398 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



Regarded as a race, they were unquestionably pure 

 Caucasians of the black haired tribes ; and so closely 

 allied to the subsequent Persians, that no distinction 

 can be made between them, as they are represented in 

 the bas reliefs of Persepolis and those of Nineveh, 

 lately brought to light. They have the same ample 

 beards, and abundant curly locks, similarly trimmed. 

 The sculptures represent the same symbolical mon- 

 sters, the same cuneiform letters, the same costume, 

 the same system of architecture, and the same school 

 of design in sculpture as if little or no alteration or 

 progress had taken place in the national civilizations, 

 between the periods of splendour in Nineveh and the 

 downfall of Persepolis.* 



wear crosses, perhaps Budh amulets ; and the Rot-n-no, a 

 giant race, with red beards, chariots, horses, elephants, 

 bears, and manufactures in metals ; or people of the giant 

 races, Scythse or Finns. 



* The sculptures of Nimrood, now in the British Mu- 

 seum, indicate a more ancient, though not an essentially 

 different period. Of Bactra we have no minute know- 

 ledge, though, from the still existing practice in Cabul, 

 palaces under ground were no doubt likewise constructed 

 there, where the climate is still more severe ; and the simi- 

 larity of condition with Nineveh is proved from the fact, 

 that it was at the siege of Bactra Ninus himself died. His 

 ambitious wife Semiramis succeeded him, and was the 

 conqueror of the Omool Belaut, or " mother of cities," once 

 the capital of Kai Kaus, when it was named Sarias or 

 Sariaspa ? Future research at Ecbatana, that is, about the 

 present Ramadan, and on the sites of other primaeval cities 

 of Upper Asia, will no doubt reproduce subterranean habi- 

 tations like those of Nimrood, and reveal conditions of art 

 more perfect in the older than in the subsequent periods. 



