26 VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



In person they are remarkably well proportioned ; the men being large and 

 robust, and the women beautifully formed. They have a yellowish but clear 

 complexion, and their whole exterior has derived from their Arab lineage some 

 advantages which the genuine Copt but rarely possesses. 



The Nubians constitute the second division of the Nilotic family. They call 

 themselves Noiiba^ or Kenous^ but are known in Egypt by the name of Berabera.* 

 " The figure of the Nubian," says Mr. Stevens, " is tall, thin, sinewy, and graceful, 

 possessing what would be called in civilised life an uncommon degree of gentility. 

 His face is rather dark, though far removed from African blackness ; and his 

 features are long and aquiline, decidedly resembling the Roman."! 



The hair of the Nubian is thick and black, often curled either by nature or 

 by art, and sometimes partially frizzled, but never woolly. In fact, judging from 

 the painting and sculpture of their temples, the ancient Nubians, like the modern, 

 were in no respect analogous to the Negroes, excepting in the occasional blackness 

 of their skin : and it is also worthy of remark, that their most frequent scenic 

 decorations represent their triumphs over the Negroes, who uniformly appear as 

 menials or as captives. 



" It is among the Nubians," says Mr. Madden, " we are to search for the 

 true descendants of the Egyptians; a swarthy race, surpassing in the beauty of 

 their slender forms, all the people of the East ; living on the confines of Egypt, 

 where, probably, their ancestors had been driven by the Persians ; and possessing 

 a dialect somewhat mixed with Arabic, but which I have observed no Arab 

 understands." 



Although the Nubians occasionally present their national characters unmixed, 

 they generally show traces of their social intercourse with the Arabs, and even 

 with the Negroes ; and the long domination of the former has impressed on these 

 people many of their peculiar traits, including their religious observances ; for 

 although the Nubians early embraced Christianity, they are now all Moslems, and 

 boast that they have not a Christian among them. 



The Myssinians, the Axomites of the Romans, inhabit the country to the 

 south of Nubia, and appear to have been originally afiliated with the Egyptians 

 and Nubians. But at present they have utterly lost their identity from their 

 intercourse with various nations of different origin and language, but especially 

 the Arabs, Gallas and Negroes. Thus constituted, the Abyssinians present one of 



*BuRKHARDT, Trav. p. 210. 



t Stevens, Egypt, &c., I, p. 104.— Burkhardt, Trav. p. 144. 



