been derived—during all the historical period of ¿he ÏNew World, and
its great difference from Chinese and Japanese works of art. Could
we hope that the monuments of Central and South America might
attract the attention and excite the interest of more American scholars
than hitherto, the theory of the Mongol origin of the Red-men would
soon he numbered among exploded hypotheses, — to be forgotten,
like the fond illusions of Lord Kingsborough ; who succumbed prematurely,
tis said, fortuneless in pocket and aberrated in mind,
owing to his sincere and munificent endeavors to deduce “ American
Indians ” from the falsely-supposed “ lost Ten Tribes of Israel.”
I X . — O N SOME OF THE U N A K T I S T I C A L R A C E S .
C ount de Gobineau’s publication on the Inequality of human
races 208 is certainly a work sparkling with genius and originality, if
indulging in some wild hypotheses not supported by history. By
one of his most startling assertions he derives the aptitude for art,
among all the nations of antiquity,, from an amalgamation with Black
races. For him, Egyptians, Greeks, Assyrians and Etruscans, are
half-breeds, mulattoes ! We would not notice this strange and altogether
gratuitous hypothesis, had not several other works—unscientific,
but important by the intense popularity they have acquired,_
held out the expectation that the Black races might, after all,
turn out to be artistical, and hence bring about a new era of art.
Sober histoiy does not encourage such dreams, nor can the past of
the Black races warrant them. Long as history has made mention
of negroes, they have never had any art of their own. Their features
are recorded by their ancient enemies, not by themselves. Egyptian
kings who, from the earliest times of antiquity, came often into
collision with the blacks, had them figured as defeated enemies,
as prisoners of war, and as subject nations bringing tribute. Their
grotesque features, so much differing from thé Egyptian type, made
them a favorite subject for sculptural supports of thrones, chairs,
vases, &c. ; or painted under the soles of sandals, of which instances
abound in Museums as well as in the larger works on Egypt.
To the many examples of monumental negroes furnished in
u Typ08 Mankind, we add two that are inedited, due to M.
Prisse d Avennes s friendship for his old Egyptian comrade, Mr.
Gliddon. The first [fig. 88] is accompanied by the following memo-,
208 Essai sur VInégalité des Races Humaines ; 8vo, vols. I, II, 1853; III, 1854; IV, 1855.
Cf., on the same subject, P ott, Ungleichheit Menschlicher Rassen hauptsächlich vom sprachwissenschaftlichen
Standpunkte, 1856.
T J N A B T I S T I C A L R A C E S . 1 8 9
randum :—“Tombeau de Schampthé (Thèbes),—sous Amounoph TIT”
Fig. 88.
Asiatic and African.
(Theban Sculptures — XVIIth dynasty— 16th century B. C.)
—about the 16th century b. c. The
Fig. 89.
second [fig. 89] is the head of one
of two exquisitely-designed and
colored full-length negroes, identical
in style, supporting a “Vase peint
(jaune, traits rouges) sur les parois
du tombeau de Æchêsiou, prêtre
chargé de l’autel et des écritures du
grande temple de Thèbes, sous
o
R amses VU,— XXe dynastie (hypo- r~\
gées de Gournah).” The first cor- ^ ancienÎ neoro.
O
roborates that which, since Morton’s
day, has ceased to be disputed, viz : the existence, during all the
monumental period of Egypt, of at least three distinct types of man
along the Elle, Egyptian, Shemitic and Nigritian ; the second (which
point, Mr. Gliddon’s and M. PrisseS’s long familiarity with Egypt
render them competent authorities to assert), is identical, after 3000