ON THE CANAANITES. 5k 
the lozenge is the old cuneiform for “sun” (ué or tam), and 
we have here the name of a god, which is a dissyllable begin- 
ning probably Tam. ‘This suggests the name Tam-zi or 
Tam-ez, which was the Akkadian form of Tammuz, and the 
eagle should be zi or ez. In Assyrian mythology we find that 
Zi was the name of a deity who took the form of a bird, and 
in Turkic speech is means to fly or flutter. Here, then, we 
have the name of Tammuz on a seal; but it is yet more 
interesting to find this same group,—the sign for deity, the 
sun, and the eagle beneath,—frequent on the Hittite texts ; 
for we thus learn that Tammuz, mentioned as a Canaanite 
idol in the Bible, and well known to be the Phoenician Adonis, 
was worshipped by the Hittites and by the Akkadians as 
well. 
It would take too long to diverge on the subject of these 
seal cylinders, concerning which | have written a detailed 
paper.* On many of them there are emblems,—apparently the 
names of the deities represented,—which are clearly the same 
found on the Hittite texts. One of these is the goat’s head 
(tar or tarkw), and another is the bird (zi). We know that 
there was an Asia Minor deity called Tar or Tarku, and we 
know of a deity called Zi, and here we find them represented 
on cylinders from Asia Minor, on which also we find gods 
whose emblems are the ass, the lion, the dove, &c., &c. 
There is one other point to be considered. The Egyptians 
sometimes classed all the inhabitants of Northern Syria as 
Kheta or Hittites. The Assyrians spoke, down to 700 B.c., 
even of the Philistine city of Ashdod as a “city of the 
Hittites.”” They must have been a very important tribe, and 
we should expect the name to have survived late. Now I 
find that it did so survive to the thirteenth century A.D., and 
that there are perhaps still a few Hittites living. Not only 
so, but they are a Mongolian people with a language akin to 
Mongol and Turkic dialects. The Mongols still apply the 
name Khitai to the Chinese, and it is this which originates 
the familiar medieval term Cathay. There were Khitai living 
in Northern Mongolia, near Lake Baikal, and known to the 
early Chinese geographers. There were other Khitai living in 
the very centre of Turkestan, even as early as the days of the 
geographer Ptolemy. They became a famous people under 
their early chiefs, and under Prester John. They invaded 
China, and brought with them a considerable civilisation, 
including the arts of drawing and writing. Their power at 
* Quarterly Statement, Palestine Exploration Fund, Oct., 1888. 
EB 2 
