ted results was the discovery, in
the most ancient remains, of a new form of speech, differing greatly from
the later Babylonian language and presenting analogies with the early
language of Susiana, as well as with that of the second column of the
Achoemenian inscriptions. In grammatical structure this ancient tongue
resembles dialects of the Turanian family, but its vocabulary has been
pronounced to be "decidedly Cushite or Ethiopian;" and the modern
languages to which it approaches the nearest are thought to be the Mahra
of Southern Arabia and the Galla of Abyssinia. Thus comparative philology
appears to confirm the old traditions. An Eastern Ethiopia instead of
being the invention of bewildered ignorance, is rather a reality which
henceforth it will require a good deal of scepticism to doubt; and the
primitive race which bore sway in Chaldaea Proper is with much
probability assigned to this ethnic type. The most striking physical
characteristics of the African Ethiopians were their swart complexions,
and their crisp or frizzled hair. According to Herodotus the Asiatic
Ethiopian: were equally dark, but their hair was straight and not
frizzled. Probably in neither case was the complexion what we understand
by black, but rather a dark red-brown or copper color, which is the tint
of the modern Gallas and Abyssinians, as well as of the Cha'b and
Montefik Arabs and the Belooches. The hair was no doubt abundant; but it
was certainly not woolly like that of the negroes. There is a marked
distinction between the negro hair and that of the Ethiopian race, which
is sometimes straight, sometimes crisp, but never woolly. This
distinction is carefully marked in the Egyptian monuments, as is also the
distinction between the Ethiopian and negro complexions; whence we may
conclude that there was as much difference between the two races in
ancient as in modern times. The African races descended from the
Ethiopians are on the whole a handsome rather than an ugly people; their
figure is slender and well shaped; their features are regular, and have
some delicacy; the forehead is straight and fairly high; the nose long,
straight, and fine, but scarcely so prominent as that of Europeans; the
chin is pointed and good. [PLATE VI., Fig. 2.]

The principal defect is in the mouth, which has lips too thick and full
for beauty, though they are not turned out like a negro's. We do not
possess any representations of the ancient people whic