Our present inquiry, however, relates to that people who occupied the valley of the Nile, from Philæ to Meroë, and perhaps yet farther south; a region at the present time inhabited by the Nubians, Senàaree and the Abyssinians, with all those endless varieties of race which necessarily result from immemorial proximity to the Negro countries. It is a point of great interest and importance to ascertain the physical characteristics of the _aboriginal_ communities of this branch of the Nilotic family; but they become at an early period so blended with exotic nations that their distinctive features must be chiefly derived from the monuments, unless the catacombs of Meroë should hereafter throw additional light on the subject. Of the monumental evidence we have already spoken: we have seen that the proper Egyptian physiognomy, the same which abounds at Thebes, is every where conspicuous on the tombs and temples of the Meröite[55] or monumental Ethiopians. That these people had no affinity, even in the remotest times, to the Negro race, would appear from the evidence already adduced, and also from other facts which remain to be noticed. Among the paintings of the Grand Procession (epoch of Thotmes IV.,) at Thebes, Mr. Hoskins remarks that the Negro is represented with all the characteristic features of his race, but that the Ethiopians are painted red like the Egyptians, having their hair dressed in curls above their foreheads, and in ringlets upon their shoulders.[56] (Plate XIV., Fig. 22.) So also in the voyage of Scylax, B.C. 360, the Ethiopians are described as a beautiful people, with long hair and beard; and the distinguished English traveller just quoted remarks that the heads sculptured on the pyramids of Meroë have a nearly European profile. Two of these, which are associated with the same legend, are represented by the subjoined figures.[57] The one to the left hand (that of an unknown king) has mixed lineaments, neither strictly Pelasgic nor Egyptian; while the right hand personage, who appears to be a priest doing homage, presents a countenance which corresponds in essentials to the Egyptian type, although the profile approaches closely to the Grecian. [Illustration] [Illustration] The annexed head, also of a king, and bearing some resemblance to the one above figured, is copied from Mr. Waddington’s[58] drawing of a group over the portico of the Fifth Pyramid at Djebel Birkel (the ancient Armada?) supposed to be among the oldest sculptures in Nubia. We have already alluded to the opinion of Prof. Ritter and others, that the old Bejas and the modern Bishareens were derived from the Berber or Libyan stock of nations. I am ready to go farther and adopt the sentiment of the learned Dr. Murray, that the Egyptians and monumental Ethiopians “were of the same lineage, and probably descended from a Libyan tribe.”