THE HUMAN SPECIES. 381 



had taken place in the national civilizations, between the 

 periods of splendor in Nineveh and the downfall of Persep- 

 olis.* 



THE GAUBS AND PERSIANS. 



Whether the Chaldeans, or Chasdim of the Hebrews, were 

 only hordes of robbers at the time they are placed by geogra- 

 phers in Arabia Petnea, or whether they were a distinct people 

 from the learned caste of Chaldees at Babylon, is not quite 

 clear, though in either case they must still be regarded as 

 .nountaineers before they were established in Babylonia. The 

 thysical characters of the Assyrians, and their locality, alike 

 attest that they, the same, or a kindred race, were also moun- 

 taineers, who had migrated, by marching along the flank of the 

 Caspian chain, till they established themselves in eastern Ar- 

 menia; but whether they were allied to the Karduchi, Kurds 

 of the present time, does not appear, although, in Persian tra- 

 dition, the Gaurs were the first conquerors of Aria or Iran. 

 The name, again, indicates mountaineers or giants ; and the 

 region whence they departed was no doubt Paropamisus, or 

 the Gordii Montes. In that case, they passed most likely by 

 the Helmund to Lake Zurra, and spreading over Aria, they 



* The sculptures of Nimrood, now in the British Museum, indicate a 

 more ancient, though not an essentially different period. Of Bactra we 

 have no minute knowledge, though, from the still existing practice in 

 Cabul, palaces under ground were no doubt likewise constructed there, 

 where the climate is still more severe ; and the similarity of condition 

 with Nineveh is proved from the fact, that it was at the siege of Bactra 

 Ninus himself died. His amtiilious wife, Semiramis, succeeded him, 

 and was the conqueror of the Omool Belaut, or " mother of cities," once 

 the capital of Kai Kaus, when it was named Sarias, or Sariaspa? Future 

 research at Ecbatana, that is, ahout the present Hamadan, and on the 

 sites of other primeval cities of Upper Asia, will, no doubt, reproduce 

 subterranean habitations like those of Nimrood, and reveal conditions of 

 art more perfect in the older than in the subsequent periods. 



