allied to the Arabic and Hebrew. The period of its introduction into Africa is unknown, though it probably dates far beyond our era. Moreover, among the ruins recently discovered at Hasan Ghorâb, (170 miles east of Aden,) at Sanaa, and at other places in Yemen, inscriptions have been abundantly found in the old Ethiopic tongue, which, in the opinion of the late Professor Gesenius, is a modification of the parent Hemyarite language.

These few facts, with others which will be adduced hereafter, go to prove that the Egyptian people must have been more or less blended with the Arabian race; nor can there be a question that the Meröite or Austral-Egyptian communities were composed, at least in part, of an Indo-Arabian stock engrafted on the aboriginal Libyan population.