CAUCASIAN VARIETY. 291 



that this opinion is well grounded. That a race ever de- 

 voted, within the period embraced by authentic history, to 

 slavery, or to an independent existence not much better, 

 and possessing, under the most favourable circumstances, 

 only the rudiments of the common arts, and the most imper- 

 fect social institutions, should have accomplished, in the re- 

 motest antiquity, undertakings which astonish us even now 

 by their grandeur, and prove so great a progress in civiliza- 

 tion and social life, in arts and sciences — that they should 

 have subsequently lost all traces of this surprising progress, 

 and never have exhibited the smallest approximation to such 

 a pre-eminence in any other instance — would be a fact ex- 

 tremely difficult to explain. 



the Egyptians, and the brilliant imagination of the Greeks ; when we reflect, 

 that to the race of Negroes, at present our slaves, and the objects of our ex- 

 treme contempt, we owe our arts, sciences, and the very use of speech ; and 

 when we recollect, that in the midst of those nations who call themselves the 

 friends of liberty and humanity, the most barbarous of slaveries is justified ; 

 and that it is even a problem, whether the understanding of Negroes be of the 

 same species with that of white men !" Travels in Syria and Egypt; chap. vi. 



The researches of Meiners into the anciept authorities lead to the conclu- 

 sion that there was a great conformity, both in bodily formation and in cus- 

 toms and political institutions, between the Egyptians and Indians (Hindoos); 

 and a less marked affinity between the former and the Ethiopians. But it is 

 not clear what race of men was meant by that term : for the ancient liisto- 

 rians speak of Negro Ethiopians, of another African Ethiopian race with long 

 hair, and of Asiatic Ethiopians. De veterum Egyptoriim Origine ; in Com- 

 mentation. Reg. Soc. Scicnf. Goetting. v. x. 



Dr. PpacH\RD has brought together, wiJh great learning and industry, ail 

 the ancient testimonies that can illustrate this question ; and has examined 

 and collated them so carefully, that nothing further can be expected from this 

 quarter. The results are thus summed up : "We may consider the general result 

 of the facts which we can collect concerning the physical characters of the 

 Egyptians to be this ; that the national configuration prevailing in the most 

 ancient times was nearly the Negro form, with woolly hair ; but that in a later 

 age this character had become considerably modified and changed, and that 

 a part of the population of Egypt resembled the modern Hindoos. The ge- 

 neral complexion was black, or at least a very dusky hue." JResearches into 

 the Physical History of 31 an, p. 3S8. In the seventh and eighth chapters of 

 this work the most extensive and learned researches are employed to prove 

 the affinity between the ancient Egyptians and Indians ; and to shew that 

 both were marked by the characters of the Negro race. 



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