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source. It would no doubt be absurd to sup- 

 pose the migration of Egyptian colonies where- 

 ever pyramidical monuments and symbolical 

 paintings are found ; but how can we avoid be- 

 ing struck with the traces of resemblance offered 

 by the vast pictures of manners, of arts, of lan- 

 guage, and traditions, which exist at present 

 among nations at the most remote distance from 

 each other ? Why should we hesitate to point 

 out, wherever they occur, the analogies of con- 

 struction in languages, of style in monuments, 

 and of fictions in cosmogonies, although we may 

 be unable to decide what were the secret causes 

 of these resemblances, wiiile no historical fact 

 carries us back to the epocha of the communica- 

 tions, which existed between the inhabitants of 

 different climates ? 



In fixing our attention on the graphical means 

 which the natives employed to express their 

 ideas, w r e find real hieroglyphics, sometimes 

 curiologic, sometimes tropical, such as those, 

 the use of which appears to have passed from 

 Ethiopia into Egypt ; symbolic characters com- 

 posed of numerous keys, destined to speak 

 rather to the eyes than the ear, and expressing 

 whole words, like the Chinese; or syllabical 

 characters, like those of the Mantchou Tartars, 

 in which the vowels are combined in one figure 

 with the consonants, but which may also 

 be restored into simple letters ; finally, real 



