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and there is not the slightest probability of their having 
studied the nature of Greek writing before it became to 
them the medium of religious instruction. 
In order to compare the Abyssinian and Sanscrit sylla- 
baries, it is necessary to leave out of consideration the 
vowel sounds, in the latter system, of ¢ in wine, and of ow in 
pound, which do not occur in the Abyssinian language ; as 
also the powers ri, r2, li, lt, an, ah, which the Brahmans, 
through gross ignorance of the subject, have included among 
their vowels. After this reduction, the syllables denoted by 
the first of the Sanscrit letters will stand as follows : 
an a fe aaa a at 
ka ka ki kz Medi ket, soke ko 
Each of the other letters undergoes similar modifications of 
shape for similar alterations of its syllabic powers. 
Dr. Wall then proceeded to point out the close corres- 
pondence which subsists between the two systems. Of the 
many indications of their connexion, only two can be here 
noticed. 1. Whenever an Ethiopic letter has no mark added 
to it, the syllable it then denotes regularly ends ina short a; 
the same rule is also observed in the case of every Sanserit 
letter. 2. Every syllable of the Ethiopic alphabet, as well 
as every simple syllable of the Ethiopic language, begins 
with a consonantal, and ends with a vocal power: the same 
remark applies to every syllable of the Sanscrit syllabary, 
but not to every simple syllable of the Sanscrit language. 
A connexion between the two alphabets having been 
proved, the circumstance last noticed still farther serves to 
show the order which holds in that connexion, even without 
any reference to what has been already stated upon the 
origin of the Ethiopic alphabet. Of the systems compared 
together, the Sanscrit syllabary must have been that which 
was derived from the other; for it agrees with that other in 
a peculiarity suited to the Ethiopic, but not at all adapted 
