The Progress of Ethnology

Le Maroc et ses Caravanes, ou Relations de la France avec cet Empire, par R. Thomassy. 8vo. Paris 1845.

Exploration Scientifique de l'Algeria pendant les années 1840, 1841, 1842. Publié par l'ordre du gouvernment et avec le concours d'une commission Académique. 4 vols, folio. (now in the course of publication.)

Recherches sur la constitution de la propriété territoriale dans le pays mussulmans et subsidiairement en Algeria; par M. Worms. 8vo. Paris, 1846.

A visit to the French possessions in Algiers in 1845. By Count St. Marie. Post 8vo. London, 1846.

Afrique (l') française, l'empire du Maroc et les déserts de Sahara. Histoire nationale des conquêtes, victoires et nouvelles découvertes des Français depuis la prise d'Alger jusqu'à nos jours; par P. Christian. 8vo.

Algeria en 1846; par J. Desjobert. 8vo. Paris, 1846.

Guide du voyageur en Algeria. Itinéraire du savant, de l'artiste, de l'homme du monde et du colon; par Quetin. 18mo. Paris, 1846.

Le Sahara Algerien. Etude geographiques, statistiques et historiques sur la region au sud des établissements Françaises en Algérie; par Col. Daumas 8vo. Paris, 1845.

L'Afrique Française l'Empire de Maroc et les deserts de Sahara, conquêtes et découvértes des Français. Royal 8vo.

Dictionnaire de Géographie économique, politique et historique de l'Algérie. Avec une carte. 12mo. Paris, 1846.

Géographie populaire de l'Algérie, avec cartes. 12mo. 1846.

Histoire de nos Colonies Françaises de l'Algérie et du Maroc; par M. Christian. 2 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1846.

The following list embraces the latest publications on Africa generally.

Voyage dans l'Afrique Occidentale, comprenant l'exploration du Senegal depuis St. Louis jusqu'à la Félemé jusqu'à Sansandig; des mines d'or de Keniéba, dans le Bambouk; des pays de Galam, Boudou et Wooli; et de la Gambia; par A. Raffenel. 8vo. and folio atlas. Paris, 1846.

Viaggi nell' Africa Occidentale, di Toto Omboni, gia medico di consiglié nel regno d'Angola e sue dispendenze, 8vo. Milan, 1845.

A visit to the Portuguese possessions in South Western Africa. By Dr. Tams. 2 vols. 8vo.

Life in the Wilderness; or, Wanderings in South Africa. By Henry W. Methuen. Post 8vo. London, 1846.

Voyage au Darfour par le Cheykh Mohammed Ebn-Omar El-Tounsy; traduit de l'Arabe par Dr. Perron; publié par les soins de M. Jomard. Royal 8vo. Maps. Paris, 1845.

Observations sur le Voyage au Darfour suivies d'un Vocabulaire de la langue des habitans et de remarques sur le Nil Blanc Supérieur; 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'antiquité jusqu'à 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.

Documents sur l'histoire, la géographie et le commerce de la partie occidentale de l'île de Madagascar; recueillis et redigés par M. Guillian, 8vo. Paris, 1845.

Histoire d'établissement Français de Madagascar, pendant la restauration, précédée d'une description de cette île, et suivie de quelques considérations politiques et commerciales sur l'expédition et la colonisation de Madagascar. Par M. Carayon, 8vo. Paris, 1845.

Histoire et Géographie de Madagascar, depuis la découverte de l'île en 1506, jusqu'au récit des derniers événements de Tamative; par M. Descartes. 8vo. Paris, 1846.

Madagascar expedition de 1829. Par M. le Capitaine de frégate Jourdain. Revue de l'Orient, tom. ix. April, 1846.

A short memoir on Madagascar is contained in the "Bulletin de la Société de Géographie, 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 archæological 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 archæology is the most fruitful topic among the learned. In Paris, it forms the theme of lectures by the most distinguished archæologists, 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 assigned 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 analyze 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 illustration 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, Pauthiér, Lanci, Birch, Wilkinson, Sharpe, Bonomi, and many more.[41 - See De Saulcy. Revue des deux Mondes, June, 1846.]

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, entitled Das Alte Ægypten. 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 Rivière, at Cairo, in an ancient Coptic MS. containing part of the Old Testament. The manuscript was very large and thick, and on separating the leaves was found to contain a pagan manuscript in the same language, the only one yet discovered.[42 - The accident which led to this second discovery deserves to be mentioned. The person into whose hands the manuscript fell, while examining the leaves which were remarkably thick, accidentally spilt a tumbler of water on it. In order to dry it he placed it in the sun in a window, when the parchment that was wet separated. He opened the leaves which had been sealed and found the Pagan manuscript between them. A farther examination showed that the entire volume was similarly formed.] On a farther examination of this manuscript, it proved to be a work on the religion of the ancient Egyptians. The translation of this curious document 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 titles 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 archæology 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. Böckh, of Berlin, from astronomical calculations, places it at 5702 B.C.

Henry of Paris, in his "L'Égypte 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 entitled "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 mass, owe a deeper debt of gratitude to Mr. Geo. R. Gliddon, for his interesting lectures on Egypt and her literature, and to his work entitled 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 illustrations 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 assigned 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 archæological 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 archæological researches has been noticed in Paris, in an article by De Saulcy, member of the Institute of France, in a memoir entitled, "L'Etude des Hieroglyphics." Speaking of Mr. Gliddon's success in the United States in popularizing hieroglyphical discoveries, De Saulcy justly remarks – "Il a été puissamment secondé, dans cette louable entreprise, par une de ces nobles intelligences dont un pays s'honore; M. Haight, l'ami, le soutien, dévoué de tous les hommes de science, n'a pas peu contribué, par sa généreuse assistance, a répandre aux Etats-Unis les belles découvertes 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 Album; or Historical, Pictorial, and Ethnographical Sketches, illustrating the human families in the Valley of the Nile: by E. Prisse. folio. London, 1846.