ancient characters of Georgia, are nail-headed: these, with
one or two exceptions, are the ground of all the Tibetan letters,
in which there is an upright line with a nail-headed top. According
to the Lamas themselves, the latter are derived from
Sanscrit characters, the oldest of which, the Devanagari, are
manifestly compounded of nail-headed perpendicular strokes ;
and these circumstances confirm the opinion that the Indians
derived their astronomy and literature from Assyria.1
That this was the direction taken by one portion of the
Cushites, may be inferred from the preceding, as well as other
circumstances. Throughout those countries, the traveller cannot
fail to notice the extensive bunds, canals, pyramids, rock-temples,
and colossal statues, which have been executed; and we are
told (what these structures evidently bespeak), that they were
erected by branches of the same family: the pyramids, in par-
c^ite know- ticular, are similar to those of Assyria. It also appears that
eastern Asia, the Cushites excelled in the practice of medicine, the knowledge
of herbs, the cultivation of the vine, &c.; and to the Egyptian,
Indo, and Chinese Cushites, unquestionably belonged the arts
of manufacturing silk and cotton, with that of dyeing. To
these, in the instance of the latter people, may be added the
knowledge of gunpowder and the mariner’s compass, with sun
and moon dials, calculated to suit different latitudes. The use
of knotted cords,2 which were succeeded by decimal calculating
boards called Swanpan,3 writing paper and wooden blocks for
printing, which have long been known in China, likewise bespeak
a considerable advance in the arts. Hence it is evident
that the founders of this, as well as those of the adjoining
The first empire of the Hindus, far from being in a savage state, must,
Amfics com” on the contrary, like the Egyptians, another branch from the
pared. Assyrian root, have been well acquainted with the arts of social
life. An isolated exclusive system of policy appears to,have
handed down these blessings in China, and to have preserved,
1 Dissert, on the Babylonian Inscriptions, by Joseph Hager, D .D., p. 41-43.
2 In the most ancient ages, this simple contrivance enabled the Chinese to
recall their own ideas, and communicate their thoughts to others. Martini,
Hist, de la Chine, liv. I., p. 21.
3 Corresponding to the Abax o f the Greeks.
Nail-headed
characters,
in Tibet.
at the same time, the most ancient form of government in the
world—namely, the tribal or patriarchal form ; whilst the
ancient knowledge of the inhabitants of the country watered by
the Nile, is only known to us from the wonderful monuments
which remain there to this day. It may also be observed, in
corroboration of what has been said regarding the nail-headed
characters, that those engraven on the agate and other Babylonian
cylinders, closely resemble Chinese letters ; and a tra-
ditional belief generally prevails amongst the people of China, lonia.
that their ancestors came from a distant part of the west, and
that they looked up to the King of Babel.1 Even the names of
Sem, Hoam, and Fohi,2 with a traditional account of the
Deluge, have been preserved in that country.
Reverting to the other section that quitted Shinar about the
same period as the preceding branch, but taking a different
direction, it is stated, that, after proceeding northward into the
mountain valleys of Media and Georgia, accompanied by some
of the sons of Japhet, they separated from the latter in Central
Armenia, and turned westward, along the slopes of the Caucasus,
into those tracts,3 which, at one time, had been occupied
by some of this people ; and the name of Kusdi Kabgokh, or
Chus of the Caucasus, was given in consequence to the whole
tract lying between Khüzistân and the Caucasus.4 On the
slopes of the latter range, under the name of Chasas or C’hasyas,
the Chasdim, or Cossais according to some, became a powerful ^ Chasdim
tribe,8 which spread westward, gradually peopling the fertile
valleys of Armenia, and some of those in Lesser Asia, through
which tracts they may be traced. On the slopes of the Caucasus,
northward of the river Araxes, (the presumed Gihon,)
is ancient Albania, once called Kusdi,6 and at the western side
of the range, the Djani or Chaldeans of Colchis,7 afterwards the
1 Called the King of Kings. Mas’udi, translated from the Arabic, by
Aloys Sprenger, M.D., pp. 309, 366.
2 De Guignes, Hist, des Huns, vol. I., p. 45. 3 Ibid., p. 1.
4 St. Martin, Mémoires de l’Arménie, tome I I ., pp. 371, 392.
5 Lieut, Wilford on Egypt and other countries, from the ancient books of
the Hindus. Asiatic Researches, vol. I I I .
’ St. Martin, Mémoires de l’Arménie, tome I I ., p. 357 ; and tome I I I .,
p. 197. 7 Ibid.'
D 2