Page 476 - Travels in Arabis (Vol I)

XXVI.] NAKAB EL HAJAR. 435

politan, or arrow-headed character ; but no

resemblance can be traced between this and

*
,
an inscription since found by Seetzin on his
road to San&, nor those which I have given.

Owing to the locality in which the latter were

found, and for other reasons, I venture to

suggest that both they, together with those

we discovered at Hassan Ghorab, are the lost

Himayaritic writing. Should this prove cor­

rect, the resemblance to the Ethiopic is not

conjectural, since a complete identity in

many of the characters may be traced f. I
am not sufficiently versed in oriental litera­

ture to pursue this subject further, and the

above remarks are offered with some diffi­

dence. Fac-similes of both, however, have

been transmitted to the celebrated Gesennius,

at Halle, and as they at present occupy his

attention, we may venture to hope that the

result will be a successful elucidation.

Nakab el Hajar is situated north-west, and

is distant forty-eight miles from the village of

Ain, which is marked on the chart in latitude

* Mines d’Orient, p. 282.
tit also bears some similitude to the rude undeciphcred charac­

ters on the Lat of Firoz Shah at Delhi.—As. jRes. vii. pl. 7—10.

2 f 2