Karmac. The Negro's features are true to the life, if we deduct the
ancient defective drawing of the eye; as must he done in all copies
of Egyptian art. ■ > '
We next present (Fig. 173) one of the many proofs that Negro
slavery existed in Egypt 1500 years b. c. An Egyptian scrihe, colored
Fio. 173.315
red, registers the hlack slaves; of which males, females, and their
children are represented; the latter even with the little tufts of wool
erect upon their heads: while the leopard-skin around the first Negro s
loins is grotesquely twisted so as to make the animal s tail belong to
its human wearer.
In connection with this scene, which is taken from a monument at
Thehes, 'Wilkinson remarks: —
“ It is evident that both white and black slaves were employed as servants; they attended
on the guests when invited to the house of their master; and from their being in the families
of priests as well as of the military chiefs, we may infer that they were purchased
with money, and that the right of possessing slaves was not confined to those who had
taken them in war. The traffic in slaves was tolerated by the Egyptians; and it is reasonable
to suppose, that many persons were engaged, as at present, in bringing them to Egypt
for public sale, independent of those who were sent as part of the tribute, and who were
probably, at first, thé property of the monarch ; nor did any difficulty occur to the Ishmael-
ites in the purchase of Joseph from his brethren, nor in his subsequent sale to Potiphar on
arriving in Egypt.”
In his comments on the antiquity of “ eunuchs,” Gliddon has extended
these analogies of slavery among the Hebrews, and other
ancient nations.316
We might thus go on, and add numberless portraits of Negro races.
Hundreds of them are represented as slaves, as prisoners of war, as
fugitives, or slain in large hattle-scenes, &cr; all proving that, as far
back as the XVHth dynasty, b . c. 1600, they existed as distant nations,
above Egypt.
Taken at random from the plates of Rosellini, the three subjoined
portraits (Figs. 174, 175, 176) a re ’submitted, to fortify our words.
F ib . 17.4. B 175.
The Zoiws-bud at the end of their halters means the word “ south,” in
hieroglyphical geography : while
their varieties of physical conforma- Pi«-176.
tion suffice to show that anciently,
as at this day, the basin of the upper
Nile included many distinct Negro
races.
It has been for several years asserted317
by the authors of the present
volume, and it is now finally
demonstrated in Part H., that Negro
races are never alluded to in ancient
Jewish literature ; the Greek word
“ Ethiopia” being a false interpretation of the Hebrew EUS h, which always
mQaxiVSouthern Arabia, and nothing hut the Cushite-Arabian race.
The Greeks, of course, were unacquainted with the existence of
Negroes until about thé seventh century b . c. ; when P sam e t ik I.
opened the ports of Lower Egypt to Grecian traffickers. Their
“ Ethiopians,” sun-burned-faces, before that age, were merely any