380 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



If (he Chaldeans had been established in a great kingdom 

 when Abraham entered Canaan, it is unlikely that the Elamite 

 Arabs would be sufficiently strong to make alliances with other 

 princes, and undertake invasions to so great a distance as the 

 vicinity of Jerusalem ; and in the Egyptian historical paintings 

 of the conquests of Sesostris, and of Thothmes II. and III., all 

 of which appear to have been directed to the valley of the Oxus, 

 that in these transactions there should be no acknowledged 

 representations of Babylonians, or Chaldeans, either as allies 

 or enemies. They first appear as prisoners captured by Tir- 

 haka ; whence it seems that either the Egyptian conquerors 

 never proceeded so far east as the Euphrates, or that the Baby- 

 lonian empire did not, at so early a date (that is, in or about 

 the reign of Cushan-rishathaim), embrace the upper course of 

 that river, or of the Tigris.* Regarded as a race, they were 

 unquestionably pure Caucasians of the black-haired tribes ; and 

 so closely allied to the subsequent Persians, that no distinction 

 can be made between them, as they are represented in the bas 

 reliefs of Persepolis and those of Nineveh, lately brought to 

 light. They have the same ample beards, and abundant curly 

 locks, similarly trimmed. The sculptures represent the same 

 symbolical monsters, the same cuneiform letters, the same cos- 

 tume, the same system of architecture, and the same school of 

 design in sculpture — as if little or no alteration or progress 



tions and history, frame new legends out of the Scriptures ; and what 

 the Rabbins only misplaced, they distorted to suit their particular 

 national vanities. 



* These colored delineations contain, however, a series of nations, most 

 assuredly representing tribes of high-featured Caucasians, and the more 

 vertical profiles of the midland colonies, which can be traced from Indo- 

 Koosh to Asia Minor and Greece. There are fair-haired people, with a 

 blue round spot upon the forehead, like a tribal, or caste mark. They 

 are the Rebo, with ox-hide mantles, and tattooed skins, Cyclopians of 

 High Armenia ; and some wear crosses, perhaps Budh amulets ; and the 

 Rot-n-no, a giant race, with red beards, chariots, horses, elephants, bears, 

 and manufactures in metals ; or people of the giant races, Scyths or 

 FinDs. 



