The Progress of Ethnology Part 4

Observations sur le Voyage au Darfour suivies d'un Vocabulaire de la langue des habitans et de remarques sur le Nil Blanc Superieur; par M. Jomard. 1846.

Essai historique sur les races anciennes et modernes de l'Afrique Septentrionale, leurs origines, leurs mouvements et leurs transformations depuis l'antiquite jusqu'a nos jours; par Pascal Duprat. 8vo. Paris, 1845.

MADAGASCAR.--The island of Madagascar has recently attracted and continues to occupy attention in France. In 1842 M. Guillian, in command of a French corvette, was sent by the governor of the isle of Bourbon to this island, to select a harbor safe and convenient of access, and to obtain information relative to the country and its inhabitants. After visiting various parts of the island on its western side, in which fourteen months were spent, M. Guillian returned to Bourbon, and in 1845 the results of his visit were published in Paris. The first part of this work gives a history of the Sakalave people, who occupy the western parts of the island. The second details the particulars of the voyage made in 1842 and 1843, embracing the geography, commerce and present condition of the country, an abstract of which is given in the Bulletin of the Geographical Society of Paris, Feb. 1846.

So important were the results of the visit of M. Guillian that a new expedition has been sent to Madagascar under his direction, with instructions for a more extended examination, particularly in relation to its animal and vegetable productions. A more extensive work by M. de Froberville, is preparing for publication in Paris, in which more attention will be given to the ethnography of this important island.

Doc.u.ments sur l'histoire, la geographie et le commerce de la partie occidentale de l'ile de Madagascar; recueillis et rediges par M. Guillian, 8vo. Paris, 1845.

Histoire d'etabliss.e.m.e.nt Francais de Madagascar, pendant la restauration, precedee d'une description de cette ile, et suivie de quelques considerations politiques et commerciales sur l'expedition et la colonisation de Madagascar. Par M.

Carayon, 8vo. Paris, 1845.

Histoire et Geographie de Madagascar, depuis la decouverte de l'ile en 1506, jusqu'au recit des derniers evenements de Tamative; par M. Descartes. 8vo. Paris, 1846.

Madagascar expedition de 1829. Par M. le Capitaine de fregate Jourdain. _Revue de l'Orient_, tom. ix. April, 1846.

A short memoir on Madagascar is contained in the "Bulletin de la Societe de Geographie, July, 1845," by M. Bona Christave.

Etchings of a Whaling Voyage, with notes of a sojourn in the Island of Zanzibar, and a history of the whale fishery, by J.R. Browne. 8vo. New York, 1846.

EGYPT.

I have hesitated, in the superficial view I propose to take in noticing the ethnological and archaeological researches of the day, as to whether I ought to speak of the land of the Pharaohs. The explorations have been on so grand a scale, and the results so astounding, that one is lost in amazement in attempting to keep pace with them.

In England, France, Germany and Italy, Egyptian archaeology is the most fruitful topic among the learned. In Paris, it forms the theme of lectures by the most distinguished archaeologists, and the subject absorbs so much interest in Germany, that the King of Prussia has established a professorship at the Royal University for Egyptian antiquities and history, which he has a.s.signed to Professor Lepsius, the most accomplished scholar in Egyptian learning, and who was at the head of the scientific commission sent by his majesty to explore the valley of the Nile.

It will be remembered that in addition to the immense and costly work published by Napoleon, there have since been published the great national works of Champollion, by the French government, and of Rossellini by the Tuscan government. These are to be immediately followed by the great work of Lepsius, who has just returned from Egypt, laden with innumerable treasures, the results of three years of most laborious and successful explorations. This undertaking is at the expense of the King of Prussia, one of the most enlightened monarchs of Europe, and who, at the present moment, is doing more in various parts of the world for the advancement of science than any now living.

But the French government, which has always been foremost in promoting such explorations, is determined not to be superseded by the learned Prussian's researches in Egyptian lore. An expedition has been organized under M. Prisse, for a new survey and exploration of Egypt. Mr. Prisse is an accomplished scholar, versed in hieroglyphical learning, and author of a work on Egyptian Ethnology. He will be accompanied by competent artists, will go over the same ground as Lepsius, and make additional explorations.

As regards the eminent men who have won brilliant distinction in the career of Egyptian studies, it is out of the question here to a.n.a.lyze their books: it must suffice to state, that all have marched boldly along the road opened by _Champollion_, and that the science which owed its first ill.u.s.tration to Young, to the Champollions, to the Humboldts, to Salvolini, to Rosellini, to Nestor L'Hote, and to whose soundness the great De Sacy has furnished his testimony, counts at this day as adepts and ardent cultivators, such scholars as Letronne, Biot, Prisse, Bunsen, Lepsius, Burnouf, Pauthier, Lanci, Birch, Wilkinson, Sharpe, Bonomi, and many more.[41]

A few important results of the late explorations in Egypt, and researches into her hieroglyphics and history, it may be well to mention.

Prof. Schwartze, of Berlin, is publishing a work on Egyptian philology, ent.i.tled _Das Alte aegypten_. Some idea may be formed of the erudition of German philologists, and the extent to which their investigations are carried, when we state that this savant has completed the first part of the first volume of this work, which embraces 2200 quarto pages! and this is but a beginning.

De Saulcy has made great advances in decyphering the Demotic writing of Egypt, in which, from Champollion's death to 1843, little had been done.

He has now translated the whole of the Demotic text on the Rosetta stone, so that we may consider this portion of Egyptian literature as placed on a firm basis.

Farther elucidations of the Coptic language have been made. This, it will be remembered, is the language into which the ancient Egyptian merged, and is the main instrument by which a knowledge of the latter must be obtained. Recently a discovery has been made by Arthur de Riviere, at Cairo, in an ancient Coptic MS. containing part of the Old Testament. The ma.n.u.script was very large and thick, and on separating the leaves was found to contain a pagan ma.n.u.script in the same language, the only one yet discovered.[42] On a farther examination of this ma.n.u.script, it proved to be a work on the religion of the ancient Egyptians. The translation of this curious doc.u.ment is looked for with much interest.

M. Prisse is publishing at the expense of the French Government, the continuation of Champollion's great work on Egypt and Nubia--50 plates are in press.

Mr. Birch, of London, has nearly ready for the press a work on the t.i.tles of the officers of the Pharaonic court. He has discovered in hieroglyphical writing those of the _chief butler_, _chief baker_, and others, coeval with the pyramids and anterior to Joseph. He has also discovered upon a tablet at the Louvre (age of Thotmes III. B.C. 1600) his conquest of Nineveh, Shinar, and Babylon, and with the _tribute_ exacted from those conquered nations. The intense interest which Egyptian archaeology is exciting in Europe will be seen from the list of new books on the subject.

The most remarkable discoveries, and in which the greatest advances has been made, are in monumental chronology. Through the indefatigable labors of the Prussian savant, Lepsius, primeval history has far transcended the bounds to which Champollion and Rosellini had carried it. They fixed the era of Menes, the first Pharaoh of Egypt, at about 2750, B.C. Bockh, of Berlin, from astronomical calculations, places it at 5702 B.C.

Henry of Paris, in his "_L'egypte Pharaonique_," from historical deductions, places the era at 5303 B.C.

Barucchi, of Turin, from critical investigations, at 4890 B.C., and Bunsen, in his late work ent.i.tled "Egypt's Place in the World's History," from the most laborious hierological and critical deductions, places the era of Menes at 3643 B.C.

I should do wrong to speak of the labors of foreign savans, without alluding to what has been done in this country. Dr. Morton, it is known, has published a work on Egyptian Ethnography, from crania in his possession furnished by Mr. Gliddon, which reflects great credit on his scholarship, and has been highly commended in Europe. The late Mr.

Pickering, of Boston, was one of the few who cultivated hieroglyphical literature in America. But perhaps the American people, as a ma.s.s, owe a deeper debt of grat.i.tude to Mr. Geo. R. Gliddon, for his interesting lectures on Egypt and her literature, and to his work ent.i.tled Chapters on Egyptian Antiquities and Hieroglyphics, than to any other man. Mr.

Gliddon, by a long residence in Egypt, and by a close study subsequently of her monuments, has been enabled to popularize the subject, and by the aid of a truly magnificent and costly series of ill.u.s.trations of the monuments, the sculptures, the paintings and hieroglyphics of Egypt, to make this most interesting and absorbing subject, comprehensive to all.

The results of these Egyptian investigations will doubtless be startling to many; for if the facts announced are true, and we see no reason to believe otherwise, it places the creation of man far, very far, beyond the period usually a.s.signed to him in the chronology of the Hebrew Bible. But again, it must be observed that the common chronology gives the shortest period for that event. If other scriptural chronologies are adopted, we gain two or three thousand years for the creation of man, which gives us quite time enough to account for the high state of civilization and the arts in Egypt, four thousand years B.C.

But we do not fear these investigations--truth will prevail, and its attainment can never be detrimental to the highest interests of man.

I must also acknowledge the obligation I am under for the use of many splendid and valuable books relating to Egypt, from Mr.

Richard K. Haight. This gentleman, with an ample fortune at his command, and with a taste for archaeological studies, acquired by a personal tour among the monuments of Egypt, has collected a large and valuable library of books on Egypt, including all the great works published by the European governments on that country. This costly and unique collection, which few but princes or governments possess, he liberally places at the command of scholars, who, for purposes of study, may require them.

Mr. Haight's interest in archaeological researches has been noticed in Paris, in an article by De Saulcy, member of the Inst.i.tute of France, in a memoir ent.i.tled, "L'Etude des Hieroglyphics." Speaking of Mr. Gliddon's success in the United States in popularizing hieroglyphical discoveries, De Saulcy justly remarks--"Il a ete puissamment seconde, dans cette louable entreprise, par une de ces n.o.bles intelligences dont un pays s'honore; M. Haight, l'ami, le soutien, devoue de tous les hommes de science, n'a pas peu contribue, par sa genereuse a.s.sistance, a repandre aux Etats-Unis les belles decouvertes qui concernent les temps pharaoniques." _Revue des Deux Mondes._ Paris, June 15, 1846.

The following list embraces the late works relating to Egypt:

The Oriental Alb.u.m; or Historical, Pictorial, and Ethnographical Sketches, ill.u.s.trating the human families in the Valley of the Nile: by E. Prisse. folio. London, 1846.

The History of Egypt, from the earliest times till the conquest by the Arabs, A.D. 640. By Samuel Sharpe. 8vo. London, 1846.

A Pilgrimage to the Temples and Tombs of Egypt, Nubia, and Palestine, in 1845-'46, by Mrs. Romer. 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1846.

L'egypte au XIX siecle, histoire militaire et politique, anecdotique et pittoresque de Mehemet Ali, etc.; par E. Gouin.

Ill.u.s.tree de gravures.

Panorama d'egypte et de Nubie avec un texte orne, de vignettes; par Hector h.o.r.eau. folio.

Recherches sur les arts et metiers de la vie civile et domestique des anciens peuples de l'egypte, de la Nubie et de l'ethiopie, suivi de details sur les moeurs et coutumes des peuples modernes des memes contrees; par M. Frederic Cailliand.

folio. Paris, 1831-'47. 100 plates.

Das Todtenbuch der aegypten nach dem Hieroglyphischen Papyrus in Turin, von Dr. R. Leipsius. Leipsig.

Schwartze. Das alte aegypten, oder Sprache, Geschichte, Religion und Verfa.s.sung d. alt. aegypt. 2 vols. 4to. Leipsig.

aegyptens Stelle in der Weltgeschichte: Von Carl J. Bunsen. 3 vols. 8vo.

Manetho und die Hundssternperiode, ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Pharaonen: Von August Bockh. 8vo. Berlin, 1845.

Macrizi's Geschichte der Copten. Aus den Handschriften zu Gotha und Wien, mit ubersetzungen and Anmerkungen. Von Wustenfeld.

4to. Gottingen, 1845.

Monuments de l'egypte et de la Nubie. Notices descriptives conformes aux ma.n.u.scrits autographes rediges sur les lieux par Champollion le jeune. folio. Paris, 1845-'46.

L'egypte Pharaonique, ou Histoire des inst.i.tutions qui regirent les egyptiens sous leur Rois nationaux. par D.M.J. Henri. 2 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1846.

Discorso Critici sopra la Cronologia Egizia; del Prof.