Natural-Historical Collections. 459 
4 ‘ye 
in their general doctrines, and in the emblems under which these doctrines were 
wiled, that there has evidently been, at some period, a communication between 
them. 
The subject of metaphysics being the same for all nations, we can conceive 
that many of thent might arrive separately at a similar system of religious 
philosophy,—we can conceive, moreover, that they might fall upon the choice 
of similar emblems, since these emblems, in general, are derived from the natu- 
ral bodies which men have constantly around them. But who can explain the 
identity of political constitutions, if there have been no communication? We 
know what is the organization of Indian society ; it is to this day what it was be- 
fore the Christian era. ‘The people are divided into four principal castes : first 
the Brahmins, the depositories of science and ministers of religion ; then the mili- 
tary, those who formerly were charged alone with the defence of the country, —these 
men have the privilege of hearing the sacred volumes read ;—next come the mer- 
chants ; and lastly the artisans. In these last two castes, the different professions 
form so many hereditary subdivisions. This singular constitution, which could 
only originate with a powerful genius, and which would require the most extraor- 
dinary means for its establishment, even amongst a single people, is found iden- 
tically the same in Egypt. No one, surely, would be disposed to think that 
chance alone could have produced such a coincidence. 
A resemblance more astonishing, because it presents itself under circumstances 
still more arbitrary, is observed between the monuments of the three nations. 
The columnar architecture might have originated at the same time, it is true, in 
the artificial caverns of Higher Egypt, and in the subterranean pagodas of India, 
since it was natural to think of sustaining the ceiling of these excavations by pil- 
lars wrought out of the rock ; but the resemblance of form could not be determined 
by the use of similar materials in the edifices, which are constructed on the sur- 
face of the earth. In Assyria, instead of granite or syenite, brick alone was used, 
However, from the relics of religious monuments which remain in this country, 
we see that their great architectural forms were the same as in India and in 
Egypt. 
Again, the three nations had a degree of resemblance in their geographical 
situation : all the three were established in the vicinity of large rivers, in coun- 
tries where internal navigation was favoured by numerous natural canals. The 
history of the Indians makes us acquainted with them first in the great plains of 
the Ganges, and having some colonies on the banks of the Indus; the Babylo- 
nians were established on the delta of the Euphrates 5 the Egyptians along the 
Nile: the three nations possessed the means of an immense commerce, which re- 
ligion fostered with its protection. ‘There was not, indeed, a sacred edifice which 
had not a part serving as a depot for merchandize,—a sort of caravansera. 
Although the mode of communication adopted during the religious period, was 
but little favourable to the progress of the human mind, it is probable that the 
Sciences, in the three couutries which we regard as their cradle, would have at- 
tained. a very high degree of perfection, if they had not been, at difierent periods, 
arrested by the irruptions of barbarians. 
The countries inhabited by the Babylonians, the Chinese, and the Indians, 
form a rich circle around a vast tract, composed in a great measure of elevated, 
sandy plains, fit only for the support of pastoral tribes. These peeple could never 
arrive at the degree of civilization of agricultural nations, and still less of com- 
mercial countries ; but they are sober, courageous, active, little attached to the 
soil, eminently calculated for becoming conquerors, and ready, whenever an en- 
terprizing chief presents himself, to rush in innumerable armies upon their richer 
neighbours. And history exhibits, at all epochs, civilized nations sometimes re- 
pelling these erratic tribes, and sometimes submitting to them. China has been 
invaded at different periods and subjugated by the Tartars, India by the Mon- 
gols, Babylonia by the Assyrians, and more lately by the Persians. 
' Egypt has also, at various times, been invaded by nomadic hordes. . The first 
conquest is that related of the shepherd kings, about the year 1750 before Christ ; 
