The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-04-09

ran the swampy region Of the Delta and BE-
came united In one emplrel Or were they
tho victims OF benehoiaries Of q conquest
or conquosts from the Easti There IL no
doubt that many scholars, including con-
spicuously BruEsch, Ebers and Hommel'
have looked 10 Asia for the source OF Egyp-
tlan civilization, II not for that Of the orig
inal Egyptian race. Some Of them have
brought the Egyptians TO the Nile Valley
over the Isthmus OF Suez, others by the
more circuitous route OF the Straits OF
Bab-el-Mandeb. The Egyptians themselves
preserved no traditional recollection OF
a prirneval migration or Of any foreign con-
quest before the advent Of the shepherd
kings or even OF a culture hero There u
nothing In their annals, their legends or
their religious myths 10 indicate such events.
Mrs Stevenson directs attention 70 another
siRnifcant fact, namely, that the earliest
hieroRlyphs all reproduce the fauna. the
fora and other objects falling under the
observation and the experience OF dwelle's
IN the Nile Valley. Thus the ideogram for
land was a fiat plain; while the sign for
foreign land" was q mountain chain
Then, too, the beliefs Of the Egyptians re-
Rarding life after death and their consequent
burial customs linked them with the men OF
the dolmens, rather than with those OF
Babylonia, where the ancient structures
are temples and palaces, not tombs In
word. no fact that cannot be explained
otherwise has been brought forward TO
show that Egyptian civilization was de-
rived from Asia, while the important cult
ural differences which unquestionably exist
between the two oldest civilizations Of the
ancient world are best accounted for on the
theory Of an independent development
Such seems. at all events 70 be the view
held by the two highest authorities on
Egyptology In France and Germany NJ.
Maspero, for instance. says that If one
examines closely into the matter the theory
Of an Asiatio origin, although attractive
Is difficult to maintain. The mass OF the
Egyptian population presents the character
istios OF the peoples which at all times have
dwelt in the Mbyan continent bordering
on the Mediterranean. They belong TO
North Africa and came into Egypt from
the west DR.. Erman. on his part, sug-
gests az a hypothesis in accordance with
all the facts brought TO bear upon the ques-
ton by ethnologists as well as philolog1sts
that "a Libyan invasion Of the Nile Valley
gave its inhabitants their language; that a
similar Lbyan invasion Of Syria and Arabia
produced the Semitic language and that
the latter regions later gave the same to
East Africa the Ethiopia being, OF course,
a Semitic tongue, NJ. Naville, IN study
Of certain important cultural relations
existing between the Libysn populations
and the Egyptians, as revealed in the earliest
known monuments. regards the North
African character Of the prehistoric Egyp-
tan civilization as established He be-
lieves, on the other hand. that the oon-
ouerors Of the indigenous inhabitants
that is TO say, the founders Of the first
dynasty-came from Bab-el-Mandeb and
Punt and spoke a Semitic language, al
though they may not have been Semites.
Petrie also brings the dynastio Egyptians
into Egypt over the Straits Of Babel
Mandeb.