Trkgear. — Ancient Alphabets in Polynesia. 359 



Tau, the Letter " T." 



I now approach by far the most interesting and difficult part 

 of my paper. 



The Semitic tan was written X; the Aryan tau was written T; 

 both being forms of crossed lines. In writing on the subject 

 of the tau, " the headless cross," I shall carefully avoid any 

 (intended) allusion to " the cross" as a Christian symbol. The 

 tau form of the cross was in use for untold centuries before the 

 Christian era, and it is to this ancient form of the tau that I 

 refer. I do not wish to touch on such perilous ground as the 

 religious side of the question, and am only concerned with the 

 philological and mythological bearings of the letter. 



The variations of the letter appear as follows : — The forms, 

 which extend over a vast geographical surface, and over thou- 

 sands of years of time, differ very slightly. The English capital 

 T is the old Hellenic j (tau) and Ethiopian tawe ; Moabite X 

 tau, Nineveh J and X, Hebrew X, Thammudite X and -f, 

 Sabean x . 



Everywhere in ancient Egyptian painting and sculpture do 

 we find this sacred symbol, "the cross of Taht." It was the 

 emblem of the new life into which Osiris led the souls of those 

 who in life believed on him. In the opinion of many investiga- 

 tors this cross represents " reproduction," and is the emblem of 

 Phallic worship : it is unnecessary, as it would be unprofitable, 

 for me to open up that question here. A single quotation from 

 a work, in which the wonderful industry of the author is not the 

 least astonishing part, will suffice. " The most sacred cross of 

 Egypt, that was carried in the hands of the gods, the Pharaoh, 

 and the mummied dead, was the ankh (PI. XX., fig. 12), ' the sign 

 of life, the living ; a covenant, an oath ; a pair ; to couple and 

 duplicate.' "* How widely this sign of " the cross of the three 

 quarters" was distributed, may be conceived when we consider 

 by what diverse peoples it was adopted and cherished. From 

 the Hebrew (who called his cross tau) to the Celt, in Britain of 

 the West, all had adopted the emblem. " It is a fact, not less 

 remarkable than well-attested, that the Druids in their groves 

 were accustomed to select the most stately and beautiful tree 

 as an emblem of the deity they adored, and, having cut off 

 the side branches, they affixed two of the largest of them to the 

 higher part of the trunk, in such a manner that these branches 

 extended on each side like the arms of a man, and, together 

 with the body, presented the appearance of a huge cross, and in 

 the bark in several places inscribed the letter tau."] 



Since, then, it must be conceded that the Semitic and Aryan 

 tau had a wide distribution, we will proceed to endeavour to 



* " The Natural Genesis," Massey, vol. i., p. 423. 

 t " Indian Antiquities," Maurice, vol. vi., p. 49. 



