180 THEO. G. PINCHES, ESQ., NOTES UPON SOME OP THE 



Akkadian as English could be used to illustrate Sanskrit. The 

 knowledge of English would not enable anyone to understand a 

 Sanskrit book. 



If it be finally established that Gudea says that he drove out 

 necromancers and wizards — as Saul drove them out in Israel — this 

 does not of necessity show a very great advance of thought on 

 his part. The Zulu kings in our own day spend most of their 

 time in cooking various magic decoctions, to be used in "smelling 

 out " wizards and witches, and this, which was common to all the 

 ancients, may be here intended. The mention of a holiday, when 

 slaves and masters were equal for a week, reminds us of the 

 Saturnalia among the Romans, celebrated in the middle of 

 December each year. Their Saturnalia also lasted for a week. 

 Slaves were allowed free speech, and even to ridicule their 

 masters. The Roman custom may have been of Etruscan origin, 

 and have come from the East ; for there are sound reasons for 

 supposing- the Etruscans to have been a people from Asia Minor, 

 of the same Mongolic stock with the Akkadians and Hittites. 



If Magan really means Sinai or the region near Egypt, the 

 Akkadians in 2500 B.C., would have probably been acquainted with 

 the whole of Palestine. Magan may mean " the wall of the land," 

 or " the walled land," and be connected with Shur, the wall on the 

 east limits of Egypt. Lenormant has written fully on this 

 question, but it would be well to know for certain that diorite 

 cannot be found nearer than Sinai to Tell Loh. The Hittites also 

 used basalt for their inscriptions, but this they found near them 

 in Syria. As regards Kimash, it may perhaps be legitimate to ask 

 whether this has any connection with Kar-Kamasha (Car-Chemish) 

 the Hittite Capital. The latter name might mean " City of 

 Kamasha," and the country might be called Kimash or Kamash. 

 It is not very far from the mountains of the Taurus chain. 



The mention of the King having a " tablet in the temple of his 

 God," is very interesting. It perhaps explains the use of the 

 tablets of Gudea found at Tell Loh and elsewhere ; and one 

 cannot but be reminded of the Chinese ancestral tablets, so 

 carefully preserved and, indeed, worshipped. This again is a very 

 characteristic Mongol custom. 



As regards burial and burning, it does not seem to have been 

 ever shown that Semitic peoples or Egyptians burned the dead. 

 The Mongols and the Ar-yans had the custom in early times. In 



