4 Oh the BORDERERS, MOUNTAINEERS, 



That the written Abyjfmian language, which we call Ethiopick, is adialecl: 

 of old Chaldean^ and a, filter of Arabick and Hebrew, we know with certain- 

 ty, not only from the great multitude of identical words, but (which is a 

 far Itronger proof) from the fimilar grammatical arrangement of the feveral 

 idioms.: we know at the fame time, that it is written, like all the Indian 

 characters, from the left hand to the right, and that the vowels are annexed, 

 as in Divanagari, to the confonants ; with which they form- a fyllabick 

 fyftem extremely clear and convenient, but difpofed in a lefs artificial' order 

 than the fyftem of letters now exhibited la's the ■ Sarifcrii grammars; 

 whence it may juftly be inferred, that the order contrived by Pa'- 

 kin i or his difciples is comparatively modern; and I have no doubt, 

 from a curfory examination of many old infcriptions on pillars and in caves, 

 which have obligingly been fent to me from all parts of India, that the 

 Nagari and Ethiopian letters had at firft- a iimilar form. It has long been 

 my opinion, that the Abyffinidns of the Arabian bock, having no fymbols of 

 their own to reprefent articulate founds, borrowed thofe of the black pagans, 

 whom the Greeks call Troglodytes horn, their primeval habitations in natura? 

 caverns, or in mountains excavated by their own labour : they were probably 

 the firft inhabitants of Africa, where they became in time the builders of 

 magnificent cities, the founders of feminaries for the advancement of fcience 

 and philofophy, and the inventors (if they were not rather the importers) of 

 fymbolical characters. I believe on the whole, that the Etliiops of Merde 

 were the fame people with the firft Egyptians, and confequently, as it 

 might eafily be mown, with the original Hindus. To the ardent and 

 intrepid Mr. Bruce, whofe travels are to my tafte uniformly agreeable 

 and fat is factory, though he thinks very differently from me on the lan- 

 guage and genius of the Arabs, we are indebted for more important, and, I 

 believe, more accurate, information concerning the nations eftablifhed neas 



