former greatly predominates in the Egyptian sculpture, and is possibly characteristic
of the Egyptians as a race. The nose was rather long, and joined the head
much in the Grecian manner I the eye was elongated and rather oblique; the lips
were well formed, the chin rounded and moderately full, and the whole expression
mild and pleasing. It may he added that the Egyptian ear is said to have been
placed higher than in the Caucasian; *™t ™ P°int 1 cannot sPeat fr°m
observation. It is curious, however, that the same remark has been made m
reference to the Hindoos of Malabar.*
As to the complexion of these people, history is strangely silent; but judging
from the paintings which have been copied by Belzoni, Champollion and others,
their prevalent color appears to have been swarthy or brown, with a tinge of red:
Ifóis certain, however, that there was a difference in color in the different castes,
'as in the modem Hindoos, presenting every shade from nearly white to a very
dark brown, or even black. Their hair was long, straight, and generally black,
although in the mummies it has a brownish color, which has been attributed to
the process of embalming-t ,
The antiquity of the Egyptian nation, and their skill in the arts and sciences,
have been proverbial in all ages. “ It is a remarkable fact,” says Mr. Wilkinson,
“ that the first glimpse we Obtain of the history and manners of the Egyptians,
shows a nation already advanced in the arts of civilised life; and the same customs
and inventions that prevailed in the Augustan era of that people, after the
accession of the eighteenth dynasty, are found in the remote age of Osirtasen, the
contemporary of Joseph.”t
In illustration of the antiquity and the “ learning of the Egyptians,” we may
briefly notice a few facts in connection with the received chronology: thus, they
had completed the pyramids of Memphis within three hundred years after the era
assigned to the deluge;—they wrote their hieroglyphic characters on papyrus as
early as the age of Cheops, two thousand years before Christ;—they discovered
and constructed the arch at least three thousand four hundred years ago;—the
Greek Scroll i^ommon in the tombs of the Pharoahs;—and the so called Done
column and entablature ornamented the porticos of Beni-Hassan before sculpture
was an art inG re e c e .f’ Hence the observation of a late writer, that “ this
* V iew , DICE d’HSst. Nat. Ait. I .’Homme.
' t The Egyptians kept their heads shaved excepting a loj* on the crown, and their head-dresses
werens varied as the capitals of their columns.
t Ancient Egypt, III, p. 260. . § Ancient Egypt, II, p. 117 - I I I , P -150, 261, SIS.
singular people had attained a high degree of civilisation and refinement at a time
when the whole western world was still involved in barbarism ; when the history
of Europe had not yet begun; and long before Carthage, Athens and Rome were
thought of.”
N o t e .—On the Supposed Affin ity between the Egyp tia n s a nd Negroes.—I trust I shall be
excused for offering, in this place, a few brief remarks in reference to an opinion which, however
much at variance with multiplied facts, has still some strenuous advocates: I allude to that hypothesis
which classes the ancient Egyptians with the Negro race. Among the advocates of this opinion was
Volney, the celebrated traveller. He looked upon the Sphinx, and hastily inferred from its flat
features and bushy hair, that the Egyptians were real Negroes: yet these circumstances have no
weight when we recur to the fact, that the Budhists of Asia (the most numerous sect in existence)
represent their principal god with Negro features and hair, and often sculptured in black marble;* yet
among the three hundred millions who worship Budha, there is not, perhaps, a solitary Negro nation^
The Egyptians borrowed many of their mythological rites from their southern neighbors, in the same
way that, in after time, the Greeks borrowed from the Egyptians, and the Romans from the Greeks;
but such facts are no proofs of the affiliation of races. The ruins of Pompeii contain a temple of
Isis; yet would any one thence infer that the inhabitants of that city were Egyptians? There is no
absolute proof, moreover, that the Sphinx represented an Egyptian deity: it may have been a shrine
of the Negro population of Egypt, who, as traffickers, servants and slaves, were a very numerous
body; whence the boast of the Egyptian kings, recorded by Diodorus, that the vast structures of
Karnak and Luxor were erected by the labor o f foreigners, and that none of the native Egyptians
were employed on them. This remark may be coupled with another statement of the same historian,
that the people of Egypt followed their own fancies in religion, every one being allowed to worship
that object which his ancestors had worshipped before him.t Hence the number and diversity of
their gods, from a leek or a reptile to the deified Osiris.
Another point much insisted on is the following: Herodotus, speaking of the Colchians, says
that the Egyptians believed them “ to be descended from part o f the troops of Sesostris.” He then
adds, “ to this I myself was also inclined, because they are black, and have hair short and curling.” J
This description, however, is not sufficient to characterise a Negro, and would apply with equal
truth to a large proportion of the Nubians of the present day, merely making allowance for the
well known vagueness with which the Greeks applied the term black to all complexions darker
than their own. Even if it be admitted that these Colchians were real Negroes, it does not prove the
point at issue; for the remark that they were “ part of the troops of Sesostris” leads to the reasonable
inference that they were either wholly or in part derived from the servile or Negro caste in Egypt,
and not of the Egyptian race. This opinion is sustained by another passage in the same historian,
who tells us that in the army of Xerxes which invaded Greece, there was a legion of western
Ethiopians, who, he adds, “ have their hair more crisp and curling than any other men.” § Now, if
the Persian army was composed in part of genuine Negroes, how much more likely were the troops
of Sesostris to embrace a portion of that race, he being himself a king of Egypt? But it m ay be said
* Heber, Narr. I, p. 254. Jim. ed.
t MtXayxfttf xal »uXarpi^ic. Euterpe, Cap. C.
8
f Diod. Sic. Hist. (Booth’s Tr.) B. I, chap. 7.
$ Herod. Polhym. Cap. LXX.