3/8 
ning of human population, may think the 
following reafons fatisfaétory for placing 
the invention of the zodiacal fens within 
goo years of Chrift. 
I. The progreffive aeneon of the 
fea, firft afcertaimed by Celfius, probably 
goes on witha velocity diminifhing as the 
extent of marine furface. But, if it has 
always taken place only at the flow rate by 
him affigned, the low lands of AZgypt can- 
not even then have emerged from the 
womb of the waters above four thowfand 
years ago. This will preclude the choice 
of the eee zra, fixed upon by the 
French philofophers, for the conftruétion 
of their fuppofed calendar of the inundable 
region. 
Il. The Chaldeans began their year of 
Nabonaffar, on the fame Thoth with the 
fEgypuans, and made it of the famelength: 
and tne Thoth of the Jeu year of Nabonaf- 
far fell upon the 15-26 February. Now 
the Thoth of this vear OF 365 days moves 
backwards 33 days 5 hours in about 13 
years, and therefore fell upon the ae 
equinox 137. years before ie era of Na- 
bonaflar began, or 884 years before the 
Chriftian era. 
Confequently, both the Chaldeans and 
the Aigytians had their year from fome 
other nation, who had invented and in- 
troduced it 884 years before the Chriftian 
era: or, if it began originally upon the 
day next after the vernal equinox, 888 
years before Chrift. Two nations cannot 
adopt an arbitrary mode of dating but from 
a common fource. This mode of dating, 
al:hough arbitrary when received by thefe 
nations, once accorded with natural phe- 
nomena: it was therefore invented then. 
Tt is too artificial to have aceorded acci- 
dentally. 
But if the year of 365 days, and 12 
months, certainly originated nearly goo 
years before Chrift, and was as certainly 
unknown to the fay ptians for at leaft 137 
years, it is obviouily probabie, that the 
connected invention of the zodiacal figns 
alfo originated at the fame period among 
the fame people, and came iecondarily to 
fEgypt, inftcad of having been, for ‘mil- 
leniums, the, unieen poffeflion. of their 
priefis, Whencefoever, the A®gyptians 
derived one part of their aftronomical 
knowledge, they are likely to have derived 
anmorner. 
IIE. Probably, the whole 7Egyptian na- 
fon, but certainly their civilizers, came 
from the remote eaft, fuppofe Giizetat’ — 
The refemblance between the Coichians 
aia ge plans, infifted upon by Flerodatus, 
Aze of the Lodiat. 
Tune 
may beft be explained by fuppofing them — 
to have radiated from acommen centre, 
farther eaft than Babylon. ‘The lotos was 
confecrated by the religion of the AEgyp- 
tians, as the type of produétion, genera- 
tion, and fertility; while the only fpecies 
of lotos adapted for this emblem is to be 
found in Hindooftan, and is fo confe- 
crated in the religion of that country.— 
The gyptians, then, had at leaft commoa 
inftructors with the nations of Dekkan.— 
Among thefe nations, the fame zodiacak 
figns, in the fame order, are introduced: 
the inference feems inevitable, that ail 
thefe things derive from the primeval 
nation to which the Chaldeans and Aégyp- 
tians owe their year. The following ex- 
traGi, from the Retnamala of Sripeti, is 
contained in the Afiatic Refearches, vol. ii. 
p. 289: The freep, bull, crab, lion, and 
Scorpion, have the figures of thofe five ani- 
mals refpectively. The pair are a damfel, 
playing cn a vina, and a youth weilding a 
mace. The wrgza ftands on a boat, in 
water, holding in one hand alamp, in the 
other an earof rice. The balance is held 
by a weigher, with a weight in one hand. 
The Pees by an archer, whofe hinder parts 
are like thofe of ahorfe. The fea-monfter 
has the face of an antelope. The ezeer is 
a water-pot, borne cn the fhoulder of a 
man who emptics rt. The #/es are two, 
with their heads turned to each other's 
tails, and all thefe are fuppofed to be in 
fuch places as fuit their feveral matures.” 
Now what fhould forbid deteéting in this 
oriental zodiac, a natural calendar of fome. 
primeval nation, conftruéted only goo 
years before Chrift ? It will fuffice to af- 
fion an hypothetical fituation to this nation 
inthe Penjab, in the higheft parts of the 
Sind, or of the Ganges, where rice can be 
cultivated. The /amb (as the Perfians 
call this fign) may have denoted the time 
for beginning to kill and eat the young 
fheep. The dx// that of plowing in the 
feed, The pa/r mark the age of growrh. 
The crab isthe folttitial period of fammer. 
The /vow extreme heat. The wrgzz is the 
time of fowing rice, which is performed 
by women, who lay the fteeped grains, 
upon a plank, and let them flide into the 
water, in order that they may grow up in 
right lines. The dalance is the autumnal 
-equinox now. ‘The /corpion marks a pe- 
riod of contagion. The archer the feafon 
forhunting. The monffer, half antelope, 
ha!f filh, may exprefs the paffage of the 
year, from, a windy to a wet weather. 
The bucket deferibes the time for flooding 
the rice-meadows; and Bee gs: the month, 
of fpaw D. 
Te 
£x5- 
