THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 25 



to be found in " the scratchy tribe marks of the uncultured 

 Bedawin." 



Mr. Hyde Clarke thought he could see the clearest traces of 

 resemblance between the Hamah inscriptions and the Himyaritic 

 and Libyan. But Mr. Clarke's theory is at war with the facts of the 

 Hamah writings, both in the matter of time and of space. 



Mr. Johnson, the discoverer of the inscriptions, suggested that 

 they might be the work of Assyrians, of Egyptians, or of Hebrews ? 

 " We should naturally " he says, " expect to find in the vicinity some 

 trace of the Assyrians and Egyptian conquerors, who ravished the 

 Valley of the Orontes, and of their struggles with the Hittites on 

 this ancient field, and of Solomon, who built stone cities in Hamah. 

 The arrow-headed characters are suggestive of Assur-Nasir-Pal." 



Captain Conder, drawing attention to the similarities of the 

 Hittite and the earliest Egyptian hieroglyphics, is inclined to think 

 that they are akin, if not actual representations of early Phoenician. 

 But the ablest and soundest specialists inform us that the Hamah 

 writing is not Hebrew, not Egyptian, not Phoenician, and not 

 Assyrian. 



Dr. Wright, Prof. Sayce, Dr. Taylor, and others, regard the 

 Hamah inscriptions, and the others of similar character subsequently 

 found, as Hittite remains. The following extract, taken from Dr. 

 Wright's able work on the Hittites, gives a good idea of the Hittite 

 writings : — 



"The Hamah inscribed stones were four in number, and 

 "those contained five inscriptions, one of the large stones being 

 " inscribed on the side and on the end. All the stones were close- 

 " grained basalt (fully ripe, as the Arabs say) doubtless brought 

 "from the basaltic region east of the city. Many similar stones 

 " were lying about or built into the walls, some of them with Greek 

 " and Arabic inscriptions, and some of them having the figures of 

 " animals carved upon them. 



" The Hittite inscriptions differ from the inscriptions of Baby- 

 " Ion, Egypt, Assyria, Greece and Rome, in that they are all, except 

 " that of Tyana and the Babylon Vase, in raised character. The 

 " lines of inscriptions and their boundaries are clearly defined by 

 " raised bars about four inches apart. The interstices between the 

 " bars and characters have been cut away. The faces of the stones 

 " had been dressed smooth before the inscriptions were carved upon 



