158 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 
Mr. W. H. VanderSmissen then read a paper by the Rev 
Prof. Campbell of Montreal, on 
THE KHITAN LANGUAGES; THE AZTEC AND ITS 
RELATIONS. 
My translation of the Hittite Inscriptions found at Hamath and 
Jerabis, in Syria, is the only one yet published with an explanation 
of the process by which it was accomplished. The Rev. Dunbar I 
Heath has sent me copies of his papers in which the Hamath 
inscriptions are translated as Chaldee orders for musical services, but 
no process is hinted at by the learned author. In the discussion 
which followed the reading of one of these papers, a well-known 
Semitic scholar remarked, ‘that so long as no principle was laid 
down and explained as to the system by which the characters had 
‘been transliterated, it would be impossible to express an opinion on 
” ‘Whatever may be the merits of 
the value of the proposed reading. 
my translation, it does not make default in this respect. The pro- 
cess is simple and evident. The phonetic values of the Aztec hiero- 
glyphic system are transferred to corresponding hieroglyphic charac- 
ters in the Hittite inscriptions. Common Hittite symbols are the 
arm, the leg, the shoe, the house, the eagle, the fish. These are also 
found as Mexican hieroglyphics. There is nothing to tell us what 
their phonetic values are in Hittite, because hardly any other remaius 
of the Hittite language have survived. But in Aztec we know that 
these values are the first syllables of the words they represent. Thus 
an arm being called neztl, gives the phonetic value xe for the hiero- 
glyphic representing an arm. A leg being called mezth, furnishes 
me. A shoe gives ca from cactl ; a house, also, ca from calli; an 
eagle, gua from quuuhli; and a fish, mz from michin. But the 
‘question has been raised, “* What possible connection can there be 
between the Hittites or Khita of ancient Syria and the Aztecs of 
Mexico?” As well might we ask what connection can there be 
between Indian Brahmins and Englishmen; between European 
Osmanli and Siberian Yakuts. Geographical separation in such ease, 
is simply the result of a movement that has been going on from early 
ages. Men are not plants nor mere animals to be restricted to floral 
and faunal centres. The student of history, who has followed the 
Hunnic and Mongolian hordes in their devastating course across two 
