Page:Queen Moo and the Egyptian Sphinx.djvu/141

 Rh Before proceeding, I may remark that although the Mayas seem to have penetrated the interior of Asia as far as Mesopotamia, and to have dwelt a long time in that country as well as in Asia Minor; that although, from remote ages, they had sojourned in the Dekkan and other localities in the south of India; that although the Greek language was composed in great part of Maya, and the grammars of both these languages were well-nigh identical —they and the Aryans, so far as shown by philology, never had intercourse with each other. After a thorough study of Mr. Adolphe Pictet's learned work, "Les Origines Indo-Européennes ou les Aryas Primitifs," and a careful examination of their language and the Greek words derived from it, either directly, or indirectly through Sanscrit, then comparing these with the Maya, I am bound to confess that I have been unable to find the remotest analogy between them. No—not one word! It might be supposed that the name of the most abundant and necessary fluid for living beings would be somewhat similar in languages concurring to form a third one. Not so, however. The erudite Mr. Pictet is at a loss as to the origin of the Greek word, thalassa, for "sea." Had he been acquainted with the Maya language, he would easily have found it in the word thallac, that means a "thing unstable; " hence the Greek verb tarassô—thrasso—"to agitate." The name for water in Maya is ha, in Egyptian and Chaldean a.

What are we to argue from this utter want of relation between two peoples that have had such a stupendous influence on the civilization of Asiatic, African, and European popula-