ON THE CANAANITES. 73 
point. I have not studied particularly the Hittite side of the 
question. I have only been interested in Major Conder's 
researches with regard to the language, in so far as they are con- 
nected with the Akkadian, and lately, I must say, that my ideas, 
such as I have formed, have been rather disturbed by the discovery, 
of these Tel el-Amarna tablets. As Major Conder remarks, I was 
of opinion that a language very much like Akkadian, existed in 
what may be called the country of the Hittites, near Karchemish, at 
a very early period, and I gave my reasons for it. The principal 
reason was that among the curious-shaped objects found at Sippara, 
the interesting ancient Sepharvaim, there is an inscription of a 
king named, I believe, Ilu-shaba, the son of Tukulti-Mer. Now 
Jlu-shaba is apparently Semitic ;* and Tukulti-Mer may be regarded 
as a hybrid, the first element being Semitic (Assyrian or 
Babylonian), and the second Akkadian, in which language Mer 
is the equivalent of Rimmon or Hadad. This inscription seemed to 
indicate that it is very probable that they at least knew Akkadian, 
though it may not have been their native language. But the tablets 
feom Tel el-Amarna imply that Assyrian was not the native tongue 
of the place, and that it was a language known not only in 
Assyria and Babylonia, but also in all the country to the westward, 
and even in Egypt. Assyrian was, in fact, the language of 
diplomacy, and the people who used it were obliged to know a 
certain amount of Akkadian as well. Of course there is a 
possibilityt that the language of the Hittites is allied to the 
Akkadian, and I do not wish to depreciate the value of any 
comparisons that have been made. I think they are most valuable. 
I may state that some time ago, in order to test the trustworthiness 
of the comparisons made between the Akkadian and Turanian 
tongues, I thought I would compare Akkadian with something 
not Turanian. I compared, therefore, certain words with words of 
similar form in the languages of the Aryan group,and found some 
very remarkable likenesses, but I do not lay stress on that. I did 
not publish the results of my studies,—it was simply a test to satisfy 
myself. Therefore, I am inclined to think, that the Turanian 
hypothesis cannot be said to be proved. With regard to the 
question of duality of race in the countries occupied by the 
* Unless, indeed, we are to read Dingir garaba son of Gishku-Mer, the 
probable pronunciation of these names if non-Semitic. 
+ And even great probability, 
