1791* LITERART INTELriGEN'CEfL. 97 



the art of forcery ? Was it the fame people who built 

 the Pyramids ? 



" I can't underftand that the Turks have a better 

 opinion of our mental powers than we have of theirs ; 

 but they fay of us that we are a people who carry our 

 minds in our Jinger ends: meaning that we put them 

 in exercife conftantl}^ and render them fubfervient to 

 all manner of purpofes, and with celerity, difpatch and 

 eafe do what we do. 



" I fufpeft the Copts to have been the origin of the 

 negro race : The nofe and lips correfpond with thole of 

 the negro. The hair, whenever I can fee it among the 

 people here (the Copts) is curled : not clofe like the 

 negroes, but like the mallatroes. I obferv'e a greater 

 variety of colour among the human fpecies here, than 

 in any other country, and a greater variety of feature, 

 than in any other country not pofl'effing a greater de- 

 gree of civilization. 



" I have feen an Abyfiinian woman, and a Bengal 

 man ; the colour is the fame in both ; fo are their fea- 

 tures and perfons. 



" I have feen a fmall mummy : it has what I call 

 wampum work on it. It appears as common here as 

 among the Tartars. Tatowing is as prevalent among 

 the Arabs of this place, as among the fouth-fea ifland- 

 ers. It is a little curious, that the women here are 

 more generally than in any other part of the world la- 

 towed on the chin, with perpendicular lines defcending 

 from the under lip to the chin, like the women on the 

 north-weft coaft of America. It is alfo a cuftcm here, 

 to ftain the nails red, like the Cohin Chin.fe aid the nor- 

 them Tartars, The malk or veil that the women here wear, 

 refembles exaftly tbat worn by the pricfts at Otahaite, 

 and thole feen at Sandwich iflands. 



" I have not yet feen the Arabs make ufe of a tool like 

 our axe or hatchet ; but what they ufe for fuch pur- 

 poles as our hatchet or axe, is in the form of an adze, 

 and is a form we found moft agreeable to the fouth-fea 



Vol. I. f N 



