imprinted with cuneiform characters. Their composition corresponds exactly with the account given by the sacred historian, of the bricks used in building the tower of Babel. Specimens of them are deposited in the British Museum, in the Museum of the East India Company, and in other repositories of antiquities. Some important facts have been made known in respect to the manners and customs of the Babylonians, from the inscriptions which have been deciphered; but it is doubtful whether any discoveries will be made in those ruins which will throw much light upon the arts and sciences among the antediluvians and especially during the time which elapsed between the deluge and dispersion of mankind.

Greece was inhabited in early times and was one of the first regions settled by the posterity of Japheth (vid. p. 27. supra). Josephus informs us that Gomer, one of sons of Japheth was founder of the Gomerites, called by the Greeks, in the time of Josephus, Galatians (Galls) (Josep. Ant. B. i. vi. 1). He mentions the seven sons of Japheth and the places in Asia Minor where most of them settled; but "from Javan," he remarks "Jonia (Ionia), and all of the Grecians are derived." It is probable that several places were occupied by the descendants of Japheth at about the same time; but we have more authentic information in reference to Greece than in respect to other places of their abode. In the Scriptures, Greece often signifies all of those countries inhabited by the posterity of Javan. In the Old Testament, Greece and the Greeks are indicated by the term Javan (7) (vid. Isa. /lxvi. 19; Eze. xxvii. 13, 19; Dan. x. 20; xi. 2).

It

is supposed by some historians that Greece was first settled as early as 1800 years B. C. by the Pelasgi who seem to

have emigrated from Egypt. Others place the settlement still earlier, while another class think that the credible history of the country does not extend so far into antiquity.

Little is known of the Pelasgi excepting that they lived in caves and were cannibals. They were much degraded, being almost entirely ignorant of the arts and sciences. History informs us that about 1514 B. C. (some say 200 years later), the Hellenes migrated into the country from Asia and either expelled or civilized the Pelasgi. The former were probably descendants of either Shem or Japheth. Subsequently Phoenician and Egyptian colonies settled in Greece and imparted some additional knowledge of the arts and sciences. It was about sixty years after the settlement of the Hellenes in the country when Cadmus, a Phoenician, introduced a knowledge of the Alphabet. The inhabitants of Argos and indeed of all Greece were distinguished for their love of music; but the art was cultivated on the plains of Shinar at a much earlier period. It is probable that the inhabitants of ancient Greece obtained their knowledge of the arts and sciences mostly from the Phoenicians, and perhaps, to some extent, from the Egyptians. Of course their music must have been formed after the Phoenician and Egyptian models, with the improvements which their own skill and taste may have suggested.

The Egyptian music, we shall consider hereafter. That of the Phanicians, was probably about the same as that which the sons of Noah practised, as the earliest inhabitants of Phoenicia are believed to have been nomad tribes that wandered from the borders of the Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf. Hamaker, in his Miscellanea Phoenicia, asserts that the Phoenicians came from the borders of the

Arabian Sea. Their language is believed to have belonged to the Canaanitish branch of the Shemitish family, and is imperfectly understood, as no Phoenician writings are extant excepting a few fragments, found in Hebrew and ancient classical writers. During the time of Joshua, the Phoenician city of Tyre existed and was strongly fortified (Josh. xix. 29). That must have been as early as 1444 B. C. or about 790 years after the dispersion. Hengstenberg supposes that the Phoenicians commenced their colony immediately after that event (vid. De Rebus, Tyriorum, Berdini 1832. p. 93). They doubtless made. improvements upon the music received through Noah and his posterity, though it is probable that they did not devote much attention to the subject, as we are informed by historians that they did not cultivate poetry, which in all ages, has been intimately connected with music. Notwithstanding this testimony of ancient history we cannot divest ourselves of the belief that effusions of poetry were frequent even among the Phoenicians, though it may not have been cultivated as an art.

China was inhabited in very early times. Pölitz informs us that several small kingdoms and States existed. in that country 2000 years B. C.; but that its credible history began a little before the Christian era (Politz Welt Gesch. P. i. c. 11). About two hundred years B. C. the Emperor Xi Hoam Ti caused a general destruction of the ancient books. He ordered upon pain of death all monuments of antiquity to be destroyed, and executed many of the learned men of the empire. Since his time a few fragments only of ancient history can be found, so that we can learn little with certainty in respect to the antiquity of the country, before the reign of that tyrant.

Supposing, as was probably the fact, that the country was settled by some rude hordes 2000 years B. C. or about 234 years after the dispersion, we shall reach a period when the Assyrian empire was in a flourishing condition. It is very difficult if not impossible to ascertain the origin of the earliest inhabitants of China. Their features and skulls indicate that they originated from the Mongols. Sir William Jones, who investigated the subject, makes them of Indian descent (vid. Asiat. Resear. vol. II. mem. 24). This is, perhaps, the most probable supposition, though the Chinese language is entirely dif ferent from that of the Hindoos. Jones farther supposes. that before they left India, they were of the military caste, and very much degraded, that they had probably lost a knowledge of the Indian tongue, and gradually, as they advanced in cultivation, formed a language which, by improvements, became what it now is, (vid. p. 32. supra). The origin of the Hindoos we shall consider hereafter, (vid. p. 50 infra). Assuming the Indian origin of the Chinese, their music must have been similar to that of India, unless they had entirely lost a knowledge of it, as they are supposed to have done of their language. Sir George Stanton, who accompanied the Earl of Macartney, in 1792 on an embassy to the Emperor of China, informs us that he witnessed the ceremonies of worshipping the Emperor at the palace of Zhe-hal in Tartary.— The principal officers of state were introduced into a vast hall and thence into a temple, furnished with great instruments of music, among which were cylindrical bells, suspended in a line from ornamented frames of wood, and gradually diminishing in size from one end to the other. There were also triangular pieces of metal ar

ranged in the same order as the bells. To the sound of these instruments a slow and solemn hymn was sung by eunuchs. The performers, in gliding from one tone to another, were directed by the striking of a shrill and sonorous cymbal. The whole, says Stanton, had a grand effect. These instruments were of simple construction, of the percussion class, and probably the same, essentially, which had been used for centuries, as the Chinese are extremely slow to change any of their customs or habits, or to make improvements in their knowledge of the arts and sciences.

India was evidently settled in very early times, and some of the learned believe it to have been the most ancient country inhabited by man. The name India is derived from the Greeks, who seem to have borrowed it from the Persians as it is unknown to the natives. The term was used by the Greeks to denote an indefinite extent of country reaching beyond the Indus; the historian Pölitz intimates that, possibly, it was the most anciently inhabited country (Pölitz Welt Gesch. P. i. c. 6). Some modern historians are of the opinion that a portion of the sacred writings of the Hindoos is worthy of credit. Their most ancient epoch (called Caliyng) commences B. C. 3101, and there is a tradition among them indicating that they were not a colony from any other tribe. Their astronomical knowledge, existing before the period to which history extends, the antiquity ascribed to their alphabet, language and religious tradition, handed down by means of pictures and writings, are thought by many to point to a development of the human intellect from its first germ. The fact is well authenticated that a tender and imaginative poetry existed among them 1000 years