countries. Accordingly Sanchoniatho gives the history of the old world, from the creation to the time of the great grandson of Noah, as he found it recorded by Thoth, and placed in the archives of Berytus by Mizraim, in the language of the Egyptians. In like manner Berosus, who was a native of Babylon, gives the account of the creation, &c. from the return of the race of Cain to the deluge, as he found it recorded by Ham, and preserved in the temple of Belus in the language of the Chaldeans. In India we find the history of the world from the Antara (time) of Swayambhuva, or the Lotos creation, to the deluge, given in Sanscrit, the original language of that country: clearly evincing that although hieroglyphics were invented as a kind of general language, when the confusion of tongues took place at Babylon, yet that each nation recorded the transactions of their ancestors, in the tongue that they took with them to the country, to which they retired at the period, when new nations were formed. The nations who were in possession of lines, for the purpose of elucidating geometrical problems, and of figures for numeration, would have found no great difficulty in forming an alphabet therefrom. That they were in "want of such materials as were necessary for expedition and free writing," is also an un founded assertion. "The rind, and leaves, of trees, and shells, from the sea," adds this author, "can lend but small assistance towards literature; and stones and slabs are not calculated to promote it much better. Epigenes said that the Babylonians, who were great observers of the heavens, had accounts of these observations for 720 years, written upon plinths, baked in the Sun. I can see no proofs, from thence, of the eternity of letters, for which Pliny contends; nor do I believe that letters existed among them at the time." It is well known by every European who has visited India, that the Cadyan, on which all Hindu records are kept to the present day, are formed from the leaf of that tree, which Sanchoniatho mentions as being in use in the time of Usues, in the sixth generation from Adam in the race of Cain: which is about the period when, according to Berosus, the history of the world was first committed to writing. As Usues was the first that noted these leaves, so was his son Chryser the first artisan in iron. And the Cadyan can only be written on with an iron pen. So that, from the commencement of the rule of Cain, no want of materials necessary for expeditious and free writings existed. Had the Cadyan been inadequate to the purposes of literature, it had been rejected by the oriental Musulmen, and, for the purpose of business, by the Europeans. Whereas both know that it is not only the most facile, but the most expeditious mode of carrying on business, in the several Cutchires. I cannot discover any thing contrary to reason in the acount quoted by Epigenes, or in the comment thereon by Pliny, if the м, or mille, is prefixed to the other numbers. And this letter is obviously omitted by Mr. Bryant, for the purpose of adding" It is impossible for people to receive any great benefit from letters when they are obliged to go to a shard, or an oyster-shell, for information." As to the high antiquity assigned by Pliny, it is impossible to give any credence to that author, who from 720 years infers eternity, and speaks of those terms as synonymous." Now, reckoning the MDCCXX years, from the same period with the 437000 years mentioned by Cicero, or A. M. 1776, the period is carried back to the fifty-sixth year of the creation; which Pliny might very well consider as the beginning of time, and represent as synonymous with eternity. The leaf of the tree, on which the Indians write, does not become a plinth, or Cadyan, until baked and dried in the Sun. Therefore the expression "Coctilibus latereatis," is particularly applicable thereto. The leaf of a tree cut into an oblong square, and baked in the Sun, for the purpose of recording a list, or roll, of astronomical observations, is well explained by "observationes siderum coctilibus latereatis:" and, as it appears from Sanchoniatho that the leaves of this tree were known two generations before plinths, or tiles, according to their general acceptation, were known, it follows, that "it was possible for people to receive great benefit from letters, although they were obliged to go to a shard, or the leaf of a tree, for information." From writing upon leaves and shells, Mr. Bryant admits, came the terms "Petalismus and Ostracismus," among the Greeks; and from the bark of trees came Libri of the Latins. Those Asiatic authors, who flourished when literature was confined to such materials, never, when properly understood, exceed the bounds of probability. Their numbers are given in a cypher, which enables them to record the month, nay even the day, or hour, on which an event occurred, however far removed. The prophet Daniel denotes 1260 years, by a time, times, and half a time:" because 42 months of 30 days, or a year, years, and an half year, produce that number; for 360+720+180= 1260; which is far more complicated than the Chaldean cypher, which by 120 Zapo denotes 432000 days, or 1200 years. 66 |