and Byzantine domination, Egypt receiyed a considerable
number of Greek and Roman colonists ; but the European set-
tilers were probably confined mostly to the Delta, and a few
Grecian or Roman, .cities. That the Egyptian race remained
nearly unaltered in the interior and remote parts of the country,
may be inferred from the preservation of their language,
which was extant in its three dialects, with a slight admixture
of Greek words, until the era of the conquest of Egypt by the
Moslemm ; and subsequently to that event, the Christian
population has been preserved, by obvious causes, from intermixture
with strangers. Among the modern Copts many
travellers have remarked a certain approximation to the Negro.
Yolney says that they have a yellowish, dusky complexion,
neither resembling the Grecian nor Arabian. He adds, “ that
they hare a puffed visage, swoln eyes, flat nose, and thick
lips, and bear much resemblance to Mulattoes.” I have already
cited Baron Larrey’s description of the Copts, the principal
traits of which are a Tull countenance, a long aperture of
the eye-lids-—“ coupés en amande”—projecting cheek-hones,
dilated nostrils, thick lips, and hair and beard black and crisp;.
M. Pugnet, an intelligent physician, and an ingenious and
discriminating writer, has made an attempt to distinguish the
Copts, or Qoubtes, as he terms them, into two divisions,-those
whose ancestry has been intermixed and partly of Greek and
Latin descent, and a class of purely Egyptian origin. He.
says that nothing is more striking than the contrast between
the small and meager Arabs and the large and fine stature of
the Qoubtes. “ A l’extérieur chétif et misérable des premieres,
ceux-ci opposent un air de majesté et de puissance;
àda rudesse de leurs traits, une affabilité soutenue ; à leur abord
inquiet et soucieux, une figure très épanouie.” This description
applies to both classes of the Coptic race : the following,
to those who are supposed to be the unmixed descendants of
the old Pharaonic Egyptians :
“ Les Egyptiens sont en général d’une taille au dessus de
la moyenne, leurs formes se prononcent vigoureusement, la
couleur de leur peau est d’un rouge obscur; ils ont le front
large, le menton arrondi, les joues médiocrement pleines, le
nez droit, les ailes nasales fortement sinueses, ~ les yeux
grands et bruns, la bouche peu fendue, les lèvres grosses, les
deus blanches^ lés .oreilles hautes: eti très détachées; enfin,
les sourcils et la barbe extrêmement noirs,”
M. Denon says-herwas struck with the resemblance of the
Copts to the old Egyptian sculptures, characterized by “flat
foreheads, eyes half-closed, and raised up at the angles ; high
eheek-bones ;J a broad, flat nose, very , short ; a large, flattened
mouth,' placed at a considerable distance from theno.se ; thick
lips ; little beard; a shapeless body, crooked legs, without
any expression in the contour; and ipng, flat feet.”
-Mr. Ledyard, wito$ntestimony is of1 the more value, as he
had no theory to support, -says* Lsuspect the Copts to have
hpeu the origin of the Negro1 * race § the nose and lips correspond
with those of the Negro; The hair, whenever I can see
it among the people here (the Copts) is curled; not like that
of the Negroes, but like the Mulattoes.”*
— It seems that the complexion of the Coptsis/habieitb considerable
variations. Though it must ite true, as M. Larrey asserts
in the passage above cited, that the -Copts- are generally
of a dusky and yellowish colour, like the Abyssins, yet we
are assured by Mr. Belzoni that some of them are nearly as
fair as Europeans. *t*
Some peculiarities have been observed in the teeth, and in
the position of the ears in Egyptian heads, which I shall
mention separately in a note.
S e c t io n VI.—Of the Ethiopians,
The fame of Ethiopia, though, eclipsed in late.periods by
the greater splendour of Egypt, reaches back almost equally
far into the. ages of remote antiquity. At a time when even
Italy and Sicily were nearly unknown, the Ethiopians, as
Heeren has observed, were celebrated in the poetry of the
* Ledyard’s Observations, in the Reports of the African Association. '
-|- Belzoni’s Travels, p. 239.