34 CYPRUS. 
CHAP, mythology, it is not easy to conjecture. The 
' second is a carnelian scarahceus, bought in the 
hazar of Nicotia, representing, in front, a sepul- 
• chral Stele. One of the letters is evidently a 
compound; and four others agree with cha- 
racters in the Etruscan alphabet. There is, 
moreover, the following inscription upon the 
back of this stone, which is evidently Phoenician; 
but this also exhibits Etruscan letters. Hence 
it seems manifest that the Etruscans and the 
Phoenicians were originally the same people'. 
7^ 
A p W 
(l) It is a curious circumstance, that Leonhart Rauwolff, in his 
Itinerary into the Eastern Countries, {as published by Ray in 1693. 
Part 2. ch, 13.) calls the Druses of Mount Libunus by the name of 
Trusci. This people now use the Arabic language ; but very mistaken 
notions prevail concerning their origin. A writer in the Quarterly 
Review {or March ]S] 3, p. 196. has communicated some observations 
upon this subject, of which the author is glad to avail his readers. 
" The Dricses have a peculiar dialect. Hyde (Reli/j. Vet. Persarum, 
p. 461) identifies them with the Curds; and asserts, that the appella- 
tions of Yesidean, Curd, and Calb (quaere, XaAtz/Sss?) are given by the 
Turks to both. Those singular fanatics the Assassians were, according 
to him, of this number; and he finds them m Herodotus as inhabi- 
tants of Libanus, under the name of AHP0T2!.\I0I." 
