182 THEO. G. PINCHES, ESQ., NOTES UPON SOME OF THE 



FEOM THE EEV. F. G. TOMKINS. 



Mr. Pinches has given in his paper some interesting results 

 of very laborious research. May I offer a few brief remarks : 



1. The geographical names in Gudea's long inscription (pp. 133- 

 4) deserve careful study. The reading, Samalu™, reminds me 

 of the Samalua of the list of Thothmes III. of Northern Syria 



(No. 314. t? (I W> n ^\ ) which seems to be the Sam'alla 



land of Assyrian inscriptions, as I have long ago suggested. 



2. Is it possible that Oubin (p. 134) was Gebal, the Kapuna of 

 Egyptian record ? 



3. The old name Magan always reminds me of the Miikna or 

 Makna of the land of Midian, to the east of the head of the Gulf 

 of Akaba, and of the Sina'itic Peninsula. 



4. If Gudea really commanded his statue to invoke the statue 

 of his God, as he would have done if present himself, this would 

 be parallel with the deputed functions of statues in the religious 

 ideas of the Egyptians. 



5. P. 135. It is very curious to find the characteristic " misrule " 

 of the Saturnalia at so very early a date in Southern Babylonia, and 

 the period of seven days is to be remarked in connexion with the 

 institution of the Sabbath. The kind treatment of slaves agrees 

 with intimations in the history of Abraham in the Book of 

 Genesis. 



6. P. 138. As to the funereal pyre and the supposed cremation, 

 one would like to see the result of further research. The process 

 of burying the dead in a mound is given in a stela found by M. 

 de Sarzec (see woodcuts in Babelon, pp. 42, 76), and Loftus and 

 Canon Rawlinson have given much on that subject. Are we 

 really to think that the familiar "^|? of the Hebrew originated 

 in the pyre of cremation, and not in the burial-tumulus ? 



7. P. 142. The oath by invocation of the spirit or life of the 

 King is of course equally characteristic of the ancient Egyptians. 

 One would gr-eatly rejoice to find monumental information as to 

 the intercourse of these early Chaldosans with the Egyptians, who 

 in their very early dynasties worked Sina'itic quarries and mines, 

 and used with such consummate skill the intractable diorite, which 



