24 VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



ing, has led to the supposition that they were of Egyptian origin ; but the analogy 

 between the two nations appears not to have extended beyond this solitary rite. 



The Berbers have generally been confounded with the Arabs, whom they 

 chiefly resemble in their wandering and predatory habits. The Berber language 

 is wholly different from the Arabic : neither do they claim to the Arabs, or the 

 Arabs to them any national afiliation : and there is sufficient reason to believe, as 

 already stated, that they are identical with the Libyae of the ancients, the people 

 who inhabited the country before the first influx of the Arabians. 



I am at a loss where to class the Gallas of eastern Africa, yet they bear a 

 general physical resemblance to some tribes of Berbers. They are of small 

 stature, with long black hair, and complexions varying from brown to black. 

 They are among the most warlike and remorseless barbarians of Africa, and their 

 principal tribe, the Boren-galla, now governs by conquest in Abyssinia, and even 

 occupies Gondar, the capital. They are supposed to spring from that unknown 

 region which constitutes the southern interior of the continent. 



In the immediate vicinity of Mount Atlas the distinctions of Race are often 

 altogether confounded, owing to the proximity of the Negro tribes. Thus the 

 Tibboos are nearly black, and have long wiry hair, intermediate between that of 

 the Tuarick and the Negro ; yet their features are good and their forms delicately 

 and even beautifully moulded. The immemorial predatory habits of these various 

 tribes amply account for this blending of physical character ; for the Tibboos mix 

 with the Negroes, the Tuaricks enslave the Tibboos, and the Moors, in their turn, 

 make enemies and slaves of them all. 



6. THE NILOTIC FAMILY. 



The valley of the Nile, a narrow strip of land six hundred miles long and but 

 ten broad — the Nilotica tellus of the ancients, presents at the present time at least 

 two cognate nations, which, though dwindled and degenerate, appear to constitute 

 a family distinct from the rest of mankind. These nations, if they now deserve 

 that name, are the Egyptians and Nubians. 



The modern Egyptians are composed of two classes, or castes, the Copts and 

 Fellahs. 



The Copts, though now remarkably distinct from the people who surround 

 them, derive from their remote ancestors some mixture of Greek, Arabian and 

 perhaps even Negro blood. They present various shades of complexion, from a 

 pale yellow to a deep bronze or brown. "The eyes of the Copt are generally 



