New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-10-21

as remote from the flint axe as the Krupp
gun is from the bronze sword. In any case. II
trees had been numerous In Egypt as 1t was
found by the who first titled 1t. the proc
ess Of civilization would have been infinitely
slow and the subsequent achievements OF the
race 10 which these men belong seem to put Il
! limit 10 the pioneer stage OF existence Wha'
the facts point to is that Egypt was at tho
outset a country comparatively easy TO con-
quer FOR agriculture. that It's lack Of Wild growth
rather than its superfuity was what MADE IL
/ attractive TO early man. Thus pioneering III
Egypt might have been matter Of only few
generations and the mist that shrouds the
4 earliest dynastes might have been due TO the
neglect rather than to the incapacity OF men
who were too busy. like the medieval races of
Europe to have their pictures taken In stone
and their praises carved on the walls of ;omps
and temples People who have to conquer
country by the work of their hands and the
sweat Of their brows do not as a rule make
their gravestones very elaborate. They leave
that to their descendants.
Another feature OF the country which MADE
Egypt an easy country 10 colonize with a
practically homogeneous population was the
Nile itself Down to comparatively late times
a raft of papyrus reeds served very wen as d
boat. especially for floating down stream OF III
tho still waters Of marches and canals. 1t may
have served also In the earliest times to carry
down the river the successive swarms OF people
who settled one town after another II Is only
by imagining some such process as this that
the conflicting views Of ethnologsts and philoi-
ogiss can be brought into harmony. Inc
former point to the physical structure OF the
Egyptian as aying him by chain, IN which
there is no missing link. to the negroes OF
tropical Africa. They assert that the Egyp-
fans cannot be separated from the Berbers.
nor the latter from the Kelowi or the lioou
nor these again from the inhabitants around
Lake Tsad; all form in the mind OF the
ethnologst differentiated only by the influence
of a dissimilar manner Of life and climate.
Therefore. they say, many old customs Of the
ancient Egyptians are now found among the
people Of the Upper Nile" On the other hand,
philologists maintain with equal reason that
the ancient Egyptians by their language are
allied to the so-called Semitic nations OF ASA
The only possibility to which these diverse
facts and the theories based upon them point
is to the settlement Of Egypt in prehistoric
times by two different races. Erman cites 'he
movements Of Teutonc and Scythian hordes
to show that such wild nvasions by mixed
multitude have usually no appreciate erect
upon the sedentary populations which 'hey
overrun. On the other hand ne poiil's 10
Mexico and some of tn, South American states
where the people as a whole are the descendants
of the aborigines but have adopted gradually
the language OF the small band or invaders
who conquered and civilized them Modern
Egypt itself illustrates the point In language
it is mainly Arabian in religion Mahometan;
yet the population, with comparatively small
exception is Of the same blood with that Of the
mid In rob
times then. small group Of people speaking
Semitic language overran the country from
Assouan to Memphis and became the rulers
over a multitude Of Africans who subsequently,
adopted the language OF their conquerors. bit
shared with them mutual interchange OF
customs and Of folklo I. In this interchange
the subjected people borrowed little. The
ima gnative literature OF ancient Egypt as
shown in the fragments which have been re-
covered, is utterly diverse from anything OF
the kind known to Asia. while II has remark
able afinit!es not mercy IN plot. bu; In form
and expression. to the African tales that have
been gathered among uncvized tribes In re-
cent times. This can be seen even In tho
Swahe tales. although they have passed
through the fire OF Arabic exaggeration. There
Is something in the downright African tale
which cannot be mistaken. It's abruptneas. its
a very close sequence IT. narrative, traced
IN the broken and disjonted EXPLANATIONS. are
things unknown to the popular tradition Of
other continents.
If diverse tendencies are discovered in a
modern literature. and these respective ten
denotes are found separately in other ltera-
lures the supposiiion is not that the latter
have done the borrowing, but that the former
hoe baaD ipnu
is exactly what must have happened in Egypt.
II Ermans opinion Is the true one-that there
was an Asiatic ruling class population
indigenous and therefore African. That
dition Of affairs explains also the indifference
Of the rulers to the telling and suffering Of
the masses: 1t shows how 1t was possible to
build the pyramids at the cost OF so many
thousands Of lives and TO quarry and trans
port the vast masses Of rock seen In the temple
walls in the obslisks and coossi that are still
among the wonders of the world. IT, when the
two races fused into one, the nobility
ignored to a large extent the rights of the
people, this may be attributed to the tradition
which had fixed from the outset the relations
OF the rulers and the ruled. But matter
Of fact the tendency seems to have been in the
other direction. The local aristocracy tended
to take sides with the populace. 1t was only
the pressure or foreign tyranny Wnicn enabled
the kings to unite the various divisions Of the
long and narrow valley into a SINCE nation
and to suppress what Erman by figure OF
speech. calls feudalism. Suppress 1t they did in
the persons Of the great men; but still the
village and district organism oulasted all the
changes Of dynasty. all the inroads of foreign
power and flourshed az vigorously under AS
syrian, Persian and Greek domination as 1t had
done under native princes 1t may be the
lot OF the present generation to see the vitality
Of an equally primitive system Of local self
government tested By the overthrow Of the
existing imperial superstructure in China.
The taste for organization exemplincd in the