THE 
 
 PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF RECENT 
 
 ARCHAEOLOGICAL, PHILOLOGICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL 
 
 RESEARCHES 
 
 IN VARIOUS PARTS OF THE GLOBE. 
 
 TENDING TO ELUCIDATE 
 
 THE PHYSICAL HISTORY OF MAN. 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN RUSSELL BARTLETT, 
 
 COR. SEC. OF THE AMERICAN ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY, AND FOREIGN COR. SEC. 
 OF THE NEW YORK HIST. SOCIETY. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 NEW-YORK : 
 
 BARTLETT & WELFORD, 7 ASTOR HOUSE. 
 
 1847.
 
 NEW-YORK : 
 
 WILLIAM VAN NORDEN, PRINTER, 
 
 NO. 39 WILLIAM-STREET.
 
 B3 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 / 
 
 NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 Explorations and Discoveries in the Mounds and other earth-works in Ohio. 
 Similar researches and their resuUs in Mississippi and Louisiana.... Mr. 
 Jomard's essay on the tablet found in the Grave Creek mound in Virginia, 
 p. 1. 
 
 California and New Mexico — Recent explorations in these countries, with ac- 
 counts of the Navijo and Moqui Indians ; architectural remains on the 
 banks of the Gila. ..French explorations in the Isthmus of Panama, p. 15. 
 
 Researches in Greenland, and the Arctic regions ; geograpliical and historical 
 results.... Late attempts for exploring the northern portiolft of the Ame- 
 rican Continent, p. 21. 
 
 SOUTH AMERICA. 
 
 Details of the Scientific Expedition under Count Castelnau, sent by the French 
 government for exploring the interior of South America.... English expe- 
 dition under Lord Ranelagh — other scientific expeditions... Peruvian anti- 
 quities, etc. etc., p. 27. 
 
 AFRICA. 
 
 Recent attempts for exploring the interior of Africa.. ..Mr. Thomson's journey 
 from Sierra Leone.... Mr. Duncan's journey northward from Dahomey. 
 Missionary operations at the Gaboon. ...Mr. Richardson's journey into the 
 great desert of Sahara.. ..The French expedition up the Senegal, under 
 Mr. Raffenel.... Extensive project for the exploration of Soudan, in Central 
 Africa. ...Proposed expedition for penetrating the country from the eastern 
 side.... Contributions to the geography of Southern Africa... .Mr. Maizan's 
 unfortunate attempt to reach the interior from Zanzibar, p. 32. 
 
 Algiers — scientific explorations by the French Government ; interesting results ; 
 errors respecting the desert of Sahara, p. 41. 
 
 Discovery of the ancient Lybian alphabet, by M. de Saulcy, p. 44. 
 
 The Berbers ; late researches into their language, p. 45. 
 
 Madagascar ; recent visits of the French, p. 47. 
 
 Egypt; results of the late explorations; state of hieroglyphic and Coptic litera- 
 ture ; Egyptian history and chronology, p. 48.
 
 IV CONTENTS. 
 
 EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO. 
 BonwEO — Mr. Brooke's colony; the Dyaks The Dutch and other European 
 
 colonies in the East Indies. ..New Caledonia islands... The Sooloo islands. 
 
 The Nicobar islands, p. 54. 
 Australia ; accounts of late explorations, by Count Strzelecki, Dr. Leichardt and 
 
 others, p. 63. 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 Asia Minor — Interesting discoveries in Lycia, p. 69. 
 
 Arabia — Historical and philological results of the researches in Southern Arabia, 
 the country of the ancient Himyarites ; importance of these discoveries in 
 elucidating Scriptural history, p. 73. 
 
 The Caucasus — E.xploration by M. Hommaire de Hell... Sclavonic MSS. and 
 inscriptions, p. 84. 
 
 Assyria and Persia — History of the study of the ancient arrow-headed inscrip- 
 tions.... Extraordinary results therefrom.... The Zendavesta....The Zend 
 language.... The great inscription of Darius.... Explorations at Nineveh. 
 Journeys of Dr. Robert ; of Prince Waldemar, etc., p. 84. 
 
 Siberia — Journeys of Count Middendorf and others ; geographical and ethno- 
 graphical results, p. 109. 
 
 India — Progress of civilization ; importance of missionary labors, p. 113. 
 
 SiAM — Decline of Boodhism; extension of Christianity, p. 117. 
 
 Cochin-China — Visit of Mr. Hedde to Turon, in Annam, p. 118. 
 
 China — Latest accounts fi-om, p. 119. 
 
 CoREA — Efforts of the Catholic missionaries to christianize the natives, p. 123. 
 
 Manchuria... Mongolia — Recent accounts from these countries ; journey of Rev. 
 Mr. Hue, in Mongolia, p. 125. 
 
 Lew-Chew Islands — Attempt to establish a mission, by Rev. Mr, Forcade ; no- 
 tices of the people, their manners, customs, and language, p. 127. 
 
 Japan — Recent attempts to communicate with the Japanese ; peculiarities of this 
 people... General view of the languages of the Japanese, Coreans, Chinese, 
 and Cochin-Chinese, p. 131.
 
 THE PROGRESS 
 
 ETHNOLOGY.
 
 THE PROGRESS 
 
 ETHNOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 I have the pleasure of laying before the New York 
 Historical Society a brief account of the progress which 
 has been made during the past year towards extending 
 our knowledge of the globe, particularly with reference to 
 its geography, and to those nations whose history is imper- 
 fectly known. The subject is one that more properly 
 belongs to ethnology, but the historical results which are 
 deduced from these enquiries come within the scope of the 
 objects, the elucidation of which belongs to this Society. 
 
 A new impulse has latelj'^ been given to the study of 
 American Antiquities. A brief account of recent investi- 
 gations carried on in a portion of the West and South will 
 show that we possess much that is interesting, and which 
 will throw light on a neglected branch of aboriginal his- 
 tory and ethnology. 
 
 Every enquirer into the origin and purposes of the 
 monuments and ancient remains of the Mississippi valley 
 has regretted the limited number and poorly attested 
 character of the facts, of which the public are in posses- 
 sion, respecting them. The practical investigations made 
 from time to time by various individuals, have not been 
 sufficiently thorough and extensive, nor have they devel- 
 oped sufficient data to warrant or sustain any definite or 
 satisfactory conclusions. They have served rather to 
 provoke enquiries which they could in no degree satisfy,
 
 4 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 than to afford information on the subject with which they 
 were connected. 
 
 It was under a strong sense of the deficiencies in our 
 stock of information in this branch of knowledge, that 
 two gentlemen of Chillicothe, Ohio, Dr. Davis and Mr. 
 E. G. Squier, undertook the exploration of the ancient re- 
 mains which abound in the state of Ohio, and particularly 
 of those in the valley of the Scioto river. 
 
 It is known that there exists in this region vast numbers 
 of mounds, of various dimensions, and extensive embank- 
 ments of earth, enclosing in some instances many acres of 
 ground. Beside these there are ditches, walls, cause- 
 ways and other works of a greater or less extent. The 
 examination of these, by opening the mounds, and making 
 accurate surveys of the other works constitute the labors 
 of these gentlemen, some of the results of which may be 
 stated in anticipation of a full account which will shortly 
 appear. 
 
 Though their labors at first promised to end in increased 
 doubt and uncertainty, they were abundantly re\^arded 
 as their enquiries progressed. Out of conflision, system 
 began to develope itself, and what seemed accidents, 
 were found to be characteristics. What was regarded as 
 anomalous, was recognized as a type and feature of a 
 class, and apparent coincidences became proofs of design. 
 
 For instance, it was remarked among the numerous 
 tumuli opened, that certain ones were stratified, while 
 others were homogeneous in their composition. Further 
 observation showed that stratified tumuli occupy a certain 
 fixed position with regard to other works, which the un- 
 stratified tumuli do not. Still further examinations 
 demonstrated that the contents of those respective tumuli 
 are radically and invariably different. Here then was 
 established : 1st. That the mounds are not, as is gene- 
 rally supposed, identical in character and purpose. 2d. 
 That one class occupies a fixed position with regard to 
 works of a different character, the design of which is to be
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 5 
 
 determined, to some degree, by tlic peculiarities and the 
 contents of this description of mounds, etc. 
 
 It will be seen, at once, that a close observation of 
 facts of this kind is absolutely essential, to arrive at any 
 reasonable conclusions, regarding the purposes of these 
 ancient structures, their origin, or the character or cus- 
 toms of the people by whom they were built. The 
 investigations of Dr. Davis and Mr. Squier, were therefore 
 conducted so as to permit the escape of no fact which 
 might tend to elucidate the mystery in which our antiqui- 
 ties are shrouded. The excavations were made under 
 their personal direction, and the results may be briefly 
 stated, without detailing the facts in support of each con- 
 clusion, as follows. 
 
 The number of enclosures or earthworks which have 
 been surveyed by them, and of which they have taken 
 careful admeasurements, exceeds ninety. The number of 
 tumuli which have been excavated and their character- 
 istics noted, amounts to one hundred and fifteen. 
 
 Of the first class of works, it has been sufficiently 
 demonstrated, that a small proportion were intended for 
 works of defence ; that another portion were sacred places, 
 or in some way connected with religious or superstitious 
 rites, while a third and much the larger number are 
 entirely inexplicable in our present state of information. 
 
 The tumuli are divided into three grand classes, which 
 are broadly marked in the aggregate, though there are 
 individual instances of an anomalous character. These 
 are : 
 
 1st. Tumuli of sepulture, each containing a single 
 skeleton enclosed in a rude, wooden coffin, or an envelope 
 of bark or matting, and occurring in isolated or detached 
 groups. 
 
 2d. Tumuli of sacrifice, containing symmetrical altars 
 of stone or burnt clay, occurring within or in the immedi- 
 ate vicinity of enclosures, and always stratified. 
 1*
 
 6 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 3d. Places of observation, or mounds raised upon 
 elevated or commanding positions. 
 
 Within these monuments have been found implements 
 and ornaments of silver, copper, lead, stone, ivory and 
 pottery, fashioned into a thousand forms, and evincing a 
 skill in art, to which the existing race of Indians, at the 
 time of their discoveiy, could not approach. Marine 
 shells, mica from the primitive regions, native copper from 
 the shores of lake Superior, galena from the upper Missis- 
 sippi, cetacean teeth, pearls and instruments of ohsidian, 
 show the extent of communication and intercourse had by 
 the authors of these ancient works. Sculptures of animals, 
 birds and reptiles have been found in great numbers and 
 variety, exhibiting a skill which few could nov/ surpass. 
 Also, sculptures of the human head, disclosing most pro- 
 bably the character of the physiognomy, as well as the 
 manner of adjusting the hair, the head dress and ornaments 
 of the mound-builders. Careful admeasurements of the 
 earth works which abound in the Ohio valley, have been 
 made by the gentlemen alluded to, in which the interesting 
 fact has been developed, that many of them are perfect 
 circles and squares, and hence that the people by whom 
 they were constructed had some means of determining 
 angles and of constructing circles. In some of those 
 earth-heaps, sufficient remains to show that when in a 
 perfect state, they resembled the teocaUis or terraced edi- 
 fices of Mexico and Yucatan, though they were composed 
 'wholly of wood and earth. 
 
 The number of works manifestly connected in some 
 way with their religion, guide us to some estimate of the 
 prominence which their superstitions occupied, and that 
 a religious system existed among, them, in some degree 
 resembling that of the ancient Mexicans. The immense 
 tumuli heaped over the remains of the dead, show the 
 regard which they attached to their chiefs, and the vene- 
 ration in which they held their memory. The number 
 and extent of their remains of all kinds, which occupy
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETIINOLOOY. 
 
 the fertile valleys, and which are confined almost entirely 
 to them, indicate that an immense population once existed 
 there, that it was stationary and therefore agricultural ;* 
 and if agricultural and stationary, that a different organiza- 
 tion of society, different manners and customs, different 
 impulses and feelings existed among them, than are to be 
 found among the hunter and nomadic tribes, discovered 
 by Europeans in possession of the country. 
 
 Another class of antiquities has been discoved by these 
 gentlemen, of which we only have the particulars in a 
 letter. These consist of rocks sculptured with figures of 
 men, of birds and animals. They are cut in outline, the 
 lines being from one half to three quarters of an inch deep 
 by about the same width. Only those on the sides of the 
 rocks are visible. Those on the upper or horizontal faces 
 are nearly obliterated. One represents an elk and is 
 said to be very spirited. 
 
 What may result from the future researches of Dr. 
 Davis and Mr. Squier, remains to be seen ; but sufficient 
 has been developed to show that a people, radically diff- 
 erent from the existing race of Indians, once occupied the 
 valley of the Mississippi, and built the singular monuments 
 in which it abounds. These also show that they were to 
 a certain extent advanced in the arts and civilization. In 
 short that they closely resembled in the character of their 
 structures, ornaments and implements of war and hus- 
 bandry, the races of Central America ; if they were not 
 indeed their progenitors or an offshoot from them. Many 
 facts strongly point to such a conclusion and farther ob- 
 servations carefully conducted, will probably enable us 
 to settle the question beyond a doubt. 
 
 * In a paper read by Mr. Schoolcraft before the American Ethnological Society, 
 it was clearly shown by existing remains, in Michigan and Indiana, plans of 
 which were exhibited, that vast districts of country, now covered by forests and 
 prairies, bear incontestable proofs of having been subject to cultivation at a remote 
 period and before the forest had begun its growth.
 
 8 THE PROGRESS OP ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 A detailed account of the researches of the gentlemen 
 alluded to, accompanied by numerous engravings repre- 
 senting the implements, ornaments and sculptures, &c., 
 discovered in their excavations ; — surveys of the various 
 earth works, forts and enclosures in the Scioto valley, will 
 be given in the second volume of the Transactions of the 
 American Ethnological Society, now preparing for publi- 
 cation. They are still actively engaged in their labors, 
 and intend, should the facilities be extended them to cany 
 on their operations, to examine every ancient relic to be 
 found in Ohio and the adjacent parts, where these remains 
 exist. 
 
 Among the explorations which have been carried on in 
 the United States, none possess a greater interest than 
 those of Dr. M. W. Dickeson, in the south western states, 
 chiefly in Mississippi, though in some instances extending 
 to Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas. Dr. Dickeson has 
 laid open or examined one hundred and fifty mounds and 
 tumuli, of various dimensions and collected a vast num- 
 ber of interesting relics, which illustrate the customs and 
 arts of the ancient people who built them. The mounds 
 vary from three to ninety feet in height, and from twelve to 
 three hundred feet in diameter at the base. The Seltzer 
 Town mound contains a superficies of eight acres on its 
 summit. On digging into it vast quantities of human 
 skeletons were found, chiefly with their heads flattened, 
 and measuring generally six feet in length. Numerous 
 specimens of pottery, including finely finished vases filled 
 with pigments, ashes, ornaments, and beads, were also 
 found. 
 
 The north side of this mound is supported with a wall 
 two feet thick, of sun dried bricks, filled with grass, rushes 
 and leaves. In order to ascertain whether this immense 
 tumulus was artificial or not, Dr. Benbrook, sank a shaft 
 forty two feet, and found it artificial or made ground to 
 that depth. Immense quantities of bones, both of men 
 and animals, among the latter the head of a huge bear,
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 9 
 
 were thrown out. Other excavations were made in this 
 tumulus with the same result, thus showing it to have 
 been a vast mausoleum or cemetery of the ancient race. 
 
 The mounds are generally in systems varying from 
 seven to ten, which Dr. Dickeson has divided into six 
 classes as follows : out post, ramiiarts or walls, telegraplis or 
 look outs, temples, cemeteries, and tent mounds. The first is sel- 
 dom more than thirty feet at the base by ten feet high. 
 Their shape varies, presenting sometimes a pyramid, at 
 others a cone, or rhomboid. Walls surround the second 
 class, which are from ten to fifteen feet in heighth, the same 
 across the top, and from forty to fifty feet at the base. 
 
 The '■'Look ouf mounds are seldom under sixty feet high. 
 Of this class, Dr. Dickeson has examined upwards of nine- 
 ty. They are generally on the summit of a hill, overlooking 
 the bottom lands. Here they stand some three hundred 
 feet above the bottom lands, commanding an extensive 
 prospect, and is some instances one may see the peaks of 
 several systems of mounds in the distance. 
 
 The " Temple mounds'^ are seldom more than twenty feet 
 high, and stratified with ashes, loam, gravel, &c. They all 
 have an earthen floor. Dr. Dickeson has, but in a. single 
 instant, found a skeleton in these mounds, and in this, he 
 thinks the subject a Choctaw Indian recently placed there. 
 Itlay in a horizontal position, differing fi-om the usual mode 
 of burial, which is the sitting posture. 
 
 The " Cemeteries'^ are oval, and from six to ten feet high, 
 filled with bones, lying east and west, and when incased 
 in sarcophagi, the rows run in the same direction. In 
 some instances Dr. Dickeson found the bones lying in 
 heaps, promiscuously. These he believes to have been 
 the canaille. 
 
 The " Tent or Structure mou7ids" are small, and a short 
 distance below their surface, fragments of brick and ce- 
 ment are found in great quantities ; sometimes skeletons 
 and pottery. Never more than six skeletons are found 
 together, and more care is shown in the burial of these
 
 10 
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 than in the "cemetery mounds." In one instance an angu- 
 lar tumulus was seen by the Doctor, with the corners 
 quite perfect, formed of large bricks, bearing the impres- 
 sion of an extended hand.* 
 
 Many mounds and tumuli are advantageously situated 
 on the tops of ridges, surrounded with walls. Some of the 
 latter have crumbled away, while others remain strong and 
 perpendicular. In many instances, the walls that surround 
 these groups of mounds, form perfect squares and circles. 
 Dr. Dickeson adds that, " if from the centre of one of these 
 groups a circle were traced, it would strike the centre of 
 each mound, both large and small." They contain nu- 
 merous fragments of walls, images, pottery, ornaments, 
 etc. etc. 
 
 The "Temples" are generally situated among the hills 
 and ravines, with perpendicular escarpments, improved 
 by artificial fortifications. The enclosures often embrace 
 upwards of thirty acres. The great enclosure at " the 
 Trinity" contains upwards of one hundred and fifty acres, 
 and is partially faced with sundried brick. Upon the 
 plantation of Mr. Chamberlain in Mississippi, the temple 
 is flanked with several bastions^ besides squares, parallels, 
 half moons, and ravines with perpendicular escaz'p- 
 ments for its defence. The ditches and small lakes are 
 frequently chained for miles and filled with water, intend- 
 ed, the Doctor thinks, for outworks. In these, bricks are 
 found both at the bottom and on the sides. Among the 
 rubbish and vegetable deposits taken from them to put on 
 the land, ornaments, and other relics are found. 
 
 Wells and reservoirs, completely walled with burnt clay, 
 
 * This figure of an extended hand is the most common of all the symbols of 
 the aboriginal tribes of America. It is found on the ancient temples, and within 
 the tombs of Yucatan. At the earliest period it was used by the Indians, in the 
 United States, and at the present time, it is employed by the roving bands and 
 large tribes from the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains, and from Texas 
 northward.
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 11 
 
 are loimd in Louisiana; near which are "systems," or 
 groups of mounds so regular and strongly fortified, that 
 they became the retreat of pirates and robbers who in- 
 fested the rivers, greatly disturbing the early settlers, after 
 the massacre of the Natchez Indians by the French. The 
 Natchez built large dikes or ditches, and upon the coun- 
 terscarp piled up huge ramparts, which they made al- 
 most impregnable, by having one side flanked by the slope 
 of a hill, surrounded by precipices. They are sometimes 
 situated on the level " bottoms."* In these cases one 
 side invariably faces a creek or bayou, or is in its bend, 
 making the creek serve as a formidable ditch, offering a 
 serious impediment to an enemy's approach. The other 
 two sides are protected by parallel walls or half moons, 
 with gateways leading to the citadel. These walls have 
 indications of having been faced with dry masonry. The 
 east and west corners are generally flanked with a small 
 oval mound. 
 
 In these tumuli and mounds numerous ornaments and 
 pottery were found by Dr. Dickeson, buried with the oc- 
 cupants, such as idols, clay stamps, mica mirrors, stone 
 axes, and arrow heads, silver and copper ornaments, rings, 
 beads of jasper, chalcedony, agate, &c., similar to those 
 found in Peru and Mexico. Several pearls of great beau- 
 ty and lustre, an inch in diameter, have been found. By 
 an examination of the skulls, Dr. D. discovered that den- 
 tistry had been extensively practised by this ancient peo- 
 ple, as plugging the teeth, and inserting artificial ones, 
 was common. In one instance, five artificial teeth were 
 found inserted in one subject. Ovens were found con- 
 taining pottery partially baked, three feet below the sur- 
 face, with large trees covering them, exhibiting an age of 
 upwards of five hundred years. Magazines of arrow 
 
 * " Bottoms" and " bottom lands," are terms applied to the flat lands adjoin- 
 ing rivers. In the State of New York they are called " flats" — as the " Mo- 
 hawk flats."
 
 12 THE PROGRESS OP ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 points, in one instance a " wagon body full," (about twenty 
 bushels,) lying within the space of a few feet. In a small 
 mound in Adams county. Dr. D. found three large jars 
 holding upwards of ten gallons of arrow points elaborate- 
 ly finished ; and three similar in dimensions and finish, 
 have lately been received by Dr. Morton, of Philadelphia, 
 from South Carolina. Carvings representing the English 
 bull dog, the camel and lama, have been found by Dr. 
 Dickeson, from forty to sixty feet below the surface of the 
 mound. The bricks, to which allusion has been made, 
 are of various colors ; some of a bright red, others dark 
 brown, various shades of purple and yellow. Forty 
 stamps of baked clay, containing a variety of figures used 
 for stamping their skins. Pieces of coin, two of which 
 found near Natches, had the figure of a bird on one side, 
 and on the reverse an animal. 
 
 The pottery found is quite extensive, some mounds have 
 been opened in which were upwards of sixty vases, some 
 quite plain, and others elaborately ornamented. Of the 
 potteiy. Dr. Dickeson has succeeded in getting upwards 
 of a hundred fine specimens to Philadelphia, which are 
 deposited with his other Indian relics and fossils, in the 
 Museum of the Academy of Natural Sciences. 
 
 Dr. Dickeson has kindly furnished me a catalogue of 
 his collection of relics, from which I have selected the 
 following to give an idea of the extent and variety of the 
 objects found : 
 
 6000 Arrow points of jasper, chalcedony, obsidian, quartz, 
 &c., &c. 
 150 Arrow points, finely polished, under one inch in 
 length. 
 
 25 Arrow points, finely polished, under half an inch in 
 length. 
 1600 Unfinished Arrow and Spear points. 
 250 small stone Axes. 
 
 40 Quoits, Weights, &c. 
 
 20 Paint mullers.
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 13 
 
 10 Corn grinders. 
 3 laro;e stone Mortars. 
 
 14 small earthen Heads of men, women and boys. 
 C stone Statues, erect and sitting. 
 
 A great variety of personal ornaments of jasper, clialce- 
 dony, pottery, beads, pearls, war clubs, war axes, mica 
 mirrors, carved ornaments, arm bracelets, bone carvings, 
 earthen plates, handled saucers, earthen lamps, a variety 
 of vessels for culinary purposes, stone chisels, two copper 
 medals, the tusk of a Mastodon, six feet long, elaborately 
 carved with a serpent and human figures ; cylindrical 
 tubes of jasper perforated, ornaments in pumice, (lava,) 
 seals, bricks, jars, cups and vases in every variety. 
 
 In addition to these. Dr. Dickeson has made a collec- 
 tion of upwards of sixty crania of the ancient mound 
 builders, out of many thousand skeletons discovered by 
 him in his several explorations. These possess much in- 
 terest in an Ethnographic point of view, for the rigid test 
 to which all his results have been subjected, have satisfi- 
 ed him that these skulls belong to the ancient race. Like 
 the gentlemen in Ohio, whose labors have been noticed, 
 the Doctor can at once detect the mounds and remains o*' 
 the ancient, from those of the modern race. Some mounds 
 he has found to be the work of three periods. At the top 
 were the remains of the present race of Indians ; digging 
 lower he found these remains accompanied by ancient 
 Spanish relics, of the period of the earliest Spanish visit 
 to these parts ; and below these, he discovered the re- 
 mains and relics of the ancient race. 
 
 The inscribed tablet discovered in the grave-creek 
 mound, Virginia, and which was noticed by Mr. School- 
 craft in the first volume of the Transactions ot the Ameri- 
 can Ethnological Society, continues to excite much inter 
 est. Mr. Jomard of the Frencli Institute, read a second 
 paper on that subject last year, before the Academy of 
 Inscriptions and Belles-lettres at Paris, a copy of which 
 2
 
 14 THE PROGRESS OP ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 he has transmitted to the Society.* He distinctly shows, 
 that the letters of this curious inscription are identically 
 the same as those of the Libyan on the monument of 
 Thugga,t and of the Tuarycks used at this day. It is 
 worthy of remark, that Mr. Hodgson in his "Notes on 
 Africa,"! arrived at the same conclusion, without the 
 knowledge that JNlr. Jomard, some years previously, 
 had asserted the Lib3'an character of this inscription, 
 in a first note on the subject.^ Such a coincidence gives 
 force to the views adopted by both these gentlemen. The 
 results to which the French savant has arrived, in his en- 
 quiry mto this engraved stone or tablet, possess much in- 
 terest, as it is the only rehc yet discovered in North Amer- 
 ica, of an inscription bearing alphabetic characters, || 
 which have been satisfactorily identified as such. This 
 Numidian inscription, which title we may now apply to 
 the engraved tablet in question, will be again alluded to, 
 when we come to speak of the philological discoveries in 
 Northern Africa, and of the Libyan alphabet. 
 
 In conclusion Mr. Jomard observes, that at a remote 
 period the Libyan language was spoken by various tribes 
 in Northern Africa, and that it was a language written 
 
 * Second Note sur une piene grav^e trouv^ dans un ancien tumulus Ameri- 
 caine, et a cette occasion, sur ridiome Libyen, par M. Jomard. bvo. Paris, 
 1846. 
 
 t See Mr. Catherwood's paper on the Thugga monument and its inscriptions, in 
 the Ethnolg. Trans. Vol. I. p. 477. 
 
 t Notes on Africa, p. 
 
 § The essay here alluded to, was the reply of Mr. Jomard to a note addressed 
 to him by Mr. Eugene Vail, in 1839, announcing the discovery of the inscribed 
 tablet in the Grave-creek mound, and requesting his opinion in relation to it. In 
 this reply, Mr. Jomard stated that they were of the same character with the 
 inscriptions found by Major Denham in the interior of Africa, as well as in Al- 
 giers and Tunis. This note was inserted in Mr. Vail's work entitled " Notice 
 sur les Indiens de I'Amerique du Nord." Paris, 1840. This work is scarcely 
 known in the United States. 
 
 II I am aware that many believe the sculptures on the Dighton rock to contain 
 several alphabetic characters. Prof. Rafn in his learned and ingenious me- 
 moir on this inscription, supports this view. In fact, Mr. Jomard himself hints 
 at their Phenician origin.
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 15 
 
 with characters, such as we now find on the Thugga edi- 
 fice and other monuments ; that it is still written with the 
 same characters, particularly in the vicinity of Fezzan 
 and in the deserts traversed by the Tuarycks, although 
 this method of writing has been to so great an extent sup- 
 planted by Arabic letters that we must consider the Ber- 
 ber language, the language ofSyouah, Sokna, Audjelah, 
 and Gherma, as representing the remains of the ancient 
 Libyan language in use in the most remote period ; and 
 finally, that in the interior of America, on a monument of 
 which the age is unknown, but anterior to the settlement 
 by Europeans, we find an engraved stone, bearing signs 
 perfectly resembling the characters traced by the modern 
 Tuarycks and by their ancestors, upon the rocks of Libya. 
 Mr. Jomard's pamphlet contains an engraved table, in 
 which are given, in parallel columns, the characters on the 
 American tablet, the Tuaryck alphabet, the Thugga char- 
 acters, and their value in Hebrew and Arabic. 
 
 In connexion with this subject it may be added, that M. 
 Berthelot, a learned traveller, states that there exists a 
 striking affinity between the names of places and of men in 
 the ancient lantjuaofe of the Canaries and certain Carib 
 words.* The contiguity of the Canaries to the African 
 continent is such, that we can readily suppose their an- 
 cient inhabitants to have had communication with it, 
 whereby the Libyan language became known to them. A 
 new field of enquiry is thus opened to philologists, and we 
 may here seek for the means to unravel one of the most 
 difficult questions connected with the origin of the Ameri- 
 can race, and the means by which they reached this con- 
 tinent, for we never have been among those who believed 
 that America derived the mass of her population, her men 
 and animals, from Asia, by the way of Behring's Straits. 
 
 The author of a late work on California, New Mexico, 
 &c., brings to our notice a tribe of Indians known as the 
 
 * Histoire Naturelle des Canaries. Tom I. p. 23
 
 16 THE PROGRESS OP ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 Munchics (Mawkeys) or white Indians.* " This remark- 
 able nation occupies a valley among the Sierra de los 
 Mimbros chain of mountains, upon one of the affluents of 
 the river Gila, in the extreme north-western part of the 
 province of Sonora. They number about eight hundred 
 persons. Their country is surrounded by lofty mountains 
 at nearly every point, is well watered and very fertile. 
 Their dwellings are excavated in the hill-sides, and fre- 
 quently cut in the solid rock. They subsist by agriculture, 
 and raise great numbers of horses, cattle and sheep. 
 Among them are many of the arts and comforts of civi- 
 lized life. They spin and weave, and make butter and 
 cheese, with many of the luxuries known to more enlight- 
 ened nations. Their government is after the patriarchal 
 order, and is purely republican in its character. In morals 
 they are represented as honest and virtuous. In religion 
 they differ but little from other Indians. Their features 
 correspond with those of Europeans, with a fair complex- 
 ion and a form equally if not more graceful. In regard 
 to their origin, they have lost all knowledge or even tra- 
 dition; neither do their characters, manners, customs, 
 arts or government savor of modern Europe." 
 
 Another tribe of Indians called the Navijos, of whom 
 we know but little, except that they have long had a place 
 on the maps, is noticed by the same author. They occu- 
 py the country between the Del Norte and the Sierra 
 Anahuac, in the province of Sonora, and have never 
 succumbed to Spanish domination. " They possess a 
 civilization of their own. Most of them live in houses 
 built of stone, and cultivate the ground — raising vegetables 
 and grain for a subsistence. They also raise large num- 
 bers of horses, cattle and sheep — make butter and cheese, 
 and spin and weave." 
 
 The blankets manufactured by these Indians are supe- 
 
 * Scenes in the Rocky Mountains, Oregon, California, &c., bj' a New Eng- 
 ender, p. 198.
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 17 
 
 nor in beauty of color, texture and durability to the fabrics 
 of their Spanish neighbors. Their government is in strict 
 accordance with the welfare of the whole community. Dis- 
 honesty is held in check by suitable regulations, industry 
 is encouraged by general consent, and hospitality by 
 common practice. As warriors they are brave and daring, 
 making frequent and bold excursions into the Spanish 
 settlements, driving off herds of cattle, horses and sheep, 
 and spreading terror and dismay on every side. As 
 diplomatists, in imitation of their neighbors, they make 
 and break treaties whenever interest and inclination 
 prompts them.* 
 
 The Navijo country is shut in by high mountains, inac- 
 cessible from without, except by limited passes through 
 narrow defiles, well situated for defence on the appi'oach 
 of an invadinof foe. Availing themselves of those natural 
 advantages, they have continued to maintain their ground 
 against fearful odds, nor have they suffered the Spaniards 
 to set foot within their territory as conquerors. 
 
 The relations above given of the Mawkeys and Navijos 
 (pronounced Navihoes, and sometimes so written,) corres- 
 pond with the accounts that from time to time have been 
 brought to us, by hunters and trappers who have occasion- 
 ally visited them. A few years since there appeared in 
 the newspapers an account of both these tribes, by a 
 trapper. He stated that the Mawkeys had " light, flaxen 
 hair, blue eyes and skins of the most delicate whiteness."! 
 I have two other accounts wherein both are described 
 much as before stated. Their manufactures are particu- 
 larly dwelt upon. Some of them wore shoes, stockings 
 and other garments of their own make. Their stone houses 
 are noticed as well as their large herds of cattle, — also 
 their cultivation of fruits and vegetables. Tlie}'- raise 
 
 * Scenes in the Rocky Mountains, California, &.c. by a New EnglanUcr. 
 p. 180. 
 
 t Auburn (New York) Banner, 1837, 
 
 2*
 
 18 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 cotton, which they manufacture into cloth, as well as 
 wool. Fire arms are unknown to them. " Their dress 
 is different from that of other Indians, and from their 
 Spanish neighbors. Their shirts, coats and waistcoats 
 are made of wool, and their small clothes and gaiters of 
 deer skin." 
 
 These accounts might be considered fancifiil, had we 
 not high authority which fully corroborates them. Hum- 
 boldt says,* " The Indians between the rivers Gila and 
 Colorado, form a contrast with the wandering and dis- 
 trustful Indians of the savannas to the east of New Mexico. 
 Father Garces visited the countiy of the Moqui, and was 
 astonished to find there an Indian town with two great 
 squares, houses of several stories, and streets well laid out, 
 and parallel to one another. The construction of the 
 edifices of the Moqui is the same with that of the Casas 
 grandes on the banks of the Gila." 
 
 In Mr. Farnham's late work on California, is a notice 
 of the Navijos from Dr. Lyman's report. The author 
 begins by saying, that t" they are the most civilized of all 
 the wild Indians of North America." Their extensive 
 cultivation of maize and all kinds of vegetables — their 
 rearing of " large droves of magnificent horses, equal to 
 the finest horses of the United States in appearance and 
 value," and their large flocks of sheep are also noticed. 
 From the fleece of the sheep which is long and coarse 
 resembling mohair, " they manufacture blankets of a tex- 
 turn so firm and heavy as to be perfectly impervious to 
 water." They make a variety of colors with which they 
 dye their cloths, besides weaving them in stripes and 
 figures. They are constantly at war with the Mexicans, 
 bat stand in fear of the American trappers, with whom 
 
 * Political Essay on New Spain. Vol. 2, p. 315. (London ed. in 4 vols. 8vo.) 
 t Life and Travels in California, p. 372.
 
 THE PROGRESS OP ETHNOLOGY. 10 
 
 they have had some severe skirmishes, which resulted 
 much to their disadvantage.* 
 
 It is beheved by Baron Humboldt and by others, that 
 in the Navijos and Mawkeys we see the descendants of 
 the same race of Indians which Cortez and the Spanish 
 conquerors found in Mexico, in a semi-civilized state. 
 We are unable to state whether any affinity exists between 
 their language and the other Mexican dialects, as no vocab- 
 ularies have been collected. The whiteness of their skins, 
 their knowledge of the useful arts and agriculture, and the 
 mechanical skill exhibited in their edifices at the present 
 day, bear a striking analogy with the Mexican people at 
 the period of the conquest, and as M. Humboldt observes, 
 ♦'appears to announce traces of the cultivation of the 
 ancient Mexicans." The Indians have a tradition that 
 20 leagues north from the Moqui, near the mouth of the Rio 
 Zaguananas, the banks of the Nabajoa were the first abode 
 of the Aztecs after their departure from Atzlan. " On 
 considering the civilization," adds Baron Humboldt, 
 " which exists on several points ot the north-west coast ot 
 America, in the Moqui and on the banks of the Gila, we 
 are tempted to believe (and I venture to repeat it here) 
 that at the period of the migration of the Toltecs, the 
 Acolhues and the Aztecs, several tribes separated from 
 the great mass of the people to establish themselves in 
 these northern regions."t 
 
 *Dr. Lyman states, that " in the autumn of 1841, an American trader with 
 thirty-five men, went from Bents fort to the Navijo country, buih a breastwork 
 with his bales of goods, and informed the astonished Indians, that he had ' come 
 into their country to trade or fight, which ever they preferred.' The campaigns 
 of the old trappers were too fresh in their memory to allow hesitation. They 
 chose to trade, and soon commenced a brisk business." 
 
 t Humboldt's Political Essay on New Spain. Vol. 2, p. 316. On the testi- 
 mony of the missionaries of the Collegia de Quereiaro, versed in the Aztec lan- 
 guage, M. Humboldt states, that the language spoken by the Moqui Indians is 
 essentially different from the Mexican language. In the seventeenth century 
 missionaries were established amoug the Moquis and Navijos, who were massa- 
 sacred in the great revolt of the Indians in 1680.
 
 20 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 Connected with this subject and in evidence of the iden- 
 tity of these tribes with the Aztecs, it should be stated 
 that there exists numerous edifices of stone in a ruined 
 stale, on the banks of the Gila, some of great extent, re- 
 sembhng the terraced edifices and teocaUis of Mexico and 
 Yucatan. One of these structures measures four hundred 
 and forty-five feet in length by two hundred and seventy 
 in breath, with walls four feet in thickness. It was three 
 stories high, with a terrace. The whole surrounding 
 plain is covered with broken pottery and earthen ware, 
 painted in various colors. Vestiges of an artificial canal 
 are also to be seen.* Among the fragments are found 
 pieces of obsidian, a volcanic substance not common to the 
 country, and which is also found in the mounds in the Mis- 
 sissippi and Ohio valleys, in both cases applied to the 
 same uses. 
 
 Some valuable contributions to the geography and eth- 
 nology of the vast region lying between the Rocky Moun- 
 tains and Upper California and Oregon, have been made 
 by Capt. Fremont of the U. S. corps of Engineers. The 
 expedition under his command traversed the great desert, 
 and examined portions of the country not before visited 
 by white men. The information collected by this enter- 
 prising traveller will be of much service to the country in 
 the new relations which may arise between the United 
 States and California, as well as to persons who are seek- 
 ing new homes in Oregon. The report of Captain, (now 
 Col.) Fremont has been so widely circulated, and rendered 
 so accessible to all who feel an interest in the subject, 
 
 * Clavigero, Hist. Mexico. Vol. 1, p. 151. Humboldt's Polit. Essay on New 
 Spain, Vol. 2. p. 300. A n^ore detailed account of these remains, may be found 
 in the Ajjpendix to Castaneda's " Relation du Voyage de Cibola en 1540," pub- 
 lished in the " Selations et memoirs originaux" of Ternaux-Compans. The state 
 of the country, the manners and customs of the Indians, and their peculiar state 
 of civilization are given at length, and are interesting in this enquiry. The no- 
 tice of the " Grande Maison, dite de ilfoeiezmna," is extracted from the journal 
 of Father Pedro Font, who traversed this country to Monterey, on the Pacific, in 
 1775.
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 21 
 
 that it would be superfluous to give any analysis of the 
 work at this time. So satisfactory were the results of the 
 expedition of this accomphshed officer to the country and 
 the government, that he has again been sent to make fur- 
 ther explorations of the country south of that previously 
 visited by him, and which lies between Santa F^ and 
 the Pacific Ocean. Colonel Fremont has in this ex- 
 pedition already rendered important services to the 
 country, having the command of a detachment of troops 
 in Upper California. This armed body of men will give 
 him great advantages over an ordinary traveller in a wild 
 and inhospitable count ly, where there are still tribes of 
 Indians which have not yet been subjugated by the Span- 
 iards, and which an unprotected traveller could not ap- 
 proach. Much interest has been awakened from the ac- 
 counts already received from Col. Fremont, and it is to 
 be hoped that ere long we shall be placed in possession of 
 full reports of his explorations, which must throw much 
 light on the geography of this vast region, its aboriginal 
 inhabitants, productions, climate, &c. 
 
 An exploratory journey in the isthmus of Panama has 
 recently been made by M. Hillert, which has resulted in 
 adding much important information to our previous know- 
 ledge of the country. It is known that there have been 
 many surveys of the isthmus, with the view of opening a 
 water communication between the oceans on either side. 
 Such was the primary object of Mr. Hillert, who, it ap- 
 pears has also made enquiries as to the practicability of 
 making a rail road across it. His observations on the junc- 
 tion of the two oceans by means of a canal have appeared 
 in the bulletin of the Geographical Society of Paris for 
 1846, (pp. 306 and 389,) together with various letters from 
 him on other subjects which attracted his attention. 
 
 Among other things Mr. Hillert has made known a most 
 valuable anti-venomous plant, the guaco, a creeping plant, 
 which abounds in the forest of the Isthmus, the virtues of 
 which were made known to him by the Indians. After
 
 22 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 rubbing the hands with the leaves of this plant, a person 
 may handle scorpions and venomous insects with im- 
 punity, and mosquitoes after sucking the blood of those 
 VI' ho had taken it inwardly died instantly. The geology 
 and botany of the country received particular attention. 
 M. Hillert proposes to introduce several of the most use- 
 ful plants and vegetables into the French dominions in 
 Senegal or Algeria, among them the plant from which the 
 Panama hats are made. So valuable are the labors of 
 this gentleman considered, that the French commission 
 has awarded him the Orleans prize, for having introduced 
 into France the most useful improvement in agriculture. 
 Some ancient monumental edifices were discovei'ed in the 
 Isthmus, not far from the river Atrato, and others near 
 the mines of Cano ; besides these an ancient canal cut 
 through the solid rock in the interval which separates the 
 the rivers Atrato and Darien. 
 
 Note. — The following list embraces all the books relating to Oregon, Califor- 
 nia, and Mexico, printed during the last two years. 
 
 Narrative of the exploring expedition to the Rocky Mountains, in the year 1842, 
 and to Oregon and North California, in the years 1843 — 4, by Capt. J. C. Fre- 
 mont of the Topographical Engineers, under the orders of Col. J. J. Abert, Bvo 
 Washington, 1846. 
 
 Exploration du Terretoire de I'Oregon, des Californies, et de la Mer Vermeille, 
 exeeutie pendant les annees 1840, 41 et 42, par M. Dufiot de Mofras, Attach^ a 
 la Legation de France a Mexico. 2 vols. 8vo. and folio atlas of maps and plates, 
 Paris. 1845. 
 
 Tho Oregon Territory, claims thereto, of England and America considered, 
 its condition and prospects. By Alexander Simpson, Esq. 8vo. London, 1846. 
 
 The Oregon Territory, a geographical and physical account of that country 
 and its inhabitants. By Rev. C. G. Nicholay. 18mo. London, 1846. 
 
 The Oregon Question determined by the rules of International law. By Edward 
 J. Wallace of Bombay. 8vo. London, 1840. 
 
 The Oregon question. By the Hon. Albert Gallatin. 8vo. New York, 1846. 
 
 The Oregon Question examined, in respect to facts and the laws of nations. 
 By Travers Twiss, D. C. L. 8vo. London, 1846. 
 
 The Oregon Question as it stands. By M. B. Sampson. London, 1846. 
 
 Prairiedom ; Rambles and Scrambles in Texas and New Estremadura, By a 
 Southron. 12mo. New York, 1846. 
 
 Life in California during a residence of several years in that Territory. By 
 ao American, To which is annexed an historical account of the origin, customs
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 28 
 
 Greenland and the Arctic Regions. The Royal 
 Society of Northern Antiquaries published, in 1845, 
 GriJnlands Historiske Mindesmairker, (The Historical 
 Monuments of Greenland,) Vol. III., (958 pages, with 12 
 copperplates,) which closes this work. The 1st and 2d 
 volumes, (pp. 814 and 794 respectively,) were published 
 in 1838. After Professor Rafn had finished the C()m])ihi- 
 tion of his separate work, Anf.iqidtatcs AmericancB, which 
 was published by the Society in 1837, he connected 
 himself with Professor Finn Magnusen, for the purpose of 
 editing — also under the auspices of the Society — the great 
 collection of original written sources of the ancient history 
 of that remarkable polar land, which was first seen in 
 877, and colonized in 986. With a view of doing all that 
 lay in its power to throw light on ancient Greenland, the 
 
 and traditions of the Indians of Alta California, from the Spanish. Post 8vo, 
 New York, 1846. 
 
 An Essay on the Oregon Question, written for the Shakspeare Club. By E. A. 
 Meredith. Montreal, 1846. 
 
 The Topic No. 3. The Oregon Question. 4to. London, 1846. 
 Life in Prairie Land. By Mrs. Eliza W. Farnham. 12mo. New York, 1846. 
 Green's Journal of the Texan expedition against Mier ; subsequent Imprison- 
 ment of the Author; his Sufferings, and final Escape from the Castle of P<?rote. 
 With reflections upon the present political and probable future relations of Texas, 
 Mexico, and the United States. Illustrated by Drawings taken from Life by 
 Charles M'Laughlin, a Fellow-prisoner. Engravings, bivo. 
 
 Travels over the table lands and Cordilleras of Mexico, in 1843 — 4. With an 
 appendix on Oregon and California. By Albert M. Gilliam, late U. S. Counsul, 
 California. 8vo, Philadelphia, 1846. 
 
 Recollections of Mexico. By Waddy Thompson, Esq., late Minister Plenipo- 
 tentiary of the U. S. at Mexico. 8vo. New York, 1846. 
 
 Altowan ; or incidents of life and adventure in the Rocky Mountains. By an 
 Amateur Traveller. Edited by James Watson Webb. 2 vol. 12mo. New 
 York, 1846. 
 
 Scenes in the Rocky Mountains, Oregon, California, New Mexico, Texas, and 
 Grand Prairies, including descriptions of the different races inhabiting them, (fee- 
 By a New Englander. 12mo. Philadelphia, 1846. 
 
 History of Oregon and California, and the other Territories on the North 
 West Coast of North America : from their discovery to the prt-sent day. Ac- 
 companied by a geograpical view of those countries. By Robert Greenhow, 8va. 
 third edition. Boston, 1847.
 
 24 THR PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 Society, during the ten years from 1832 to 1841, caused 
 journies to be undertaken and explorations to be performed 
 in such of the Greenland firths as were of the greatest im- 
 portance in respect of the ancient colonization. By ex- 
 cavations made among the ruins remaining from the 
 ancient colony, there was obtained a collection of inscrip- 
 tions and other antiquities, which are now preserved in 
 the American Museum erjscted by the Society, and draw- 
 ings were taken of the ground plans of several edifices. 
 Of the reports received on this occasion, we must in an 
 especial manner notice, as exhibiting evidence of the most 
 assiduous care, and as moreover embracing the most 
 important part of the country, the exploration undertaken 
 by the Rev. George T. Joergensen, of the firths of Iga- 
 likko and Tunnudluarbik, where the most considerable 
 ruins are situated. The present, vol. III., contains, extracts 
 from annals, and a collection of Documents relating to 
 Greenland, compiled by Finn Magnusen ; (to this part ap- 
 pertains a plate exhibiting seals of the Greenland Bishops ;) 
 ancient geographical writings, compiled by Finn Magnu- 
 sen and CharJes C. Rafn ; the voyages of the brothers 
 Zeno, with introductory remarks and notes by Dr. Breds- 
 doi-ff; a view of more recent voyages for the re-discovery 
 of Greenland, by Dr. C. Pingel, an antiquarian chorogra- 
 phy of Greenland, drawn up by J. J. A. Warsaae, from 
 the accounts furnished by various travellers of the explo- 
 rations undertaken by them. The work is closed by a 
 view of the ancient geography of Greenland, by Professor 
 Charles C. Rafn, based on a collation of the notices con- 
 tained in the ancient manuscripts and the accounts of the 
 country furnished by the travellers. To which is added 
 a list of the bishops and a chronological conspectus of the 
 ancient and modern history of the countiy, a historical in- 
 dex of names, a geographical index, and an antiquarian 
 index rerum. Copperplate maps are annexed of the two 
 most important district^of ancient Greenland — the eastern 
 settlement, (Eystribygd,) and the western settlement,
 
 TflE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 25 
 
 (Vestrihygd,) exhibiting tlic position of the numerous ruins. 
 Moreover, plans and elevations of the most important 
 ecclesiastical ruins and other rudera ; also delineations of 
 of runic stones and other northern antiquities found in 
 Greenland. 
 
 Scripta Historica Islandorum, latine redditaet apparatu cri- 
 lico instructa, curante Societate Regia Antiquariorum Sep- 
 tentrionalium. Vol. XII. The edition first commenced by 
 the Society, of the historical Sas^as recording events which 
 happened out of America, (Iceland, Greenland and Vin- 
 land,) particularly in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, in the 
 original Icelandic text with two translations, one into Latin, 
 and another into Danish, (36 vols.) has now been brought 
 to a completion, by the publication of the above men- 
 tioned volume, (pp. 658 in 8vo.) wherein are contained 
 Regesta Geographica to the whole work, which for this 
 large cyclus of Sagas may be considered as tantamount to 
 an old northern geographical gazetteer, in as much as 
 attention has also been paid to other old northern manu- 
 scripts of importance in a geographical point of view. 
 Complete, however, it cannot by any means be called, 
 neither as regards Iceland especially and other lands in 
 America, whose copious historical sources have, in tlie 
 present instance, been but partially made use of, nor also 
 as regards the European countries without the Scandina- 
 vian North, for whose remote history and ancient geogra- 
 phy the old northern writings contain such important ma- 
 terials, but it is to be hoped that the Society will in due 
 lime take an opportunity of extending its labors in that 
 direction also. The present volume does, however, con- 
 tain a number of names of places situated witiiout the 
 bounds of Scandinavia in countries of which mention is 
 made in the writings published in the work itself. To 
 the name of each place is annexed its Icelandic or old 
 Danish form, and the position of the place is investigated 
 by means of comparison with other historical data and 
 with modern geography. 
 3
 
 26 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 Sir John Franklin who left about two years on a voyage 
 of exploration, in the Arctic regions of America, remains 
 in those inhospitable parts. Much anxiety is felt for him 
 as no tidings have been received from him. It is to be 
 hoped that his voyage will prove successful and that be- 
 fore the close of the present year, he may return. 
 
 The Hudson's Bay Company has lately fitted out an 
 expedition, for the purpose of surveying the unexplored 
 portion of the coast on the northeast angle of the North 
 American continent. The expedition, which consists of 
 thirteen persons, is under the command of one of the 
 company's officers. It started on the 5th July, in two 
 boats, under favorable circumstances; — the ice having 
 cleared away from the shores of the bay at an earlier 
 period of the year than usual.* 
 
 A memoir on the Indian tribes beyond the Rocky 
 mountains, and particularly those along the shores of the 
 Pacific ocean, from California to Behring's straits, with 
 comparative vocabularies of their languages, is preparing 
 for pubhcation by the Hon. Albert Gallatin, from authen- 
 tic materials. Mr. Hale, philologist of the United States 
 Exploring Expedition, has made a valuable contribution 
 to the Ethnology of this region, in his volume, entitled 
 •' Ethnology and Philology," being the seventh volume of 
 the U. S. Exploring Expedition. t 
 
 * Report to the Royal Geographical Society, London, Nov. 9, 1846. 
 
 t Recent Works on the Arctic Regions. 
 
 Barrow's (Sir J.) Voyages of Discovery and Research within the Arctic Re- 
 gions, from the year 1818 to the present time, in search o( a north-west passage, 
 from the Atlantic to the Pacific ; with two attempts to reach the North Pole . 
 Abridged from the official narratives, with remarks by Sir John Barrow. Bvo. 
 London, 1846. 
 
 Americas Arctiske landes gamle geographic efter de Nordiske Oldskriefter 
 ved C. C. Rafn. Bvo. Copenhagen, 1846.
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 27 
 
 SOUTH AMERICA. 
 
 The French expedition which has been engaged for 
 the last three years in exploring the interior of South 
 America, has at length reached Lima, from which place 
 Count Castelnau has transmitted a detailed report of his 
 journey, to the French Minister of Public Instruction.* 
 
 This expedition is by far the most important that has 
 yet been sent out for the exploration of South America, 
 and has already traversed a large portion of its central 
 parts, little known to geographers. Their first journey 
 was across the country from Rio Janeiro to Goyaz, on the 
 head waters of the river Araguay (Lat. 16° 11' S. Long. 
 50° 29' W.) which river they descended to its junction 
 with the Tocantiu, and then returned by the last named 
 river and the desert of the Chavantes. 
 
 They made another journey to the north of Cuyaba, to 
 explore the diamond mines, and examine the sources of 
 the Paraguay and Arenos. In the next journey, t the par- 
 ticulars of which have just been communicated from 
 Lima, the expedition descended the rivers Cuyaba and 
 San Lorenzo to Paraguay. During this voyage they en- 
 tered the country of the Guatos Indians, one of the most 
 interesting tribes of the American aborigines. " The 
 features of these Indians." says the Count, " are extreme- 
 ly interesting ; — never in my life having seen finer, or any 
 more widely differing from the ordinary type of the red 
 man. Their large, well opened eyes, with long lashes, 
 nose aquiline and admirably modelled, and a long, black 
 beard, would make them one of the finest races in the 
 world, had not their habit of stooping in the canoe bowed 
 the legs of the greater number. Their arms, consisting 
 
 * Nouvelles Annales des Voyages. Feb. 1846. p. 146. 
 t London Athenccum, Aug. 8, 1846, in which is a condensed account of this 
 journey.
 
 28 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 of very large bows, with arrows seven feet long, demand 
 great bodily strength — and their address in the use of 
 them passes imagination. These savages are timid, 
 nevertheless, and of extreme mildness. By taking them 
 for our guides, and attaching them by small presents, we 
 were enabled to explore parts wholly unknown, of that vast 
 net-work of rivers which they are constantly traversing." 
 In Paraguay the party met a tribe of the celebrated Guay- 
 curus nation. These people are eminently equestrian- 
 transporting their baggage, women and effects of eveiy kind 
 on horseback, across the most arid deserts. They are mor- 
 tal foes to the Spaniards, and a terror to the whole frontier. 
 They wear their hair long, and paint themselves, black 
 or red, after a very grotesque and irregular fashion ; the 
 two sides of their bodies are generally painted in a 
 different manner. " Their chief arms are the lance, 
 knife, and a club, which they throw with great precision 
 at a full gallop. Their hats are made of hides. Each 
 warrior has his mark, which he burns with a red hot iron 
 on all that belongs to him — his horses, dogs and even 
 wives. One of the most atrocious traits in the manners 
 of this people, is that of putting to death all children bom 
 of mothers under thirty years of age." 
 
 After traversing the country between Paraguay and 
 Brazil, the expedition proceeded north by the river Para- 
 guay, and passed the mouths of the San Lorenzo, where 
 it entered the great lake Gaiva, and from thence the 
 greater lake Uberava, the limits of which could not be 
 traced, being lost in the horizon. An Indian told the 
 Count that he had travelled for three whole days in his 
 canoe, without finding its extremit}), which supposes a 
 length of twenty-five or thirty leagues. This great inland 
 sea is unknown to geographers. At Villa Maria a cara- 
 van of mules awaited the travellers, when they entered 
 the desert or Gran Chaco, as it is called, and proceeded 
 to the town of Matto-Grosso, which is considered the most 
 pestiferous place in the world. Out of a population of
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 29 
 
 1200 souls, there were found but four whites, of whom 
 three were officers of the government ; all the rest was 
 composed of blacks and Indians of every variety and color, 
 who alone are able to support this terrible climate. 
 
 From this place the expedition proceeded to Santa 
 Cruz of the Sierra, where thc}^ found bread, of which 
 they had been deprived for two years ; after a month's 
 repose, a journey of eight days brought the pnrty to Chu- 
 quisaca, in Bolivia, and from thence b}^ Potosi to Jjima. 
 
 The results of this expedition are already of gicat in- 
 terest. It will make known people, the names of which 
 were unknown to geographers. Rivers which appear on 
 our maps are found not to exist, while hitherto unknown 
 rivers and large bodies of water have been discovered. 
 Many geographical positions have been determined, and 
 the particulars of the trade which is extensively carried 
 on in the centre of this vast continent by means of cara- 
 vans of mules, are made known. 
 
 M. de Castelnau has paid particular attention to the 
 productions of the country, with a view of introducing 
 such as are valuable into the French colony of Algeria. 
 Large collections in Natural History have already been 
 received at the museum in Paris ; observations on ter- 
 restrial magnetism and meteorology have been made, 
 in fact, no department of science seems to have been neg- 
 lected by the expedition, which will reflect great credit 
 on its distinguished head. Count Castelnau, as well as 
 on the French government, by whose liberality and zeal 
 for the promotion of science it has been supported. 
 
 From Lima, Count Castlenau intended to prosecute 
 further researches in the country of the Incas, after which 
 he would proceed to the Amazon river. 
 
 Peru. Some interesting remains of the ancient Peru- 
 vians, have lately been brought to light in the Province of 
 Chachapoyas, about five hundred and fifty miles nortli of 
 Lima and two hundred and fifty miles from the coast. 
 The particulars of these ruins were communicated by 
 3*
 
 80 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 Senor Nieto to the prefect ol the Department.* " The 
 principal edifice is an immense wall of hewn stone, three 
 thousand six hundred feet in length, five hundred and 
 sixty feet in width and one hundred feet high.t It is 
 solid in the interior and level on the top, upon which is 
 another wall six hundred feet in length, of the same 
 breadth and height as the former, and like it solid to 
 its summit. In this elevation, and also in that of the 
 lower wall, are a great many rooms eighteen feet long and 
 fifteen wide, in which are found neatly constructed niches, 
 containing bones of the ancient dead, some naked and 
 some in shrouds or blankets," placed in a sitting posture. 
 
 From the base of this structure " commences an inclined 
 plane gradually ascending to its summit, on which is a 
 small watch tower. From this point, the whole of the 
 plain below, with a considerable part of the province-, 
 including the capital, eleven leagues distant, may be seen. 
 
 In the second wall or elevation are also openings re- 
 sembling ovens, six feet high, and from 20 to 30 feet in 
 circumference. In these, skeletons were found. The 
 cavities in the adjoining mountain were found to contain 
 heaps of human remains perfectly preserved in their 
 shrouds, which were made of cotton of various colors. Still 
 farther up this mountain was "a wall of square stones, 
 with small apertures like windows, but which could not 
 be reached without a ladder," owing to a perpendicular 
 rock which intervened. The Indians have a superstitious 
 horror of the place, in consequence of the mummies it 
 contains, and refused to assist the exploring party, believ- 
 ing that fatal diseases would be produced by touching 
 these ghastly remains of their ancestors. They were 
 therefore compelled to abandon their researches, though 
 surrounded by objects of antiquity of great interest. 
 
 * Simmond's Colonial Magazine. Vol. V. p. 87. 
 
 t There is evidently some mistake in these dimensions, which would give a mass 
 of masonry many times larger than the great pyramid at Ghizeh,
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 31 
 
 Mr. Chas. Frederick Neumann, a distinguished oriental 
 scholar of Munich, has lately published a work " On the 
 Condition of Mexico in the Fifth Centuiy of our Era, ac- 
 cording to Chinese writers." It purports to be an account 
 of that country, called Fu-Sang, in the Chinese annals. 
 De Guignes, in his celebrated work on China, supposes 
 that America was the country referred to, while Klaproth, 
 on the contraiy, believes it to be Japan. 
 
 It is stated in the English papers* that an expedition, 
 which promises the most important results, both to science 
 and commerce, is at this moment fitting out for the pur- 
 pose of navigating some of the great unexplored rivers of 
 South America. It is to be under the command of Lord 
 Ranelagh ; and several noblemen and gentlemen have 
 already volunteered to accompany his lordship. The 
 enterprising and scientific band will sail as soon as the 
 necessary arrangements are completed. He proposes to 
 
 * London Athenaeum, Nov. 9. 1846. 
 
 Note. — The following is a list of the books relating to South America which 
 have recently been published. 
 
 Historia fisica y politica de Chile segun documentos adquiredos en esta Re- 
 publica durante doze anos de residencia en alia, y publicada bajo los auspicios 
 del supremo gobierno. 7 livr. 8vo. with an Atlas of 27 plates. Paris. 1844. 
 
 Memoria geografico economico-politica del departmento de Venezuela, publi- 
 cada en 1824 por el intendente de ejercito D. Jose M. Aurrecoechea, quicn la 
 reimprime con varias notas aclaratorias y un apendice. Quarto. Madrid. 1846. 
 
 Twenty-four years in the Argentine Republic, embracing the author's per- 
 sonal adventures, with the history of the country, &c. &c., with the circumstan- 
 ces which led to the interposition of England and France. By Col. J. A, 
 King. 1 vol. 12mo. New York. 1846. 
 
 Travels in the interior of Brazil, principally through the northern iirovinces, 
 and the gold and diamond districts, in 1836 — 1841. By George Canning. 
 8vo. London. 1846. 
 
 Travels in Peru, during the years 1838 — 1842, on the coast, and in the 
 Sierra, across the Cordilleras and the Andes, into the primeval forests. By Dr. 
 J. J. Tschudi. 2 vols. 12mo. New York. 1847. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Ewbank is preparing for the press a work on Brazil, being obser- 
 vations made during a twelve months' residence in that country. From a 
 personal acquaintance with this gentleman, his reputation as a man of observa- 
 tion, and his well known capacity as a writer, we think a valuable book mny 
 be expected.
 
 32 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 penetrate, by some of the great tributaries of the Amazon, 
 into the interior of Bohvar — for which purpose a steamer 
 will be taken out in pieces. Returning to the Amazon, 
 he will ascend this great river to its highest sources. The 
 distance and means of communication between the Pacific 
 and the basin of the Amazon will be minutely examined. 
 
 Another scientific expedition has been sent out by the 
 French Government to its West India colonies and the 
 northerly parts of South America, under M. Charles De- 
 ville, a report from whom was read at a meeting of the Paris 
 Academy of Sciences in June last. Its publication was 
 recommended. 
 
 The French Government gave notice to the same 
 Academy, at its meeting on the 31st August last, of an in- 
 tended expedition by Lieut. Tardy Montravel, to the 
 Amazon river and its branches, with the steamer Alecton 
 and the Astrolabe corvette ; and invited the Academy to 
 prepare a programme with a view to facilitate the re- 
 searches which M. de Montravel is charged to make. 
 
 AFRICA. 
 
 The zeal which was manifested a few years since for 
 the discovery and exploration of the interior of Africa, and 
 which seemed to have terminated with the Landers, and 
 the unsuccessful voyage of the steamers up the Niger, has 
 again shown itself, and we now find as much curiosity 
 awakened, and as much zeal manifested for geograpical 
 discovery in this vast continent, and the solution of ques- 
 tions for ages in doubt, as has been exhibited at any for- 
 mer period. 
 
 The Travels of M. d'Abaddie, Dr. Beke, Isenberg, and 
 others make known to us the immense extent and windings 
 of the Bahr-el-Abiad and the Bahr-el-Azrek, or the white 
 and blue Nile, but they have not yet been traced to their
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGV. 'i3 
 
 rise, and the solution of the question of the true source of 
 the Nile, remains still unsettled. 
 
 We have received from Mr. Jomard, member of the 
 French Institute, a work entitled " Observations sur. le 
 voyage au Darfour" from an account given by the Sheikh 
 Mohammed-el-Tounsy, accompanied by a vocabulary 
 of the language of the people, and remarks on the white 
 Nile by Mi-. Jomard. This is a valuable contribution to 
 our knowledge of a portion of the interior of Africa, only 
 known to us by the visit of Mr. Browne in 1794, and foiins 
 a link in the chain between Lake Tchad and a region of 
 country quite unexplored, and of which we have no know- 
 ledge whatever. 
 
 We have some information of interest, relating to Sene- 
 gal, communicated to the Royal Geographical Society of 
 London,* being a narrative of Mr. Thomson, linguist to 
 the Church Missionary Society at Sierra Leone, from that 
 place to Timbo, the capital of Futah .Jallo. His place is 
 about four hundred miles northeast of Sierra Leone. " The 
 principal object of the mission, was to open a road for a 
 regular line of traffic through that country, between the 
 colony and the negro states on the Joliba or Niger." 
 
 Mr. Thomson's narrative is full of interest and shows 
 the great hardships to be encountered in effecting a com- 
 munication with the interior. No man could be better 
 prepared for such an enterprize, both by knowledge of 
 the languages of the country, and the manners of the peo- 
 ple ; zeal, perseverance, and courage, also were prominent 
 traits in his character ; yet his enterprize failed and death 
 cut him off, when on the point of starting for the eastward. 
 
 An expedition more sucessful in its results, has been 
 undertaken in Dahomey on the Guinea coast, the particu- 
 lars of which are given in the Journal of the Royal Geo- 
 graphical Society of London, (vol, IG.) This journey 
 was performed by Mr. John Duncan, from Cape Coast to 
 
 * Journal of the Geographical Society. Vol. 16.
 
 34 THE PROGRESS OP ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 Whyddah, and from the latter about five hundred miles 
 due north, through the Dahomey country to Adofoodiah. 
 Although the king of Ashantee had refused permission for 
 Mr. Duncan to pass through his territory, and had en- 
 deavored to prejudice the king of Dahomey against him, 
 he was received with great kindness by the latter, and 
 every facility given him to travel in his dominions. A 
 guard of one hundred men was furnished to accompany 
 him — a path was cleared for upwards of one hundred 
 miles, and arrangements made so that at every village 
 through which he passed, provisions were always waiting, 
 ready cooked for them. Among the strange things seen 
 by this traveller was a review of six thousand Female 
 troops, well armed and accoutred. Their appearance, 
 for an uncivilized nation, was surprising, and their per- 
 formance still more so. The slave trade is carried on ex- 
 tensively in Dahomey. In the market of Adofoodiah, ar- 
 ticles from the Mediterranean, and from Bornou in the inter- 
 ior were-^exposed for sale, showing the immense extent of 
 the trade of the country. He met people from Timbuctoo 
 and gathered some particulars of that remarkable city, as 
 well as some information respecting Mungo Park's death. 
 This enterprising traveller has lately been provided with 
 the means to enable him to set out on a new journey with 
 a determination to penetrate the country to Timbuctoo, 
 from whence he will endeavour to follow the Niger to its 
 mouth. 
 
 The American Missionaries at the Gaboon, (Western 
 Africa,) with a view of establishing a mission in the Pong- 
 wee country have been preparing a grammar of the Pong- 
 wee language, the pecliarities of which are such as to de- 
 serve notice. The Missionaries call it " one of the most per- 
 fect languages of which they have any knowledge. It is not 
 so remarkable for copiousness of words as for its great and 
 almost unhmited flexibility. Its expansions, contractions, 
 and inflections though exceedingly numerous, and having, 
 apparently, special reference to euphony, are all governed
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 85 
 
 by grammatical rules, which seem to be well established 
 in the minds of the people, and which enable them to ex- 
 press their ideas with, the utmost precision. How a lan- 
 guage so soft, so plaintive, so pleasant to the ear, and at 
 the same time so copious and methodical in its inflections, 
 should have originated, or how the people are enabled to 
 retain its multifarious principles so distinctly in their minds 
 as to express themselves with almost unvarying precision 
 and, uniformity, are points which we do not pretend to 
 settle. It is spoken coastwise nearly two hundred miles, 
 and perhaps with some dialectic differences, it reaches the 
 Congo river. How far it extends into the interior is not 
 satisfactorily known."* 
 
 An attempt to penetrate this continent from the north 
 has been made by Mr. James Richardson, by advices from 
 whom it appears that on the 23d November, 1S45, he 
 had reached Ghadames,.in the Great Desert, where he 
 had been residing for three months, and whence he was 
 to start on the following day, with a negro and a Moor, for 
 Soudan. If sucessful in reaching that country, he intended 
 to proceed to Timbuctoo and other parts of the interior. 
 Mr. Richardson was well received by the people and Sul- 
 tan of Ghadames ; but his journey to Sackatoo the capital 
 of Soudan, which would take three months to accom- 
 plish, through some of the wildest tribes and without any 
 guarantee from the English or Ottoman government, was 
 considered foolhardy and desperate.t 
 
 Later accounts state that Mr. Richardson had returned 
 after a successful exploration in the very centre of the Great 
 Zahara, and that he has collected important information 
 relating to the slave trade, one of the objects of his un- 
 dertaking. We shall look forward with interest to the 
 publication of his travels.^ 
 
 The details of the expedition under M. Raffenel of the 
 
 * Missionary Herald, vol. 41. p. 218. 
 
 t London Atheneeum, March 7, 1846. t Ibid Oct. 31, 1846.
 
 36 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 French navy and other scientific gentlemen^ up the Sene- 
 gal, have just been pubhshed.* The party ascended the 
 Senegal to the river Faleme, and from the mouth of the 
 Faleme they penetrated the country to Sansanzig. They 
 then visited the gold mines of Kenieba, on the Bambouk, 
 the country of Galam, Bondou and Woolli, and returned 
 by the river Gambia. Seven months were spent on this 
 expedition. They found the:; country beautiful, but its 
 cultivation neglected, and of course little was produced. 
 They visited the place where the French were for- 
 merly established, with the view of making treaties with 
 the natives for its occupation anew. Few traces of the 
 colony were to be found. They were kindly received by 
 the various tribes oC aborigines, wherever they went ; 
 though whei> at the extreme point of their journey, owing 
 to the wars among the natives, they did not think it safe 
 to proceed farther. The results, of the expedition are in- 
 teresting to science, as well as to the friends of humanity, 
 who wish to improve the condition of this people. 
 
 For the more complete exploration of this portion of the 
 African continent, it has been proposed to send another 
 expedition under M. Raffenel for the purpose. This gen- 
 tleman has submitted a memoir to the Minister of Marine, 
 by whom it was presented to the Geographical Society 
 of Paris. The result was favorable, and Mr. Ralfenel 
 has been provided with instructions for his guidance 
 in his proposed journey. 
 
 A journey of exploration and civilization in Soudan, is 
 about to be undertaken by four Jesuits from Rome — Bi- 
 shop Casolani, and Fathers Ryllo, Knoblica, and Vinco. 
 Casolani and Ryllo will will start from Cairo in January, 
 1847 — having previously obtained a Firman from Constan- 
 tinople ; and, proceeding through Upper Egypt, Nubia, 
 and thence by Kordofau and Darfour, they hope to reach 
 Bornou, — and meet there their brethren, who travel by 
 
 * Bulletin de la Society de Geographie. Rapport par M. Roger. 1846. p. 321.
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 37 
 
 the way of Tripoli and Mouiyok. Should they be fin- 
 tunate enough to meet, it will then be determined which 
 route shall afterwards be followed. They have determined 
 to accomplish what they have undertaken, or perish in the 
 attempt. From the high character of all the parties, 
 great hopes are entertained of the result of this journey. 
 They are all men of extensive learning, and familiar with 
 the languages, manners and customs of the East.* 
 
 A project is on foot in London and a prospectus has 
 been issued for a new Expedition of Discovery to pene- 
 trate the interior of Africa from the easteVn side. Many 
 advantages are presented by beginning the work of explo- 
 ration here ; among them, the populousness and civiliza- 
 tion of Eastern Africa, which is in general superior to that 
 of the western coast. The languages of the former bear a 
 close affinity to each other, and extend over a very large 
 space, which is not the case with the latter. " The ab- 
 sence of foreign influence, (particularly of the Portuguese, 
 by whom the slave trade is carried on,) and the readiness 
 of the Sultan of Muscat to listen to British counsels," are 
 strong inducements to carry out the scheme proposed. t 
 
 Lieutenant Ruxton of the Royal Navy, who has lately 
 made an interesting journey into Africa from the south- 
 western coast, near the island of Ichaboe, is about to 
 undertake a second journey with the intention of crossing 
 the continent from this point to the eastern coast, under 
 the sanction of the British Government. 
 
 Some valuable contributions have been made to our 
 knowledge of the geography of Southern Africa by Mr. 
 Cooleyl and Mr. McQueen,§ which tend to elucidate 
 
 * London Athenaeum, July 4, 1846. t London Athenaeum, July, 1845. 
 
 t The Geography of N'Yassi, or the Great Lake of Southern Africa, investi- 
 gated, with an account of the overland route from the Quanza, in Angola, to the 
 Zambezi, in the government of Mozambique, by Win. Desbrough Cooley, in the 
 Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, London. Vol. xv. 
 
 § Notes on African Geography, by James M'Queen. — Ibid. Contributions 
 towards the Geography of Africa, by James McQueen, in Simmond's Colonial 
 Magazine, Vol. vi. 
 
 4
 
 38 THE PROGRESS OP ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 portions of this continent hitherto enveloped in much ob- 
 scurity. Mr. Cooley's investigations relate to the country 
 extending from Loango and Congo, the Portuguese settle- 
 ments in Western Africa, to the eastern coast between 
 Zanzibar and Sofala, in lat. 20° South. 
 
 He commences by examining the statements of the 
 Portuguese geographers of the 16th century, Lopez, Joao 
 Dos Santos, Do Couto, and Pigafetta. " The information 
 collected by Lopez, was elaborated by Pigafetta into a 
 system harmonizing with the prevalent opinions of the 
 age, and in this form was published in 1591. Yet in the 
 midst of this editor's theories, we can at times detect the 
 simple truth." Much confusion seems to have arisen by 
 misapplying the names of lakes, rivers and people, as this 
 inlbrmation was in a great degree derived from natives, 
 and not properly understood by the persons who received 
 it from them. Mr. Cooley, by a rigid examination of 
 these various statements, together with the accounts de- 
 rived from later writers and from native traders, has been 
 enabled to rectify the errors which had crept in, and 
 clear up much that had been considered fabulous. The 
 great lake called N'Yassi, and the natives occupying the 
 country around it, are among the most interesting sub- 
 jects of our author's enquiries. This lake, or sea, as it is 
 called by the natives, is some five or six hundred miles 
 trom the eastern coast. Its breadth in some places is 
 about fifteen miles, while in others, the opposite shores 
 cannot be seen. Its length is unknown, neither extremity 
 having been traced. It probably exceeds five hundred 
 miles, according to the best authority. Numerous islands 
 filled with a large population, are scattered among its 
 waters. It is navigated by bark canoes, twenty feet long, 
 capable of holding twenty persons. Its waters are fresh, 
 and it abounds in fish. The people seem more advanced 
 in civilization than any African nations south of the 
 Equator, of which we have knowledge. Pereira, who 
 spent six months at Cazembe, in 1796, describes the 
 people as similar, in point of civilization, to the Mexicans
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 39 
 
 and Peruvians, at the time of the conquest. The nation 
 called the Mononioesi, or Mucaranga, north of tlie lake, 
 as well as the Movisa, on its opposite shores, are a tall and 
 handsome race, with a brown complexion. '* They are 
 distinguished for their industry, and retain the commer- 
 cial habits for which they were noted two centuries and 
 a half ago, when their existence was first known through 
 the Portuguese. They descend annually to Zanzibar in 
 large numbers. The journey to the coast and backagain, 
 takes nine or ten months, including the delay of awaiting 
 the proper season for returning. They are clothed in 
 cotton of their own manufacture ; but the most obvious 
 mark of their superiority above other nations of Eastern 
 Africa is, that they employ beasts of burden, for their 
 merchandize is conveyed to the coast laden on asses of a 
 fine breed." Mr. Cooley believes that " the physical ad- 
 vantages and superior civilization of these tribes, who are 
 not negroes," explain the early reports which led the 
 Portuguese to believe that the empire of Prestor John 
 was not far off. 
 
 Mr. M'Queen's memoirs consist of the details of a 
 journey made by Lief Ben Saeid, a native of Zanzibar, 
 to the great lake N'Yassi, or Maravi, .alluded to in Mr. 
 Cooley's memoir. This visit was made in the year 1831. 
 The facts collected corroborate what has been stated by 
 Mr. Cooley. He found the country level, filled with an 
 active population, civil to strangers, and honest in their 
 dealings. A very extensive trade was carried on in ivory, 
 and a peculiar oil, of a reddish color. The Manumuse 
 (Mono-moezi) are pagans, and both sexe§ go nearly naked. 
 Near the lake there are no horses or camels, but plenty of 
 asses, and a few elephants. The houses on the road and 
 at the lake, are made of wood and thatched with grass. 
 Dogs are numerous, and very troublesome. Some are of 
 a very large kind.* 
 
 * Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, Vol. 15, p. 371.
 
 40 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 The region which forms the subject of the memoirs 
 just alluded to, is doubtless one of the most interesting 
 fields for exploration of any on the African continent. 
 The languages spoken by the several nations between 
 the two oceans, which are here separated by a space of 
 sixteen or seventeen hundred miles, in a direct line, are 
 believed to belong to one great family, or at least to pre- 
 sent such traces of affinity, that an expedition, if suffi- 
 ciently strong, aided by interpreters from the Zanzibar 
 coast or the Monomoezi tribes, might traverse the continent 
 without difficulty. Obstacles might be thrown in the 
 way by the Portuguese traders, who would naturally feel 
 jealous at any encroachments by rival nations ; but by a 
 proper understanding, these might be overcome, and this 
 interesting and hitherto unknown portion of Central Africa 
 be laid open to commerce and civilization. 
 
 The latest attempt to explore this region was that of M. 
 Maizan, a young officer in the French navy, who towards 
 the close of the year 1844, set out for the purpose. In 
 April, 1845, he left Zanzibar, furnished with a firman 
 from Sultan Said to the principal chiefs of the tribes of 
 the interior, though in reality they enjoyed the most com- 
 plete independency. Having been warned that a chief, 
 named Pazzy, manifested hostile intentions towards him, 
 he stopped some time on his way, and after having ac- 
 quired information relating to the country he wished to 
 survey, he made a grand detour round the territoiy over 
 which this savage chief exercised his authority. After a 
 march of twenty days, he reached the village of Dague- 
 lamohor, which is but three days' journey from the coast 
 in a direct line, where he awaited the arrival of his bag- 
 gage, which he had entrusted to an Arab servant. This 
 man, it appears, had communication with Pazzy, and had 
 informed him of the route his master had taken. Pazzy, 
 with some men of his tribe, overtook M. Maizan towards 
 the end of July, at Daguelamohor, and surrounded the 
 house in which he lived. After tying him with cords to a
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 41 
 
 palisade, the savage ordered his men to cut the throat of 
 their unfortunate victim.* 
 
 Mr. M'Queen gives some particulars obtained from a 
 native African relating to the country between LakejT chad, 
 or Tshadda and Calabar. This |wrtion of the African 
 continent has never been visited by Europeans, and al- 
 though little can be gained of its geography from the 
 statements of this man, there is much in them that is 
 interesting on the productions of the country, the natives, 
 their manners, customs, &c. 
 
 ALGIERS. 
 
 The publication by the French government of the 
 results of the great scientific expedition to Algeria has^ 
 thrown much light on the districts embraced in Algiers 
 and the regency of Tunis, as well as on the countries 
 far in the interior. Among the subjects which have 
 received the particular attention of the commission, are, 
 1 An examination of the routes followed by the Arabs 
 in the south of Algiers and Tunis ; 2. Researches into the 
 geography and commerce of Southern Algiers, by Capt. 
 Carette ; 3. A critical analysis of the routes of the cara- 
 vans between Barbaiy and Timbuctoo, with remarks on 
 the nature of the western Sahara, and on the tribes which 
 occupy it, by M. Renou ; 4. A series of interesting me- 
 moirs on the successive periods of the political and geo- 
 graphical histoiy of Algiers from the earliest period to the 
 present time, by M. Pelissier; 5. The History of Africa, 
 translated from the Arabic of Mohammed-ben-Abi-el-Raini- 
 el-Kairouani, by M. Remusat, giving a particular account 
 of the earliest Musselman period. 
 
 Gen. Marey in an account of his expedition to Lagliouat 
 in Algeria, published in Algiers in 1S45, has contributed 
 important information on this country, whicli deserves a 
 
 « Nouvelles Annales des Voyages : May, lfJ46, p. 139. 
 4*
 
 42 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY, 
 
 rank with the great work of the scientific expedition.* In 
 this work the author has corrected the erroneous opinion 
 which has long been held, of the barrenness of the Sahara. 
 Among the Arabs this word Sahara does not convey the 
 idea which the world has generally given it, of a desert or 
 uninhabitable place, but the contrary. Like every coun- 
 try, it presents some excellent and luxuriant spots, others 
 of a medium quality as to soil, and others entirely barren, 
 not susceptible of cultivation. By Sahara, the Arabs 
 mean a country of pastures, inhabited by a pastoral peo- 
 ple ; while, to the provinces between the Atlas mountains 
 and the sea, they apply the name of Tell, meaning a 
 country of cereals, and of an agricultural people. 
 
 M. Carette, in his exploration of this region, has also 
 discovered the false notion long imbibed in relation to it. 
 "The Sahara," says he, "was for a long time deformed 
 by the exaggerations of geographers, and by the reveries 
 of poets. Called by some the Great Desert, from its ster- 
 ility and desolation, by others the country of dates, the 
 Sahara had become a fanciful region, of which our igno- 
 rance increased its proportions and fashioned its aspect. 
 From the mountains which border the horizon of Tell, to 
 the borders of the country of the blacks, it was believed 
 that nature had departed from her ordinary laws, renounc- 
 ing the variety which forms the essential character of her 
 works, and had here spread an immense and uniform 
 covering, composed of burning plains, over which troops 
 of savage hordes carried their devastating sway. Such 
 is not the nature, such is not the appearance of the Sahara." 
 
 This region, accupying so large a portion of the African 
 continent, " is a vast archipelago of oases, of which each 
 presents an animated group of towns and villages. Around 
 each is a large enclosure of fruit trees. The palm is the 
 king of these plantations, not only from the elevation of its 
 trunk, but from the value of its product, yet it does not 
 
 * Balletin de la Socifet^ de Geogiaphie de France, for 1845, p. 251.
 
 THE PROGRESS OP ETHKOLOftV. 43 
 
 exclude other species. The fig, the apricot, the peach 
 and the vine mingle their foliage with the palm." 
 
 The Algerine Sahara has lately been the object o}"a spe- 
 cial work of Col. Daumas who intends completing the re- 
 searches begun by Gen. Marey and the members of the 
 scientific commission. He has made an excursion to the 
 borders of the desert, and has collected much that is new 
 and interesting in ethnology, particularly relating to the 
 Tuarycks, a great division of the Berber race whose numer- 
 ous tribes occupy all the western part of the great desert.* 
 
 Among the interesting Ethnological facts which the late 
 expeditions in this region have brought to light, is that of 
 the existence of a white race, inhabiting the Aures moun- 
 tains, {mons Aurarius) in the province of Constantine.t 
 Dr. Guyon, of the French army of Africa, took advantage 
 of an expedition sent out by General Bedeau to the Aures, 
 to collect information about this people, to whom other 
 travellers had referred. He describes them as having a 
 white skin, blue eyes and flaxen hair. They are not 
 found by themselves, but predominate more or less among 
 various tribes. They hold a middle rank, and go but 
 rarely v/ith the Kabyles and the Arabs. They are luke- 
 warm in observances of the Koran, on wliich account the 
 Arabs esteem them less than the Kabyles. They are 
 more numerous in the tribe of the Mouchaias, who speak 
 a language in which words of Teutonic origin have been 
 recognized. In Constantine where they are numerous, 
 they exercise the trades of butcher and baker. Late 
 writers believe that they are the remains of the Vandals 
 driven from the country by Belisarius. 
 
 M. Bory de Saint Vincent in making some observations 
 to the Academy of Sciences, on the paper of Dr. Guyon, 
 exhibited portraits of individuals of this white race, which 
 
 * Notice sur le Progrfes des decouvertes G^ographiques pendant Tanned, 1845' 
 par V. de St. Martin. Bulletin de la Soci6t6 de G(;ographie, p. 245. 
 
 t Nouvelles Annales des Voyages. Notes Ethnologiques, sur la race blanche 
 des Aures. Par M. Guyon. Janvier, 1846, p. 116.
 
 44 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 had been engraved for the Scientific Commission, and 
 stated his behef that they were evidently of the northern 
 Gothic and Vandal type.* 
 
 In Northern Africa, an important discovery has lately 
 been made of the ancient Libyan alphabet, by Mr. F. de 
 Saulcy, member of the French Institute. This curious 
 result has been produced, by a study of the bilingual 
 inscription on the monument of Thugga, which is publish- 
 ed in the first volume of the Transactions of the Ethnologi- 
 cal Society of New York. The reading of the Phoenician 
 part of this bilingual inscription having been established, 
 the value of the Libyan or Numidian letters of the counter 
 part, has been as clearly proved, as the hieroglyphic part 
 of the Rosetta stone has been established, from a compar- 
 ison with the Greek text of that bilingual inscription. 
 
 By this discovery, a vast progress has been made in 
 t;he ethnography and history of ancient Africa. Two facts 
 of the greatest consequence have been established by it : — 
 That the Libyan language was that of Numidia, at the 
 early period of its history, when the Phenicians were 
 settled there ; that the Numidians of that early day, used 
 their own peculiar letters for writing their own language. 
 To these facts, may be added another of no less ethno 
 graphic value ; that the present Numidian or Berber race 
 of the great Sahara, who are called Tuarycks, make use 
 of these identical letters at this day. 
 
 For this recent and valuable acquisition to science, we 
 are again indebted to Mr. de Saulcy,t who has published 
 a Tuaiyck alphabet as communicated to him by Mr. Boi- 
 sonnet, Captain of Artillery at Algiers. It was furnished 
 to him by an educated native of the Oasis of Touat, in the 
 great Sahara, and is called by him Kalem-i-TeJinag.X 
 
 * Comptes-Rendus de 1' Academic des Sciences, 29 Dec. 1845. 
 
 t Revue Aichaeologique, Nov. 1845. 
 
 I The incident which led to the discovery of this alphabet is deserving of notice. 
 An Algerine named Sidy-Hamdan-Ben-Otsman-Khodja, who had gained the 
 confidence of the Duke of Rovigo, then Governor of Algiers, was in correspond.
 
 THE PROGRESS OP ETHNOLOGY. 45 
 
 What the writkg of Tejinag means, it would be curious to 
 know. This Touatee, Abd-el-Kader, has promised more 
 extended information, in relation to the writing of the 
 Tuarycks, than wliicli, no more valuable contribution to 
 African ethnography can be imagined. He asserts that, 
 the Tuarycks engrave or scratch on the rocks of the 
 Sahara, numerous inscriptions, either historic or erotic. 
 This subject has been alluded to by Mr. Hodgson, in his 
 " Notes on Africa''' in which he mentions the Tuaryck let- 
 ters copied by Denham and Clapperton. 
 
 The impulse first given by our countryman Mr. Wm. 
 B. Hodgson, in his researches into the Berber language, 
 and the ethnographic facts which were the results of his 
 elucidations, has extended to England, France and Ger- 
 many, and the last two years have been productive of 
 several valuable and important works, including grammars 
 and dictionaries of the Berber language. These have added 
 greatly to our previous knowledge of the ancient and 
 primitive people, who at a remote period, coeval with that 
 of the ancient Egyptians occupied the northern part of 
 Africa. 
 
 dence with the Bey of Constantine. The Hadji Ahmed, to render this correspon- 
 dence rnore sure, wrote his letters in conventional signs, known among certain 
 Arabs by the name of romoitz. 
 
 A!) the son of Sidy-Hamdan, who was the bearer of these Missives, had lived 
 a long time in France as an officer in the employ of the Sublime Porte ; and in 
 his hands M. Boisonnet one day discovered the letters of Hadji Ahmed. On 
 glancing his eye over one of these documents he discovered at the top {en vedette) 
 two groups of signs, which, from their situation, he readily imagined might 
 be the equivalents of the Arab sacramental words. Praise he to God, with 
 which all good Musselmen generally begin an epistle. With this supposition he 
 applied the alphabetic value to each character, and thus obtained the value of 
 six of these strange cyphers. The next day he obtained two of these documents 
 or letters from Ali, who little suspected what use he intended making of them. 
 With these materials he diligently applied himself, and on the following morning 
 sent him a complete translation of the letters. Ali was greatly alarmed that Mr. 
 Boisonnet had solved the enigma, but more so that he had thereby become ac- 
 quainted with the correspondence. 
 
 Struck with the analogy between these characters and the Lybian characters 
 on the Thugga monument, he applied the alpliabet discovered by him, and^tho 
 result is known. — Revue ArchcBologique, Noiember, 1845.
 
 46 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 Mr. de Saulcy has already unravelled the intricacj'^ 
 of the demotic writing of Egypt and the popular characters 
 of ancient Libya. He is thus working at both ends 
 of the Libyan chain. He will find the Berber thread 
 at the Oasis of Ammon, and at Meroe. We shall thus 
 probably find, that the Berber language was the original 
 tongue of tliat part of Ethiopia. Dr. Lepsius found in 
 that region, numerous inscriptions in the Egyptian de- 
 motic, and in Greek characters, but written in an unknown 
 language. He strongly suspects, that the old Ethiopian 
 blood will be found in the Berber veins ; and that the 
 Nubian language has strong affinities with the Berber. 
 When these inscriptions in an unknown language are de- 
 cyphered, it will be known how far the interpretation of 
 Egyptian mythology and the local names, heretofore pro- 
 posed by Mr. Hodgson, is to be received as plausible. He 
 has proposed the Berber etymologies of Aman or Ammon 
 as water ; Themis as fire or purity ; Thot as an eye ; Ed- 
 fou and Tadis as the sun. 
 
 Books on Algiers. 
 
 Algeria and Tunis in 1845. An account of a journey made through the two 
 Regencies, by Viscount Fielding and Capt. Kennedy. 2 vols, post 8vo. London, 
 1846. 
 
 Le Maroc et ses Caravanes, ou Relations de la France avec cet Empire, par 
 R. Thomassy. Bvo. Paris 1845. 
 
 Exploration Scientifique de 1' Algeria pendant les anne^s 1840, 1841, 1842. 
 Public parl'ordre du gouvernment et avec le concours d'une commission Academ- 
 ique. 4 vols, folio, (now in the course of publication.)} 
 
 Recherches sur la constitution de. la propri^te territoriale dans le pays mussul- 
 mansetsubsidiarement en Algeria ; par M. Worms. 8vo. Paris, 1846. 
 
 A visit to the French possessions in Algiers in 1845. By Count St. Marie. 
 Post 8vo. London, 1846. 
 
 ApRiQtJE (!') frangaise, I'empire du Maroc et les ddserts de Sahara. Histoire 
 nationale des conquetes, victoires et nouvelles decouvertes des Frangais depuisla 
 prise d' Alger jusqu'^, nos jours ; par P. Christian. 8 vo. 
 
 Algeria en 1846 ; par J. Desjobert. 8vo. Paris, 1846. 
 
 Guide du voyageur en Algeria. Itineraire du savant, de I'artiste, de I'homme 
 du monde et du colon ; par Quetin. 18mo. Paris, 1846. 
 
 IJfe Sahara Algerien. Etude geographiques, statistiques et historiques sur la 
 
 I
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 47 
 
 Madagascar. — The island of Madagascar has recently 
 attracted and continues to occupy attention in France. In 
 1842 M. Guillian, in command of a French corvette, was 
 sent by the governor of the isle of Bourbon to this island, 
 to select a harbor safe and convenient of access, and 
 to obtain information relative to the country and its inhab- 
 itants. After visiting various parts of the island on its 
 western side, in which fourteen months were spent, M. 
 Guillian returned to Bourbon, and in 1845 the results of 
 his visit were published in Paris. The first part of this 
 work gives a history of the Sakalave people, who occupy 
 the western parts of the island. The second details the 
 particulars of the voyage made in 1842 and 1843, embra- 
 
 region au sud des dtablissementa Fran^aises en Alg^rie ; par Col. Dauinas 
 8vo. PaVis, 1845. 
 
 L'Afrique FraiK^aise I'Empire de Maroc et les deserts de Saliara, coiiqu6tes et 
 decouvertes des Fran^ais. Royal 8vo. 
 
 Dictionnaire de G^ographie ^'conoinique, politique et historiquo de I'Alg^rie. 
 Avec une carte. 12nio. Paris, 1846. 
 
 Geugraphie populaire de I'Alg^rie, avec cartes. 12ino. 1846. 
 
 Histoire de nos Colonies Fran^aises de I'Alg^rie et du Maroc ; par M. Chris- 
 tian. 2 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1846. 
 
 The following list embraces the latest publications on Africa generally. 
 
 Voyage dans I'Afrique Occidentale, comprenant Texploration du Senegal 
 depuis St. Louis jusqu'i la Feleine jusqu'k Sansandig ; des mines d'or de Kenie- 
 ba, dans le Bambouk ; des pays de Galam, Boudou et Wooli ; et de la Gambia ; 
 par A. Raffenel. 8vo. and folio atlas. Paris, 1846. 
 
 Viaggi neir Africa Occidentale, di Toto Omhoni, gia medico di consigli<; nel 
 regno d' Angola e sue dispendenze, 8vo. Milan, 1845, 
 
 A visit to the Portuguese possessions in South Western Africa. By Dr. 
 Tarns. 2 vols. 8vo. 
 
 Life in the Wilderness; or. Wanderings in South Africa. By Henry W 
 Methuen. Post 8vo. London, 1846. 
 
 Voyage au Darfour par le Cheykh Mohammed Ebn-Omar El-Tounsy ; traduire, 
 de I'Arabe, par Dr. Perron ; public par les soins de M. Jomard. Royal 6vo. 
 Maps. Paris, 1845. 
 
 Observations sur le Voyage au Darfour suivies d'un Vocabulaire de la langue des 
 habitanset deremarques surle Nil Blanc Superieure ; par M. Jomard. 1846. 
 
 Essai historiqiie sur les races anciennes et modernes de I'Africiue Septentrio- 
 nale, leurs origiiies, leurs mouvements et leurs transformations depuis I'autiquit^ 
 jusqu'a, nos jours ; par Pascal Duprat. 8vo. Paris, 1845.
 
 48 THE PROCRr.SS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 cing the geograph}^ commerce and present condition of 
 the country, an abstract of which is given in the Bulletin 
 of the Geographical Society of Paris, Feb. 184G. 
 
 So important were the results of the visit of M. Guillian 
 that a new expedition has been sent to Madagascar under 
 his direction, with instructions for a more extended exami- 
 nation, particularly in relation to its animal and vegetable 
 productions. A more extensive work by M. de Froberville, 
 is preparing for publication in Paris, in which more atten^ 
 tion will be given to the ethnography of this important 
 island.* 
 
 EGYPT. 
 
 I have hesitated, in the superficial view 1 propose to take 
 in noticing the ethnological and archaeological researches 
 of the day, as to whether I ought to speak of the land of 
 the Pharaohs. The explorations have been on so grand 
 a scale, and the results so astounding, that one is lost in 
 amazement in attempting to keep pace with them. 
 
 In England, France, Germany and Italy, Egyptian 
 archaeology is the most fruitful topic among the learned. 
 
 * Documents sur I'histoire, la geographic et le commerce de la partie Occident 
 tale de File de Madagascar^ recueilliset rediges par M. Guillian, 8vo. Paris, 1845. 
 
 Histoire d'etablissement Fran^ais de Madagascar, pendant la restauration, 
 preceded d'une description de cette ile, et suivie de quelques considerations poli- 
 tiques et commerciales sur I'expedition et la colonization de Madagascar. Par 
 M. Carayon, Bvo. Paris, 1845. 
 
 Histoire et Gdographie de Madagascar, depuis la d^couverte de Pile en 1506, 
 jusqu'a, recit des derniers evenements de Tamafive ; par M. Descartes. Bvo. Paris, 
 1846. 
 
 Madagascar expedition de 1829. Par M. le Capitaine de fregate Jourdain. 
 Revue de I'Orient, torn ix. April, 1846. 
 
 A short memoir on Madagascar is contained in the " Bulletin de la Soci^ti'i de 
 Geographic, July, 1845," by M. Bona Christave. 
 
 Etchings of a Whaling Voyage, with notes of a sojourn in the Island of Zanzi- 
 bar, and a history of the whale fisheryj by J. R. Browne. Svo. New York; 1846.
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOOY. 49 
 
 In Paris, it forms the theme of lecture by the most distin- 
 guished archaiologists, and the subject absorbs so much 
 interest in Germany, that the King of Prussia has estab- 
 lished a professorship at the Royal University for Egyp- 
 tian antiquities and history, which he has assigned to 
 Professor Lepsius, the most accomphslied schohir in 
 Egyptian learning, and who was at the head of the sci- 
 entific commission sent by his majesty to explore the valley 
 of the Nile. 
 
 It will be remembered that in addition to the immense 
 and costly work published by Napoleon, there have since 
 been published the great national works of ChampoUion, 
 by the French government, and of Rossellini by the 
 Tuscan government. These are to be immediately fol- 
 lowed by the great work of Lepsius, who has just returned 
 from Egypt, laden with innumerable treasures, the results 
 of thrfee years of most laborious and successful explora- 
 tions. This undertaking is at the expense of the King of 
 of Prussia, one of the most enlightened monarchs of 
 Europe, and who, at the present moment, is doing more 
 in various parts of the world for the advancement of 
 science than any now living. 
 
 But the French government, which has always been 
 foremost in promoting such explorations, is determined 
 not to be superseded by the learned Prussian's researches 
 in Eg3^ptian lore. An expedition has been organized 
 under M. Prisse, for a new survey and exploration of 
 Egypt. Mr. Prisse is an accomplished scholar, versed in 
 hieroglyphical learning, and author of a work on Egyptian 
 Ethnology. He will be accompanied by competent 
 artists, will go over the same ground as Lepsius, and 
 make additional explorations. 
 
 "As regards the eminent men who have won brllli;int 
 distinction in the career of Egyptian studies, it is out of 
 the question here to analyze their books : it must suffice 
 to state, that all have marched boldly along the road 
 opened by ChampolUou, and that the science which owed 
 5
 
 50 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 its first illustration to Young, to the Champolllons, to the 
 Humboldts, to Salvolini, to Rosellini, to Nestor L'Hote, 
 and to whose soundness the great De Sacy has furnished 
 his testimony, counts at this day as adepts and ardent 
 cultivators, such scholars as Letronne, Biot, Prisse, Bun- 
 sen, Lepsius, Burnouf, Pauthier, Lanci, Birch, Wilkinson, 
 Shai'pe, Bonorai, and many more.* 
 
 A few important results of the late explorations inEgypt, 
 and researches into her hieroglyphics and history, it may 
 be well to mention. 
 
 Prof. Schwartze, of Berlin, is publishing a work on 
 Egyptian philology, entitled Das Alte jEgyptc7i. Some 
 idea may be formed of the erudition of German philologists, 
 and the extent to which their investigations are carried, 
 when we state that this savant has completed the first part 
 of the first volume of this work, which embraces 2200 
 quarto pages ! and this is but a beginning. * 
 
 De Saulcy has made great advances in decyphering the 
 Demotic writing of Egypt, in which, from Champollion's 
 death to 1843, little had been done. He has now trans- 
 lated the whole of the Demotic text on the Rosetta stone, 
 so that we may consider this portion of Egyptian literature 
 as placed on a firm basis. 
 
 Farther elucidations of the Coptic language have been 
 made. This, it will be remembered, is the language into 
 which the ancient Egyptian merged, and is the main in- 
 strument by which a knowledge of the latter must be ob- 
 tained. Recently a discovery has been made by Arthur 
 de Riviere, at Cairo, in an ancient Coptic MS. containing 
 part of the Old Testament. The manuscript was very 
 large and thick, and on separating the leaves was found 
 to contain a pagan manuscript in the same language, the 
 only one yet discovered.f On a farther examination of 
 
 * See De Saulcy. Revue des deux Mondes, June, 1846. 
 
 t The accident which led to this second discovery deserves to be mentioned. 
 The person into whose hands the manuscript fell, while examining the leaves 
 which were remarkably thick, accidentally spilt a tumbler of water on it. In
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 51 
 
 this manuscript, it proved to be a work on the religion of 
 the ancient Egyptians. The translation of this curious 
 document is looked for with much interest. 
 
 M. Prisse is publishing at the expense of the French 
 Government, the continuation of ChampoUion's great work 
 on Egypt and Nubia — 50 plates are in press. 
 
 Mr. Birch, of London, has nearly ready for the press a 
 work on the titles of the officers of the Pharaonic court. He 
 has discovered in hieroglyphical writing those of the clilef 
 butler, chief baker, and others, coeval with the pyramids and 
 anterior to Joseph. He has also discovered upon a tablet 
 at the Louvre (age of Thotmes lU. B. C. IGOO) his conquest 
 of Nineveh, Shinar, and Babylon, and with the tribute ex- 
 acted from those conquered nations. The intense interest 
 which Egyptian archasology is exciting in Europe will be 
 seen from the list of new books on the subject. 
 
 The most remarkable discoveries, and in which the 
 greatest advances has been made, arc in monumental 
 chronology. Through the indefatigable labors of the Prus- 
 sian savant, Lepsius, primeval history has far transcended 
 the bounds to which Champollion and Rosellini had car- 
 ried it. They fixed the era of Menes, the first Pharaoh of 
 Egypt, at about 2750, B. C. Bockh, of Berlin, from astro- 
 nomical calculatious, places it at 5702 B. C. 
 
 Henry of Paris, in his " UEgypte Fhiiraoniquc," from 
 historical deductions, places the era at 5303 B.C. 
 
 Barucchi, of Turin, from critical investigations, at 4890 
 B. C, and Bunsen, in his late work entitled " Egypt's 
 Place in the World's History," from the most laVjorious 
 hierological and critical deductions, places the era' ol' 
 Menes at 3643 B. C. 
 
 I should do wrong to speak of the labors of foreign 
 
 order to dry it he placed it in the sun in a window, when the parchment that 
 was wet separated. He opened the leaves which had been sealed and found the 
 Pagan manuscript between them. A farther examination showed that the entire 
 volume was similarly formed.
 
 52 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGV. 
 
 savans, without alluding to what has been done in this 
 country. Dr. Morton, it is known, has published a work 
 on Egyptian Ethnography, from crania in his possession 
 furnished by Mr. Gliddon, which reflects great credit on 
 his scholarship, and has been highly commended in Europe. 
 The late Mr. Pickering, of Boston, was one of the few 
 who cultivated hieroglyphical literature in America. But 
 perhaps the American, people, as a mass, owe a deeper 
 debt of gratitude to Mr. Geo. R. Ghddon, for his interest- 
 ing lectures on Egypt and her literature, and to his work 
 entitled Chapters on Egyptian Antiquities and Hieroglyph- 
 ics, than to any other man. Mr. Gliddon, by a long resi- 
 dence in Egypt, and by a close study subsequently of her 
 monuments, has been enabled to popularize the subject, 
 and by the aid of a truly magnificent and costly series of 
 illustrations of the monuments, the sculptures, the paint- 
 ings and hieroglyphics of Egypt, to make this most 
 interesting and absorbing subject, comprehensive to all. 
 
 The results of these Egyptian investigations will doubtless 
 be startling to many ; for if the facts announced are true, 
 and we see no reason to believe otherwise, it places the 
 creation of man far, very far, beyond the period usually 
 assigned to him in the chronology of the Hebrew Bible. 
 But again, it must be observed that the common chronologj'^ 
 gives the shortest period for that event. If other scrip- 
 tural chronologies are adopted, we gain two or three thou- 
 sand years for the creation of man, which gives us quite 
 time enough to account for the high state of civilization 
 and the arts in Egypt, four thousand years B. C. 
 
 I must also acknowledge the obligation I am under for the use of many splen- 
 did and valuable books relating to Egypt, from Mr. Richard K. Haight. This 
 gentleman, with an ample fortune at his command, and with a taste for archaBO- 
 logical studies, acquired by a personal tour among the monuments of Egypt, has 
 collected a large and valuable library of books on Egypt, including all the great 
 works published by the European governments on that country. This costly and 
 unique collection, which few but princes or governments possess, he liberally 
 places at the command of scholars, who, for purposesof study, may require them.
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 53 
 
 But we do not fear these investigations — truth will pre- 
 vail, and its attainment can never be detriincnt;il in th(^ 
 highest interests of man. 
 
 Mr. Haight's interest in arcliBCological researches lias been noticed in Paris, 
 in an article by De Saulcy, member of the Institute of France, in a memoir en- 
 titled, " L'Etude des Hieroglyphics." Speaking of I\Ir. Gliddon's success in the 
 United States in popularizing hieroglypliical discoveries, De Saulcy justly re- 
 marks — " II a 6tc puissamment second^-, dans cette louable entreprise, par une 
 de ces nobles intelligences dont un pays s' honore ; M. Haight, I'anii, le soutien, 
 devoue de tous ies hommes de science, n'a pas peu contribuc, par sa gi^iK^reuse 
 assistance, a repandre aux Etats-Unis Ies belles decouvertes qui concernent Ies 
 temps pharaoniques." Eevue des Deux Mondes. Paris, June 15, 1846. 
 
 The following list embraces the late works relating to Egypt : 
 
 The Oriental Album ; or Historical, Pictorial, and Ethnographical Sketches, 
 illustrating the human families in the Valley of the Nile : by E. Prisse. folio. 
 London, 1846. 
 
 The History of Egypt, from the earliest times till the conquest by the Arabs, 
 A. D. 640. By Samuel Sharpe. 8vo. London, 1846. 
 
 A Pilgrimage to the Temples and Tombs of Egypt, Nubia, and Palestine, in 
 1845-'46, by Mrs. Romer, 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1846. 
 
 L'Egypte au XlXsifecle, histoire militaire et politique, anecdotique etpittoresque 
 de Mehemet Ali, etc. ; par E. Gouin. Illustr<;e de gravures. 
 
 Panorama d'Egypte et de Nubie avec un texte orn^, de vignettes ; par Hector 
 Horeau. folio. 
 
 Recherches sur Ies arts et metiers de la vie civile et domestique des anciens 
 peuples de I'Egypte, de la Nubie et de I'Ethiopie, suivi de details sur Ies moeurs 
 et codtumes des peuples modernes des memes contrees ; par M. Frederic Cail- 
 liand, folio. Paris, 1831-'47. 100 plates. 
 
 Das Todtenbuch der ^Egypten nach dera Hieroglyphischen Papyrus in Turin, 
 von Dr. R. Leipsius. Leipsig. 
 
 Schwartze Das alte .lEgypten, oder Sprache, Geschichte, Religion uiid Verfas- 
 sung d. alt. .(Egypt. 2 vols. 4to. Leipsig. 
 
 jEgyptens Stelle in der Weltgeschichte : Von Carl J. Bunsen. 3 vols. 8vo. 
 
 Manetho und die Hundssternperiode, ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Pharao- 
 nen : Von August Bockh. 8vo. Berlin, 1845. 
 
 Macrizi'fe Geschichte der Copten. Aus den Handschriften zu Gotha und Wi'en, 
 mit Uebersetzungen and Anmerkungen. Von Wiistenfeld. 4to. Gottingen, 1845. 
 
 Monuments de I'Egypte et de la Nubie. Notices descriptives conformcs aux 
 manuscrits autographes rediges sur Ies lieux par Cliatnpollion le jeune. folio. 
 Paris, 1845-'46. 
 
 L'Egypte Pharaonique, ou Histoire des institutions qui regirent Ies Egyptiens 
 sous leur Rois nationaux. par D. M. .7. Henri, 2 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1846. 
 
 Discorso Gritici sopra la Gronologia Egizia ; del Prof. Barucchi. 4to. Turin. 
 
 Voyage en Egypte, en Nubie, dans Ies deserts de Beyonda, des Bycharls, el 
 sur Ies c6tes de la Mer Rouge: par E. Combes. 2 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1847. 
 5*
 
 54 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO. 
 
 Borneo. — Among the most remarkable and successful 
 attempts to open a communication with the natives of the 
 East India Islands, is that of Mr. James Brooke. This 
 gentleman, prompted solely by a desire to improve the 
 condition of the people of Borneo, and at the same time to 
 explore this hitherto unknown region, has established him- 
 self at Sarawak, on the north-western part of the island, 
 427 miles from Singapore. Such was the interest mani- 
 fested by him on his arrival in the country to promote the 
 good of the people, and to suppress the piracies which have 
 been carried on for many years by the Malays, and certain 
 tribes associated with them, that the then reigning Rajah, 
 Muda Hassim, resigned to him his right and title to the 
 government of the district, in which he was afterwards 
 established by the Sultan of Borneo. The success that 
 has attended Mr. Brooke's government, among a barba- 
 rous people, whose intercourse with foreigners had been 
 confined to the Malays and Chinese, is most remarkable. 
 Possessed of an independent fortune, of the most en- 
 larged benevolence ; familiar with the language, manners, 
 customs and institutions of the people by which he is 
 surrounded, with a mind stored with knowledge acquired 
 from extensive travel and intercourse with various rude 
 nations, he seems to have been prepared by Providence 
 for the task which he has attempted, and which has 
 thus far been crowned with success. 
 
 Capt. Keppel's Narrative of his expedition to Borneo, 
 and Mr. Brooke's Journal, furnish some interesting ethno- 
 logical facts. The Dyaks, or aboriginal inhabitants of 
 Borneo, are divided into numerous lesser tribes, varying 
 in a slight degree in their manners and customs. Their 
 language belongs to the Polynesian stock, on which has 
 been ingrafted, particularly along the coast, a large num-
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 65 
 
 ber of Malayan words. It also exhibits evidences of mi- 
 grations from India at remote periods. In speaking of 
 the Sibnowans, Mr. Brooke observes that " they have no 
 idea of a God, and though they have a name for the Deity, 
 (Battara, evidently of Hindoo origin,) with a faint notion 
 of a future state, the belief seems a dead letter among: 
 them. They have no priests, say no prayers, make no 
 offerings to propitiate the Dcit}'' ; and of course have no 
 occasion for human sacrifices, in which respect they diller 
 from all other people in the same state of civilization, who 
 bow to their idols with the same feelings of reverence and 
 devotion, of awe and fear, as civilized beings do to their 
 invisible God."* From their comparatively innocent 
 state, Mr. Brooke believes they are capable of being easily 
 raised in the scale of society. " Their simplicity of man- 
 ners, the purity of their morals and their present igno- 
 rance of all forms of worship, and all idea of future re- 
 sponsibility, render them open to conviction of truth and 
 rehgious impression, when their minds have been raised 
 by education."* It is a well known fact, that since the 
 establishment of Europeans in the Eastern Archipelago, 
 the tendency of the Polynesian races has generally been 
 to decay. The case of Mr. Brooke, however, now war- 
 rants us in hoping that such a result need not necessarily 
 and inevitably ensue. 
 
 While success has attended this gentleman at the 
 north, the American missionaries, among the Dutch 
 possessions farther south, have totally failed in their 
 objects. They attribute the unwillingness of the Dyaks 
 to submit to their instruction, to the influence of the 
 Malays, whose interests are necessarily opposed to those 
 of the missionaries, for, it is evident that once under 
 the guidance of the latter, the Dyaks will see their own 
 degraded and oppressed condition, and submit to it uo 
 
 * Keppell's Borneo, vol. I. p. 233. 2. p. 59.
 
 56 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 longer. Mr. Youngblood says that " so prejudiced are 
 the Dyaks, that I have been unable to obtain a few boys 
 to instruct, of which I was very desirous."* 
 
 The Dutch have long had trading establishments in 
 Borneo, but they had made no efforts either to suppress 
 the piracies, or improve the moral and social condition ot 
 its inhabitants. Its great value has now become so appa- 
 rent, that unless they keep pace with, and follow the ex- 
 ample set by the English, they will be in danger of having 
 it wrested from their hands by the more enlightened 
 policy of the latter. 
 
 Borneo produces all the valuable articles of commerce 
 common to other islands of the Eastern Archipelago. Its 
 mineral productions are equally rich, and include gold 
 dust, diamonds, pearls, tin, copper, antimony, and coal. 
 The interior is quite unknown. It is three times larger 
 than Great Britain, and is supposed to contain about 
 3,000,000 of people. 
 
 Ihave purposely avoided speaking of the trade and 
 commerce of the islands of the Eastern Archipelago, as 
 they are subjects which do not fall within the sphere of 
 our enquiries, in a review like the present ; although the 
 productions, the trade and commerce of nations are 
 properly a branch of ethnological enquiry, in a more en- 
 larged view. An interesting pamphlet, embodying much 
 valuable information on the commerce of the East, has 
 been lately published by our townsman, Mr. Aaron H. 
 Palmer. This gentleman is desirous that the United 
 States government should send a special mission to the 
 East Indies, as well as to other countries of Asia, 
 with a view to extend our commercial relations. The 
 plan is one that deserves the attention of our people and 
 government, and I am happy to state that it has met with 
 favor from many of our merchants engaged in the com- 
 merce of the East, as well as from some distinguished 
 
 * Missionary Herald, vol. 42, p. 100.
 
 THE PROGRESS OP ETHNOLOGY. 07 
 
 functionaries of the government.* England, Franco, 
 Prussia, Denmark, and Holland, have at the present mo- 
 ment, expeditions in various parts of the East Indies and 
 Oceanica, planned for the pursuit of various scientific 
 enquiries and the extension of their commerce. With 
 the exception of Prussia, these nations seem to be de- 
 sirous to establish colonies ; and they have, within a 11; w 
 years, taken up valuable positions for the purpose. 
 
 Is it not then the duty of our government to be repre- 
 sented in this new and wide field y' Our dominions now 
 extend from ocean to ocean, and we talk of the great 
 advantages we shall possess in carrying on an eastern 
 trade ; but how greatly would our advantages be increased 
 by having a depot or colony on on^of the fertile islands 
 contiguous to China, Java, Borneo, Japan, the Philip- 
 pines, &c. An extended commerce demands it, and we 
 hope the day is not distant when our government may see 
 its» importance. 
 
 England, France, Spain, Portugal and Holland have 
 possessions in the East. The former, always awake ta 
 her commercial interests, now has three prominent sta- 
 tions in the China Sea, — Singapore, Borneo, and Hong- 
 kong. But even these important points do not satisfy 
 her, and she looks with a longing eye towards Chusan, a 
 point of great importance, commanding the trade of the 
 northern provinces of China, and contiguous to Corea 
 and Japan. The " Friend of India," a leading paper, " is 
 possessed with a most vehement desire," says the editor 
 of the "' China Mail," " that the British, without infring- 
 ing their ' political morality,' could contrive some means 
 
 * Letter to the Hon. C. J. Ingersoll, chairman of the committee on foreign 
 affairs, containing some brief notices respecting the present state, productions, 
 trade, commerce, &,c. of the Comoro Islands, Abyssinia, Persia, Burii^, Cochin 
 China, the Indian Archipelago, and Japan ; and reconmiending that a special 
 mission be sent by the government of the United States, to make treaties and 
 extend our commercial relations with those countries: by Aaron H. Palmer, 
 councillor of the Supreme Court of the United States,
 
 58 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 of obtaining the cession of Chusan, which, in their hands, 
 he beheves, could be converted into a second Singapore, 
 and become one of the largest mercantile marts of the 
 East."* 
 
 It is evident from what has been stated, and from the 
 opinions expressed in foreign journals, that the attention 
 of the civilized world has been suddenly attracted to the 
 Eastern Archipelago, and it is only surprising, consider- 
 ing the knowledge possessed by the European nations, of 
 the rich productions of these islands, and the miserable 
 state in which a large portion of their inhabitants live, 
 that efforts have not before been made to colonize them, 
 and bring them under European rule. 
 
 The Spaniards contamted themselves with the Philippines, 
 but the Dutch, more enterprising, as well as more ambi- 
 tious, extended their conquests to Sumatra, Java, the Mo- 
 luccas, and recently to Bali, Sumbawa, Timor and Celebes. 
 But these are not all, for wherever our ships push tlicir 
 way through these innumerable islands, they find scatter- 
 ed, far and wide, their unobtrusive commercial stations, 
 generally protected by a fort and a cruiser. 
 
 It is said that the natives feel no attachment for their 
 Dutch rulers, which, as they possess so wide spread ado- 
 minion in the Archipelago, is much to be regretted ; for 
 this feeling of animosity against them, may effect the rela- 
 tions that may be hereafter formed between the aboriginal 
 races and other Christian people. Attempts will doubtless 
 be made to prejudice the natives against the Enghsh, but 
 the popularity of Mr. Brooke at Sarawak, in Borneo, his 
 kindness to the natives, and the destruction of the pirates by 
 the British, will no doubt gain for them throughout the Ar- 
 chipelago, a name and an influence which the jealousies of 
 other nations cannot counteract. The natives of these 
 island^except those of the interior, are strictly a trading 
 and commercial people. Addicted to a seafaring life, and 
 
 * See " China Mail" newspaper, for March 26, 1846.
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 69 
 
 tempted by a love of gain, they traverse these seas in 
 search of the various articles of commerce which are 
 eagerly sought after by traders for the European, India, 
 and Chinese markets. Piracy, which abounds in this 
 region, grows out of this love of trade — this desire for the 
 accumulation of wealth — and we believe that nothing 
 would tend to suppress crime so effectually as the estab- 
 lishment of commercial ports throughout the Archipelago. 
 It is said that the population embraced in the twelve 
 thousand islands of which Polynesia consists, amounts to 
 about forty milhons. No part of the world equals it in the 
 great variety and value of its products. There is scarcely 
 an island but is accessible in ever}'^ direction, abounding in 
 spacious bays and harbors, and the larger ones in navi- 
 gable rivers. The people are generally intelhgent, and 
 susceptible of a higher degree of cultivation than the 
 natives of Africa, or of many parts of the adjacent con- 
 tinent. 
 
 To obtain a station or an island in this vast Archipel- 
 ago, we should require neither the outlay of a large sum 
 of money, nor the loss of human hfe ; no governments 
 would be subjected, or kings overthrown. Civilization 
 and its attendant blessings would take the place of bar- 
 barism, idolatry would be supplanted by Christianity, and 
 the poor natives, now bowed down by cruelty and op- 
 pression, would, under the care of an enlightened gov- 
 ernment, become elevated in the scale of social existence. 
 
 The cultivation of spices in the Archipelago, and the 
 acts by which the monopoly is secured by the Dutch in 
 the Moluccas, reflect httle credit on human nature. " No 
 where in the world have the aboriginal tribes been treated 
 with greater cruelty ; and in some cases literal extermi- 
 nation has overtaken them. Their tribe has been extin- 
 guished, they have been cut off to a man, and that merely 
 lest, in order to obtain a humljlc sulxsistencc, they should 
 presume to trade on their own account in those costly spi- 
 ces, the sale of which, without right or reason, Holland has
 
 60 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 hitherto thought proper to appropriate to herself. No 
 form of servitude, moreover, equals the slavery of those 
 who are engaged in the culture of the nutmeg-tree. 
 They toil without hope. No change ever diversifies their 
 drudgery ; no holiday gladdens them ; no reward, how- 
 ever trifling, repays extra exertion, or acts as a stimulus 
 for the future. The wretched slave's life is one monoto- 
 nous round, a mere alternation of toil and sleep, to be 
 terminated only by death."* The northern portions of 
 New Guinea, as well as other islands, are in the same 
 latitude as Banda and Amboyna, and produce the nut- 
 meg and other spices. They might be extensively culti- 
 vated by the natives, if encouragement was given them ; 
 and a sufficient supply obtained for all the markets of 
 Europe and America. 
 
 The Island of Bali, lying east of Java, from which 
 it is separated by a narrow strait, has recently been sub- 
 jected by the Dutch. Some difficulty growing out of the 
 commerce with the people, is the alleged cause. It is an 
 island of great importance to Holland, and would seriously 
 injure her commerce with Java, should any other Euro- 
 pean nation take it under its protection, or plant a colony 
 there. A slight pretext therefore sufficed for its annexa- 
 tion. 
 
 New CALED0^rIA Islands. Later information has been 
 received from the Catholic Missionaries in New Caledo- 
 nia ; for it seems that even in those distant and barbarous 
 islands both Protestant and Catholic are represented. 
 The Propaganda annals contain some interesting accounts 
 of the natives of these islands, and of other facts of im- 
 portance in Ethnology. Two Catholic missionaries, the 
 Rev. Mr. Rougeyron and the Rev. Mr. Colin, had been 
 wenty months on these islands, during which time they 
 had accomplished nothing in the way of conversions, and 
 
 * Frazer's Magazine, 1846. In this Magazine is an article of mUch intereat 
 on the commercial relations of the Indian Archipelago.
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. Gl 
 
 but little towards improving the moral condition of the 
 natives. It was hardly time to expect much, as they had 
 only then begun to speak the language of the country, 
 which they found very difficult to acquire. The natives 
 are a most lazy and wretched people. They cultivate the 
 ground with the aid of a piece of pointed wood, or with 
 their nails, but never in proportion to their wants. For 
 the greater part of the year they are compelled to live 
 upon a few fish, shell-fish, roots and the bark of trees, and 
 at times when pressed by hunger, worms, spiders and 
 lizards are eagerly devoured by them. They are canni- 
 bals in every sense of the word, and openly feed on the 
 flesh of their enemies. Yet they possess the cocoa, bana- 
 na and yam, with a luxuriant soil, from which, with a 
 little labor, an abundance could be raised. 
 
 Among no savage tribes are the women worse treated 
 than here. They are completely at the mercy of their 
 cniel and tyrannical husbands. Compelled to carry bur- 
 dens, to collect food, and cultivate the fields, their existence 
 promises them but little enjoyment ; and when there is 
 any fruit or article of delicacy procured, it is at once 
 tabooed by the husband, so that she cannot touch it but at 
 the peril of her life. 
 
 The missionaries had begun to expostulate with the na- 
 tives on the horrors of eating their prisoners, and other vices 
 to which they were addicted, and observe that " a happy 
 change has already taken place among them ; that they 
 were less disposed to robbery, and that their wars are less 
 frequent."* They are beginning to understand the motive 
 which brought the missionaries to them, and already show 
 a desire to be instructed. 
 
 The protestant missions have not accomplished any 
 more than the Catholic's among these savages. The la- 
 test accounts state that four of the native teachers who 
 had been converted to Christianity, had been cruelly mur- 
 
 • Annals of the Propagation of the Faith. Sept. 184G. 
 
 6
 
 62 
 
 THE PROGRESS OP ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 dered, and that such was the hostihty of the chiefs at the 
 isle of Pines, that the prospects of the missionaries were 
 most discouraging.* 
 
 SooLoo Islands. — Mr. Itier, attache to the French mis- 
 sion in China, has recently visited a cluster of islands 
 lying to the northeast of Borneo, between that island 
 and Mindanao.t His researches on the natural history 
 and geology of these islands, are of much interest. The 
 soil is exceedingly fertile, and the climate more healthy 
 than is usual in intertropical climates. The sugar cane, 
 cocoa, rice, cotton, the bread fruit, indigo, and spices of 
 all kinds, are among their products. Fruits and vegeta- 
 bles of a great variety, are abundant, and of a superior 
 qualit5^ Nine-tenths of the soil is still covered with the 
 primitive forest, of which teak-wood, so valuable in ship- 
 building, forms a part. A considerable commerce with 
 China and Manilla is carried on, and from ten to twelve 
 thousand Chinese annually visit the island of Basilan, the 
 most northerly of the group, to cultivate its soil, and take 
 away its products. The peculiar situation of these islands, 
 and their contiguity to the Philippines, to Celebes, Bor- 
 neo, Manilla, China, and Singapore, make them well 
 adapted for a European colony. In fact, there do not 
 appear to be any islands of the East Indies of equal im- 
 portance, and there can be no doubt that with the present 
 desice manifested by European nations for colonizing, this 
 desirable spot will ere long be secured by one of them. 
 The Sooloo group embraces sixty inhabited islands, gov- 
 erned by a Sultan, residing at Soung. One of these 
 would be an advantageous point for an American colony 
 or station. 
 
 The same gentleman has presented to the Geographical 
 Society of Paris, the journal of a voyage and visit to the 
 Philippine islands, from which it appears that that large 
 
 * London Evangelical Magazine, August, 1846. 
 
 t Bulletin de la Societ6 de Gcogiaphie, 1846. Extrait d'une description de 
 I'arcbipel des iles Solo, p. 311.
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. fiS 
 
 and important group is not inferior in interest to the 
 Sooloo islands. The natural history and geology, the 
 soil and its products, the manners and customs of the 
 people, their commerce and politic;!.! history, are described 
 in detail.* The group embraces about twelve hundred 
 islands, with a population of 4,000,000, of whom about 
 8,000 are Chinese, 4,000 Spaniards, 120,000 of a mixed 
 race, and the remainder natives. 
 
 The Nicobar Islands, a group nineteen in number, 
 in the Bay of Bengal, have again attracted the attention 
 of the Danish government, by which an expedition has 
 been sent with a view to colonize them anew. The Danes 
 planted a colony there in 1756, but were compelled to 
 abandon it in consequence of the insalubrity of the cli- 
 mate. Subsequently the French made an attempt with 
 no better success. 
 
 Australia. This vast island continues to attract the 
 attention of geographers and naturalists. Its interior re- 
 mains unknown, notwithstanding the various attempts 
 
 * Bulletin de la Soci^t^ de Geographic, for 1846, p. 365. 
 
 Recent publications on the Eastern Archipelago and Polynesia, 
 
 Ethnology and Philology. By Horatio Hale, Philologist of the U. S. Exploring 
 Expedition, imp. 4to. Philadelphia, 1846. 
 
 Reise nach Java, und Ausfliige nach den Inseln Mudura und S. Helena ; von 
 Dr. Edward Selberg, 8vo. Oldenburg, 1845. 
 
 Philippines (les), histoire, geographic, mceurs, agriculture, industrie et com- 
 merce des colonies espagnoles dans I'Ocdanie ; par J. Mallat, 2 vols. 8vo., 
 avec un atlas in folio. Paris, 1846. 
 
 The expedition of H. M. S. Dido, for the suppression of piracy ; by the Hon. 
 Capt. Keppell, with extracts from the journal of James Brooke, Esq. 2 vols. 8vo. 
 London, 1846. Reprinted in New York. 
 
 Trade and Travel in the Far East ; or recollections of twenty-one years passeil 
 in Java, Singapore, Australia and China, by G. F. Davidson, post 8vo. London, 
 1846. 
 
 Typee : Narrative of a four months* residence anionic the natives of the Mar- 
 quesas islands, by Herman Melville. 12mo. New York, 1846. 
 
 Besides these, The Missionary Herald, the Baptist Missionary Magazine, Tiie 
 London Evangelical Magazine, the Annals of th« Society for the Propagation of 
 the Faith, as well as other similar journals, contain many articles of great interest 
 on the various islands of the Eastern Archipelago and the South Sea Islands.
 
 64 
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 which liave been made from various points to penetrate it. 
 The explorations of scientific men during the last four 
 years have been productive of valuable information rela- 
 ting to its geography, ethnography, geology and natural 
 history. 
 
 Among the most eminent and successful in this field, is 
 the Count de Strzelecki. This gentleman, as early as the 
 year 1840, made an extensive tour into the southwestern 
 part of Australia, in which he discovered an extensive tract 
 called Gipp's Land, containing an extent of five thou- 
 sand six hundred square miles, a navigable lake and 
 several rivers, and from the richness of the soil, present- 
 ing an inviting prospect to settlers. His explorations 
 were continued during the years 1842 '43 and '44, and 
 in the following year the results were given to the public,* 
 " comprehending the fruits of five years of continual labor 
 during a tour of seven thousand miles on foot. This work 
 treats, within a moderate compass, of the history and re- 
 sults of the surveys of those countries, of their climate, 
 their geology, botany and zoology, as well as of the 
 physical, moral and social state of the aborigines, and the 
 state of colonial agriculture, the whole illustrated by com- 
 parisons with other countries visited by himself in the 
 course of twelve years travel through other parts of the 
 world." For these extensive explorations and discove- 
 ries, and for his valuable work in which they are em- 
 bodied, the Royal Geographical Society of London 
 awarded the " Founders" gold medal to Count Strzelecki.f 
 
 Additional information to our knowledge of Australia 
 is contained in Capt. Stokes's late work detailing the dis- 
 coveries made by himself and other officers attached to 
 H. M. S. Beagle. These discoveries consist of a minute 
 examination of a large part of the coast of that island, of 
 
 * Physical description of New South Wales and Van Dieman's Land, 
 t Address of Lord Colchester to Count Strzelecki on presenting him with the 
 medal.
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 05 
 
 several rivers on its northern and northwestern sides, and 
 of expeditions into the interior. Natives were seen in 
 small numbers in various parts, all of whom were in the 
 lowest state of barbarism. A remarkable diversity of 
 character was noticed, however, among the natives of 
 different localities, some being most kindly disposed, and 
 approaching the strangers without fear, as though they 
 were old acquaintances, whilst others manifested the 
 greatest hostihty and aversion. In the instances referred 
 to, they had never seen white men before. Capt. Stokes 
 says his "whole experience teaches him that these were 
 not accidental differences, but that there is a marked con- 
 trast in the disposition of the various tribes, for which he 
 will not attempt to account."* The natives at Port Ess- 
 ington, on the porth, appear to be in some respects supe- 
 rior to those in other parts of the island. Their imple- 
 ments of war and their canoes show a connexion with the 
 Malays. They also have a musical instrument made of 
 bamboo, the only one yet found among them.t Thorite 
 of circumcision was practised on the northern coast near 
 the gulf of Carpentaria. On the southern coast, at the head 
 of the Australian bight, it had before been noticed by 
 Mr. EyrcJ For the practice of this ancient rite at such 
 remote distances, and confined too within such narrow 
 limits, we can only account, by some early migration or 
 visit of people by whom it was practised. Nothing has 
 yet been done towards a comparison of the languages 
 spoken by the Austrahan tribes. In the late cruise of 
 Capt. Stokes, natives of the south were taken to the 
 northern parts of the island, but in their intercourse with 
 the people of the latter, they were unable to make them- 
 selves understood. . It is possible, however, that like the 
 languages of the American Indians, though they may ex- 
 hibit a wide difference in words for similar objects, the 
 grammatical structure ma}'^ be the same. This is a more 
 
 • Discoveries in Australia, vol. 1. p. 252. + p. 394. } vol 2. p. 10. 
 
 6*
 
 06 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGV. 
 
 important test in ethnological comparison, and should be 
 applied before any of the aboriginal tribes of Australia 
 are extinct. 
 
 By far the most important journey yet accomplished for 
 the exploration of Australia, is that of Dr. Leichardt. 
 This gentleman, accompanied by Mr. Gilbert, a natural- 
 ist, and six others, started from Moreton Bay, on the 
 southeastern shore of the island, in October, 1844, to 
 penetrate to Port Essington, on its most northerly point ; 
 in order, if possible, to open a direct route to Sydney. 
 Several months after the party left, reports were brought 
 to Moreton Bay that they had been cut off by the natives. 
 This was proved to be untrue by an expedition sent out 
 for the purpose, who traced the travellers four hundred 
 miles into the interior. Dr. Leichardt found it impossible 
 to penetrate into the interior in a direct course, on account 
 of high table-land, and the absence of water ; and this 
 circumstance compelled him to keep within six or seven 
 degrees of the coast. Their six months' provisions being 
 exhausted, the only resource of the party was the horses 
 and stock bullocks, — and with these the strictest economy 
 was necessary. One was killed as provision for a month 
 — sometimes a horse, at others a bollock. For six months 
 prior to reaching Port Essington, the party were reduced 
 to a quarter of a pound of meat per day — frequently pu- 
 trescent — unaccompanied with salt, bread, or any kind of 
 vegetable. In the neighborhood of the Gulf of Carpenta- 
 ria, Mr. Gilbert, the naturalist, was surprised by the na- 
 tives, and killed. Tlie remainder reached Port Essington 
 on the 2d of December, 1845.* 
 
 The narrative of Dr. Leichardt's expedition has not 
 yet been published in detail. The, reportt which has ap- 
 peared consists chiefly of notices of the geography of the 
 
 « London Athenjeum, July 25, 1846. Ibid. Aug. 8, 1846. 
 t Report of Dr. Leichardt's Expedition, Simmonds' Colonial Magazu.-. vol. 2, 
 1845.
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 67 
 
 region traversed, the soil, pvoJuctioiis, climate, &c. He 
 encountered natives in many places, sometimes in con- 
 siderable numbers. By some they were kindly received, 
 by others treated as enemies. Their characteristics are 
 not noticed. The most extraordinary feature in Dr. Lei- 
 chardt's narrative is the constant succession of water. 
 Although the season was an exceedingly dry one, no rain 
 havinw fallen for seven months, vet from the commence- 
 ment to the close of his year and a half's expetlition, 
 throughout the whole length and breadth of the vast re- 
 gion he traversed, he was continually meeting with fresh 
 water, in the forms of" pools, lagoons, brooks, wells, water- 
 holes, rocky basins, living springs, swamps, streams, 
 creeks or rivers." The soil in many places was of the 
 best kind, covered with luxuriant grass and herbs. Of the 
 former, some twenty kinds were seen. In lat. 18° 48' he 
 found a level country, openly timbered, with fine plains, 
 extending many miles in length and breadth. The flats 
 bordering the creeks and rivers were covered with tall 
 grass, and the table-lands presented equally attractive 
 features. " The whole country along the east coast of 
 the Gulf of Carpentaria is highly adapted for pastoral 
 pursuits. Cattle and horses would thrive exceedingly 
 well, but the climate and soil are not adapted to sheep. 
 Large plains, limited by narrow belts of open forest land ; 
 fine grassy meadows along frequent chains of lagoons, 
 and shady forest land along the rivers, render this coun- 
 try inviting to the squatter." Dr. Leichardt thinks there 
 are many districts suitable for the cultivation of rice and 
 cotton. 
 
 In regard to a communication between the settlements, 
 it is the decided opinion of the Doctor, that no line of road 
 can be effected direct firom Fort Bourke to the northern 
 settlement. A route from Moreton ba}^ to the gult ot" 
 Carpentaria will be easily constructed. The whole coast 
 is backed by ranges of mountains, consisting, nearest the 
 sea, generally of granite and basaltic rocks, wliich he
 
 68 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 calls the granite range ; behind this is a second range of 
 sandstone. Descending from this and again rising, they 
 entered upon the table-land ; which they could nowhere 
 penetrate, so as to determine what might be the character 
 of the central country. It was covered with a dense 
 shrub, had no water ; and frequently there was difficulty 
 in descending from it, owing to the perpendicular cliffs 
 and deep ravines. They passed several rivers all of 
 which ran easterly towards the coast. After reaching the 
 Gulf of Carpentaria, they again ascended the table-land, 
 and suffered extremely for want of water. The country 
 beneath them was delightful to look at, but they were un- 
 able to descend to it, until they reached the dip towards 
 the Alligators. Here the country surpassed in fertility any 
 thing that they had seen. 
 
 By later advices from Sydney, it appears that this en- 
 terprising and zealous traveller, is again making arrange- 
 ments for another expedition to explore the interior of this 
 great island.* The Doctor now proposes to leave Moreton 
 
 * London Athenseum. Nov. 3, 1846. 
 
 The following list embraces the latest works on Australia. 
 
 Physical description of New South Wales and Van Dieman's Land, accompa- 
 nied by a Geographical map, by P. E. de Strzelecki. 8vo. 1845. 
 
 South Australia and its Mines ; with an account of Captain Grey's govern- 
 ment, by Fr. Button. Bvo. London, 1846. 
 
 History of New South Wales, from its settlement to the close of the year 
 1844, by Thomas H. Braim. 2 vols, post, 8vo. London, 1846. 
 
 Reminiscences of Australia, with hints on the Squatters' life, by C. P. Hodgson, 
 post, 8vo. London, 1846. 
 
 A visit to the Antipodes; with some reminiscences of a sojourn in Australia. 
 By a Squatter. 8vo. London, 1846. 
 
 Enterprise in tropical Australia. By George W. Earl. 8vo. London, 1846. 
 
 Impressions of Savage life, and scenes in Australia and New Zealand. By 
 G. F. Augas. 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1847. 
 
 Travels in New South Wales. By Alexander Majoribanks. 12mo. Lond. 
 1847. 
 
 Simmonds' Colonial Magazine contains a vast deal of information relating to 
 Australia, as well as to other British Colonies, and is unquestionably the best 
 book of reference on subjects relating to the history and present condition of the 
 British colonies of any work extant.
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 69 
 
 bay and endeavor to trace the sources of the rivers wliich 
 flow into the Gulf of Carpentaria. He will then proceed 
 northwest, penetrating directly across the unknown and 
 unexplored interior, forming the arc of a circle, to Swan 
 river. This will be the most daring journey yet attempt- 
 ed ; but under the direction of one who has already shown 
 so much perseverance and undergone such severe hard- 
 ships, it is to be hoped that his efforts may be crowned 
 with success. 
 
 An expedition for the exploration of Australia, under the 
 command of Sir Thomas L. Mitchell, is at present employ- 
 ed in traversing the unknown parts of this vast country. 
 When last heard from, the expedition had reached the 
 latitude of 29° 45' longitude 147° 34'. The particulars 
 of Dr. Leichardt's journey have been sent to him to guide 
 him in his course of future operations.* 
 
 Lycia, Asia Minor. This interesting region has been 
 further explored by two English gentlemen, Lieut. Spratt, 
 R. N., and Professor Forbes, who, accompanied by the 
 Reverend E. T. Daniel, embarked from England in the 
 year 1842, in H. M. ship Beacon, for the coast of Lycia, 
 for the purpose of bringing home the remarkable monu- 
 ments of antiquity discovered by Sir Charles Fellows. 
 
 This gentleman, it will be remembered, was the first 
 who in modern times successfully explored the interior. 
 He visited the sites of many ancient cities and towns ; 
 copied numerous inscriptions, by means of which he was 
 enabled to identify the names of fifteen out of eighteen 
 cities ; and made sketches of the most interesting sculp- 
 tures and monuments. 
 
 It is remarkable that a country so often spoken of by 
 the Greek and Roman historians should not have sooner 
 attracted attention, when districts contiguous to, as well 
 as far beyond, have been so thoroughly explored. The 
 ruins on the southern coast of Asia Minor, were first made 
 
 * Simmond's Colonial Magazine. Nov. 1846.
 
 70 THE PKOGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 known by Captain Beaufort, who discovered them when 
 employed in making a survey of this coast. Several tra- 
 vellers subsequently made short excursions into the country; 
 but it was not until Mr. now Sir Charles Fellows, in 1838 
 and 1840, made his visits and explorations, that the riches 
 of the interior in historical monuments were disclosed. 
 
 The relics of antiquity brought to light in these research- 
 es, consist first of the ruins of large cities, many of which, 
 by reason of their isolated situation among the high lands 
 and mountains, seem to have been preserved from the 
 destruction which usually attends depopulated cities situ- 
 ated in more accessible places. 
 
 These ruined cities contain amphitheatres more or less 
 spacious, and generally in a good state of preservation, 
 temples, aqueducts, and sepulchral monuments, together 
 with numbers of lesser buildings, the dwelling houses of 
 the inhabitants. The ruins of Christian churches are also 
 found in many places, and in one instance a large and 
 elegant cathedral ; the purposes of these are satisfactorily 
 made out by their inscriptions ; and the date of their 
 erection, when not otherwise known, may be fixed by 
 their style of architecture. The most numerous as well 
 as the most interesting monuments of these ancient cities, 
 are their sepulchres. In some instances where a moun- 
 tain or high rock is contiguous, it is pierced with thousands 
 of tombs, presenting an appearance similar to Petraea in 
 Idumea, sometimes called the City of the Dead. The 
 roads in all directions are lined with tombs and sarco- 
 phagi, many of them covered with elaborate sculptures 
 and inscriptions. It is by means of the latter, which abound 
 and which exist in a fine state of preservation, that the 
 names of the cities are identified and other historical facts 
 brought to light. The following is a translation of the 
 most common form of sepulchral inscription. 
 
 " THIS TOMB APOLLONIDES, SON OF MOLISSAS, MADE 
 
 FOR HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN : AND IF ANY ONE 
 
 VIOLATES IT, LET HIM PAY A FINE."
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 71 
 
 Coins too are found, which possess considerable histO' 
 ric interest. 
 
 In architecture, we find excellent specimens of the 
 several Grecian orders, exhibiting both the perfection and 
 declension of the art. The works of Sir Charles Fellows 
 abound in architectural representations. A pointed arch 
 was discovered by Lieut. Spratt and Professor Forbes in 
 the interior of a tomb (a sketch of which is given) rmiong 
 the ruins of Antiphellas. This conclusively shows, that 
 this peculiar form of the arch was not first introduced with 
 Gothic architecture, as has been generally believed, but 
 belongs to a period anterior to the Christian era. An 
 inscription in the Lycian and Latin was found on the 
 monument. 
 
 The language of the ancient Lycians is an important 
 discovery which has resulted from these researches. A 
 bilingual inscription in Lycian and Greek first led to the 
 key, and similar inscriptions, subsequently discovered, 
 have furnished sufficient materials for ascertaining the 
 values of the several letters of the alphabet, which consists 
 of twenty-seven letters, two of which are still doubtful. 
 Able disquisitions on the language have been written by 
 Mr. Sharpe and Professor Grotefend. 
 
 In regard to the antiquity of the monuments, and the 
 people who spoke the language called Lycian, now first 
 made known through these inscriptions, we are enabled 
 to arrive at conclusions which fix their era with some de- 
 gree of certainty. The earliest inscription yet decypherod 
 is a bilingual one, which consists of an edict, in which 
 the name of Harpagus, or his son, a well known personage, 
 is mentioned ; which would give a date of 530 to 500 B. C. 
 This is about the period of the earliest arrow-head inscrip- 
 tions yet known — namely, those at Behistun, of the age 
 of Darius, decyphered by Major Rawlinson. The lan- 
 guage belongs to the same family as the Zend and old 
 Persian, and is supposed to have been in use in the same 
 age as the former, and along with that of the Persepolitan
 
 72 
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 inscriptions. The sculptures too, bear some resemblance to 
 the figures on the Persian monuments, particularly the well 
 known figure with an umbrella, so common on the latter. 
 
 Other reasons are adduced by scholars for fixing the 
 date of the Lycian language not before the fifth century 
 B. C, or to the age of Herodotus. This historian was 
 from the adjoining province of Caria ; and as might be 
 expected, gives accounts of the Lycians before his time, 
 but does not say that they spoke a language different from 
 his own, or from that of the entire region, — a fact that he 
 would not have overlooked had such been the case. 
 
 It is believed that Cyrus, when he subjected this country, 
 brought in some people from his Persian dominions, who 
 afterwards became the dominant party, and introduced 
 their language.* 
 
 It is surprising to find the names of these Lycian cities 
 so well preserved when the descendants of its ancient 
 inhabitants have been so entirely swept out of the country, 
 and replaced by a people differing in manners, in religion, 
 
 * Herodotus, in speaking of the subjugation of Lycia, by Cyrus and Harpagus, 
 says ; " When Harpagus led his army towards Xanthus, the Lycians boldly ad- 
 vanced to meet him, and, though inferior in numbers, behaved with the greatest 
 bravery. Being defeated and pursued into their city, they collected their wives, 
 children and valuable effects, into the citadel, and there consumed the whole in 
 
 one immense fire Of those who now inhabit Lycia, calling themselves Xan- 
 
 thians, the whole are foreigners, eighty families excepted." — Clio, 176. See also 
 Clio, 171-173. 
 
 Herodotus further states that the Lycians originated from the Cretans, a branch 
 of the Hellenic race ; and Strabo, in a fragment preserved from Ephorus, states 
 that the Lycians were a people of Greek origin, who had settled in the country 
 previously occupied by the barbarous tribes of Mylians and Solymi. 
 
 Homer briefly alludes to the Lycians, who, at the siege of Troy, assisted the 
 Trojans under certain rulers whose names are mentioned. — Iliad, b. v. and xii. 
 
 Travels in Lycia, Milytas and the Cibyrates, in company with the late Rev. 
 E. T. Daniel, by Lieut. Spratt, R. N., and Prof. E. Forbes. 2 vols. 8vo. Lend. 
 1847. 
 
 A Journal written during an excursion in Asia Minor, by Charles Fellows, 
 royal Bvo London, 1839. 
 
 An account of Discoveries in Lycia, in 1840. By Charles Fellows, royol 8vo. 
 
 An Essay on the Lycian language. By Daniel Sharpe. (In the appendix to 
 Fellows' Journal.)
 
 THE PROGRESS OP ETHNOLOGY. 73 
 
 and having no interest connected with the locahty to 
 induce them to respect the relics or names, and keep aUve 
 the memory, of the former possessors of the soil. 
 
 ARABIA. 
 
 If we now turn to the discoveries that have reccnilly 
 been made in the southern part of Arabia, we find much 
 in them worthy of attention. This country, called m the 
 Scriptures Hazarmaveth, by the natives Hadramaut, and 
 by the classical writers of antiquity, Arabia Felix, is cele- 
 brated as being the kingdom of the Queen of Sheba, 
 who visited Solomon, as well as for the gold, gems, frank- 
 incense and other precious productions, which it furnished 
 in ancient times. It is represented by the Greek and 
 Roman writers as a populous country, with many exten- 
 sive cities, abounding in temples and palaces ; though the 
 palpable fables with which these accounts are intermingled, 
 show that at least they had no personal knowledge of the 
 facts, but retailed them at second hand. 
 
 After Europe had awoke from the intellectual slumber 
 of the dark ages, the Arabs were long regarded only as 
 objects of religious and political abhorrence. The dis- 
 covery of the route to India by the Cape of Good Hope, 
 at the close of the fifteenth century, by diverting the 
 channel of Indo-European traffic from the Red Sea, left 
 the countries bordering upon it in such a state of solitude, 
 that when better feelings began to prevail, there was 
 no means of obtaining any direct information respecting 
 them. 
 
 In 1650, the illustrious Pococke, by the publication of 
 his Specimensof Ancient Arabian Histoiy, extracted from 
 native authors, created a curiosity respecting Southern 
 Arabia and its ancient inhabit;ints, which successive col- 
 lections of a similar nature, down to our own times, have 
 served rather to increase than to gratify. The researches 
 7
 
 74 
 
 THE PROGRESS OP ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 of Niebuhr, Seetzen, and Burckhardt, in the latter part of 
 the last, and the beginning of the present century, made us 
 somewhat acquainted with the western extremity of this 
 country, along the shores of the Red Sea ; but before the 
 investigations of which we are about to speak, its southern 
 coast had never been accurately explored, and the great 
 body of the interior, with its once famous capital, Mareb, 
 remained, ks it ever had been, completely unknown to 
 and unvisited by the natives of Europe. 
 
 The hordes of pirates, which until twenty years ago 
 infested the Persian Gulf, caused the goverment of British 
 India to order a complete surve}'" of its islands and both 
 its shores, with the view of laying bare their haunts, and 
 putting an end to their depredations. In 1829, after this 
 service had been performed, the project then recently set 
 on foot of establishing a steam communication between 
 England and Bombay, caused orders to be issued for a 
 similar examination of the Red Sea. 
 
 The attention of the officers composing the expedition, 
 was not restricted to the technical duties in which they 
 were chiefly engaged. It was well known that informa- 
 tion of eveiy kind would be prized by the government 
 which they served ; and this, together with the monotony 
 of life on board ship on the one hand, and the novelty of 
 the scenes by which they were surrounded on the other, 
 seems to have created among them a spirit of emulation 
 that led to the most interesting discoveries respecting both 
 the geography and the antiquities of the adjacent countries. 
 
 Among the most inteUigent and enterprising of these 
 officers was the late Lieut. Wellsted, who thus describes 
 his reflections on joining the expedition in the Red Sea, 
 on the 12th October, 1830. " From the earliest dawn of 
 history, the northern shores of the Red Sea have figured 
 as the scene of events which both religious and civil 
 records have united to render memorable. Here Moses 
 and the Patriarchs tended their flocks, and put in motion 
 those springs of civilization, which, from that period, have
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 75 
 
 never ceased to urfje forward the whole human race in the 
 career of improvement. On the one hand the Valley of 
 the Wanderings, commencing near the site of Mempliis, 
 and opening upon the Red Sea, conducts the fancy along 
 the track pursued by the Hebrews during their (light 
 out of Egypt ; on the other hand are Mount t^inai, bearing 
 still upon its face the impress of miraculous events, and 
 beyond it that strange, stormy, and gloomy-looking sea, 
 once frequented by Phoenician merchants' ships, by the 
 fleets of Solomon and Pharaoh, and those barks of later 
 times which bore the incenses, the gems, the gold and 
 spices of the East, to be consumed or lavishly squandered 
 upon favorites at the courts of Macedonia or Rome. But 
 the countries lying along this offshoot of the Indian Ocean, 
 have another kind of interest, peculiar perhaps to them- 
 selves. On the Arabian side we find society much what 
 it was four thousand years ago ; for amidst the children 
 of Ishmael it has undergone but trifling modificati(ms. 
 Their tents are neither better nor 'worse than they were 
 when they purchased Joseph of his brethren, on their way 
 to Egypt ; the Sheikhs possess no other power or influence 
 than they enjoyed then ; the relations of the sexes have 
 suffered little or no changes ; they eat, drink, clothe them- 
 selves, educate their children, make war and peace, just 
 as they did in the day of the Exodus. But on the oppo- 
 site shores, all has been change, fluctuation, and decay. 
 While the Bedouins have wandered with their camels 
 and their flocks, unaspiring, unimproving, they have looked 
 across the gulf and beheld the Egyptian overthrown by 
 ♦the Persian, the Persian by the Greek, the Greek by the 
 Roman, and the Roman in his turn by a daring band from 
 their own burning deserts. They have seen empires 
 grow up like Jonah's gourd. War has swept away some ; 
 the varieties and luxuries of peace have brought otliers to 
 the ground ; and every spot along these shores is cele- 
 brated." 
 
 When the northeastern and the western shores of the
 
 76 
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 Arabian peninsula had thus been investigated, there still 
 remained to be explored the south eastern shore, the coast 
 of the anciently renowned province ot Hadramaut, ex- 
 tending from Tehama, on the Red Sea, to the province of 
 Oman, at the entrance to the Persian Gulf; and it is to 
 the discoveries made in this almost unknown part of the 
 world that I now wish more particularly to allude. 
 
 In the year 1839 Capt. Haines, the commander of the 
 expedition and the present governor of Aden, published 
 his survey of about two fifths of this coast, extending from 
 the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb as far east as Missenaat, 
 in long. 51° east of Greenwich.* In the year 1845, he 
 published his further survey of about an equal portion 
 extending to Gape Isolette, in long. 57° 51', leaving about 
 one fifth of the whole extent on the eastern end still to be 
 explore d.t 
 
 In June, 1843, Adolphe Baron Wrede, a Hanoverian 
 gentleman, made an excursion from Makallah on the coast, 
 into the interior of the country. He visited among other 
 places an extensive valley called Wadi Doan, which he 
 thus describes. " The sudden appearance of the Wadi 
 Doan, took me by surprise and impressed me much with 
 the grandeur of the scene. The ravine, five hundred feet 
 wide and six hundred feet in depth, is enclosed between 
 perpendicular rocks, the debris of which form in one part 
 a slope reaching to half their height. On this slope, towns 
 and villages rise contiguously in the form of an amphithea- 
 tre ; while below the date grounds, which are covered with 
 a forest of trees, the river about twenty feet broad and 
 enclosed by high and walled embankments is seen winding* 
 through fields laid out in terraces, then pursuing its course 
 in the open plain, irrigated by small canals branching 
 from it. My first view of the valley disclosed to me four 
 towns and four villages, within the space of an hour's 
 
 * Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London. Vol. IX. 
 t Ibid. Vol. XV. p. 104.
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 77 
 
 distance." He also gives an account of some curious spots 
 of quicksand, in the midst of the great desert of El- 
 Akkaf, which are regarded with superstitious horror Ijy 
 the wandering Bedouins. A cord of sixty fathoms in 
 length with a plummet at the end, which he cast into one 
 of them, disappeared in the course of five minutes. His 
 narrative is published in the fourteenth volume of the .Jour- 
 nal of the Ro3'^al Geographical Society of London. 
 
 In spite of the glowing descriptions of ancient authors, 
 the idea hitherto entertained of this region in modern times, 
 has been that of a succession of desert plains and sand- 
 hills, with nothing to give animation to the arid scene but 
 solitary groups of Bedouins and occasionally a passing ca- 
 ravan. The recent explorations, however, of which the one 
 just quoted is a specimen, show that this is far from being 
 a correct view of the entire country. The coast is thickly 
 studded with fishing- villages and small seaports, which 
 still carry on, though on a diminished scale, the trade with 
 India and the Persian gulf, which has existed ever since 
 the dawn of history. It is true, the general appearance 
 of the country along the coast, consisting as it does of 
 successive ranges of sand-hills, is such as to naturally give 
 rise to the views entertained and promulgated by navi- 
 gators, who have had no opportunity of visiting the interior. 
 But the deeper researches that have been made .during 
 the last ten or twelve years, show that these opinions are 
 very erroneous ; for besides that there are a number of 
 green valleys running down to the coast, produced by 
 streams provided with water for at least a good part of 
 the year, no sooner has the traveller surmounted the" first 
 range of sandhills, than his sight begins to be regaled with 
 numerous well watered valleys and mountains covered 
 with verdure. Besides this, even in those parts of the 
 country where the surface is naturally a desert ])lain, the 
 inhabitants have possessed from the remotest limes the 
 art of forming flourishing oases, in wliich to establish their 
 hamlets and towns; an operation which, as Wellsted re-
 
 78 THE PROGBESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 marks, is effected with a labor and skill that seem more 
 Chinese than Arabian. This traveller says: " The 
 greater part of the face of the country being destitute of 
 running streams on the surface, the Arabs have sought in 
 elevated places for springs or fountains beneath it. A 
 channel from this fountain-head is then, with a veiy shght 
 descent, bored in the direction in which it is to be convey- 
 ed, leaving apertures at regular distances, to afford light 
 and air to those who are occasionally sent to keep it 
 clean. In this manner water is frequently conducted from 
 a distance of six or eight miles, and an unlimited supply 
 is thus obtained. These channels are usually about four 
 feet broad and two feet deep, and contain a clear and 
 rapid stream. Few of the large towns or oases but had 
 four or five of these rivulets or feleji running into them. 
 The isolated spots to which water is thus conveyed pos- 
 sess a soil so fertile, that nearly every grain, fruit, or 
 vegetable, common to India, Arabia, or Persia, is produced 
 almost spontaneously ; and the tales of the oases will be 
 no longer regarded as an exaggeration, since a single step 
 conveys the traveller from the glare and sand of the 
 desert into a fertile tract, watered by a hundred rills, 
 teeming with the most luxuriant vegetation, and embow- 
 ered by lofty and stately trees, whose umbrageous foliage 
 the fiercest rays of a noontide sun cannot penetrate."* 
 These oases and the towns situated in them, date from 
 various periods ; some of those already discovered being 
 evidently of considerable antiquity. In describing some 
 of these towns, Wellsted says : " The instant you step 
 from the Desert within the Grove, a most sensible change 
 of the atmosphere is experienced. The air feels cold and 
 damp ; the ground in every direction is saturated with 
 moisture ; and from the density of the shade, the whole 
 appears dark and gloomy. To avoid the damp and catch 
 an occasional beam of the sun above the trees, the houses 
 
 * Wellsted's Travels in Arabia, Vol. I. p. 92.
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 79 
 
 are usually very lofty. A parapet encircling the upper 
 part is turreted ; and on some of the largest houses guns 
 are mounted. The windows and doors have the Sara- 
 cenic arch ;■ and every part of the building is profusely 
 decorated with ornaments of stucco in bas relief, some in 
 very good taste. The doors are also cased witli brass, 
 and have rings and other massive ornaments of the same 
 metal. These descriptions relate to the province of 
 f)man, the eastern extremity of Southern Arabia. The 
 glimpses already obtained of this ancient and famous 
 land, sufficiently prove that the fortunate traveller who 
 shall succeed in obtaining access into the interior of the 
 countiy, which has always been a terra incognita to Euro- 
 peans and their descendants, will find an abundance of 
 objects of interest to reward his zeal and self-devotion. 
 
 There is however another class of interesting objects, 
 relating to the ancient history of the country, which I 
 have not alluded to until now, because I wish to speak of 
 them more particularly. These are the ancient inscrrp- 
 tions, of which a number have already been discovered 
 and in part decyphered. 
 
 Several Arabian writers have stated that there existed 
 in the southern part of their country, before the time of 
 Mohammed, a kind of writing which they call Himya- 
 ritic, after the name of the ancient inhabitants of tlie 
 country, the Beni Himyar. But the confused nature of 
 these accounts, together with the Arab practice of giving 
 the name of Him3'aritic to every ancient mode of writing 
 which they were unable to read, caused the story to be 
 regarded as little better than fabulous. In the year 1808 
 the late Baron de Sacy published a learned treatise on the 
 subject, in which he collected all the Arabian accounts ; 
 but no further progress was made in the enquiry, until 
 the discovery of a number of inscriptions on various 
 massy ruins situated along the coast and in the interior, 
 by officers attached to the surveying expedition already 
 spoken of, in the years 1834 and '5.
 
 80 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 Copies of these inscriptions were transmitted to 
 the late Dr. Gesenius of Halle, one of the first Orien- 
 talists of Europe. After making some progress in the 
 investigation, he gave up the subject to his colleague 
 Dr. Rodiger, who had devoted himself to it with great 
 ardor, and success. The latter published a copious dis- 
 sertation containing the results he had arrived at, which 
 he reprinted in 1842 by way of an appendix to his Ger- 
 man edition of Wellsted's Travels in Arabia. By com- 
 paring the characters of the inscriptions with the Him- 
 yaritic alphabets contained in some Arabic manuscripts 
 and with the present Ethiopic alphabet, he was cnn- 
 bled to ascertain the powers of the letters, and even to 
 interpret, with various degrees of certainty, many por- 
 tions of the inscriptions themselves. Thus, these venera- 
 ble records, which in all probability have for many ages 
 been dumb to every human being, are in a fair way of 
 being made to yield up to modern scientific research 
 whatever information they may contain. That this in- 
 formation must be interesting and valuable to the historian 
 is inferred from the imposing nature of the structures on 
 which they are found, and whose existence but a few 
 years ago was as little looked for in this part of the world 
 as in the forest wilds of Oregon. A full account of these 
 discoveries and of the attempts at decyphering the inscrip- 
 tions was published in 1845 in the first volume of the 
 Transactions of the Ethnological Society of this city. I 
 will therefore merely proceed to state what has been 
 accomplished in the Riatter since the time when that ac- 
 count closes. 
 
 In the beginning of 1843, the same year in which M. 
 Wrede made his exploration, a French physician of the 
 name of Arnaud being then at Jiddah, received from M. 
 Fresnel, the French consular agent at that port, accounts 
 of the Himyaritic inscriptions discovered by the officers of 
 the Indian Navy, and of the interest they had created in 
 Europe. M. Arnaud's enthusiasm being excited on the
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 81 
 
 subject, he resolved to take a share in these arduous re- 
 searches. • The grand object of his ambition was to reach 
 Mareb, the ancient capital of Hadraniaut and tlie resi- 
 dence of the famous Queen of Sheba, whose name accord- 
 ing to the Arabians was Balkis. Two English officers 
 had undertaken the journey several years ago, and had 
 reached Sana, a town within three or four days' journey 
 of it ; but the suspicions of the native authorities becoming 
 excited, their further progress was prevented. 
 
 The mode of proceeding adopted by M. Arnaud, who 
 spoke the Arabic fluently, was to travel as a Mussulman, 
 in company with a caravan going to the place. His plan 
 was )iappily crowned with success. In the middle of 
 July he reached the city, where he saw the imposing re- 
 mains of the ancient dam, said to have been built across 
 the valley of Mareb by Balkis herself, and which, by cob 
 lecting an immense body of water near the metropolis, 
 whence the surrounding country was irrigated, had given 
 rise to the fertility and beauty for which the region was 
 celebrated in ancient times. On these remains M. Ar- 
 naud discovered a number of inscriptions, as also among 
 the ruins of the former city ; among the most remarkable 
 of these is one called Harem Balkis, which is thought to 
 be the remains of the palace of the ancient Sabean kings. 
 The inscriptions of which Mr. Arnaud brought away copies 
 with him amount to fifty-six in number. The tour of M. 
 Wrede was also not unproductive in this respect. He 
 copied, among others, a long inscription in Wadi Doan ; 
 which, according to the interpretations that have since 
 been made of it, contains a list of kings more copious 
 than those which have been left us by Albulfeda and 
 other historians of the middle ages. 
 
 When M. Arnaud returned to Jiddah from his hazard- 
 ous and toilsome expedition, M. Fresnel, who had origi- 
 nally moved him to the undertaking, set about studying 
 the new inscriptions, aided by the previous labors of the 
 German scholars and his own knowledge of Arabic and the
 
 82 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 modern Himyaritic. Possessing a far more abundant sup- 
 ply of materials than had been collected before, he was able 
 to assign to a few doubtful characters their proper values. 
 He transmitted to Paris a fair copy of the original in- 
 scriptions, and also a transcription of them in the Arabic 
 character, showing how they should be read. A fount of 
 Himyaritic types having been constructed for the express 
 purpose at the Imprimerie Royale, they were all published 
 in the course of last year in the Journal Asiatique, togeth- 
 er with several letters on the subject from M. Fresnel. 
 The form of the characters in these inscriptions is essential- 
 ly the same as in those discovered before ; but, whereas the 
 former ones all read from right to left like the Arabic of the 
 present day, some of the new ones are found to read alter- 
 nately from right to left and from left to right, like some of 
 the inscriptions of ancient Greece. M. Fresnel's attention 
 has been mainly directed to the collection and identifica- 
 tion of the proper names of persons, deities, and places, in 
 which the inscriptions abound, and in which he recognises 
 many names mentioned in Scripture, and in Greek, Ro- 
 man, and Arabian authors. Thus he identifies the deity 
 'Athtor with the Ashtoreth or Venus of the Hebrews. He 
 finds in an inscription at Hisn Ghorab the word Kana, 
 showing the correctness of the conclusion already arrived 
 at that this is the Cane emjjormm of Ptolemy. He identi- 
 fies the ruins of Kharibeh, a day's journey to the west of 
 Mareb, with the Caripeta of Pliny, the furthest point 
 reached by the Roman commander, iElius Gallus, in his 
 expedition into Arabia Felix, in the reign of Augustus 
 Caesar. He has also recognised many names of Him- 
 yaritic sovereigns mentioned by Arabian writers, among 
 others those of the grandfather and uncle of Queen Balkis. 
 M. Fresnel has also begun to translate the inscriptions 
 connectedly, a M^ork of great labor and difficulty. He has 
 already furnished an improved reading and translation of 
 one at Sana, which had been copied before by English 
 officers, and interpreted by Gesenius and Rodiger, and
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 83 
 
 has offered a transliition of another found by M. Arnaud, 
 on the Hiram Balkis at Mareb. 
 
 The discoveries akeady brought to hght, merely serve 
 to show the richness of the mine that yet remains to be 
 explored. Other expeditions are now planning, or in 
 progress of execution, for penetrating into other parts of 
 the country ; and eminent scholars are busied in elucida- 
 ting the treasures which the enterprizc of travellers is 
 bringing to light. Their united exertions cannot fail, at 
 least, to accumulate many curious particulars relative to 
 the history of one of the most remarkable and least known 
 nations of past ages. 
 
 The Rev. T. Brockman, who was sent by the Royal Ge- 
 ographical Society of England for the purpose of geogra- 
 phical and antiquarian research in the Arabian peninsula, 
 had proceeded up the coast from Aden to Shehar, midway 
 between Aden and Muscat, and had coasted along to 
 Cape Ras al-Gat. Subsequently in attempting to reach 
 Muscat, he was arrested by sickness at Wadi Beni Jabor, 
 where after a few days he died. His papers, wliich will 
 be sent to the Geographical Society, are thought to con- 
 tain matters of interest respecting this region.* 
 
 * Particulars read to the meeting of iJoyal Geographical Society of London, 
 November 9, 1846. — London Ath. 
 
 The following list embraces all of consequence that has been written on South- 
 ern Arabia and the Himyaritic Inscriptions. 
 
 Pococke, Specimina Historiae veterum Arabum. Oxford, 1649, reprinted 1806. 
 
 De Sacy, sur divers Evfenemens de I'histoire des Arabes avant Mahomet, in 
 M^m. de Lit. de I'Acad. Fran^aiae, Vol. L. Paris, 1805. 
 
 Historia Jemanae, e cod. MS. arabico, ed. G. T. Johannsen. Bonn, 1828. 
 
 Travels in Arabia, by Lieut. Wellsted, 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1838. 
 
 Memoir on the south coast of Arabia, by Capt. Harris. Journal Royal Geo- 
 graphical Society, Vol. VL IX. 
 
 Narrative of a Journey from Mokha to Sana: by G. J. Cruttenden. — Ibid. 
 Vol. VIII. 
 
 Gesenius, Ueber die Himjaritischen Sprache und Schrift, Halle, 1841. 
 
 Rodiger, Versuch iiber die Himjaritischen Schrifimonumente. Halle, 1841. 
 This was republished, with many improvements, in an Appendix to the author's 
 German translation of Wellstcd's Travels. 2 vols. Halle, 1842.
 
 84 
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 Sclavonic Mss. — It is stated in the Russian papers 
 that M. Giigorowitsch, professor of the Sclavonic tongues 
 in the Imperial University of Kasan, has returned to that 
 capital from a two year's journey in the interior of Tur- 
 key, by order of the Russian government, in search of the 
 graphic monuments of the ancient Sclavonic nations. He 
 has brought home fac-similes of many hundred inscrip- 
 tions, and 2,138 Sclavonian manuscripts — 450 of which 
 are said to be very ancient, and of great importance. 
 
 The Caucasus. — The results of a scientific expedition 
 for the exploration of the Steppes of the Caspian Sea, the 
 Caucasus, and of Southern Russia, under the direction of 
 M. Hommaire de Hell, has lately been published. This 
 portion of the East has been little noticed by travellers, and 
 the present work has therefore added much to our previous 
 knowledge of the country. It is accompanied by a large 
 map, on which the geographical and geological peculiari- 
 ties are defined with great minuteness and elegance.* 
 
 ASSYRIA AND PERSIA. 
 
 The discoveries recently made, and the researches 
 now in progress in those regions of the world known in 
 ancient times as Assyria, Babylonia and Persia, are 
 among the most interesting and important of the age. Of 
 the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians we know nothing, 
 but what we find in the Bible, or what has been preserved 
 
 Ewald, on an inscription recently dug up in Aden, Zeitschrift fiir die Kunde 
 des Morgenlandes, 1843. 
 
 The Historical Geography of Arabia, or the Patriarchal Evidences of Revealed 
 Religion. By the Rev. Charles Forster, 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1844. 
 
 F. Fresnel. Letters to M. Jules MohI,on the Himyariiic Inscriptions. Paris, 
 1845. 
 
 Account of an excursion to Hadramaut, 'by Adolph Baron Wrede. Journal 
 Royal Geographical Society, Vol. XIV. 
 
 Memoir of the south and east coast of Arabia, by Capt. S. B. Harris. — Ibid. 
 Vol. XV. 
 
 * Les Steppes de la mer Caspienne, le Caucase, la Crimee et la Russe merio- 
 dinale ; voyage Pittoresque, Historique et Scientifique ; par X. Hommaire de Hell. 
 3 vols, royal 8vo. and folio atlas of Plates. Paris, 1845.
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY 85 
 
 and handed down to us by the Greek historians; Unhke 
 Egypt, who has left so many records of her greatness, (A' 
 her knowledge of the arts, and of her advancement in 
 civilization, in the numerous and wonderful monumental 
 remains in the valley of the Nile, the Assyrians were 
 supposed to have left nothings no existing monuments as 
 evidences that they ever had an existence, save in the 
 vast and misshapen heaps along the banks of the Euphra- 
 tes and Tigris, believed to wash the spots where the 
 great cities of Nineveh and Babylon once stood. The 
 site of Nineveh still remains doubtful ; and so literally 
 have the prophecies in regard to Babylon been fulfilled, 
 that nothing but vast heaps of rubbish, of tumuli, and 
 traces of numerous canals, remains. The lanc^uasre of the 
 Assyrians is unknown, and the impressions of characters 
 in the form of a wedge or arrow-head stamped upon the 
 bricks and other relics dug from these heaps, have been 
 looked upon as mysterious and cabalistic signs, rather than 
 the representatives of sounds, or belonging to a regular 
 form of speech. For more than twenty centuries, these 
 countries have been as a blank on the page of history; 
 and all we have gathered from thcmconsi^s in the obser- 
 vations of curious travellers, who, at the risk of their 
 lives, have ventured to extend their wanderings this way. 
 Pietro della Valle, Le Brun, Niebuhr Ker Porter, 
 Rich, and Ouseley, have given us descriptions of the an- 
 cient remains in Persia and Assyria, particularly those at 
 Persepolis, Pasargadae, and Babylon. These consist of 
 views of the monuments and sculptures, together with 
 copies of the inscriptions in the cuneiform, or arrow-head 
 character. The object of the edifices, the subject of the 
 sculptures, and the meaning of the inscriptions, were 
 wholly matters of conjecture ; and it seemed a hopeless 
 task to arrive at any conclusions in relation to them, until 
 some key should be discovered, by the means of which 
 the language should be made known, and the numerous 
 inscriptions decyphered. No bilingual tablet, such as the
 
 86 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOuy. 
 
 Rosctta stone of Egypt, had been discovered ; and, al- 
 though it appeared that many of the inscriptions were 
 recorded in three different languages, no means seemed to 
 exist by which philologists could obtain a clue to their 
 meaning. With this dark prospect in view, the task of 
 decyphering the arrow-headed characters was attempted 
 by M. Grotefend, one of the most sagacious ,and distin- 
 guished philologists of Europe. The particulars of the 
 attempt and its results, we shall briefly state. 
 
 At Persepolis it is known are extensive ruins, chiefly 
 belonging to a large edifice, with every indication that 
 this edifice was originally a royal palace. History and 
 tradition supported this belief; and the general character 
 of the sculptures and architecture, together with the in- 
 scriptions, would carry its origin back to a period some 
 centuries before the Christian era. It was doubtless the 
 work of one of the great monarchs of Persia ; of Cyrus, 
 Cambyses, Xerxes, Darius, or some other with whom 
 history is famihar.* On some of the monuments at Per- 
 sepolis, are inscriptions in the Pehlvi character, parts of 
 which have been decyphered by M. de Sacy. In one of 
 these, the title"! and name of a king are often repeated ; 
 these titles M. Grotefend thought might be repeated in the 
 same manner in the arrow-head characters.! 
 
 Over the doorways and in other parts of this edifice, 
 are portraits, evidently of kings, as there is always enough 
 in the dress and insignia of a monarch to enable one to 
 detect him on any ancient monument. Over these por- 
 
 * I feel warranted in going back and tracing the progress of these discoveriea, 
 as so little is known of it by English readers. The translation of Grotefend's 
 essay in Heeren's Researches, was the only accessible original treatise on the 
 subject, until the recent publications of Major Rawlinson and Prof Westergaard. 
 In Germany, much has been written and some in France. These papers are 
 chiefly in antiquarian or philological Transactions and are scarcely known here. 
 A full account of the discovery in question, of its progress and present state, seems 
 therefore necessary. 
 
 t Grotefend's Essay on the cuneiform inscriptions, in Heeren's Asiatic Nations. 
 Vol. II p. 334,
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 87 
 
 traits are inscriptions ; these it was natural to suppose 
 related to the person represented, and if so, contained the 
 name of the king and his titles. Such would be the con- 
 clusion of any one who reflected on the subject, and such 
 was the belief of M. Grotefend and other philologists. 
 In these inscriptions one group of characters was repeated 
 more frequently than any other, and all agreed that the 
 decyphering of this group would furnish a key to the 
 whole. On this group of characters then our Savans set 
 to work. 
 
 According to the analogy of the Pchlvi inscriptions, de- 
 cyphered by De Sacy, it was believed that the inscriptions 
 then under consideration, mentioned the name of a king 
 son of another king, that is the names of father and son. 
 M. Grotefend first examined the bas-reliefs at Persepolis, 
 to ascertain the particular age of the Persian kings to 
 which they belonged, in order that he might discover the 
 names applicable to the inscription. A reference^ to the 
 Greek historians convinced him that he must look for the 
 kings of the dynasty of the Achaemenides, and he accord- 
 ingly applied their names to the characters of the inscrip- 
 tions. " These names could obviously not be C3^rus and 
 Cambyses, because the names occurring in the inscriptions 
 do not begin with the same letter ; Cyrus and Artaxerxes 
 were equally inapplicable, the first being too short and the 
 latter too long ; there only remained therefore the names 
 of Darius and Xerxes ;" and these latter agreed so exactly 
 with the characters, that Mr. Grotefend did not hesitate 
 to select them. The next step was to ascertain what 
 these names were in the old Persian language, as they 
 come to us through the Greek, and would of course differ 
 somewhat from the original. The ancient Zend, as pre- 
 served in the Zendavesta, furnished the only medium 
 through which the desired information could be obtained.* 
 
 * The Zendavesta is one of the most ancient as well as remarkable books that 
 has come down to us from the East. It was first made known in Europe in
 
 88 
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 He next ascertained that Xerxes was called Kshershe or 
 Ksharsha ; and Darius, Dareush. A farther examination 
 
 the year 1762, by Anquetil du Perron, who brought it from Sural in India, 
 whither he went expressly to search for the ancient books of tlie East. He spent 
 many years (seventeen it is said) in making a translation, which he accompanied 
 with valuable notes, illustrative of the doctrines of Zoroaster, and in elucidation 
 of the Zend language, in which this book was written. A great sensation was 
 produced in Europe among the learned at the appearance of the work. Exam- 
 ined as a monument of the ancient religion and literature of the Persians,, it was 
 differently appreciated by them. Sir William Jones* and others, not only 
 questioned its authenticity, but denounced the translator in very harsh terms. 
 But later writers, among these some of the most distinguished philologists of 
 Europe, are willing to let it rank among the earliest books of the East, and as 
 entitled to an antiquity at least six centuries anterior to the Christian era. 
 
 The Zendavesta (from zend living, and avesta word, i. e. " the living, word") 
 consists of a series of liturgic services for various occasions, and bears the same 
 reference to the books of Zoroaster that our breviaries and common-prayer books 
 do to the Bible. It embraces five books. 1. The Izechne, "elevation of the 
 soul, praise, devotion ;" 2. the Fispererf, " the chiefs of the beings there named;'' 
 3. the Vendidad, which is considered as the foundation of the law ; 4. the 
 Yeshts ^des, or " a collection of compositions and of fragments;" 5. the book 
 Siroz, " thirty days," containing praises addressed to the Genius of each day ; 
 and which is a sort of liturgical calendar.! 
 
 The doctrines inculcated in the Zendavesta are " the existence of a great first 
 principle. Time without beginning and without end. This incomprehensible 
 being is the author of the two great active powers of the universe- — Ormuzd the 
 principle of all good, and Ahriman the principle of all evil. Ormuzd is the first 
 creative agent produced by the Self-Existent. He is perfectly pure, intelligent, 
 just, powerful, active, benevolent, — in a v/ord, the precise image of the Element ; 
 the centre and author of the perfections of all nature." Ahriman is the opposite 
 of this. He is occupied in perverting and corrupting every thing good; he is 
 the source of misery and evil. " Ordained to create and govern the universe, 
 Ormuzd, received the Word, which in his mouth became an instrument of in- 
 finite power and fruitfulness."t 
 
 " The first created man was composed of the four elements, — ^fire, air, water, 
 and earth. " Ormuzd to this perishable frame added an immortal spirit, and the 
 being was complete." The soul of man consists of separate parts, each having 
 peculiar offices. "1. The principle of sensation. 2. The principle of intelligence. 
 3. The principle of practical judgment. 4. The principle of conscience. 
 5. The principle of animal life." After death, " the principle of animal life 
 mingles with the winds," the body being regarded as a mere instrument in the 
 
 * Sir William Jones's Works. Vol. X. p. 403. 
 
 t See note to the " Dabisfan." Pub. for the Oriental Translations Fund. Vol. I. p. 225. 
 
 J Frazer's History of Persia, p. 150-157.
 
 THE PROGRESS OP ETHNOLOGY. 89 
 
 gave him the name of Kslic or Ksltcio for ' king.'* The 
 places or groups of characters corresponding with these 
 names, were then analyzed and the value of each character 
 ascertained. These were then applied to other portions 
 of the inscriptions, and led to the translation of two short 
 ones, as well as to the formation of a considerable portion 
 of the alphabet. 
 
 Such was the result of Professor Grotefend's labors up 
 to the 3'^ear 1833. His first discovery was made and an- 
 nounced as early as 1802, but an account of his system 
 of interpretation did not appear until 1815, in the appen- 
 dix to the third German edition of Heeren's Researches. 
 This was afterwards enlarged in the translation of Heeren 
 published at Oxford in 1833, when it was first made 
 known to English readers. In 1837 he pubhshed a treatise 
 containing an account of all the Persepolitan inscriptions 
 in his possession, and another in 1840 on those of Babylon. 
 
 The brilliant success which attended Grotefcnd*s earlier 
 efforts, soon attracted the attention of otlier philologists to 
 the subject. M. Saint Martin read a memoir before the 
 Asiatic Society of Paris in 1822, but did not make any 
 additions to our previous knowledge. Professor Rask 
 next took it up, and discovered the value of two addi- 
 
 power of the will. The first three are accountable for the deeds of the body, and 
 are examined at the day of judgnient. " This law or religion is still professed by 
 the descendants of the Persians, who, conquered by the IVIohaminedans, have not 
 submitted to the Koran ; they partly inhabit Kirman and partly the western coast 
 of India, to the north and south of Surat."* The traces which are apparent in the 
 Zendavesta of Hindoo superstitions, indicate that its author borrowed from the 
 sacred books of India, while its sublime doctrines evidently point ta the 
 Pentateuch. 
 
 Mr. Eugene Burnouf is now publishing at Paris a new translation of the Zend- 
 avesta from a Sanscrit version under the title of " Commentaire sur le Ya^na," 
 in which he has embodied a vast deal of oriental learning, illustrative of the 
 geography, history, religion and language of ancient Persia. The first volume 
 was published in 1833. 
 
 *The modern title of the sovereign of Peijia, Shah, is at once recognised in 
 the ancient name Kshe or Ksha of the monuments. 
 
 * Note to the " Dabistan." Vol. I. p. 222. by its edltoi, A. Troyer. 
 
 8*
 
 90 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 tional charactei's. M. Burnouf followed in 1836, with an 
 elaborate memoir, in which he disclosed some important 
 discoveries.* Professor Lassen, in his Memoir published 
 in 1836, and in a series of papers continued up to the 
 present day,t has identified at least twelve characters, 
 which had been mistaken by all his predecessors, and 
 which, " says Maj. Rawlinson," may entitle him almost 
 to contest with Professor Grotefend the palm of alpha- 
 betical discovery." 
 
 In 1835, Major Rawlinson, then residing in Persia, 
 turned his attention to the subject, and decyphered some 
 of the proper names on the tablets at Hamadan. In the 
 following year he applied himself to the great inscription 
 at Behistun, the largest and most remarkable that is 
 known in Persia, and succeeded in making out several 
 lines of its contents. 
 
 The result of Major Rawlinson' s first attempt at decy- 
 phering the Behistun inscription, was the identification of 
 several proper names, and consequently the values of ad- 
 ditional characters towards the completion of the alpha- 
 bet.f But more was wanted than the alphabet, which 
 only enabled the student to make out proper names, but 
 not to advance beyond ; and it was the lack of this 
 knowledge which prevented the sagacious and indefati- 
 gable Grotefend from carrying out to any great extent, 
 the discoveries which he had so well begun. 
 
 * Meinoire sur deux Inscriptions cuneiforms, trouvees pres d'Hamadan. Paris, 
 1836. 
 
 t Die Alt-Persisclien Keil-Inschriften von Persepolis. Bonn, 1836. The 
 other papers of Prof Lassen may be found in the " Zeitschrift fur die Kunde 
 des Morgenlandes," a periodical work published at Bonn, exclusively de- 
 voted to Oriental subjects. It is the most learned work on Oriental Philology 
 and Archaeology published in Europe. 
 
 t While Major Rawlinson was pccupied in Persia, the subject was attracting 
 much attention among the Orientalists of Europe. Burnouf and Lassen, as we 
 have seen, then published the results of their investigations, which wen- after- 
 wards found to be almost identical with those of Major R. Neither of these 
 scholars was aware at the time of the othgrs' labors. This is an interesting f'-^t, 
 and establishes the correctness of the conclusions at which they eventually 
 arrived.
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETFINOLOGY. 91 
 
 The language of the inscriptions must next be studied ; 
 and as the Zend liad been the medium throu£;h whicli the 
 first links in tlie chain of interpretation had been obtained, 
 it was naturally resorted to for aid to farther progress. 
 The Zendavesta, with the researches of Anquctil du Per- 
 ron, and the commentary at the Ya^na by ]M. Burnouf, 
 wherein the language of the Zendavesta is critically ana- 
 lyzed, and its grammatical structure developed, furnished 
 the necessary materials. To the latter work, and the 
 luminous critique of M. Burnouf, Major Rawlinson owes 
 the success of his translations ; as he acknowledges that 
 by it he " obtained a genc^ral knowledge of the grammat- 
 ical structure of the language of the inscriptions." 
 
 But the Zend was not of itself sufficient to make out 
 all the words and expressions in the Behistun and other 
 inscriptions. Other languages contemporary with that of 
 the inscription and of the Zend must be sought for, to elu- 
 cidate many points which it left obscure.* The Sanscrit 
 was the only one laying claim to a great antiquity, whose 
 grammatical structure was sufficiently developed to ren- 
 der it useful in this enquiry. A knowledge of this lan- 
 guage had previously been acquired by Major Rawlinson, 
 and he was therefore fully prepared for the arduous task 
 he had undertaken. Neither of these, it must be observed, 
 was the language of the inscriptions, which it is believed 
 had ceased to be a living form of speech, at the period 
 when the Sanscrit and Zend were in current use. 
 
 * The Zend language is known to us chiefly by the " Zendavesta." Of its an- 
 tiquity there is doubt. Some philologists believe tliat it grew up with the decline 
 of the old Persian, or was formed on its basis, with an infusion from the Sanscrit, 
 Median, and Scythic languages. It was used in the time of Darms Hystaspes, 
 B. C. 550, at which period Zoroaster lived, who employed the Zend in the com- 
 position of the " Zendavesta." Its anticjuity has formed the subject of many me- 
 moirs ; but late writers, among whojn are Rask, Eugene Burnouf, Bopp, and 
 Lassen, have decided from the most severe tests of criticism, that the Zend was 
 an ancient language derived from the same source as the Sanscrit, and that it was 
 spoken before the Christian era, particula,rly in the countries situated west of the 
 Caspian Sea, in Georgia, Iran proper, and northern Media. Note to the
 
 92 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 It is unnecessary to note in detail the difficulties and 
 great labor attending the decyphering of the Behistun 
 tablets, on which Major Rawlinson was occupied from 
 time to time during a space often years. His discoveries 
 were announced in London, in a memoir read before the 
 Royal Asiatic Society in 1839, but were not published in 
 extenso until 1846. 
 
 Briefly to sum up the results of his labors, it will suffice 
 to state that they present " a correct grammatical trans- 
 lation of nearly four hundred lines of cuneiform writing, 
 a memorial of the time of Darius Hystaspes, the greater 
 part of which is in so perfect a state as to afford ample 
 and certain grounds for a minute orthographical and ety- 
 mological analysis, and the purport of which to the histo- 
 rian, must be of fully equal interest with the peculiarities 
 of the language to the philologist." In a few cases it may 
 be found necessary to alter or modify some of the signifi- 
 cations assigned ; but there is no doubt but that the general 
 meaning of every paragraph is accurately determined, 
 a-nd that the learned Orientalist has thus been enabled 
 " to exhibit a correct historical outline, possessing the 
 weight of royal and contemporaneous recital, of many 
 
 Dabistan, Vol. I. p. 222. The only specimen of this language yet known, with 
 the exception of a few MSS. of little importance among the Parsees, is the Zend- 
 avesta. Major Rawlinson* adopts views at variance with those of the distin- 
 guished German philologists, in regard to the antiquity of the Zend language. 
 Its " very elaborate vocalic organization," he thinks, " indicates a comparatively 
 recent era for the formation of its alphabet ;" and of the Zend-Avesta, he is of 
 opinion that" the disfigurement of authentic history affords an argument of equal 
 wei<rht against the antiquity of its composition." He fully agrees, however, with 
 all others as to the very remote composition of the books generally ascribed to Zo- 
 roaster. In fact this is beyond all question, for Plato mentions them (Pol. B. 
 XXX.) Clemens of Alexandria says they were known in the 5th century B. C. 
 and many other ancient writers could be cited in i,roof of the same.t 
 
 * See Rawlinson. Memoir on Cuneiform Inscriptions. Note to page 42. 
 t See a note to the " Dabistan," Vol. I. p. in which is given a list of all the ancient wri- 
 ters who mention Zoroaster and his works.
 
 TFIE PROGRESS OP ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 93 
 
 great events which preceded the rise and marked the 
 career of one of the most celebrated of the early sove- 
 re'ignt'i of Persia." 
 
 Such is the history of this great discovery, which has 
 placed the nnme of Major Rawlinson among the most 
 distinguished Oriental scholars of the age. He will rank 
 among the laborers in cuneiform writing, where Cham- 
 poUion does nmong the decyphcrers of Egyptian hiero- 
 glyphics ; for though, like ChampoUion, he did not make 
 the first discoveries in his branch of Pala30graphy, he is 
 certainly entitled to the honor of reducing it to a system, 
 by ascertaining the true powers of a large portion of the 
 alphabet, and by elucidating its grammatical peculiari- 
 ties, so that future investigators will find little difficulty 
 in translating any inscription in the particular class of 
 characters in question. 
 
 The cuneiform (wedge-shaped) or arrow-headed cha- 
 racter is a system of writing peculiar to the countries 
 between the Euphrates and the Persian frontier on the 
 East. Various combinations of a figure shaped like a 
 wedge, together with one produced by the union of two 
 wedges, constitute the system of writing employed by the 
 ancient Assyrians, Babylonians, Modes, and the Archaj- 
 menian kings of Persia. The character seems to have 
 been as extensively employed in this portion of the world, 
 as the Roman letters now are in Europe. Particular 
 arrangements or combinations of these characters appa- 
 rently belonged to different nations, peaking different 
 languages. When and where this system of writing 
 originated is not known. Professor Westergaard* thihks 
 that " Babylon was its cradle, whence it spread in two 
 branches, eastward to Susiana, and northward to the As- 
 syrian empire, from whence it passed into Media, and 
 
 *"0n the Decy|)hering of the Median species of Arrow-headed Wrilin^;, by 
 N. L. Westeraaard, in ihe M^moires de lu Socidtd Royaie des Antiquaires du 
 Nord. Copenhagen, 1844.
 
 94 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 lastly into ancient Persia, where it was much improved 
 and brought to its greatest perfection." 
 
 Major Rawlinson makes of the arrow-headed writing 
 three great classes or divisions, the Babylonian, Median 
 and Persia?!. The first of these he thinks is unquestiona- 
 bly the oldest. " It is found upon the bricks excavated 
 from the foundations of all the buildings in Mesopotamia, 
 Babylonia, and Chaldea, that possess the highest and 
 most authentic claims to antiquity;" and he thinks it " not 
 extravagant therefore to assign its invention to the primi- 
 tive race which settled in the plain of Shinar."* In the 
 recent excavations made by M. Botta and Mr. Layard, 
 on or near the site of ancient Nineveh, numerous in- 
 scriptions in this form of the arrow-head character were 
 found. It also occurs in detached inscriptions from the 
 Mediterranean to the Persian mountains. 
 
 A comparison of the various inscriptions in the Babylo- 
 nian class of writing has led Major Rawlinson to believe 
 that it embraces five distinct varieties, which he calls the 
 Primitive Babylonian, the Achaemenian Babylonian, the 
 Medo-Assyrian, the Assyrian, and theElymaean.t The pe- 
 culiarities of these several varieties, with the countries in 
 which they are found, are pointed out in the second chap- 
 ter of our author's learned Memoir on cuneiform writing. 
 The Median and Persian classes are peculiar to the trilin- 
 gual tablets of Persia, and are better known than the first 
 class or Babylonian. 
 
 Mr. Westerga£»d| divides the cuneiform writing into 
 five classes: the Assyrian; the Old Babylonia^i; and the 
 three kinds on the trilingual tablets of Persia, which em- 
 brace the Median and Persian varieties, and the one 
 called by Rawlinson the Achcemeiiian Babylonian. 
 
 The history we have already given of the progress made 
 
 * Memoir on the Cuneiform Inscriptions, p. 20. t Ibid. p. 28. 
 
 t On the Median variety of Arrow-headed Writing. Memoires de la Soci^t^ 
 dfs Aiiuquaires du Nord, for 1844. p. 272.
 
 THE PROGRESS OP ETHNOLOGY. 05 
 
 in decyphering these characters applies exclusively to one 
 of the varieties on the tablets of Persia. The inscrip- 
 tions on these monuments arc almost invariably repeated 
 in three sets of characters, and doubtless in three different 
 languages. The characters of what appears in each case 
 to be the primary or original inscription, of which the 
 others are translations, are of the simplest construction, 
 and consequently were the first to attract the attention of 
 decypherers, and to yield to their efforts. The language 
 in which they are written has been found to exhibit close 
 affinities both to the Sanscrit and to the Zend, and is now 
 termed by philologists the Old Persian. The system of 
 writing is alphabetic, that is to say, each character repre- 
 sents a single articulate sound; whereas that of the other 
 two species is'at least in a great measure syllabic, which 
 renders the taskof decyphering them much more difficult. 
 For our knowledge of the second variety of characters 
 on the Persian trilingual tablets, we are indebted to the 
 labors and sagacity of Professor Westergaard.* These 
 characters had remained entirely undecyphered until the 
 first kind had been completely made out. It was evident 
 that the inscriptions in the second kind of character were 
 but a translation of those in the first ; and with 
 this supposition, this learned orientalist began the task 
 of decyphering, by identifying the proper names Darius, 
 Hystaspes, Cyrus, Xei-xes, Persians, lonians, &c., which 
 frequently occur in the inscriptions decyphered by 
 Major Rawlinson. Having obtained these, he next ana- 
 lyzed each and ascertained the phonetic values of the 
 several characters of which they are composed. By 
 
 * Zeitschrift fiir die Kunde des Morgenlandes. 1844-45. Prof. Westergaard 
 has also published his paper in English, in the M^inoires de la Soci6l6 Royale 
 des Antiquaires du Nord, Copenhagen, 1844, prefixing to it Lassen's alphabet of 
 the first sort of Persepolitan writing. He was probably induced to do this by ob- 
 serving the limited extent to which the German language is cultivated by English 
 scholars, insomuch that even Rawlinson complains that he was unable to read 
 any more of Lassen's papers than his translations of the inscriptions, which arc in 
 Latin.
 
 96 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 this means, he was enabled to construct an alphabet. He 
 next examined the introductory words and the titles of 
 the sovereigns, and finally the entire inscriptions, all of 
 which he has most satisfactorily made out, and with them 
 has reconstructed the language in which they are written. 
 In his learned and elaborate article detailing the process 
 of this discovery, Professor Westergaard gives a syste- 
 matic 'classification of the characters, one hundred in 
 number, of which seventy- four are syllabic, twenty-four 
 alphabetic, and two signs of division between words. The 
 character of the language, which for convenience sake he 
 terms Median, he does not pretend to decide, though he 
 considers that it belongs to the Scythian rather than to the 
 Japhetic class of languages ; in which opinion Major 
 Rawlinson coincides. The Oriental Journal alluded to in 
 the second note to p. 90, contains several learned papers 
 by Professors Westergaard and Lassen, on the arrow- 
 headed inscriptions. 
 
 In the third sort of Persipolitan characters, termed the 
 Achaemenian Babylonian, some advances have been 
 made by Major Rawlinson. The contents of the other 
 portions of these tablets being known, he pursued the 
 course adopted by Professor Westergaard, namely that 
 of identifying the groups of characters corresponding with 
 the proper names in the other inscriptions. He has thus 
 been enabled to ascertain the phonetic values of a 
 large number of characters which must in time lead 
 to a knowledge of the rest of the alphabet. A begin- 
 ning in this direction was also made b Professor 
 Grotefend, who in his Memoirs of 1S37 and 1840, singles 
 out and places in juxtaposition the names of Cyrus, Hys- 
 taspes, Darius and Xerxes, in the first and third species 
 of Persepolitan writing. There is every reason to hope 
 that the labors of the three accomplished Oriental scholars, 
 Rawlinson, Lassen, and Westergaard, which have been 
 so far crowned with success, will add to their fame by 
 making out the characters and language of this species of 
 
 1
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 97 
 
 writing also. A high degree of interest is attached to it, 
 not only on account of the information it embodies, but 
 in regard to the nation to which it is assignable. 
 
 It will be recollected, that besides these three sorts of 
 Persepolitan writing, there are two other distinct classes 
 of arrow-head characters, called Babylonian and Assyrian. 
 Little or nothing has yet been accomplished towards de- 
 cyphering them ; which is owing to the fact that they are 
 of a veiy complicated nature, and that they have hitherto 
 bo/sn found alone, that is to say not accompanied by a 
 version in any other language or character. A Parisian 
 savant, M. J. Lowenstern, who has applied himself to the 
 study of the Assyrian tablets, published in 1845 an Essay 
 on the monument recently discovered by M. Botta at 
 Khorsabad near Mosul, in which he thinks he has made 
 out the groups which stand for the words great king, and 
 also several alphabetical characters. Further investi- 
 gations can alone determine whether or not his conclusions 
 are correct. 
 
 It will be necessary to state some of the historical facts 
 brought to hght by the labors of Major Rawlinson, to 
 which we have alluded. The great tablet at Behistun 
 relates exclusively to Darius. " To this monarch," says 
 Major Rawlinson, " insatiable in his thirst of conquest, 
 magnificent in his tastes, and possessed of an unlimited 
 power, we are indebted for all that is most valuable in the 
 palaeography of Persia. Imbued, as it appears, with an 
 ardent passion for monumental fame, he was not content 
 to inscribe the palaces of his foundation at Persepolis with 
 a legend commemorative of their erection, or with prayers 
 invoking the guardianship of Ormuzd and his angels, but 
 he lavished an elaborate workmanship on historic and 
 geographic records in various quarters of his empire, 
 which evince considerable political forethought, an earnest 
 regard for truth, and an anibition to transmit the glories 
 of his reign to future generations, to guide their conduct 
 and invite their emulation. At Persepolis, the high place 
 9
 
 98 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 of Persian power, he aspired to elevate the moral feelings 
 of his countrymen, and to secure their future dominancy 
 in Asia, by displaying to them their superiority over the 
 feudatory provinces of the empire,* v^^hile upon the sacred 
 rock of Baghistan, he addressed himself in the style of an 
 historian, to collect the genealogical traditions of his race, 
 to describe the extent and power of his kingdom, and to 
 relate, with a perspicuous brevity worthy of imitation, the 
 leading incidents of his reign. His grave relation of the 
 means by which, under the care and favor of a beneficent 
 Providence, the crown of Persia first fell into his hands, 
 and of the manner in which he subsequently established 
 his authority, by the successive overthrow of the rebels 
 who opposed him, contrasts strongly but most favorably 
 with the usual emptiness of Oriental hyperbole." 
 
 The following are some of the translations from the 
 great inscription at Behistun, which embraces upwards 
 of four hundred lines in the arrow-headed characters. 
 In Major Rawlinson's Memoir, are given fac-similes of 
 the original inscriptions, a transcription of the same in 
 Roman letters with an interlineal translation in Latin, 
 and a translation in English. Accompanying these, is 
 a critical commentaiy on each line, together with notes, 
 rendering the whole as clear as possible. 
 
 " I am Darius, the great king, the king of kings, the king of Persia, the king 
 of (the dependent) provinces, the son of Hystaspes, the grandson of Arsames, the 
 Achsemenian. 
 
 " Says Darius the King : — My father was Hystaspes ; of Hystaspes, the father 
 was Arsames ; of Arsames, the father was Ariyaramnes ; of Ariyaramnes, the 
 father was Teispes ; of Teispes, the father was Achaemenes. 
 
 " Says Darius the King : — On that account, we have been called Achaemeni- 
 ans : from antiquity we have been unsubdued ; from antiquity those of our race 
 have been kings. 
 
 " Says Darius the King : — There are eight of my race who have been kings 
 before me, I am the ninth ; for a very long time we have been kings. 
 
 " Says Darius the King: — By the grace of OiTnuzd, I am king ; Ormuzd has 
 granted me the empire. 
 
 • Memoir on the Persian cuneiform inscriptions, p. 47. 
 
 I
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 99 
 
 " Says Darius tlie King: — These are the countries whicli have fallen into my 
 hands — by the grace of Ormuzd, I have become king of them — Persia, Susiana, 
 Babylonia, Assyria, Arabia, Egypt ; those which are of the sea, Sparta and Ionia ; 
 Armenia, Cappadocia, Parthia, Zarangea, Aria, Chorasmia, Bactria, Sogdiana. 
 the Sacae, the Satiagydes, Arachosia, and the Mecians; the total amount being 
 twenty-one countries. 
 
 " Says Darius the King; — These are the countries which have come to me ; 
 by the grace of Ormuzd, they have become subject to me — they have brought 
 tribute to me. That which has been said unto them by me, both by night and 
 by day, it has been performed by them. 
 
 "Says Darius the King: — Ormuzd has granted me the empire. Ormuzd has 
 brought help to me until I have gained this empire. By the grace of Ormuzd, I 
 hold this empire. 
 
 " Says Darius the King: — . ... He who was named Cambyses, the son of 
 Cyrus of our race, he was here king before me. There was of that Cambyses a 
 brother named Bartius ; he was of the same father and mother as Cambyses. 
 Cambyses slew this Bartius. When Cambyses slew that Bartius, the troubles of 
 the state ceased which Bartius had excited. Then Cambyses proceeded to 
 Egypt. When Cambyses had gone to Egypt, the state became heretical ; then 
 the lie became abounding in the land, both in Persia and in Media, and in the 
 other provinces." 
 
 He then goes on to speak of the rebellions in his domin- 
 ions after the death of Cambyses, of the Magian who 
 declared himself king, and that no one dared to resist 
 him. He continues : 
 
 "everyone was -standing obediently around the Magian, until I arrived. 
 Then I abode in the worship of Ormuzd ; Ormuzd brought help to me. On the 
 10th day of the month Bagayadish, I slew the Magian and the chief men who 
 were his followers. By the grace of Ormuzd, I became king ; Ormuzd granted 
 me the sceptre." 
 
 He then says, he " established his race on the throne, 
 as in the days of old," prohibited the sacrificial worship 
 introduced by the Magian, and restored the old fam'ilies 
 to office, — ^all of which was accomplished by the aid of 
 Ormuzd. The people of Susiana and Babylon then be- 
 came rebellious. He slew the leader of the former. 
 
 " Says Darius the King: — Then I proceeded to Babylon against that Natita- 
 birus, who was called Nabokhadrosser (Nebuchadnezzar). The forces of Nati- 
 tabirus held the Tigris ; there they had come and they had boats. Then I placed
 
 100 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOlOGY. 
 
 a detachment on rafts. I brought the enemy into difficulty ; I assaulted the 
 enemy's position. Ormuzd brought help to me ; by the grace of Ormuzd, I suc- 
 ceeded in passing the Tigris, Then I entirely defeated the army of that Natita- 
 birus. On the 27th day of the month of Atriyata, then it was that we thus 
 fought." 
 
 Darius then continued his march to Babylon, where he 
 was met by the army of Natitabirus ; he gave him battle 
 and defeated him, driving his army into the water. He 
 then took Babylon. It would appear from what this 
 monarch relates, that he had a pretty rebellious set of 
 subjects, who took advantage of his absence at Babylon. 
 The inscription continues. 
 
 "Says Darius the King: — whilst I was at Babylon, these are the countries 
 that revolted against me ; Persis, Susiana, Media, Assy]^a, Armenia, Parthia, 
 Margiana, Sattagydia and Sacia. 
 
 He then gives the names of the rebellious leaders and 
 of the officers sent to subjugate them ; the forts, villages, 
 or cities, where battles were fought ; the day of the month 
 when they took place, and the result, in every case, by 
 the help of Ormuzd. One example will suffice. After 
 speaking of the revolt of Armenia, the inscription 
 continues. 
 
 " Says Darius the King : — Then Dadarses by name, an Armenian, one of my 
 servants, him I sent to Armenia. I thus said to him : ' Greeting to thee, the 
 rebel stale that does not obey me, smite it.' Then Dadarses marched. When 
 he reached Armenia, then the rebels having collected came before Dadarses ar- 
 raying their battle .... by name, a village of Armenia, there they engaged. 
 Ormuzd brought help to me ; by the grace of Ormuzd, my forces entirely defeated 
 that rebel army. On the 8th of the month Thurawahara, then it was a battle 
 was fought by them." 
 
 In this manner we have the whole history of the reign 
 of Darius king of Persia, who fille(^the throne 550 B. C. 
 And it may truly be said that no monument of remote 
 antiquity which has been pre erved to modern times, at 
 all equals it in importance. The inscriptions of Egypt are
 
 • THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 101 
 
 far more ancient, but consist of fragments, wliich, except- 
 ing the tables of kings, do not throw much Hght on liistory. 
 Nothing is more interesting in the details given by the 
 Persian king of his successes, than his acknowledgment 
 of an overruling power, a Supreme Being, who protected 
 him and aided him in all his battles. From the closing 
 part of this remarkable tablet, which consists of twenty 
 paragraphs, we select the following. 
 
 " Says Darius the King : — This is what I have done. By the grace of Orniuzd 
 have I achieved the performance of the whole. Thou whoever hereafter may 
 peruse this tablet, let it be known to thee, that which has been done by nie, that 
 it has not been falsely related. 
 
 " Says Darius the King : — Ormuzd is my witness, that this record I have faith- 
 fully made of the performance of the whole. 
 
 " Says Darius the King : — By the grace of Ormuzd, there is much else that has 
 
 been done by me that upon this tablet has not been inscribed If thoa 
 
 publish this tablet to the world, Ormuzd shall be a friend to thee, and may thy 
 offspring be numerous. 
 
 " Says Darius the King : — If thou shalt conceal this record, thou shalt not thy- 
 self be recorded ; may Oniiuzd be thy enemy, and mayest thou be childless. 
 
 " Says Darius the King: — As long as thou mayest behold this tablet and these 
 figures, thou mayest not dishonor them ; and if from injury thou shalt pre.serve 
 them, may Ormuzd be a frienjJ to thee, and may thy offspring be numerous, and 
 mayest thou be long lived, and that which thou mayest do may Ormuzd bless for 
 thee in after times." 
 
 The great inscription from which we have made these 
 extracts, is sculptured in three languages, and in three 
 different forms of the arrow-headed character, the particu- 
 lars of which have been stated. There are a few imper- 
 fections and cracks in the stone which made certain words 
 and sentences unintelligible ; these will be corrected 
 when the other two inscriptions are decyphered. In 'the 
 midst of these records is a piece of sculpture in relief, 
 representing Darius followed by two of his officer.^, with 
 his foot upon a man, who raises his hands before him, 
 and nine other figures representing the rebelhous leaders 
 whom he had severally conquered. They are connected 
 by a rope around their necks and have their hands tied 
 behind, and are probably portraits of the person.? they
 
 102 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. • 
 
 represent. Beneath- each is engraved his name, as in the 
 extract given. 
 
 " This Natitabirus was an impostor : he thus declared, ' I am Nabokbadrosser, 
 the son of Nabonidas ; I am king of Babylon." 
 
 The discoveries of Professor Westergaard, to whom we 
 are indebted for the key to the second or Median form of 
 the arrow-headed character, require notice. This accom- 
 phshed Orientahst, on his return from an archaeological 
 tour in India and P. rsia, under the patronage of the king 
 of Denmark, brought with him, among other literary- 
 treasures, copies of a great number of inscriptions in the 
 arrow-headed character. While in Persepolis he care- 
 fully examined all the inscriptions which those wonderful 
 ruins still retain. Those which had already been pub- 
 lished, he accurately compared with the original monu- 
 ments, and the remainder he copied entire. This gentle- 
 man went thoroaojhly furnished with all the preparatory 
 knowledge that .•■.uld be gained in Europe to ensure 
 success. He had shown himself by his publications to 
 be an excellent Sanscrit scholar ; besides which he had 
 acquired as complete a knowledge of the Zend language 
 as it is possible to do at present, and was well acquainted 
 with all that had been effected in the way of decyphering 
 the inscriptions. Having thus so greatly the advantage 
 of his predecessors, Niebuhr, Ker Porter, and Rich, it is 
 not to be wondered at that his transcripts are proportion- 
 ably more accurate and complete. 
 
 It has long been known that all the inscriptions at Per- 
 sepolis are triple, like those on the Behistun tablets, before 
 described. Those of the first or simplest variety, have 
 all been translated by Professor Lassen,* to whom Pro- 
 fessor Westergaard transmitted them. Accompanying his 
 translations are critical and explanatory remarks, proving 
 
 * Zeitschrift fiir die Kunde des Morgenlandes, 1844 '45.
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 103 
 
 conclusively the correctness of his version. The inscrip- 
 tions at and near Persepolis, relate to Xerxes. They do 
 not possess the historical value that the tablets of his father 
 do on the rocks of Behistun, but consist of praises of 
 Ormuzd for blessings he had received, and of himself for 
 the additions he made to the royal palace at Persepolis. 
 The following is a translation of an inscription on the 
 wall of an immense portal at Nakshi Regib, two miles 
 from Persepolis.* 
 
 " Ormuzd (is) the great God. He created this earth; he created the heavens; 
 he created mortals ; he created the fortune of mortals. He made king Xerxes 
 the only king of many, the only emperor of many. 
 
 " I Xerxes (am) the great king, the king of kings, the king of realms inhabited 
 by many nations ; the sustainer, the author of this great land ; the son of king 
 Darius, the Achsemenide. 
 
 " I (am) the noble Xerxes, the great king. By the will of Ormuzd, I have 
 built this portal to be entered by the people. Let the Persians abide, let them 
 congregate under this portal, and in this palace — the palace which my father 
 built for abiding in. By the will of Ormuzd we built them. 
 
 " I (am) the noble king Xerxes. Protect me Ormuzd ; and also this king- 
 dom, and this my palace, and my father's palace protect, admirable Ormuzd." 
 
 No inscriptions have yet been found in Persia of Arta-. 
 xerxes, the first son of Xerxes. A vase, however, was dis- 
 covered at Venice by Sir J. G. Wilkinson, bearing an 
 inscription in hieroglyphics, and in the three species of 
 arrow-headed characters so common in Persia. This 
 vase and its -inscriptions have been examined by M. Le- 
 tronne and M. Longp6rier, who do not hesitate to ascribe 
 it to Artaxerxes the first, or Longimanus, whose names and 
 titles have been made out both in the hieroglyphics and 
 cuneiform characters.! 
 
 An inscription of great historical interest of Artaxerxes 
 the third, has been found at Persepolis.} It is in only one 
 
 • For inscription see Rich's Babylon and Persepolis, plate 24, and page 254. 
 t Revue Archeeologique. October, 18'14. 
 
 i Westergaard in M6m. de la Soci<;. Royale des Antiq. du Nord, p. 419. 
 Ibid. p. 423.
 
 Ci 
 
 104 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 species of the Achoemenian writing, and is noticed by 
 Prof. Westergaard as exhibiting " a most remarkable 
 change and decay which the language must have under- 
 gone in the interval between the reigns of Xerxes and this 
 monarch." In a philological point of view, this fact is 
 interesting as showing so early a decline of the Persian 
 language. 
 
 But the most important part of this inscription consists 
 of the genealogy of Artaxerxes the third, from Arsama, 
 the Greek Arsames, the father of Hystaspes, completely 
 agreeing with that given by Grecian historians. In this 
 as well as in all the other inscriptions thus far decyphered, 
 Ormuzd is invariably invoked ; he is called upon to aid 
 them, and the several sovereigns acknowledge their grati- 
 tude to him as to an all-protecting Providence for the 
 blessings received. 
 
 Nineveh. We have received from M. Mohl, of Paris, 
 an account of the researches of MM. Botta and Flan- 
 din,* on or near the site of ancient Nineveh. 
 
 This volume contains letters from M. Botta, giving the 
 details of his discoveries, accompanied by fifty-five plates 
 of sculptures, statues, and inscriptions. He penetrated into 
 the interior of a large mound, where he found a series of 
 halls and chambers, the walls of which were covered witli 
 paintings and relievos representing historical events, and 
 scenes illustrating the manners and customs of the Assy- 
 rians. The drawings and sculptures exhibit a higher state 
 of art than the monuments of Egypt. The figures are 
 remarkably well drawn, both as it regards the anatomy 
 and the costumes. The men appear to be more athletic 
 than the Egyptians — they wear long hair combed smooth 
 over the top of the head, and curled behind. The beard 
 is also long and always curled. Their dresses are exceed- 
 
 * Lettres de M. Botta sur les decouvertes h Khorsabad, pres de Ninive ; pub- 
 li^es par M. J. Mohl.
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 105 
 
 ingly rich and profuse in ornaments and trimmings. 
 Ear-rings, bracelets, and armlets, of various forms and ela- 
 borately wrought, are seen on most of the figures both of 
 the men and women. The discoveries made by M. Botta 
 have induced others to explore the ground in that vicinity. 
 An English traveller, Mr. Layard, has recently opened a 
 mound many times larger than that excavated by the 
 French. "It contains the remains of a palace, a part of 
 which, like that at Khorsabad, appears to have been 
 burnt. There is a vast series of chambers, all built with 
 marble, and covered with sculptures and inscriptions. 
 The inscriptions are in the cuneiform character, of the 
 class usually termed Babylonian. It is possible that this 
 edifice was built at an epoch prior to the overthrow of 
 the Assyrian Empire by the Modes and Babylonians un- 
 der Cyaxares. Many of the sculptures discovered by Mr. 
 Layard are, even in the smallest details, as sharp and 
 fresh as though they had been chiselled yesterday. 
 Among them is a pair of winged lions with human heads, 
 about twelve feet high. They form the entrance to a 
 temple. The execution of these figures is admirable, and 
 gives the highest idea of the knowledge and civilization 
 of the Assyrians. There are many monsters of this kind, 
 lions and bulls. The other reliefs consist of various di- 
 vinities, some with eagles' heads — others entirely human 
 but winged — with battle-pieces and sieges."* 
 
 Other letters from Mr. Layard of a later dater date than 
 that just mentioned, announce new discoveries. "Another 
 mine has been opened at Nimroud ; and every stroke 
 of the pick-axe brings new wonders to light." Old Nine- 
 veh, whose very existence had become little better than 
 a vague historic dream, is astonishing the world by her 
 
 * London Times, June, 1846. Two interesting letters from Mr. Layard, 
 dated August 12, 1846, to Mr. Kellogg, of Cincinnati, were read before the 
 American Ethnological Society, at its meeting in February, giving further 
 accounts of his discoveries.
 
 106 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY 
 
 buildings her sculptures, and her many thousands of 
 inscriptions, which have been brought to hght by the ex- 
 plorations of Mr. Layard.* " He has opened fourteen 
 chambers and uncovered two hundred and fifty sculp- 
 tured slabs. The grand entrance previously described 
 led him into a hall above two hundred and fifty feet long 
 and thirty broad — entirely built of slabs of marble cov- 
 ered with sculptures. The side walls are ornamented 
 with bas-reliefs of the highest interest — battles, sieges, 
 lion-hunts, &c. ; many of them in the finest state of pre- 
 servation, and all executed v/ith extraordinaiy spirit. 
 They afford a complete history of the military art of the 
 Assyrians ; and prove their intimate knowledge of many 
 of those machines of war, whose invention is attributed to 
 the Greeks and Romans — such as the battering ram, the 
 tower moving on wheels, the catapult, &c. Nothing can 
 exceed the beauty and elegance of the forms of various 
 arms, swords, daggers, bows, spears, &c. In this 
 great hall are several entrances, each formed by winged 
 lions, or winged bulls.t These lead to other chambers ; 
 which again branch off into a hundred ramifications. 
 Every chamber is built of marble slabs covered with 
 sculptures or inscriptions." The excavations thus far only 
 extend to one corner of a great mound, the largest on the 
 plain, measuring about one thousand eight hundred feet 
 by nine hundred. The wonders that may be brought to 
 light from a more complete survey of this vast heap of 
 ruins, will be looked forward to with intense interest. 
 
 All are familiar with the accounts of the building of this 
 city by Asshur, (whence the name Assyria,) and of the first 
 
 * See London Athenaeum, Oct. 10, 1846, a letter from Constantinople dated 
 Sept. 10. 
 
 t The prophet Daniel in his vision of four beasts says, " The first was like a lion, 
 and had eagles' wings ; I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was 
 lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man." Daniel, ch. 
 VII. V. 4. The resemblance between the animal of Daniel's vision and those re- 
 cently discovered at Nineveh is striking.
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 107 
 
 empire under Niinrod. In this short record wc have the 
 first traces of pohtical institutions and of great cities. They 
 burst upon us, and as suddenly disappear from the world's 
 history for more than a thousand years. A learned author 
 of the last century* has endeavored to throw distrust on 
 all that the Greek writers have written about these coun- 
 tries, because in the Persian historians he could not recog- 
 nise the great Cyrus and other prominent characters which 
 fill important places in the Grecian annals. But the 
 revelations already made through the arrow-headed in- 
 scriptions must remove these doubts, as they substantiate 
 in a remarkable degree the assertions of the Greek writers. 
 The observations of a learned Orientalist are so well 
 adapted to this subject that I cannot forbear quoting 
 them. *' The formation of mighty and civilized states 
 being admitted even by our strictest chronologers to have 
 taken place at least twenty-five centuries before our era, 
 it can but appear extraordinaiy, even after taking into 
 account violent revolutions, that of so multitudinous and 
 great existences, only such scanty documents have come 
 down to us. But, strange to say, whenever a testimony 
 has escaped the destruction of time, instead of being 
 greeted with a benevolent though discerning curiosity, 
 the unexpected stranger is approached with mistrustful 
 scrutiny, his voice is stifled with severe rebuke, his cre- 
 dentials discarded with scorn, and by a predetermined and 
 stubborn condemnation, resuscitating antiquity is repelled 
 into the tomb of oblivion. f 
 
 A journey of much interest was undertaken by Dr. 
 Robert in 18 3, who was directed by the French govern- 
 ment to continue, in the west of the Himalaya range and 
 the high region adjacent, the geographical, physical, and 
 ethnographical observations which had been begun by M. 
 Jaquemont. The latest accounts from this intrepid tra- 
 
 * Richardson in the Preface to his Persian Dictionary. 
 
 t Preface to the " Dabistan" published by the Oriental Trans. Fund : — by 
 A. Troyer. Vol. I. p. 30.
 
 108 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 veller left him in the inaccessible valleys of Chinese Tar- 
 tary, from whence it was his intention to pass through 
 Turkestan, for the purpose of entering China on the north.* 
 In the same distant region we hear of the journeys of 
 H. R. H. Prince Waldemar, of Prussia (cousin to the king). 
 " Consulting only his ardor for science, and burthened 
 with the usual load carried by a traveller on foot, he 
 scaled the lofty Himmalayah, crossed the frontier of the 
 Celestial Empire, and reached the table-land of Thibet."t 
 The prince has already transmitted a large collection of 
 objects of natural history, many of which are new, to 
 Berlin. It is his intention to return to Europe by way of 
 Affghanistan, Persia, and Asia Minor. 
 
 * Annales des Voyages, April, 1845, p. 58. 
 
 tLd. Colchester's Address, Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, 1846. 
 
 The following list embraces the late works oti Assyria and Persia, as well as 
 those relating to the arrow-head inscriptions. 
 
 The Persian Cuneiform Inscriptions at Behistun, decyphered and translated ; 
 with a Memoir on Persian cuneiform inscriptions in general, and on that of Be- 
 histun in particular, by Major H. C. Rawlinson, Bvo., in the journal of the Royal 
 Asiatic Society. Vol. 10. London, 1846. 
 
 On the Decyphering of the second Achaemenian or Median species of Arrow- 
 headed Writing ; by N. L. Westergaard, 8vo., in the Memoires de la Societe 
 Royale des Antiquaires du Nord. Copenhagen, 1844. 
 
 Lettres de M. Botta sur les D^couvertes h, Khorsabad, prfes de Ninive, publi^es 
 par M. J. Mohl, 8vo., with 56 plates. Paris, 1845. 
 
 Essai sur la Numismatique des Satrapies et de la Phenicie, sous les rois Achae- 
 menides, par H. de Luynes, 4to. Paris, 1846. 
 
 The Manual, Formation and early Origin of the Hebrew letters and points, 
 demonstrated and explained ; also an Elucidation of the so-called Arrow-headed 
 or Cuneiform characters. 8vo. London, 1847. 
 
 Essai de Dechifhement de I'Ecriture Assyrienne pour servir d I'explication du 
 Monument de Khorsabad. Par J. Lowenstern. 8vo. Paris, 1846. 
 
 Die Grabscrift des Darius zu Nakschi Rustum erlautert. Von F. Hitzig. 
 Zurich, 8vo. 1846. 
 
 Remarks on the Wedge Inscription recently discovered on the upper Euphra- 
 tes by the Prussian engineer, Capt. Von Miilbach. Being a commentary on 
 certain fundamental principles in the art of decyphering the " cuneatic" charac- 
 ters of the ancient Assyrians, by G. F. Grotefend. 8vo. In" the papers of the 
 Syro-Egyptian Society. Vol. I. London, 1845. 
 
 Voyage en Perse, de MM. Eugene Flandin et P. Coste. Recueil d' Archi- 
 tecture ancienne, Bas reliefs, inscriptions cuneiformes et Pehlvis, plaus topogra- 
 phiques et vues pittoresques. Folio. 250 plates and text.
 
 THE PROGRESS OP ETHNOLOGY. 109 
 
 Siberia. To the love of science which the enlightened 
 Emperor of Russia, has always manifested, we are 
 indebted for an expedition, the most successful which has 
 yet been undertaken for the exploration of the northern 
 and eastern parts of Siberia. The results of this extensive 
 exploration of a region not before examined by scientific 
 men, are of the greatest interest to science, and have 
 earned for its distinguished and undaunted leader. Prof. 
 Von MiddendorfT, the applause of the savans of Europe. 
 Not having seen any detailed account of this journey, 1 
 am indebted to Sir R. Murchison lor some particulars of 
 its results.* 
 
 The expedition traversed the whole extent of Siberia, 
 from east to west, and from south to north, even to the 
 extreme northern headland of Taimyr. " Undaunted 
 by the severe privations he had undergone in obtaining 
 his knowledge of the far northern lands of Siberia, he 
 next undertook the not less arduous task of traversing the 
 whole of that vast continent to the Shantar Isles, at its 
 southeastern extremity, and thence to return to Nertchinsk, 
 along the Chinese frontier. His journey through thickly- 
 wooded rocks, deep morasses and over swollen rivers, 
 
 This magnificent work, the result of an expedition sent out by order of the 
 French government, under the directions of the Institute, and now published by 
 a commission of savans, consisting of Messrs Burnouf, Le Bas, and Leclerc, is in 
 the course of publication. It will unquestionably be the most complete work 
 ever published on this interesting country and will include the antiquitiea of 
 Babylon and Nineveh. 
 
 G. F. Grotefend, Neue Beitriige zur Erliluterung der Persopolitanischen 
 Keilschrift, nebst einem Anhange iiber die VoUkommenheit derersten Art-der- 
 selben. Hanover, 1837. 
 
 G. F. Grotefend, Neue Beitrage zur Erliluterung der Babylonisclicn Keil- 
 schrift, nebst einem Anhange iiber die Beschaffensheit des altesten Schriftdruck. 
 Hanover, 1840. 
 
 The valuable Oriental Jourjpl edited by Prof. Lassen, entitled " Zeitsclirift 
 fiir die Kunde des Morgenlandcs," contains many papers of great interest on these 
 subjects. 
 
 * Address to the British Association for the Advancement of Science, at its 
 meeting, September, 184G. 
 
 10
 
 110 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 was so successfully accomplished, that the stores he has 
 brought back to St. Petersburgh, will fully lay open the 
 Fauna and Flora of a region never previously explored 
 by a man of science." 
 
 "Floating down the sea of Okotsk from Udskoi in frail 
 canoes, M. MiddendorfF and his friends, braving shoals of 
 floating ice and perpetual rains, reached Nitka on the 
 great Shantar island. The wild regions which were tra- 
 versed, in many parts could only be threaded hy following 
 the tracks formed hy hears beneath the dense matting of under- 
 wood and birch trees'"' In his return journey, he examined 
 the frontier line of China, a tract never explored even by 
 a Cossack, and ascertained that between the Udskoi of 
 the Russians and the mouth of the Amur, there is a 
 considerable tract quite independent both of Russia and 
 China, and occupied by a people called Guilaiques, who 
 pay no tribute to either Emperor. 
 
 In addition to the several arduous journeys performed 
 by this intrepid traveller and his companions, many ques- 
 tions hitherto unsolved were investigated and much new 
 light added to our previous knowledge on these respective 
 points. One was the real state of the question of the 
 frozen subsoil of Siberia. " By placing thermometers at 
 various depths in the shaft at Yakutsk, he has found that 
 at its bottom, or at 382 feet below the surface, the cold is 
 2° 4" Reaumur, and that it is probable the frozen subsoil 
 reaches to the great depth of about 600 feet ! Notwith- 
 standing this extraordinary phenomenon, the lateral ex- 
 tent of which has still to be determined, it appears that 
 the culture of r3^e succeeds perfectly under favorable 
 local conditions in those regions, and that the crops of 
 grain are more abundant than in Livonia!" M. Midden- 
 dorf has also thrown new light on the boreal range of 
 vegetation. He has ascertained " tllat whilst rye, turnips, 
 beets, and potatoes grow on the Yenisei to latitude 61° 
 40', indigenous plants, requiring less warmth, flourish 
 much farther north, and that even trees with vertical
 
 THE PROORESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 1 1 1 
 
 Stems reach to about 72° north latitude, in that parallel 
 of longitude !" This fact will show that geographers can 
 n^ longer mark the limit of vegetation by a rectilinear 
 zone, but must accommodate such line to cliaiatological 
 and local conditions. 
 
 In regard to the mammoths, the fossil bones of which 
 have been found in Siberia, M. Middendorf has shown 
 that, in accordance with the views of Professor (~)\ven, 
 (who states that these quadrupeds were specially organ- 
 ized to live on the branches and leaves of such shrubs 
 and trees as grow in boreal latitudes) there are still trees 
 in latitude 72° which would suffice for their sustenance. 
 
 The Ethnology of this region has been elucidated by 
 our traveller, who by investigating the languages and 
 physical characteristics of these remote tribes, has been 
 enabled to affiliate them with their parent stocks. 
 
 Our knowledge of the geology and geography of the 
 northern and southeastern extremities of Siberia have been 
 greatly extended by this journey ; in fact no enquiry for 
 the advancement of science and a knowledge of this far 
 distant and hitherto unknown refifion, seems to have been 
 neglected.* 
 
 Another scientific expedition of an Ethnological char- 
 acter is employed in Siberia under the direction of M. 
 Castren, who has devoted much of his first report to the 
 geography of the country. After speaking of the river 
 Irtisch and its fisheries, he gives some account of the 
 Ostiaks, the most ancient people of its banks. Surround- 
 ed by Russians and Tartars, they have lost all their 
 nationality except their language. The Tartar influence 
 is feeble, but that of Russia is felt in their religion, their 
 manners, their customs and even in their general mode 
 of thinking. 
 
 A paper containing " Ethnological Notes on Siberia," by 
 
 * The Royal Geographical Society of London has conferred its Victoria Gold 
 Medal on Prof. Middendorff for his successful exploration.
 
 112 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 Prof. Von MiddendorfF, was read at the late meeting of 
 the British Association for the advancement of science. 
 " In this paper, the geographical boundaries of the dif- 
 ferent tribes were set forth, the tribes were enumerated 
 and some of the characteristic peculiarities described. 
 The 1st, was the Ostiaks ; these were stated to be of 
 Finnish origin, on both physiological and philological 
 evidence. 2d, the Sg.moiedes, who were of Mongol de- 
 scent. 3rd, the Tunguses. 4th, the Yakuts ; the extent 
 to which Mongol features were found in a nation speaking 
 a language akin to Turkish, was insisted on. 5th, the 
 Yukagins; the physical peculiarities of which placed them 
 along with the Samoiedes. 6th, the Ainos ; these were 
 the inhabitants of the Kinule islands at the mouth of the 
 Arnus ; of these there were two types, the Finnish and 
 the Japanese. 7th, the Kachkell ; these were only known 
 through the Ainos." 
 
 A geographical Society has lately been founded at St. 
 Petersburg, to which the emperor proposed to give ten 
 thousand silver rubles annually. The first great explora- 
 tory expedition under the directions and patronage of this 
 Society will be directed along tfte eastern flank of the 
 Ural mountains, from the parallel of 60° north (Bogoslafsk) 
 to the Glacial sea. This survey is to be conducted by 
 Count A. Von Keyserling, already known to the public 
 through his valuable geological co-operation in the work 
 on Russia, by Sir R. I. Murchison ; and who by his sound 
 acquirements in geology, zoology and geography, will it 
 is presumed, during the ensuing three years, throw great 
 additional light on the wild Arctic Ural which separates 
 Europe from Asia, and which, inhabited by Ostiaks and 
 Samoiedes, extends beyond the limits of arboreal vege 
 tation. Among numerous other objects, it is hoped that 
 this expedition will elicit new results concerning the 
 entombment and preservation of the mammoths.* 
 
 *Lord Colchester's Address before the Royal Geog. Society. London, 1846.
 
 THE PRORRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 113 
 
 India. The obstacles which have existed in India, nnd 
 which have retarded the extension of European civilization, 
 will now be effectually removed by the noble step taken 
 by Lord Hardinge, the Governor General, for promo- 
 ting education in that country.* This benevolent and 
 excellent man, whose well earned laurels on the field of 
 battle are not more honorable than his philanthropic 
 efforts in extending education among the natives of India, 
 and in improving their social condition, "has directed the 
 Council of Education and other authorities charged with 
 the duty of superintending public instruction throughout 
 the provinces subject to the government of Bengal, to 
 submit returns of the students who may be fitted accord- 
 ing to their degrees of merit and capacity, for such of the 
 various public offices, as with reference to their age, 
 abilities and other circumstances, they may be deemed 
 qualified to fill." As this order recognizes no distinction 
 of schools, or castes, or religion, it will have a great 
 influence on the people, towards inducing them to give 
 their children the benefit of a good education, which to a 
 great extent must be obtained through the Christian mis- 
 sionaries. " It is," says the Friend of India, " the most 
 powerful impulse which the cause of education has 
 received during the last twenty-five years. It makes the 
 seminaries the nursery of the service, and the service the 
 stimulant of the seminaries. It introduces the enlightened 
 principles adopted by European governments, of recruit- 
 ing the public service in every department from those 
 who have earned distinctions in the public schools. At 
 the same time it will be found instrumental in the highest 
 degree in the general elevation of the country. It will 
 transplant into the interior that European knowledge and 
 science which has hitherto' been confined to Calcutta, 
 and diffuse their influence through every district." 
 
 The renunciation of idolatry must necessarily foflow the 
 
 * Missionary Herald. Vol. XLI. p. 138. 
 
 10*
 
 114 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 first steps in this great work of reform, and we already 
 see it noticed that in southern India, within the short pe- 
 riod of three months, eight hundred and thirty-two per- 
 sons renounced idolatry and embraced Christianity. This 
 large number was a part of the population of seven 
 villages.* 
 
 Such changes are not without their effects on the great 
 mass of the natives, indeed it is only by removing from 
 their minds the gross superstition in which they have been 
 for ages immersed, that there can be a hope of improving 
 their social condition. The wealthy Hindoos chng to 
 their ancient religion with greater tenacity as it totters 
 towards its downfall, than when in its most flourishing 
 state. Alarmed at the innovations which European civi- 
 lization and Christianity have made, they are printing by 
 subscription, a series of popular religious books in month- 
 ly numbers, on their doctrines, rites, superstitions and 
 idolatry. Fearing that the Europeans and such as have 
 been taught to observe these things with ridicule, might 
 controvert them, they have confined the subscription to 
 Hindoos, and have directed that their books shall be rigid- 
 ly kept from the hands of Christians. 
 
 The Mahommedans too, in Bengal, are greatly alarmed 
 at the danger to which their religion is exposed. They 
 have prepared tracts and books in opposition to Christian- 
 ity, and have sent, or are sending emissaries in every 
 direction, with a view to strengthen the tottering cause of 
 their false prophet.t A Mahommedan merchant in Bom- 
 bay has printed at his own expense, two thousand copies 
 of the Koran, for gratuitous distribution, at a cost of several 
 thousand dollars. 
 
 In former times the efforts of the missionaries were di- 
 rected to proselyting among the Hindoos and other idola- 
 ters ofthe East, without first making themselves acquainted 
 
 » Missionary Herald. Vol. XLI. p. 206. 
 
 t English Baptist Missionary Report for 1845. p. 9.
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 1 1 5 
 
 • 
 
 with the fabric which they were laboring so earnestly to 
 demolish. Nursed and educated as the natives were in the 
 doctrines and superstitions which for ages their forefathers 
 had venerated and professed, the efforts of the missionaries 
 and of others who labored to improve their condition were 
 unattended with success — and a conflict between Orien- 
 tal and European civilization — between Hindooism and 
 Christianity — between the false science of the shastres 
 and the enlightenment of Europe, for a long time existed ; 
 and it seemed doubtful whether truth or falsehood would 
 triumph. Now, the system is changed, and a course is 
 pursued which bids fair to produce the most wonderful 
 effects on the people of India and China. 
 
 ' It has been asserted that the missionary enterprise in 
 India was a failure, and did not warrant the large sums 
 expended there. Those who are unfriendly to the cause 
 do not see that more than half the amount there expended 
 was for educating the people, for improving their social con- 
 dition, for translating valuable books into their various lan- 
 guages and for establishing among them that mighty en- 
 gine of civilization and reform, the printing press.* 
 
 * It appears that the Baptist Missionary Society in the year ending in March, 
 1845* expended in India $29,500, of which sum nearly ,$15,000, or rather more 
 than one half, was expended in making translations of books into various languages. 
 The remainder was for the support of the missionaries, their outfits and passages, 
 the support of native teachers — schools &c. The languages and dialects which 
 have been studied and elucidated and into which books have been translated may 
 be summed up as follows. 
 
 32 languages and dialects in India, 
 
 4 do. do. in Persia and the Caucasian countries, . 
 
 5 do. in China and the Indo-Chinese countries, 
 4 do. in Polynesia. 
 
 The translations consist of the whole or portions of the Scriptures ; books on 
 religious or moral subjects ; elementary works on Science, popular Histories, 
 geography, &c. Elementary books in the several departments of Science and 
 History constitute the greater variety, though of the whole number of works dis- 
 tributed, the Bible and Testament constitute by far the greatest part. For 
 example, the English Baptist Missionary Society printed and issued in the year 
 ending March 1845, fifty-five thousand copies of the Bible and Testament in 
 
 • Report of the English Baptist Missionary Society for 1845.
 
 116 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 But it is not merely in the translation and distribution 
 of these books, that the missionaries have rendered so 
 much service. In this labor it is true they have contribu- 
 ted greatly towards disseminating Christian truth and 
 useful knowledge among a large class of people, and 
 have improved their religious, their moral and their social 
 condition. But to Europe and to the learned world they 
 have also furnished a vast deal of philological knowledge, 
 elucidating and developing languages scarcely known 
 beyond the precincts of the several countries in which 
 they were spoken. Many of these languages, too, were 
 previously unwritten ; and from this rude state the mis- 
 sionaries have trained and moulded them into forms 
 adapted to written speech. 
 
 While speaking of the labors of the missionaries in the 
 East, I should do great injustice to Catholics not to speak 
 of their efforts to improve the moral and religious condi- 
 tion of the people in these distant countries. In the most 
 
 the Sanscrit, Bengali, Hindostani, and Armenian languages. The number of 
 books printed and distributed in India by the American Board of Commissioners 
 for Foreign Missions was as follows. 
 
 Madras Mission. In the Tamil and English languages : The Scriptures or 
 portions of them — books of a religious character — elementary school books — 
 tracts — periodicals and reports of benevolent associations bearing on the 
 cause of Christianity and the social and intellectual improvement of the popula- 
 tion of India, there were printed at this single estabhshment, within a fraction of 
 twenty-seven millions of pages — or, if in volumes of two hundred and seventy 
 pages each, one hundred thousand volumes ; but as there were many tracts, the 
 number was doubtless double or treble. Besides this there are six other large 
 establishments in Southern India, where books in the Tamil language are printed, 
 all under the control of Missionary Societies. 
 
 Ceylon Mission. In the Tamil and English languages were printed during 
 the year, twenty-three thousand seven hundred and forty-four volumes, and one 
 hundred and forty-five thousand tracts, amounting to six million one hundred and 
 fifty-six thousand pages. 
 
 SiAM Mission. In the Siamese language were printed in two years two mil- 
 lion four hundred and sixty-two thousand pages. 
 
 When so much is accomplished by one Society, how vast must be the influence 
 exerted by the various Missionary and Tract Societies engaged in the same 
 cause.
 
 THE PROGRESS OP ETHNOLOGY. 117 
 
 barbarous and secluded portions of the earth do we lind 
 these devoted men diUgently hiboring to elevate the con- 
 dition of the natives. In many do we see a zeal and 
 devotedness, an endurance of hardships, of the most severe 
 privations, and often martyrdom itself, which has never 
 been surpassed in the annals of missionary enterprise. 
 Neither Francois Xavier, nor Ignatius Loyola, so famous 
 among the pioneers of the Eastern missions, ever exhibi- 
 ted a greater zeal or devotedness than we now witness 
 among the Catholic missionaries in Thibet, China, Corea, 
 the islands of the Eastern Archipelago and Occanica. 
 Xhey too have added much to our stock of knowledge of 
 the inhabitants, their manners and customs, and their lan- 
 guages. Their narratives give us particular accounts of 
 the productions of the countries in which they reside, their 
 trade, commerce, and all that interests us. 
 
 SiAM. An interesting fact connected with the progress 
 of European civilization, and the extension of Christianit}'' 
 in the kingdom of Siam, seems deserving of notice in this 
 place. It was communicated by the American Mission 
 in that country. 
 
 " The king of Siam despatched one of his ships to 
 Ceylon about the close of last year, to carry back some 
 Ceylonese Boodhists whom he had invited to Siam, two 
 or three years before, and also to send a fresh ecclesiastical 
 embassy to that island — regarded by all Boodhists as very 
 sacred-»-to make further religious researches in the primi- 
 tive nursery of their faith. That embassy fulfilled its 
 mission, and returned to Siam in June, bringing a letter 
 to his Majesty from a high priest of Boodh in Ceylon, 
 written in English, and stating in substance, that the reli- 
 gion of Boodh had become almost extinct in Ceylon, chiefly 
 through the influence of the Christian religion, and the 
 schools and seminaries of the missionaries and English 
 residents in that part of the world ; and that, if some aid 
 from abroad could not be obtained to prop up crumbling 
 Boodhism in that island, it must soon become utterly ex-
 
 118 
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 tinct. The writer expressed much pain at the thought, 
 that the very birth place of his rehgion should not have 
 some permanent witness of it ; and requested that his 
 Majesty, in his pious zeal for Boodhism, would send him 
 funds, with which he might build a Wat (Religious house) 
 and support priests in honor of his god. He suggested 
 that this would be a noble work for a great king, and one 
 that would confer upon him the highest honors of Bood- 
 hism."* 
 
 COCHIN-CHINA, CHINA, MANCHURIA, COREA, 
 AND JAPAN. 
 
 Cochin-China. M. Hedde has published a few notices 
 of a visit to Turon in Annam in 1844, on his passage from 
 Singapore to Macao.* He represents the country as 
 altogether in a wretched, declining condition, misgoverned 
 and beggared by despotic officers, presenting a painful 
 
 » Missionary Herald, Vol. XLV. p. 47. 
 
 The following list embraces the recent works on India. 
 
 Travels in the Kashmir and the Punjab ; containing a particular account of the 
 Sikhs. From the German of Baron Hugel, with notes by Major Jervis, royal 
 8vo. London, 1846. 
 
 The Punjaub ; being a brief account of the country of the Sikhs, its extent, 
 history, commerce, productions, religion, &c., to the recent campaign of the 
 Sutelege. By Lt. Col. Steinbach, post, 8vo. London, 1846. 
 
 A Peep into Turkistan ; by Capt. R. Burslem, 8vo. London, 1846. 
 
 Travels in the Punjab, AfTghanistan and Turkistan, to Balk, Bokhara and He- 
 rat, by Mohan Lai, 8vo. London, 1846. 
 
 History of the Punjab, and of the rise, progress and present condition of the 
 Sikhs, 2 vols, post, 8vo. London, 1846. 
 
 The history of the Sikhs, with a personal narrative of the war between the 
 British and the Sikhs. By W. L. McGregor, 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1847. 
 
 The Sikhs and Affghans, immediately before and after the death of Runjeet 
 Singh. By Shahamat Ali, post, 8vo. London, 1847. 
 
 The Hindoo Castes ; or history, manners and customs of the 42 castes or sects 
 of the Brahmins of British India, with highly colored plates : By E. A. Rodri- 
 guez, 24 numbers. 
 
 * Chinese Repository. Vol. XV. p. 113.
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 119 
 
 contrast in its general prosperity with the Chinese empire. 
 The present monarch is named Thieufri (or Yuen-f'uh- 
 siuen in Chinese) and succeeded his father Ming-ming or 
 Minh-menh in 1841, but no improvement in the domestic 
 or foreign administiation of the government has taken 
 place. Several. Cochin-Chinese youth have been educated 
 at Singapore, and the king purchased two steamers 
 several years ago from the Dutch, but the natives proba- 
 bly were too little acquainted with the machinery and 
 motive power to make the least use of them, as nothing 
 has since been heard of them. The country is highly 
 favored by its natural advantages and navigable rivers 
 for maintaining a large population, but oppression on the 
 part of the rulers and ignorance among the people, vitiate 
 the sources of national prosperity. The port of Turon 
 alone, is open in Annam for foreign trade, but no Ameri- 
 can vessels have been there for a cargo since Lieut. 
 White's unsuccessful voyage in the Franklin in 1804. 
 Capt. Percival of the U. S. ship Constitution anchored 
 there in May, 1845, but no official account of his visit 
 has been published, which if the rumors of his firing upon 
 the town are true, is not strange. The Peacock and 
 Enterprize also anchored there in 1836, but Mr. Roberts, 
 the American diplomatic agent, was too ill to have any 
 communications with the authorities. 
 
 China. The late war l^etween England. and Cliina 
 has directed the attention of other nations towards that 
 empire in an unusual degree. Except the immediate 
 details of the contest and the personal incidents connected 
 with it, however, the works of those officers who have 
 written upon that war, have not contained so much infor- 
 mation as was expected by some, but quite as much as 
 could be collected under the circumstances. The war 
 was almost wholly a maritime one, confined to attacks 
 upon cities and forts upon the C9ast and rivers, by both 
 the army and navy, and few or none of the officers were 
 acquainted with the language of the people, so that little
 
 120 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 information could be obtained from those natives whom 
 suspicion or terror did not drive away. The region 
 around Ningpo, Chusan and the mouth of the Yangtsz 
 kiang, has been described with more minuteness than 
 any other part of the maritime provinces ; and the careful 
 survey of the coast from Amoy to Shanghai, with the 
 Chusan and Pescadore archipelagoes by Captains Collin- 
 son, and Kellet and others, has left little to be done for 
 the navigator's benefit, in making known the hydrography 
 of this part of China. The general topography of China 
 is, however, but little better known now than it was at 
 the close of the general survey of the Jesuits in 1714, and 
 their maps form the basis of the best extant. 
 
 The embassy sent by the French government in ] 844, 
 under M. Th. de Lagrene, to form a commercial treaty 
 with China, was furnished on a most liberal scale with 
 everything necessary to make the greatest improvement 
 of the opportunities offered to examine into the mechanical 
 arts and productions of the land. Four gentlemen were 
 attached to the ambassador's suite, to make inquiries into 
 the various agricultural and mechanical arts of the Chi- 
 nese, one of whom, M. Isidore Hedde, was especially 
 designated to investigate everything relating to the growth 
 and preparation of silk. In pursuance of this object, he 
 visited the city of Tuchan fu, which lies a few miles 
 northwest of Shanghai, and is the capital of the province 
 of Kiangsu. This place is probably the second or third 
 city in the empire, Canton or Hangchau fu being the 
 only ones which can compete with it for wealth and 
 beautifiil manufactures. It lies in a highly cultivated 
 region, and is connected with Peking and other large 
 places, through the Grand canal and the Yangtsz kiang. 
 M. Hedde went in a Chinese dress, and succeeded in 
 visiting the principal buildings in the city, such as the 
 provincial mint, the hall of examination, an establishment 
 for the education of unhappy females destined for sale for 
 the amusement of the opulent, and some manufactories*
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 121 
 
 The suburbs of Sucliau, as is the case with most Chinese 
 cities, exceed that part within the walls, and here he 
 found most of the craftsmen in iron, ivory, gold, silver, 
 wood, bone, horn, glass, earth, paper, cotton and silk. 
 His errand being chiefly to examine the silken fabrics, 
 he noticed whatever was peculiar in spinning, dyeing and 
 weaving, in the shops he entered. The Chinese have no 
 such immense establishments as are found in this countiy, 
 where large buildings accommodate an immense quantity 
 of machinery and numerous workmen, but all their pro- 
 ducts are made by manual labor in small establishments. 
 M. Hedde was struck with the immense population of the 
 city and its environs, including a floating suburb of great 
 extent, the whole comprising a population of not far from 
 two millions. The Chinese census gives an average of 
 over nine hundred souls to a square mile in the province 
 of Kiangsu, and eveiy opportunity which has been offered 
 for examining it, has added new evidence to the truth of 
 this statement, though closer investigation and further 
 travel is necessary before we can give implicit reliance 
 to the assertions made on this subject. 
 
 Two English missionaries have lately gone long journeys 
 into the interior, but as Protestants have no coadjutors 
 among the people away from the ports, who would be 
 willing to receive and conceal them ; and as their system 
 of operations aims rather to impart a true knowledge 
 of Christianity than to make many converts to a form of 
 worship, these excursions have not been frecjuently made. 
 One of the two here referred to, was across the country 
 from Ningpo to Canton, by the same route Lord Macart- 
 ney came, and the other was up the Yangtsz kiang. 
 Two American missionaries visited the large city of 
 Changchau fu near Amoy m 1844, where they were 
 received with civility though not with kindness. 
 
 Mr. Robert Fortune, sent out to China by the Horticul- 
 tural Society, has lately returned to England, with new 
 plants of great beauty, and a large collection of botanical 
 11
 
 122 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 and ornithological specimens, among which are doubtiesSP 
 many not heretofore described. Mr. Fortune visited all 
 the ports, and made excursions in their neighborhoods, 
 and his reception among the people was generally kind. 
 The people in the cities of Ningpo and Shanghai, and 
 their vicinities, compare favorably for their kindness and 
 general courtesy, with the coarse mannered natives of 
 Canton. 
 
 The opening of this great empire to the commercial 
 enterprise of western nations, has given rise to anticipa- 
 tions of an extensive trade, and the importation of cotton 
 and woolen fabrics during the last few years has been 
 increasing ; and if it was not for the abominable traffic 
 in opium^ which is both impoverishing and destroying 
 the Chinese, there would be every reason for believing 
 the commerce with China would soon be one of the lar- 
 gest branches of trade. The principal articles in which 
 it is most likely to increase are tea and silk, but there is a 
 great assortment of other productions, which can betaken 
 in exchange for the cloths, metals and wares of the west. 
 Mr. Montgomery Martin for a short time colonial treasu- 
 rer of Hongkong, has collected all the statistics bearing 
 on this subject in his work, which will aid in forming an 
 opinion on this point. Commercially, politically and 
 religiously, the Chinese empire now presents a most 
 interesting spectacle, and the experiment of regenerating 
 it and introducing it into the family of nations, without 
 completely disorganizing its present form of government 
 and society, will constantly go on and attract still more 
 and more the notice of Christendom. The probabilities 
 at present are in favor of a successful issue, but it is 
 impossible to contemplate the desolating effects of the use 
 of opium, brought to the people in such quantities, without 
 great apprehension as to the result. The lava like progress 
 of the power of Great Britain in Asia, has just commenced 
 on the borders of China, and when the country is drained 
 of specie in payment for this drug, there is reason to fear
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 123 
 
 that the native government will be unable to carry on its 
 operations and maintain its authority. 
 
 CoREA. Since the extermination of the Catholic priests 
 from Corea in 1839, the most rigid measures have been 
 adopted to exclude all foreigners ; in fact, the determina- 
 tion on the part of the government of Corea to pre- 
 vent all intercourse between its people and those of 
 other countries seems to have been adopted from its 
 neighbor of Japan. These measures are even extended 
 to the Chinese, against whom a strong natural antipnthy 
 exists, growing out of the persecutions formerly inflicted 
 on the Coreans by them. Accurate descriptions of Euro- 
 peans are kept at the various posts on the frontier, and 
 from their well known characteristics thej'- are easily 
 distinguished. The Coreans themselves on leaving their 
 country for China for purposes of trade, receive a passport, 
 which on returning must be given back or they are not 
 permitted to enter. Many Christians still remain in Corea, 
 and though they are subject to persecution, the minds 
 of the people are well disposed towards the Christian 
 religion. The literary class hold it in the highest estima- 
 tion, and seem only to be waiting for the moment when 
 they will be free to declare in its favor.* 
 
 Farther accounts from this country have lately appear- 
 ed in the Annals of the Propaganda Society,! in a letter 
 from Keemay Kim a native of Corea, and a Christian, 
 who had just completed his studies at Macao in China. 
 He was sent on a mission to the Christians in Corea, but 
 owing to the vigilance observed on the frontiers of that 
 country, was unable to enter it. Determined to persevere 
 in the attempt, he posted on to Hoong-tchoong, a small 
 frontier town near the mouth of a river which separates 
 Corea from Manchuria, where he waited until the period 
 arrived when the great fair was to take place at Kee-eu- 
 Wen, the nearest town in Corea, four leagues distant. 
 
 « Annals of the Propaganda for 1846. p. 55. tibij. July, 184G.
 
 124 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 " They suppty the Coreans with dogs, cats, pipes, leather, 
 stag's horns, copper, horses, mules and asses ; and receive 
 in exchange, baskets, kitchen utensils, rice, com, swine, 
 paper, mats, oxen, furs and small horses." A few officers 
 are permitted to trade every year, but they are closely 
 guarded. All others who pass the frontier are made 
 slaves or massacred at once. Our traveller here met a 
 few Corean Christians in the immense crowd which had 
 come to traffic, and whom he recognised by a badge pre- 
 viously agreed upon; but so great was the confusion and 
 hurry on the occasion, added to the fear of being recog- 
 nized, that the interview does not seem to have been 
 productive of good, or increased our information of the 
 people or country. Since the great persecution a few 
 years since, the church had been at rest ; and though a few 
 converts had been made, the faithful had retired to the 
 southern provinces for better security. They still enter- 
 tained the idea of introducing a European missionary 
 through the north, though with the knowledge that if 
 discovered by the authorities, instant death would follow. 
 Such is the zeal and perseverance with which these men 
 pursue their philanthropic and Christian labors. 
 
 The fair to which allusion has been made, is thus 
 described by our Corean. The traders cannot begin 
 their operations until a signal is given, by hoisting a flag 
 and beating the gong, "when the immense and densely 
 packed crowd rush to the market place ; Coreans, Chi- 
 nese, and Manchus, are all mingled together. Each 
 speaks in his own tongue, and so great is the uproar 
 produced by this mass of people, that the echoes of the 
 neighboring mountains repeat their discordant shouts." 
 
 "Four or five hours is the whole time allowed for buy- 
 ing and selling ; consequently, the tumult which takes 
 place, the quarrels which arise, the blows which are 
 exchanged, and the plundering which goes on, give the 
 place more the look of a city taken by storm and given 
 up to pillage, than that of a fair." At evening, when the
 
 THE I'ROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 125 
 
 signal is given, the strangers are driven out by the soldiers 
 with the points of their lances. 
 
 Manchuria. The vast regions of Manchuria, lying 
 north of Corea to the Hing-an or Yablonoi mountains, and 
 east of the Sialkoi to the ocean, are inhabited by various 
 tribes speaking different dialects and subsisting princi- 
 pally by hunting and fishing. The Manchus are now the 
 dominant race, but some of the tribes near the sea and in 
 Taraka island, bear no tributary relations to them, if indeed 
 they are much acquainted. Since the conquest of China, 
 the Manchus have gone on steadily improving this part of 
 their possessions by stationing agricultural troops at the 
 principal ports of observation, and collecting the hunters 
 around these points as much as possible. Criminals are 
 also constantly banished there, who cany with them their 
 arts, and by their industry both maintain themselves and 
 set an example to the nomads. The southern part called 
 Shingking, has become well cultivated in many parts, 
 and considerable trade is carried on at Kinchau with 
 other parts of China. 
 
 Manchuria produces pulse, maize, (Indian corn), millet, 
 barley and buckwheat; pulse, drugs and cattle, form the 
 leading articles of trade. The climate of this country is 
 so inhospitable, as to prove a serious obstacle in the way 
 of its settlement and cultivation. 
 
 The Manchus have no national literature ; all the books 
 written in their language are translations of Chinese 
 works, made under the superintendence of the Academies 
 at Moukden and Peking. Their written characters are 
 derived from the Mongols, but have undergone many 
 changes. The emperors have taken great pains to ele- 
 vate their countrymen by providing them with the best 
 books in Chinese literature, and compelling them to go 
 through the same examinations before they can attain any 
 office; but the numerical superiority of the Chinese and 
 their active habits, give them so much the advantage, 
 that except in their own country, the Manchus find it 
 11*
 
 126 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 difficult to preserve their native tongue to the second 
 generation. 
 
 Mongolia. The last volume of the Annals of the Pro- 
 paganda Society contains an interesting narrative of a 
 journey into Mongolia, by the Rev. Mr. Hue. This vast 
 country, covering a million of square miles, consists of 
 barren deserts and boundless steppes. In the limits allot- 
 ted each corps, there is seldom more than one town, 
 where the chief resides. The people live in tents, without 
 any permanent residence. They move from place to 
 place, with the changes of the seasons, or when their im- 
 mense herds of oxen, camels and horses have exhausted 
 the grass around their encampment. To-day presents an 
 animated scene of hundreds of tents, filled with an active 
 population ; the children playing as happy and contented 
 as though surrounded with every luxury a civilized life 
 affords ; the women cooking their food and drawing water 
 from a well just dug ; and the men, mounted on horse- 
 back, are galloping over the plain, keeping their countless 
 herds from straying away. To-morrow, this picturesque 
 and animated scene will be changed to a dreary and for- 
 bidding desert. Men, flocks, and tents have vanished, and 
 nought remains to mark the visit of this wandering race, 
 but the curling smoke of their unquenched fires, or the 
 birds of prey hovering over the carcase of some dying 
 camel, or feeding on the remains of their late repast. The 
 Mongols are irreclaimable nomads, though some tribes of 
 them, as the Tsakhars, Ortous, and Solous, cultivate the 
 soil. The four khanates of the Kalkas are called Outer 
 Mongolia, and comprise within their borders, several well 
 built towns, though none of any size, compared with the 
 cities in China. Few Chinese have settled among the 
 Mongols, except near the Great Wall, nor will they allow 
 them to do so, as there is a deep antipathy between the 
 two races. The Mongols of the present day have proba- 
 
 * Annals of the Propoganda for September, 1845.
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 127 
 
 bly made no advances in civilization over their ancestors 
 in the days of Gengliis and Kublai. 
 
 The approaches of the British power up the valley of 
 the Sutlej, into the regions lying along the base of the 
 western Himalayas, are such that they will ere long come 
 in contact with Tibet through Ladak, and with Yarkand 
 through Badakshan. But there is probably more geo- 
 graphical than ethnological information to be gained by 
 traversing these elevated regions, where stupendous moun- 
 tains and arid deserts offer nothing to tempt man from the 
 fertile plains of India and China. Two Romish mission- 
 aries have lately arrived in Canton from H'lassa in Tibet, 
 by the overland route through Patang in Sz'chuen to the 
 capital of Kwangsi, and thence to Canton. This route 
 has never been described by any traveller. 
 
 Lewohew Islands. This group of islands, including 
 the Madjico sima, lying between it and Formosa, form a 
 dependency of the principality of Satzuma, in the south- 
 west of Japan, though the rulers are allowed a limited 
 intercourse with China through Fuhchau fu. During the 
 late war between England and China, the transport Indian 
 Oak was lost on Lewchew,* August 14, 1840, and the 
 crew were treated with great kindness, and provided with 
 a vessel, in which they returned to Chusan. Every effort 
 was made by the authorities to prevent the officers and 
 men from examining the island, but their kindness to the 
 unfortunate people thus cast on their shores, made such 
 an impression, that a mission to the islanders was deter- 
 mined upon in London, by some naval gentlemen con- 
 nected with the expedition, and a society formed. The 
 Rev. B. J. Bettelheim was appointed to the post, and had 
 reached Canton in March, ]846. He afterwards proceded 
 on his voyage, and his journal received at Hongkong, 
 from Napa, contains a few details of interest, but shows 
 plainly that the authorities are decided in refusing to 
 allow foreigners to settle in their territories. 
 
 •Chinese Repository, Vol. xii. p. 78.
 
 128 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 An attempt has been made by the Romish missionaries 
 to estabHsh a mission in this group.* The Rev. W. For- 
 cade and an associate were left on Lewchew in May, 
 1844, and after a residence of fifteen months were able 
 to transmit some notices of their treatment to the directors, 
 through Sir Edwani Belcher, R. N. who stopped at Napa 
 in August, 1845. On their arrival, M. Forcade and his 
 companion were conducted to their dwelling, where they 
 were surrounded by a numerous guard under the control 
 of officers, and attended by domestics, as they were told, 
 *' to charm their leisure moments." Their table was 
 bountifully supplied, and everything they could ask to 
 make them comfortable was granted them, except their 
 liberty. Whenever they went abroad, they were accom- 
 panied by a guard, but allowed to hold no intercourse 
 with the natives ; they had not been able ta proceed be- 
 yond twelve miles into the interior, but as far as they had 
 opportunities of conversing with the natives, found them 
 simple and courteous in their manners, atid disposed to 
 talk when not under surveillance. It is probable, however, 
 that under such restraint as these gentlemen were placed, 
 it is not likely that they had attained to such fluency in 
 the language as to be able to hold very ready communi- 
 cation with natives met in this hasty manner. The inten- 
 tions of the government were plain, however, not to allow 
 them to disseminate their doctrines, (if it had learned 
 their real object,) nor, by intercourse with the people, 
 become acquainted with their character, or the state of 
 the country. No assistance was granted them in learning 
 the language, and they were forbidden to adopt the native 
 costume. Notwithstanding this opposition, they had been 
 able to acquire a partial knowledge of the language, and 
 to compile a vocabulary of six thousand words. Permission 
 to preach the Christian rehgion was not granted them, lest, 
 as the authorities said, the Chinese, to whom they are 
 
 • Annals de la Propagation de la Foi, July, 1846
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOOY. 129 
 
 tributary, would break off all intercourse ; but the real 
 reason was doubtless their fear of the Japanese. Yet 
 these obstacles did not dishearten them, and they seem 
 determined to persevere in their attempts, though it is not 
 unlikely that when Mr. Bettelheim arrives, the authorities 
 will take measures for deporting them all. 
 
 The Lewchewans are intimately connected with the 
 Japanese. The language is the same, with unimportant 
 dialectical variations, and Chinese letters and literature 
 are in like manner cultivated by both. In personal ap- 
 pearance, however, the two people are very unlike. The 
 Lewchewans are not on an average over five feet four 
 inches high, slightly built, and approach the Malayan cast 
 of features more than the Chinese. They are darker than 
 the Chinese, and their mild traits of character, unwarlike 
 habits, and general personal appearance, suggests the 
 idea that they are akin to the aborigines of Formosa and 
 Lu9onia by descent, while their proximity and subjugation 
 to their powerful neighbors on the north and west, have 
 taught them a higher civilization, and introduced arts and 
 sciences unknown to their early conquerors. When Lew- 
 chew was subjugated by the Japanese, it was agreed that 
 embassies with tribute might be sent to Peking, and ac- 
 cording to the Chinese account, they come to that court 
 twice in three years.* The secretary or deputy embas- 
 sador in 1841, was drowned in his passage from Peking 
 to Fuhchau. This embassy is a source of considerable 
 profit to the Lewchewans, for their junks, which are built 
 on the Chinese model, have free entrance to Fuhchau, 
 and all the goods they import and export, are passed 
 without duty. The travelling expenses of the embassy 
 to and from the capital are also defrayed, and permission 
 is given them to study Chinese when in the country. 
 This intercourse is therefore both honorable and profitable 
 to the Lewchewans, but the Chinese are not allowed to 
 
 * Chinese Repository, Vol. xiv. p. 155.
 
 130 
 
 THE PROGRESS OP ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 trade there, and the only act of sovereignty the emperor 
 exercises, according to M. Forcade, is to send a delegate 
 to sanction the accession of a new incumbent of the 
 throne — whom, however, it would be ridiculous for him 
 to refuse. He adds, " In conversation, if one is a stran-' 
 ger, the Lewchewans will be continually dwelling on 
 China, they will boast about it, they will relate its history, 
 they will describe its provinces and its cities ; but Japan 
 is never mentioned ! Such are the words, but the facts 
 are quite another thing." 
 
 The real character of the connection between Lew- 
 chew and Japan is not well ascertained. No Japanese 
 officers are seen on landing, and the officers appointed to 
 attend the people of the Indian Oak, exhibited the great- 
 est alarm when a few were seen at a distance, while the 
 party were taking a walk. The trade between the two 
 countries is confined to the ports of Napa and Ka- 
 gosima, between which the vessels of both nations pass ; 
 the junks from other parts of Japan are not permitted to 
 resort to Napa, but it is not probable that the prince of 
 Satzuma has the right of appointing the residents, or what- 
 ever authorities are sent thither. M. Forcade says there 
 were from ten to fifteen Japanese vessels in the port, but 
 when the American ship Morrison was there, in 1837, 
 there were only five. Lacke red-ware, grass cloth, sugar, 
 and earthen-ware, are exported to Kagosima, and a great 
 assortment of metallic articles, cloths, provisions, and 
 stationery taken in exchange. The country in the vicinity 
 of Napa, and towards Shudi, the capital, is highly culti- 
 vated, and the people appear to be as well clothed, and 
 possess as many of the comforts and elegancies of life as 
 their neighbors. They still retain, enough of their own 
 customs, however, to distinguish them from the Japanese, 
 even if their physical appearance did not point them out 
 as distinct. M. Forcade says that there is reason for sup- 
 posing Christianity to have been implanted in Lewchew 
 at the same time it was introduced into Japan, but Lew-
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 131 
 
 chew at that time seems to have been much less depend- 
 ant upon Japan than subsequently ; and it is not probable 
 that much was done to proselyte its inhabitants. He 
 mentions that a cr6ss is cut on the end of the rampart 
 where foreigners land, who are thus obliged to trample 
 on this symbol ; but no other visitors mention any such 
 sculpture or custom. The landing place at Napa is a 
 long stone jetty, stretching across the beach, which at low 
 tide, prevents boats approaching the shore. 
 
 JAPAN. 
 
 This country has recently attracted increased attention 
 on the part of commercial nations, and several foreign 
 ships have lately appeared on the coasts, whose reception 
 has only shown the vigilance of the authorities in taking 
 every precaution neither to offend nor receive their unwel- 
 come visitors. The Dutch and Chinese are still the only 
 nations allowed to trade with the Japanese, and the news 
 brought by the latter people of the troubles they have 
 lately gone through with their foreign customers, has 
 probably only more strongly convinced the siogoun and 
 his ministers of the propriety of their seclusive policy. 
 Nor is there much reason to doubt that the Chinese and 
 Japanese have avoided the fate of the natives of Lugonia, 
 Java, and India, by shutting out foreigners from free 
 access and intercourse with their people, and owing to 
 their seclusion, have remained independent to this day. 
 The works of Siebold upon the natural history and politi- 
 cal condition of the country and its inhabitants, are now 
 slowly publishing in Paris, but with such luxury of exe- 
 cution as to place them beyond the reach of most persons 
 who might be desirous to examine them. The visits of 
 two American ships to the bay of Yedo, has directed the 
 public eye again to the empire. The first was that of the 
 whaler Manhattan, Captain Cooper, who was led to think
 
 132 THE PROGRESS OF ETHI^LOGY. 
 
 of going into the port by having taken eleven shipwrecked 
 men off" a small island near the Bonin islands, in April, 
 1845, lying southeast of Nippon. As he was going 
 north, he fell in with a water-logged junk from Nambu, 
 laden with rice and fish, from which he received eleven 
 more, and soon after made the eastern coast in the princi- 
 pality of Simosa. Here he landed two men, and pro- 
 ceeding towards Cape King, landed two more, who made 
 their way to Yedo. Owing to north winds, he was blown 
 off the coast twice, and when he approached the estuary 
 leading to the capital, he was taken in tow and carried 
 up to the anchorage. Interpreters came off to the vessel, 
 who could speak English sufficiently well to carry on an 
 imperfect communication, who informed Captain Cooper 
 that his wants would be supplied, but none of his company 
 allowed to land. A triple cordon of boats was placed 
 around the ship, consisting of upwards of a thousand 
 small boats, displaying numerous flags, and containing as 
 many armed men as if the country was in danger of at- 
 tack. The ship was visited by crowds of natives of all 
 ranks, who behaved with great decorum while gratifying 
 their curiosity, but no trade was allowed. Many officers 
 of high rank came on board and examined the ship, and 
 took an inventory of every article belonging to the rescued 
 seamen, before they were allowed to land. The ship was 
 gratuitously supplied with provisions and a few spars, to 
 the value of about $500, but the captain was again and 
 again enjoined not to return there on any account. When 
 he inquired what he should do if he again came across 
 the siogoun's subjects in like distress, and exposed to a 
 cruel death, he was told, " leave them to their fate, or 
 take them where the Dutch can get them." The men 
 rescued from starvation and death, were, however, deeply 
 sensible of the kindness which had been shown them. 
 After a stay of eight or ten days. Captain Cooper was 
 towed out of the port, and down the bay to the coast, and 
 the last injunction was only a repetition of the first order,
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 133 
 
 not to come again. This reception, thougli it presents 
 no encouragement to hope for a relaxation of the policy, 
 deemed by the siogoun at once his safety and his profit, is 
 less likely to call for summary chastisement than the rude 
 repulse the American ship Morrison received in 1S37, 
 when she entered the bay of Yedo on the same errand, 
 and was driven away by cannon balls and armed gun- 
 boats. 
 
 Captain Cooper represents the country in this portion 
 of it as clothed with verdure, and under a high state of 
 cultivation. The proximity of the mountains in Idzu, 
 produces constant showers, which covers the highest peaks 
 with forests and shrubbery. Terrace cultivation is exten- 
 sively practiced, and constant labor is demanded to sup- 
 ply subsistence to the dense population, who still at times 
 suffer severely for want of food. The capital could not 
 well be seen from the ship, and its enceinte was so filled 
 with trees, that its dimensions could not accurately be 
 defined. No towers or pagodas were seen elevating them- 
 selves above the dull monotony of the buildings. The 
 harbor was covered with vessels, at anchor and moving 
 about ; some of them unwieldy, open-stern junks, designed 
 for the coast trade, others light skiffs and boats, used for 
 communicating with vessels in the harbor and the shore. 
 The greatest part of the coasting trade centres at Yedo, 
 owing to the lai^ge amount of taxes paid the siogoun in 
 kind, and the supplies the princes receive from their pos- 
 sessions while they reside in the capital, both of which 
 causes operate to develope the maritime skill of the peo- 
 ple, and increase the amount of tonnage. The short- 
 sighted policy which confines the energies and capital of 
 a seagoing people like the Japanese, within their own 
 shores is, however, less a matter of wonder than tlie de- 
 spotic power which could cmnpfl thein to stay at home 
 two centuries ago, at a tirn;;; when their merchants and 
 agents were found from Acapnlco to Bangkok. 
 
 The Japanese empire presents the greatest feudal gov 
 12
 
 134 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 ernment now existing, and on that account is peculiarly 
 interesting to the student of political science. In some 
 respects, the people are superior to the Chinese, but are 
 inferior ift the elements of national wealth and progress. 
 They belong to the Mongolian race, but are darker than 
 the Chinese, and not as tall, though sviperior in stature to 
 the Lewchewanw They approximate to the Kamtschat- 
 dales in their square build, short necks, large heads, and 
 short lower limbs. They are of a light olive complexion, 
 but seldom exhibit a florid, ruddy countenance. 
 
 Among the articles obtained from the junk by Captain 
 Cooper, was a map of Japan, including part of Yesso. 
 It is four feet square, drawn on the proportion of less than 
 one degree to two inches, and contains the names of all 
 the places there is room for. It is cut on wood, and 
 painted to show the outlines of the chief principalities : 
 the relative importance of the places is shown by writing 
 their names in different shaped cartouches, but from the 
 space occupied by the Chinese characters, there is proba- 
 blv not one-tenth of all the towns inserted. The distances 
 between the principal points along the coast are stated, and 
 on some of the leading thoroughfares inland. The map 
 is evidently the original of Krusenstern's " Carte de Nip- 
 pon," published by the Russian Board of Longitude, and 
 is drawn up from trigonometrical survej^s. The degrees of 
 latitude bear the same numbers as upon E*uropean maps ; 
 the meridians are reckoned from Yedo. The existence of 
 such maps among the people indicates that a good 
 knowledge of their own country is far more extensively 
 diffused than among the Chinese, whose common maps 
 are a standing reproach to them, while they have others 
 so much more accurate. The coast from Cape King 
 northward to Simosa, for the space of two degrees, was 
 found by captain Cooper to be better delineated upon this 
 map than upon his own charts. These seas present a fine 
 field for hydrographic surveys, and it would greatly ad- 
 vance the security of navigation on the eastern shores of
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 1^5 
 
 Asia, and redound to the honor of our own land, if the 
 American government would despatch two small vessels 
 to survey the seas and shores between Lu^onia and 
 Kamtschatka. 
 
 The visit of Commodore Biddle to the bay of Ycdo, has 
 added nothing to our knowledge of its shores. His polite 
 dismissal, and the refusal of the government to enterlain 
 any commercial relations with the Americans, only ndd 
 force to the injunction to captain Cooper the year before, 
 not to return, and shows more strongly that while the Ja- 
 panese rulers are determined to maintain their secluded 
 policy, they wish to give no cause for retaliatory measures 
 on the part of their unwelcome visitors, and mean to keep 
 themselves as well informed as they can upon foreign 
 politics. The subject of foreign intercourse between the 
 two great nations of Eastern Asia and Europeans since it 
 commenced three centuries since, is an instructive one ; 
 and the general impression left upon the mind of the 
 candid reader, is that foreign nations have themselves 
 chiefly to thank for their present seclusion from those 
 shores, and the restrictions in their commerce. Rear- 
 Admiral Cecille has also paid a visit to some part of 
 Japan, quite recently, but met with no success in his en- 
 deavors to enter into negotiation. 
 
 The great object in view in making these attempts to 
 improve the intercourse with Japan, is to find new markets 
 for western manufactures. It is quite doubtful, however, 
 whether the Japanese have many articles suitable for 
 foreign markets. Their lackered-ware is exceedingly 
 beautiful, but it would not be so prized when it become 
 more common. Copper and tea would form the basis of 
 exports, and perhaps some silk ta.l)rics, but China furnishes 
 now all that is wanted of them both, and can do so to ;iny 
 extent. Until a taste for such foreign manufactures, as 
 woolens, cutlery, glass-ware, calicoes, &c., is created 
 among them, and they are willing to adapt their own pro- 
 ducts to the tastes of their customers, it docs not seem
 
 136 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 likely that a trade at all proportioned to the estimated 
 population and riches of the country, would soon be es- 
 tablished. The Japanese are afraid of the probable 
 results of a more extended intercourse, and deem it to be 
 the safest course to run no risks ; and if they read the 
 pages of their early intercourse with the Portuguese, 
 Spanish and Dutch, they must feel they would run many 
 serious risks by granting a trade. If the siogoun and his 
 advisers could be rightly informed, however, there are 
 grounds for believing the present policy would be consid- 
 erably relaxed. 
 
 Learning is highly honored in Japan, and books are as 
 cheap and common as in China. The written language 
 is a singular and most dijflicult mixture of Chinese char- 
 acters, with the syllabic symbols adopted by the Japanese, 
 rendering its perusal a great labor, more so than that of 
 Chinese, because Chinese must first be mastered. The 
 spoken language is polysyllabic and harmonious, and pos- 
 sesses conjugations, tenses, cases, &c., to facilitate its 
 perspicuity, and increase its variety of expressions. The 
 arts in which they chiefly excel are in the manufacture of 
 silken and linen goods, copper-ware, lackered-ware, por- 
 celain and basket work. Their cutlery is despicable, and 
 the specimens of their carving, which are seen abroad, do 
 not equal those produced by the Chinese. Agriculture is 
 pursued on much the same system as in China — minute 
 subdivision of the soil and constant manuring, together 
 with frequent watering. Rice and fish are the staples of 
 food; vegetables are used in great abundance, but meats 
 only sparingly. The habits and sports of the people are 
 influenced so much by the peculiar notions attending a 
 feudal society, such as adherence to the local prince, and 
 maintenance of his honor, wearing coats of arms, privi- 
 leged orders, and hereditary titles, that there is little 
 similarity in the state of society in Japan and China, 
 notwithstanding a similar religion and literature. The 
 Japanese were called the Spaniards of the East by Xavier,
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 137 
 
 and the comparison is good at this day. They have, 
 perhaps, more genius and imagination than the Chinese, 
 but are not as peaceable or industrious. 
 
 General view of the languages of the Japanese, 
 CoREANS, Chinese and CochIxVCHINese. The four na- 
 tions here briefl}^ noticed ; viz., the Japanese, Coreans, Clii- 
 nese and Cochinchinese, have been collectively called the 
 Chinese language nations, from the peculiar relations and con- 
 nections they have had through the medium of that language. 
 The relation has throughout been one of a literary 
 character, fostered to some extent by religious prejudices, 
 .but depending chiefly for its permanence and extension 
 upon the superiority of the writings of the Chinese. It is, 
 in some respects, without a parallel in the history of man. 
 While European languages have all been indebtcui for 
 many of their words to the two leading ancient tongues 
 of that continent, their bases have been diverse, and the 
 words they have imported from Greek and Latin have 
 undergone various changes, so much so as sometimes 
 hardly to be recognized. This is not the case with these 
 four nations of eastern Asia. They have all adopted the 
 characters used by the leading nation without alteration, 
 and with them, of course, have to a very great degree, 
 taken her authors, her books, her knowledge and her 
 opinions, as their own. 
 
 One of the most observable features of the national 
 character of the Chinese, is its conservative inclinations. 
 Not only is it seen in the actions of government and in the 
 writings of scholars, but still more in the habits of the 
 people and their modes of thinking. It has been cherished 
 by that government, as it is by all governments, as a sure 
 and safe principle of preservation, but it is also advocated 
 by the people. The geographical position of China has 
 isolated it from all western nations, while the poliiica], 
 literary and social superiority of its people over the con- 
 tiguous nations, has combined to foster their conceit and 
 affectation of supremacy, and make them disinclined to 
 12*
 
 138 
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 have any intimate or equal relations with others. But 
 one of the strongest and most comprehensive of these 
 conservative influences has arisen from the nature of the 
 language, strengthened by the extent to which education 
 has been diffiised among the people. The language is 
 of such a character, combining mystery and difficulty with 
 elegance and ingenuity, as greatly to captivate a people 
 who have time and inclination to trace out the marks and 
 veins on the pavement in the temple of science, but not 
 the invention or investigation to seek out and explore its 
 hidden chambers. The character of this language and 
 the nature of the connection between the nations who use 
 it, may here be briefly exhilnted. 
 
 The Chinese ascribe the invention of their characters 
 to Tsang Kieh, one of the principal ministers or scholars 
 in the reign of Hwangti, about 2650 years before Christ ; 
 and although there is no very certain information recorded 
 respecting their origin, there is nothing which seems to be 
 fabulous or supernatural. The characters first depicted 
 were the common objects in nature and art, as the sun, 
 rain, man, parts of the body, animals, a house, &c., and 
 were probably drawn sufficiently accurate to be detected 
 without much if any explanation. They were all described 
 in outline, and generally with far less completeness than 
 the Egyptian symbols. It is not known how many of the 
 primitive characters were made, but one feature attached 
 to them all, — none of them contained any clue to the 
 sound. The inventors must necessarily, one would sup- 
 pose, have soon perceived this radical defect in their 
 symbols, but they either saw the incompatibiUty of uniting 
 the phonetic and pictorial modes, or else were so pleased 
 with their varied pictures and symbols, that they cared 
 very little how the reader acquired the sounds. At first, 
 too perhaps, the number of persons who spoke this lan- 
 guage was so small, that there was little difficulty in 
 making them all acquainted with the meaning of the 
 symbols, and when once their meaning was learned, they
 
 THE PROGBF.tiS OF ETHNOLOfiV. l.'JD 
 
 were of course called by the name of the thing represented, 
 which everybody knew. The necessity of incorporating 
 some clue to the sound of the thing, or i(h';i denoted, 
 became more and more evident, however, as the variety 
 of the symbols multiplied, and the number of j)eople 
 increased. One of the strongest evidences, that the ch;- 
 signing of these symbols was contemporary with the (.'arliest 
 days of the Chinese as a people, is deduced from tlie fact* 
 that they are all monosyllabic ; the radical words in nil 
 languages are mostly of this character, but in nenrW all 
 others, the single sounds soon coalesce and combine, while 
 in Chinese this has been prevented by the nature of the 
 written language. There is not, so far as the na.turc of 
 the case goes, any reason why the sounds of Chinese 
 characters should all be monosyllabic, any more than the 
 Arabic numerals. But not only was the increase of inhab- 
 itants, as we suppose, a reason for making the symbols 
 phonetic, the need of reducing the labor of learning the 
 ever growing list, and the difficulty of distinguishing 
 between species of the same genus and things of the same 
 sort, was a still stronger motive. This was done by the 
 combination of a leading type with some other well 
 understood character, chosen quite arbitrarily, but posses- 
 sing the same sound as the new object to he represented. 
 Thus, supposing a new fish called pz7i wa.sto be represented 
 by a character; by taking the symbol for ^sh and joining 
 it to any well known character pronounced j«7i, no matter 
 what was its meaning, the compound symbol clearly 
 expressed, to those who understood its elementaiy parts, 
 the Jish pih. But neither does this compound contain-any 
 more clue to its sound to those unacquainted with the 
 component elements, than its marks and hooks do of its 
 meaning to those who have never learned them. When 
 once the form and meaning of the primitive symbols have 
 been learned, however, the meaning and sounds of the 
 compound ones can, in many cases, be inferred to a 
 greater or less degree ; but so varied has been the prin-
 
 140 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 ciple of combination, that no dependence can be placed 
 upon such etymologies for the meaning. In the various 
 mutations the written language has undergone, the sound 
 is not now so certain as it was probably at first ; but in 
 the majority of characters, it can be inferred with a con- 
 siderable degree of certainty, though the idea is exhibited 
 so indefinitely as to afford almost no assistance in guessing 
 at it. A dictionary is indispensable in ascertaining the 
 meaning, and almost as necessary to learn the sound of 
 all Chinese characters. The meaning can be explained 
 without any greater trouble than in other languages, but 
 the sounds of characters can only be given by quoting 
 other characters of the same sound, which the scholar 
 is supposed to know, if he knows enough to use the 
 dictionary. 
 
 These remarks will, perhaps, explain the general com- 
 position of Chinese characters. By far the greater part 
 of them are now formed, either of the original pictorial 
 symbols, greatly modified, indeed, and changed from 
 their likeness to the things they stand for, or of those joined 
 to each other in a compound character, partly symbolical 
 and partly phonetic. The former part is called the radi- 
 cal, the latter the 'primitive. The Chinese divide the cha- 
 racters into six classes, viz., imitative symbols, or those 
 ori2;inal fissures which bore a resemblance to the forms of 
 material objects; indicative symbols, where the position 
 of the two parts point out the idea ; symbols combining 
 ideas, a class not very unlike the preceding, but more 
 complex ; inverted symbols ; metaphoric symbols, as that 
 of the natural heart, denoting the affections ; and lastly, 
 phonetic symbols. Out of twenty-four thousand two 
 hundred and thirty-five characters, (nearly all the diflferent 
 ones there are in the language,) twenty-one thousand eight 
 hundred and ten of them are phonetic, or as much so as 
 the nature of their composition would allow, though there 
 is no other clue to the sound than to learn the sound of" 
 the parts or of the whole, either from the people them-
 
 THE PROGRESS OF KTIINOT.OOY. 141 
 
 selves or from a dictionary. The Chinese tyro learns the 
 sounds of most of the characters, as boys do the names 
 of minerals, by tradition. As he stnnds bdorc his m;istcr, 
 he and the whole class hear from his mouth their 
 names, and repeat them until they are icmembcred. 
 Consequently, almost an infinite variety in the sounds oi" 
 the characters arise from this mode of learning them, 
 while the meanings remain fixed ; though tliere still rema ins 
 enough resemblance in the sounds to show their common 
 origin, as, hien, meen, mien, and incc'"'^, all meaning the face, 
 and written with the same character. The local diflcr- 
 ences in pronunciation are so great within a few hun(hed 
 miles, in some parts of China, that the people barely 
 understand each other when they speak ; and even in two 
 towns fifty miles apart, the local patois can be detected, 
 though the dissimilarity is not so great as to prevent their 
 inhabitants conversing together. For purposes of inter- 
 course among civilians, who being from distant parts ol' 
 the empire, might otherwise find considerable dilficulty 
 in making themselves understood if each spoke his own 
 local patois, there is a court dialect which not only civil- 
 ians, but all educated men are obliged or expected to 
 understand. This is the common pronunciation over the 
 northeastern provinces of Chihli, Shantung, Nganhwui, 
 and Kiangsu, and somewhat in the contiguous provinces 
 also, though everyv/here in these regions with some slight 
 local variations. This dialect is called kwan hwa, and has 
 been usually termed the mandarin* dialect, but it is pro- 
 perly the Chinese spoken language, and the variations 
 from it are the dialects and patois. It is evident, how- 
 
 * It is desirable that this word be expunged from all works on China and east- 
 ern Asia, and the proper words officers, authorities, magistrates, &c., be used 
 instead. Every officer, from a prime minister to a constable or tide-waiter, ig 
 called a mandarin by foreigners, partly because those who write do not know 
 the ranK of the person, and partly from the common custom of calliii-j; many 
 things in China by some peculiar term, as if they were unlike the same things 
 elsewhere.
 
 142 THE PROGRESS OP ETFJNGLOGY. 
 
 ever, that one sound of a character is no more correct 
 than another ; for there being no sound in any character, 
 each one calls it as he has been taught, while all give it 
 the same meaning, exactly as Europeans do with the nu- 
 merals. Of course, no one can read or write Chinese 
 before he has studied it, and the apparent singularity of 
 people from China, Japan, and Annam all being able to 
 communicate by writing but not converse by speech, is 
 easily explained by the different sounds they give the 
 characters. It is, however, really no more singular than 
 that scholars in all Christian nations understand each 
 others' music and arithmetic, after they have learned those 
 sciences and the mode of notation. 
 
 The diversity of pronunciations tends naturally to break 
 up the nation into small communities, and the Chinese 
 owe their present homogeneity and grandeur in no small 
 degree to their written language ; for, however, a man 
 may differ in his speech, he is sure that he will be every- 
 where understood when he writes, and will understand 
 every one who writes to him. It has also been a bond 
 of union from its extensive literature, at once the pride 
 of its own scholars, and the admiration of surrounding 
 nations. It is perhaps owing to the fact that the literature 
 of China contains the canons of the Budhist religion 
 and the ethics of Confucius, that it was adopted by the 
 Japanese, Coreans and Annamese. These nations have 
 taken the characters of the Chinese language, and given 
 them such names as pleased them. In Japan and Corea, 
 there has been no uniform rule of adoption, but the Annam- 
 ese, who formerly had more intimate connexions with 
 China than at present, approach much nearer to the 
 sounds spoken by the Chinese. 
 
 The nature of the relations between these three nations 
 and Cliina, therefore, somev/hat resembles that which 
 European nations, we may suppose, now would have 
 towards ancient Greece and Rome, if they still existed as 
 independent powers, and should be visited by scholars
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY M3 
 
 from the shores of the Baltic, whose native countries, 
 however, had risen no higher in civihzation and morals 
 than their source. The comparison is not complete in 
 all respects, but near enough for analog}-. The Japanese 
 have never paid tribute to China, but have l)ecn invaded 
 by her armies, and in their turn have raviiged the eastern 
 coasts of the continent. The isolated polic)- their rulers 
 have adopted, has prevented our tracmg those pliilologi- 
 cal comparisons between their original language and those 
 of Siberia or central Asia, which would elucidate its 
 origin. The Japanese up to the time of the sixteenth 
 da'iri, named Ouzin Tenwo, had no written character, 
 all the orders of government being proclaimed viva 
 voce. In the year B. C. 2S4, this monarch sent an 
 embassy to the southern part of Corea, to obtain learn- 
 ed persons who could introduce the civilization and 
 literature of China into his dominions, and obtained 
 Wonin, who fulfilled th^ royal wishes so satisfactorily, 
 that the Japanese have since accorded him divine 
 honors. Since his day, the Chinese characters have 
 been employed among the Japanese. However, as 
 the construction of the Japanese language differs materi- 
 ally from that of the- Chinese, and as the same Chinese 
 character has many meanings, whicli would be expressed 
 by different words in the native Japanese, confusion and 
 difficulty arose in the use of the syrnbolic characters. 
 But it was not until the eightii century, that a remedy 
 was provided by the invention of a syllabary, a middle 
 contrivance, partaking chiefly of the nature of an alphabet 
 but containing some traces of hieroglyphics. The cha- 
 racters of this syllabary were fbnn(;d by taking Chinese 
 characters, either in whole or in ])art, and using them 
 phonetically, but as indivisible syllables. Conse(|n('ntly, 
 every one of them contained a vowel sound, iciid<'iing 
 the language very euphonous. The characters in this 
 syllabary were called katahnid, i. (\ " ])arls of letters." 
 There were at first forty-seven, but another was added
 
 144 THE PROGRESS OP ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 some j^ears after in order to express the final n, as 
 mci-mo-ra-n, instead of ma-mo-ra-nu^ making forty-eight. 
 the present number. This syllabary and that invented 
 for the Cherokees by Guess, are the only two in the 
 world. The number of sounds has been increased 
 from forty-eight, to seventy-three, by the* addition of diacri- 
 tical marks to some of the syllables. This S3dlabaiy 
 enabled the Japanese to express the sounds of their 
 vernacular without difficulty. But the long use of the 
 Chinese had already introduced a great number of sounds 
 from that language into it, besides giving the people a 
 likinof for the elesfant and ins'enious combinations of that 
 unwieldy medium of thought, so that the scholars in the 
 country still cultivated the more difficult language, and 
 wrote their books in it. The incorporation of Chinese 
 sounds into the native Japanese, seems to have arisen from 
 the necessity of distinguishing between the various mean- 
 ings of the Chinese character,^ so that while the native 
 word would express one, the original sound would express 
 another, but the unchangeable symbol stand for both to 
 the eye. 
 
 The admiration of the Chinese characters, led in time 
 to the invention of a second syllabary, having the same 
 sounds but far more difficult to learn from the number of 
 characters in it and their complicated forms. It is called 
 Idrakana, or " equal writing," because it is intelligible 
 without the addition of Chinese characters; it is now the 
 common medium of communication, in epistolary compo- 
 sition of all kinds, story books, and other everyday uses. 
 There are one hundred and one characters in the hiraka- 
 na, or nearly three modes of writing each of the forty- 
 eight syllables, and they are run together as rapidly and 
 far more fancifully than in our own running-hand, when 
 that is compared with the Roman character. The cha- 
 racters are mostly contractions of Chinese characters used 
 simply as phonetic symbols, without any more reference 
 to their meaning than in the katakana. The more ancient
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETFINOLOGY. 145 
 
 of the two is now usually employed in dictionaries, by the 
 side of Chinese characters in books to explain them to 
 the reader, or at their bottom to indicate the case of the 
 word. In reading a Chinese book, a good Japanese 
 scholar makes a kind of running translation into hi,s own 
 vernacular, sometimes giving the sound, and sometimes 
 giving the sense, and the Tcatakana is used in the latter 
 case, to indicate the tense, or case of the native word. 
 Having the Chinese language as well as its native stores 
 to draw from, the Japanese is both copious and flexible, 
 and by its syllabic construction, also euphonious and mel- 
 lifluous, in these respects being far superior to the Chinese. 
 The following stanza is from one of the Dutch writers ; 
 it is written with thirty-one syllables. 
 
 Kokorodani makotono, 
 Michi ni kanai naba, 
 Inorazu totemo kamiya 
 Mamoran. 
 
 There are still two other syllabaries, one called Mam/o- 
 kana, and the other Yamato-kana, both of whicli are formed 
 of still more complicated Chinese characters, also used 
 phonetically. Neither of these syllabaries is generally 
 used entirely alone, but the three are joined together or 
 interchanged somewhat according to the fancy of the 
 writer, in a manner similar to Archdeacon Wrangham's 
 famous echo poem. Such a complicated mode of writing 
 has this unfortunate result, however, of so seriously ob- 
 structing the avenues to the temple of science, that the 
 greatest part of the common people are unable to enter, 
 and must be content with admiring the structure afar oft". 
 Most of them content themselves with learning to write 
 and read in the hirakana, and get as much knowledge of 
 Chinese as will enable them to read the names of places, 
 signs, people, &c., for which those characters are univer- 
 sally used. Besides the phonetic use of Chinese characters 
 13
 
 146 
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 in these syllabaries, they are employed very extensively 
 as words, with their own meanings, partly because they 
 are more nervous and expressive in the estimation of the 
 writer than the vernacular, and partly to show his learning 
 and shorten his labor. Commonly, characters so used are 
 called by their Japanese meanings, but sometimes too by 
 their Chinese names.* 
 
 The connection between the Chinese and Japanese, 
 therefore, is very intimate, and presents a curious instance 
 of assimilation between a symbolic and syllabic language, 
 though at the cost of much hard study and labor to acquire 
 the mongrel compound. It is another example of Asiatic 
 toil upon the media of thought, rather than investigations 
 in the world of thought and science itself; for no people 
 who possessed invention, research, or science, would ever 
 have encumbered themselves with so burdensome a vehi- 
 cle of communication. The Chinese do not attend to the 
 Japanese language, and have no knowledge of its struc- 
 ture, or the principles on which it has combined with 
 their own. Their intercourse with Japan is entirely 
 commercial ; that of the Japanese with them, chiefly 
 literary. 
 
 The Coreans have also adopted the Chinese character, 
 but without many of the elaborate modifications in use 
 among the Japanese. They have had more intercourse 
 with the Chinese, but have not been able to make their poly- 
 syllabic words assimilate with the monosyllables of the 
 Chinese. They have invented an alphabet, the letters of 
 which combine to form syllables, and these syllabic com- 
 pounds are then used like the Japanese characters to 
 express their own words. The original letters consist of 
 fifteen consonants, called Jca, na, ta,, la or 7*«, ma or ha, pa, 
 sa or sha, nga, tsa or cha, ts'a or ch'a, Jc'a, t'a, p'a, ha, and wa ; 
 and eleven vowels, a, ya, o, yo, oh, yoh, u, yu, u, i, and dh. 
 The combinations of these form altogether one hundred 
 
 » Chinese Repository, Vol. X, pp. 205-215.
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 147 
 
 and sixty-eight syllables, the last fourteen of whicli are 
 triply combined by introducing the sound of w between 
 the consonants and some of the vowels, as hca, ts'hioo, &c. 
 The sounds and meanings of Chinese characters are 
 expressed in this S3dlabary in the duoglott works prepared 
 by the Coreans for learning Chinese ; while it is used by 
 itself in works intended for the natives. The Coreans 
 have not, like the Japanese, unnecessarily increased the 
 difficulty of their own language by employing a great 
 number of signs for the same sound, but are content with 
 one series. It is to be hoped that this facility results in a 
 greater diffusion of knowledge among the people. The 
 Japanese have the inflections of cases, moods, tenses and 
 voices, in their language ; but these features are denoted 
 in Corean by the collocation of the words, and the words 
 themselves remain unchanged as in Chinese. The sounds 
 of the Corean are pleasant, and both it and the Japanese 
 allow many alterations and elisions for the sake of 
 euphony. Further investigation will probably show some 
 connection originally between the Corean and Manchu 
 languages, though the former of these has been more 
 modified by the Chinese than the latter.* 
 
 The people of Annam have adopted the Chinese cha- 
 racters without making a syllabary or alphabet to express 
 their own vernacular. The inhabitants of this country 
 are evidently of the same race as the Chinese, and now 
 acknowledge a nominal subjection to the emperor of China 
 by sending a triennial embassy to Peking, partly com- 
 mercial and partly tributary. The sounds given to the 
 Chinese characters are, however, so unlike those given 
 them in China, that the two nations cannot converse with 
 each other. The Annam ese have many sounds in their 
 spoken language which no Chinese can enunciate. The 
 court dialect is learned by educated men, and books are 
 written and printed in Chinese. The sounds given to the 
 
 • Chinese Repository. Vol. I., p. 276 ; Vol. II., pp. 135-138.
 
 148 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 characters are all monos3dlabic, and slight analogies can 
 be traced running through the variations ; but they offer 
 very little assistance to any one, who, knowing only one 
 mode of pronunciation, wishes to learn the other. 
 
 Much of the interest connected with the investigation 
 of the Chinese and its cognate tongues, arises from the 
 immense multitudes which speak and write them ; and 
 from the influence which China has, through the writings 
 of her sages, exerted over the minds and progress of her 
 neighbors. There is nothing like it in European history ; 
 but the spell cast over the intellects of the millions in 
 eastern Asia, by the writings of Confucius, Mencius, and 
 their disciples, is likely erelong to be broken by the infu- 
 sion of Christian knowledge, the extension of commerce, 
 and a better understanding of their political and social 
 rights by the multitudes who now adopt them. 
 
 For much of the mformation embraced in this memoir 
 on China, Japan, and the adjacent countries, I am indebt- 
 ed to the Chinese Repository, (a monthly journal printed 
 at Canton,) and more especially to one of its accomplished 
 editors, Mr. S. Wells Williams. This gentleman during 
 a residence of twelve years in China, has made himself 
 familiar with the written and spoken language of the 
 Chinese, and is ranked, by some of the eminent Sinologists 
 of Europe, among the profoundest adepts in that branch 
 of literature and philology. Mr. Williams has also studied 
 the Japanese language, which he reads and speaks ; and 
 is probably the only man in America familiar with the 
 languages of China and Japan. Several natives of Japan, 
 driven by adverse winds from their native shores, found 
 their way to China, and were subsequently taken by an 
 American ship to Yedo, but were not permitted to land. 
 From these men, Mr. Williams has learned the spoken 
 Japanese, and as much of the written language as they 
 could impart. This gentleman is at present in New York 
 making arrangements for getting founts of Chinese, Ja- 
 panese, and Manchu type, for printing in these languages.
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGY. 149 
 
 The Chinese Repository is a monthly journal, printed 
 at Canton, and is edited by the Rev. Dr. Bridgman and 
 Mr. Williams. It contains much valuable information 
 relating to China, Japan, and the eastern Archipelago, 
 and frequently memoirs, translated from the Japanese and 
 Chinese. On the whole, it may with truth be said to 
 embody more information than any other work extant, 
 on these countries. 
 
 Mr. Williams has now in press a new work on the 
 Chinese empire, which will contain an account of its gen- 
 eral political divisions, including Manchuria, Mongolia, 
 Hi and Tibet, their geographical and topographical 
 features. The natural history of China; its government, 
 laws, literature, language, science, industry and arts. 
 Social and domestic life — History and Chronology' — Reli- 
 gion; Christian missions ; intercourse with other nations ; 
 and a full account of the late war with England. 
 
 The history of the introduction of Christianity into China, 
 in the seventh century of the Christian era, the traces of 
 which still exist ; and of the Jews in China, are subjects 
 which are now attracting attention. It would occupy too 
 much space to give any particulars in this brief memoir. 
 In the list of late works on China, will be found references 
 to such books as treat of the subject, to which the attention 
 of the reader is directed. 
 
 The Syrian monument which has been often referied 
 to, is one of great interest, and is believed by all who have 
 examined the subject, to be genuine. This monument 
 was discovered by some Chinese workmen, in the year 
 1625, in or near the city of Singan, the capital of the pro- 
 vince of Shensi, and once the metropolis of the empire. 
 The monument was found covered with rubbish, and was 
 immediately reported to the magistrate, who caused it to 
 be removed to a pagoda, where it was examined by both 
 natives and foreigners. Christians and Pagans. It was a 
 slab of marble, about ten feet long and five broad. It 
 contained on one side a Chinese inscription, which was
 
 150 THE PROGRESS OP ETHNOLOGY 
 
 translated by Father Kircher into Latin, and by Dalquie 
 into French. Mr. Bridgman has given an Enghsh trans- 
 lation, and has published the three versions, accompanied 
 by the original Chinese, with explanatory notes. This 
 inscription commemorates the progress of Christianity 
 in China, and was erected in the year of the Christian 
 era 718. Mr. Bridgman who is one of the most learned 
 in the Chinese language, says in conclusion, that "there 
 are strong internal evidences of its being the work of a 
 professor of Christianity, and such we believe it to be."* 
 Other portions of this memoir might be very much 
 enlarged, but would extend it beyond the bounds of the 
 resume, which it is intended to give. There are besides 
 other countries and people, accounts of which it would be 
 desirable to give place to, particularly those of Central 
 Asia, but they are unavoidably passed over from the space 
 that would be required to do them justice. The object of 
 this paper is to awaken the attention of readers to the 
 geographical and ethnographical discoveries made within 
 the last few years, all of which have a bearing on the 
 history and progress of the human race. If the author 
 has succeeded in so doing, he will feel abundantly repaid 
 for his labor. 
 
 * Chinese Repository, Vol. XIV. p. 202. 
 
 The recent works on China are embraced in the following list. 
 
 China ; Political, Commercial and Social ; with descriptions of the consular 
 ports of Canton, Amoy, Ningpo and Shanghai, etc., etc. By R. Montgomery 
 Martin. London, 1847. 
 
 Chinese Commercial Guide. Macao, 1844. 
 
 Voyage of the Nemesis ; By W. D. Barnard. 2 vols. Bvo. London, 1843. 
 2d ed. 12mo. 1846. 
 
 Events in China. By Granville Loch, R. N. 1844. 
 
 War in China. By Lieut. Ochterlony. 1844. 
 
 The Land of Sinim, with a brief account of the Jews and Christians in China, 
 By a missionary. 12mo. N. Y., 1846. 
 
 Sketches of China. By J. F. Davis. 2 vols. 12mo. 1845. 
 
 The Jews in China. By J. Finn. 12mo. London, 1844. 
 . Les Juifs de la Chine, par H. Hirsch, ^extrait des Israelites de France). 1844. 
 
 Relation des Voyages fails par les Arabes et les Persans dans I'lnde el i la
 
 THE PROGRESS OF ETHNOLOGV. 151 
 
 Chine, dans le IXth sifecle der6re Chr<5tiennc, par M. Reinnud. Paris, 1815. 
 2 vols. 18ino. 
 
 Three years wanderings in China. By Robert Fortune. 8vo. London, 1847. 
 
 The pliilological and other works on Cliina, by M. Pauthier, a dislinguislied 
 French scholar, are among the most valuable works in this department of learn- 
 ing. They embrace the following. 
 
 Sinico-.iEgyptiaca, essai sur I'origine et la formation similaire des ('■critures 
 figuratives Chinoise et Egyptienne, etc. 8vo. 
 
 De I'origine des difKrentes systfemes d'6criture. 4to. 
 
 Examen m^thodique des fails qui concernent le Thian-Tchu ou I'lnde ; 
 traduit du Chinois. 8vo. 
 
 Documents statistiques officiels sur I'empire de la Chine ; traduits du Ciiinois. 
 Bvo. 
 
 La Chine, avec 73 planches. Bvo. 
 
 La Chine ouverte, aventures d'un Fan-kouei dans le pays de Tsin ; illustrd 
 par Auguste Borget. Bvo. Paris, 1845. 
 
 La Chine et les Chinois, par le meme. 8vo. Paris, 1844. 
 
 Systema Phoneticum Scripturae Sinicae, auctore. J. M. Callery. 2 vols, 
 royal Bvo. Macao, 1842. 
 
 Narrative of the second campaign in China, by R. S. Mackenzie. l2mo. 
 London. 
 
 A work by G. Tradescant Lay ; and another by Professor Kid, have also been 
 published on China.
 
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