ATHENS. 11 
the Wild Irish and of the Ahussinians* . It chap. 
. I. 
IS quite impossible that these three nations ^ 
can have had a common origin, because 
nothing can be more striking than the radical 
difference in their speech. The Albanians call 
the Sun Diel ; among the Irish it is called 
Gideon; and by the Abyssinians, Tsai : and a 
similar distinction may be noticed in comparing 
all their other nouns. Kchne, in Albanian, 
signifies the Moon ; in Erse it is Djallack ; and 
in Abyssinian, Tcherka. Yet the remarkable 
feast in honour of the dead, as practised by the 
Albanians, exactly corresponds with the Caoinan 
(4) Tiiey interrogate the decea;e(l as to his reasons for quitting the 
world, crying out, ** Why did you die ? Why did you die?" {See 
Hobfiouse's Travels, f>. 522. Lnnd. 1813.) The reader will find the same 
circumstance related aho l)y Gutletiere. The Irish make use of the 
same (luestions, and in a similar manner enumerate all the 
good thin2;s which the deceased enjoyed. [See Vol. V. Chap. III. 
p. 106. Note 1.) Amou^ the .Jl'i/ssinians, the ceremony is pre- 
cisely the same. " A number of hired female mourners continually 
keep up a kind of fearful howl; calling at times upon the deceased by 
name, and crying out, "Why did vou leave vs? Had you not 
HOUSES, AND LANDS ? HaD VOU NOT A WIFE THAT LOVED YOU ?" &C. &C. 
(See Salt's Travels in ^hi/ssinia, p. 422. Lond. 1814.) Judging 
solely from the analogy thus pointed out, it would appear that the 
Celts, Albanians, and .-llyssiniatrs, were descended from the same stock 
as the Arabs and Egyptians, among whom the same ceremony also 
exists. Mr. Salt was also greeted in Abyssitda (near Divan, upon 
entering Tigre from the sea-coast) with the Hallelma, as it is practised 
\n Syria. [See. p. 242.) "The women," says he, " greeted us with 
the acclamation, ffeli, li. li, li, li, li, li, li!" 
