New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-10-21
ANCIENT EGYPT.
A NEW STUDY on AN INEXfIAUsTlRLE
THEME.

modern people were they in the same stage OF
civilization and If they had the same SURROUND
inRs" This Is Herr Erman's answer 10 those
who cherish the notion that men OF the last TWO
centuries are different from those ~ the more
ancient past II mankind has changed appre-
Gladly in thousands of years. the PROOF "I the
change should be found in Egypt. J, anywhere
I'm a term Of five thousand years there are 50
few gaps in the historic sequence OF e'eh's
that one may practically call the narrative
complete in spite of those places where IL cal"
not as yet be read with certainty. Experience
taught the Greeks. the Romans and the mooei"
world the necessity Of care and accuracy Ill
the matter Of chronology No Eastern nation
learned this lesson thoroughly but the Egyp-
tians did better than most OF their rivals. "hiie
II Is impossible TO fix the date OF some early
king within a period Of centuries, there Is ho
question as TO his position relative 10 'hose
who preceded or followed him in the long hhe
Of rulers. The same is true OF events "h'ie
experts dispute as TO the time when war or
a change OF dynasty, or an insurrectioh Vi d
change In fashion occurred. they rarely ind
a difficulty in referring ii to its proper place IN
the story Of Egyptian evolution. Thus. for the
purposes of the general student OF human ii'o'
the testimony of the monuments and of the
as II every document were marked with the
year and the day. II one does not kho" "he"
EGYPTIAN civilization began, one can at least
make a shrewd guess in regard to us CHARACTER
the later notifications that occurred In IT, ana
tho causes of these notifications. Unless II
he supposed that an unlimited. indefinite time
,,ust he allowed for the transition from pure
savapery like that of Central Africa TO the
comfort and variety of life characteristic OF
ECvpt as revealed in it's earliest monuments
the prmeval period must have been one ol
rapid change IN the face If the country ana 'he
condition of the inhabitants. But this change
was Just such as must take place In every new
country while 1t IS passing through the pioneer
ing stage of Its existence, what mas TAKEN
place in fact within the memory OF living men
in parts of America in Australia ana IN oouth-
ern Africa. The men who take possession Oh
new country in this way, VINO cut GOWN inc
trees. drive out the wild beasts. and raise the
first crons are of the same stuff as their de-
scendants. but they are likely to be rude in
their manners and TO cherish morality which
is lax at those points where well settled people
are the strictest and strict where they are lax
They would be keen and shrewd IN matters
about which their descendants are propaoy
ignorant. but simple-minded and indifferent re-
OF the greatest moment There are slight
evidences of this sort of modification in the
character Of the higher classes in Egypt. those
which could afford from the first 10 perpetuate
their semblance by the aid of art. The men OF
the Old Empire in distinction from those or
the Middle Empire and the New Empire have
AZ the author points out the look Of shrewd
peasants Their successors more rehned'
after centuries Of easy living and Increased
comfort and luxury; but they nevertheless pre-
serve the essential traits of their ancestry
This is as true of the modern fellah as of his
remote ancestors.
One must look elsewhere than to the essential
characteristics of the people for story OF de-
velopment in Egypt. That there was develop
ment is certain, but II was just in those par
ticuars where 1t has usually been denied
namely in the habits and customs Of the people.
in their dress in their politics. to some extent
even in their art AMI their religion but above all
in the country which the people inhabited IL
is necessary tor understanding the matter 10
imagine. as the author of this book does the
appearance of Egypt when ii was an unoc-
cupied land or was inhabited only by untu-
tored savaees There was then no Delta. What
the Nile had done in the way of filling up the
angular gulf at its mouth was covered by
an impenetrable growth Of water plants. 1t
was long ages afterward before this region
was reclaimed by the population which was
pressed down upon it by the multtudes that
needed elbow room in the narrow river valley
to the southwark Meanwhile the valley itself
had to be made haoitable by men who at fr-i
possessed nothing better than implements OF
wood and stone with which to clear the land
and turn the soil. The river itsef was In
places probably often little more than a marsh
in those days damned by shadows where the
papyrus reed grew luxuriantly, and hemned
In on each side by the primeval forest what
that forest was can only be conjectured now
The country has been the home OF so many
millions Of people for so many thousands or
years that II has had TO adapt itself TO It's
environment. to speak. and the flora OF
Egypt is less varied than that of any other
fertile tract of its size in the world Even the
grass does not grow there so as to make con
tinuous sward Of any extent. The only green
expanses at the present day--and probably the
same would have been true in the time of the
Ramess,des or OF the Thothmeses-are the
cultivated fields Of grain or clover. IL Is pos
sible then that Herr Erman's historic imaSina-
ton may carry him too far when he pictures
the banks of the lower Nile covered in primeval
times. as Its far southern reaches ABOVE
Khartoum are now. with a wilderness OF tropi-
cal vegetation. This question is important In
the light of the tools used by the men who
turned Egypt from wild valley into the
garden and granary of the world. 1t would
take them intellectually more time to cut down
a thick-growing forest than 1t would to remove
q few scattered trees with flint hatchets and
red hot embers The point is illustrated by
hot DC FOL nt of the gen
tlemen who directed the chronological depart
men: in the Worlds Fair at Chicago. They
wanted certain Northwestern Indians To make
q canoe (dugouu In the true ancient fashion
But the answer was In behalf Of the Indians
that they had learned the use Of the white
mans axe. and that they could no longer en-
durc the toll of months with flint and fire in