ing, has led to the supposition that they were of Egyptian origin; hut the analogy
between the two nations appears not to have extended beyond this solitary rite.
The Berbers have generally been confounded with the Arabs, whom they
chiefly resemble in their wandering and predatory habits. The- Berber language
is wholly different from the Arabic: neither do they claim to the Arabs, or the
Arabs to them any national afiliation: and there is sufficient reason to believe, as
already stated, that they are identical with the Libyse of the ancients, the people
who inhabited the country before the first influx of the Arabians.
I am at a loss where to class the Gallas of eastern Africa, yet they hear a
general physical resemblance to some tribes of Berbers. They are of small
stature, with long black hair, and complexions varying from brown to black.
They are among the most warlike and remorseless barbarians of Africa, and their
principal tribe, the Boren-galla, now governs by conquest in Abyssinia, and even
occupies Gondar, the capital. They are supposed to spring from that unknown
region which constitutes the southern interior of the continent.
In the immediate vicinity of Mount Atlas the distinctions of Race are often
altogether confounded, owing to the proximity of the Negro tribes. Thus the
Tibboos are nearly black, and have long wiry hair, intermediate between that of
the Tuarick and the Negro; yet their features are good and their forms delicately
and even beautifully moulded. The immemorial predatory habits of these various
tribes amply account for this blending of physical character; for the Tibboos mix
with the Negroes, the Tuaricks enslave the Tibboos, and the Moors, in their turn,
make enemies and slaves of them all.
6. TH E NILOTIC FAMILY.
The valley of the Nile, a narrow strip of land six hundred miles long and but
ten broad—the Nilotica tellus of the ancients, presents at the present time at least
two cognate nations, which, though dwindled and degenerate, appear to constitute
a family distinct from the rest of mankind. These nations, if they now deserve
that name, are the E gyptians and N ubians.
The modern Egyptians are composed of two classes, or castes, the Copts and
Fellahs.
The Copts, though now remarkably distinct from the people who surround
them, derive from their remote ancestors some mixture of Greek, Arabian and
perhaps even Negro blood. They present various shades of complexion, from a
pale yellow to a deep bronze or brown. “ The eyes of the Copt are generally
large and elongated, slightly inclining from the nose upwards, and always black.
The nose is straight, excepting at the end, where it is rounded and wide; the lips
are rather thick, and the hair is black and curly.”* Mr. Madden says that they
are also marked by the great distance between the eyes. Their legs and feet are
badly formed, and they are seldom graceful or pleasing in their manner. These
people, now reduced to about one hundred and fifty thousand souls, are Christians,
but they bear a bitter hatred to all other sects. They are said to be of sullen
temper, avaricious, ignorant, dissembling and faithless.
The Coptic language is extremely ancient and very peculiar ; nor can there
be a question of the identity of the pure Coptic with the ancient vernacular
Egyptian. It does not appear to have undergone any change of grammatical
structure, and it is of greater antiquity than any Indo-European or Semitic
language.f The knowledge of the Coptic language is at present known to but
few of the Copts themselves. The Ptolemies first attempted to eradicate it by
substituting the Greek in its place, and they even made it a capital offence to
speak the Coptic in common conversation. The Turks have pursued the same
policy, by requiring the Arabic to supersede both Greek and Coptic.
The Copts are supposed by Niebuhr, Denon and others, to be the descendants
of the ancient Egyptians; and it has often been observed, that a strong resemblance
may be traced between the Coptic visage and that presented in the ancient mummies,
paintings and statues :$ but it is in vain that we look for absolute identity
in a country that has groaned in bondage for two thousand years. The Persians,
the Greeks, the Romans, the Arabians and the Turks, have successively held
dominion in this fated valley, and subjected it, in turn, to every species of oppression.
The Copts, therefore, can be at most but the degenerate remains, both
physically and intellectually, of that mighty people who have claimed the admiration
of all ages.
The great mass of the present Egyptian population is composed of a mixed
race of Copts and Arabs, who are called Moslem-Egyptians, or Fellahs. They
are handsomer than the purer Copts. w Their heads are a fine oval, the forehead
of moderate size, not high, but generally prominent ; their eyes are deep sunk,
black and brilliant ; the nose is straight and rather thick ; the mouth well formed ;
the lips are rather full than otherwise ; the teeth particularly beautiful, and the
heard is commonly black and curly, but scanty.”^
* Lane, Mod. Egypt, II, p. 310.
% N iebuhr, Trav. in Africa, p. 71.
7
t Lipsius, in Wiseman’s Lect. p. 63.
§ Lane, Mod. Egypt, II, p. 32.