DERIVED FROM ANATOMY, HISTORY, AND THE MONUMENTS. 135 
The large receding forehead,* so characteristic of both Arabs and Fellahs (and, as we 
have seen, of the several links of the great Semitic chain of nations,) is well marked in 
most of these crania, together with the long and salient nose. 
That several of them are in feature more Arab or even Semitic than Egyptian (A, C,) 
is obvious, and the reason has been already given; yet how far the Fellahs will compare, 
in the details of physical character, with the true Libyan or Berber tribes, remains for 
future investigation. When this shall have been accomplished, it may be found that 
the Fellahs preserve the nearest approximation to the ancient Egyptians of any people 
now inhabiting the valley of the Nile. 
2. THE PELASGIC RACE.t 
The proofs that people of the Pelasgic stock were in early times the rulers of Egypt is 
attested by history and the monuments. Manetho states that the X VI. dynasty was com- 
posed “Of thirty-two Hellenic shepherd kings, (momeves HAAnves Baorres,t) who reigned 
five hundred and eighteen years.”” It is not to be supposed that the number of either 
kings or years is accurately given: all that is necessary to our purpose is the main fact 
of Hellenic dominion in Egypt, which is moreover sustained by monumental evidence; 
for happily the tombs and temples preserve the portraits of the Nilotic sovereigns, exe- 
cuted with so much individuality of feature and expression, as to leave little doubt of the 
general fidelity of the likenesses. These effigies, which are now indelibly preserved in 
the great works of Champollion and Rosellini, present the following interesting results.§ 
* «Te front haut et large, découvert et un pen fuyant.”—Jomard, 
+ In addition to the few remarks already made in reference to my use of this term, I may observe that the Pelasgi 
were generally regarded as the aboriginal inhabitants of Thessaly; but their warlike and roving propensities led them to 
extend their migrations in various directions, until we find it difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish between them and 
the affiliated tribes of Dacians, Macedonians and Thracians. At one period they ranged nearly the whole country from 
Illyria to the Black Sea, and gave the name of Pelasgia to all Greece; and, as every one knows, the Greeks or Hellenes 
were their lineal descendants. See Prichard, Researches, Vol. III., and Mrs, Gray’s History of Etruria, Vol. L., p. 86. 
{ Cory, Frag. p. 114. 
§ For the proofs that these effigies are really portraits of the persons represented, the reader is referred to Rosellini’s 
chapter entitled, “ Tconografia dei Faraouni e dei re Greci de *Egitto,” in his Monumenti, M. S., Vol. I. p- 461. Por- 
traits of the same king sometimes differ very considerably from each other, I grant, but the instances are few in compa- 
rison, and may have been intended to designate different periods of life; nor are these differences greater than we are 
accustomed to see in the physiognomy of modern kings, as represented on their respective coins and medals. But even 
if it could be demonstrated that the Nilotic paintings are not portraits, it would not diminish their ethnographic value, for 
they at least delineate the characteristic physiognomy of the Egyptians. See also, Champollion, “Lettres écrites de 
Egypte et de la Nubie,” 
