NOTES. XXV11 



of the Thian-schan (or heaven mountains), at its western termination, abuts 

 against the Bolor (Belur-tagh), or rather intersects it, under the name of the 

 Asferah chain, north of the highland of Pamer (Upa-Meru, or country above 

 Meru). Compare Burnouf, Commentaire sur le Yacna, T. i. p. 239, and 

 Addit. p. clxxxv. with Humboldt, Asie centrale, T. i. p. 163, T. ii. pp. 16, 

 377, and 390. 



( 146 ) p. 112. Chronological data for Egypt:" Menes, 3900 B. c. at 

 least, and probably tolerably exact; commencement of the 4th dynasty 

 (comprising the Pyramid builders, Chephren-Schafra, Cheops-Chufu, and 

 Mykerinos or Memkera), 3430 ; invasion of the Hyksos under the 12th 

 dynasty, to which belongs Amenemha III. the builder of the original Laby- 

 rinth, 2200. A thousand years at least before Menes, and probably still 

 more, must be allowed for the gradual growth of a civilisation which had 

 reached its completion, and had in part become fixed, at least 3430 years be- 

 fore our era." (Lepsius, in several letters to myself, in March 1846, after 

 his return from his memorable expedition.) Compare also Bunsen's consi- 

 derations on the commencement of Universal History, (which, strictly speak- 

 ing, does not include the earliest history of mankind), in his ingenious and 

 learned work, ^gyptens Stelle in der Weltgeschichte, 1845, 1st book, S. 

 11 13. The history and regular chronology of the Chinese go back to 

 2400, and even to 2700, before our era, much beyond Ju to Hoang-ty. 

 There are many literary monuments of the 13th century B. c. ; and in the 

 12th, Thscheu-li records the measurement of the length of the solstitial sha- 

 dow by Tscheu-kung, in the town of Lo-yang, south of the Yellow River, 

 which is so exact that Laplace found it quite accordant with the theory of the 

 alteration of the obliquity of the ecliptic, which was only propounded at the 

 close of the last century ; so that there can be no suspicion of a fictitious 

 measurement obtained by calculating back. See Edouard Biot sur la Consti- 

 tution politique de la Chine au 12eme siecle avant notre ere (1845), pp. 3 

 and 9. The building of Tyre and of the original temple of Melkarth, the 

 Tyrian Hercules, would reach back to 2760 years before our era, according 

 to the account which Herodotus received from the priests (II. 44). Compare 

 also Heeren, Ideen iiber Politik und Verkehr der Volker, Th. i. 2, 1824, 

 S. 12. Simplicius, from a notice transmitted by Porphyry, estimates the 

 antiquity of Babylonian astronomical observations which were known to Aris- 

 totle at 1903 years before Alexander the Great ; and the profound and cautious 

 chronologist Ideler considers this datum by no means improbable. Compare 



