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colors of all exhibit those dazzling hues of the East, which we are unable to rival in Europe.

The manufactures in metal rank next in importance. Iron appears to have been but little known: nearly all the implements not made of gold or silver, were, it would seem, either copper or brass. The workmanship of the Egyptians, both in metal and wood, was superior to that of any other ancient nation. The forms of their couches, harps, &c., the elegance of the spindles and work-baskets of the ladies, inspire a high idea of the refinement of their domestic life.

Egypt produced excellent clay for pottery, and earthen ware was used, not only for domestic purposes, but for preserving the mummies of the sacred animals. Their vases, in the indescribable variety and beauty of their shapes, rival the choicest specimens of Grecian or Etruscan art.

Ship-building did not become common in Egypt, until its rulers became masters of the Phoenician forests; but they manufactured vessels of burden for navigating the Nile.

The Theb'aïd was the central point of trade between southern Asia and the western regions, and between Ethiopia and northern Africa. Besides the advantages of its position, the most ancient and productive gold mines in the world were in its neighborhood. From Ethiopia and the Negro countries were brought gold, ivory, ebony, skins, and slaves; from Arabia, incense, and from India, spices; and these were sold to the Greek and Phoenician merchants. The native commodities exported were principally corn and cloths: the corn-trade must have been particularly valuable, for Egypt was regarded as the granary of the adjacent countries.

CHAPTER II.

THE ETHIOPIANS.

SECTION I.-Geographical Outline. Natural History.

THE eastern districts above the Nile, now called Núbia and Sennáar, have been possessed from a remote age by two different races, the Ethiopian and the Arabian, which are even now but partially blended. The country is full of historical monuments, chiefly erected on the banks of the Nile. There were, in these countries above Egypt, all the gradations from the complete savage to the hunting and fishing tribes, and from them to the wandering herdsman and shepherd; but there was also a civilized Ethiopian people, dwelling in cities, possessing a government and laws, acquainted with the use of hieroglyphics, the fame of whose progress in knowledge and the social arts had, in the earliest ages, spread over a considerable portion of the earth.

The Nile, before its confluence with the Astab'oras (Mugrúm), runs through a very irregular valley formed by two chains of hills, which sometimes retire back, and sometimes advance to the very margin of the river. The soil of this valley was once as fertile as the richest part of Egypt, and where protected, it still continues so; but the hills on both sides are bordered by sandy deserts, against which they afford but a scanty protection. The Nubian valley below the junction of the Nile and the Astab'oras appears to have been sometimes subject to the Ethiopians of Mer'oë and sometimes to the Egyptians. The navigation of the Nile is here impeded by the windings of the river, and by the intervention of cataracts and rapids; so that intercourse is more generally maintained by caravans than by boats. At the southern extremity of the valley, the river spreads itself, and encloses a number of fertile islands. Along the whole course of the Nubian valley is a succession of stupendous monuments, rivalling those of Thebes in beauty, and exceeding them in sublimity.

The productions of the Ethiopian and Nubian valleys do not differ materially from those of Egypt. The island of Mer'oë as it was called from being nearly surrounded with rivers, possessed an abundance of camels, which, as we have seen, were little used in Egypt; but the ivory, ebony, and spices, which the Ethiopians sent down the river, were probably procured by traffic with the interior of Africa. Mer'oë had better harbors for Indian commerce than Egypt: not only were her ports on the Red sea superior, but the caravan-routes to them were shorter, and the dangerous part of the navigation of that sea was wholly avoided.

The wild tracts in the neighborhood of Mer'oë are tenanted by animals whose chase afforded employment to the ancient, as it does now

to the modern hunting tribes; especially that singular creature the giraffe, or camelopard, so recently known in Europe. The elephant is found in Abyssinia, not far from the southern confines of the state of Mer'oë

SECTION II.-History of the Ethiopians.

THE early history of Meroë is involved in impenetrable obscurity. Its monuments bear evident marks of being the models for the wondrous edifices of Egypt; but, shut out from all intercourse with civilized nations by the intervention of the Egyptians, it is only when they were invaded, or became invaders, that we can trace the history of the Ethiopians. It has been already mentioned that several of the Egyptian monarchs carried their arms into Ethiópia, and became for a time masters of the country. In the eleventh century before the Christian era, the Assyrian heroine Semir'amis is reported to have attempted its conquest; but there is some doubt of the truth of this, as indeed of many other exploits attributed to this wonderful queen. But we have certain information of the Ethiopians being a powerful nation (B. c. 971) when they assisted Shishak in his war against Judæa "with very many chariots and horsemen." Sixteen years after this, we have an account of Judæa being again invaded by an army of a million Ethiopians, unaccompanied by any Egyptian force. From the Scripture narrative, appears that the Ethiopians had made considerable progress in the art of war, and were masters of the navigation of the Red sea, and at least a part of the Arabian peninsula. The kingdom must have been also in a very flourishing condition, when it was able to bear the cost of so vast and distant an expedition.

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The Ethiopian power gradually increased until its monarchs were enabled to conquer Egypt, where three of them reigned in succession, Sab'bakon, Sev'echus, and Tar'akus, the Tirhákah of Scripture.† Sev'echus, called So in Scripture, was so powerful a monarch, that Hoshéa, king of Israel, revolted against the Assyrians, relying on his assistance; but was not supported by his ally. This, indeed, was the immediate cause of the captivity of the Ten Tribes; for "in the ninth year of Hoshéa, the king of Assyria took Samária, and carried Israel away into Assyria," as a punishment for unsuccessful rebellion. Tirhákah was a more warlike prince: he led an army against Sennach'erib, king of Assyria, then besieging Jerusalem; and the Egyptian traditions, preserved in the age of Herod'otus, give an accurate account of the providential interposition by which the pride of the Assyrians was humbled.

In the reign of Psammet'ichus, the entire warrior-caste of the Egyptians migrated to Ethiópia, and were located at the extreme southern frontier of the kingdom. These colonists instructed the Ethiopians in the recent improvements made in the art of war, and prepared them for resisting the formidable invasion of Camby'ses.

2 Chron. xiv. 8-13.

† Mr. Hawkins, in his recent work on Meroë, identifies Tirhákah with the priest Séthos, on what we deem very insufficient grounds.

2 Kings, xvii. 4.

§ 2. Kings, xix. 9.

Scarcely had the Persian dynasty been established in Egypt, when Camby'ses set out to invade Ethiopia, without preparing any store of provisions, apparently ignorant of the deserts through which it was necessary for him to pass. Before he had gone over a fifth part of the route from Thebes, the want of provisions was felt; yet he madly determined to proceed. The soldiers fed on grass, as long as any could be found; but at length, when they reached the deserts, so dreadful was the famine, that they were obliged to cast lots, that one out of every ten might be eaten by his comrades.

It is said that the king of Ethiópia was always elected from the priestly caste; and there was a strange custom for the electors, when weary of their sovereign, to send him a courier with orders to die. Ergam'enes was the first monarch who ventured to resist this absurd custom he lived in the reign of the second Ptol'emy, and was instructed in Grecian philosophy. So far from yielding, he marched against the fortress of the priests, massacred most of them, and instituted a new religion.

Queens frequently ruled in Ethiopia: one named Candace made war on Augus'tus Cæ'sar about twenty years before the birth of Christ, and though defeated by the superior discipline of the Romans, obtained peace on very favorable conditions. During the reign of another of the same name, we find that the Jewish religion was prevalent in Mer'oë, probably in consequence of the change made by Ergam'enes; for the queen's confidential adviser went to worship at Jerusalem, and on his return (A. D. 53) was converted by St. Philip, and became the means of introducing Christianity into Ethiopia.

These are the principal historical facts that can now be ascertained respecting the ancient and once powerful state of Mer ́oë,which has now sunk into the general mass of African barbarism.

SECTION III.-Arts, Commerce, and Manufactures of Mer'oë.

THE pyramids of Mer'oë, though inferior in size to those of Middle Egypt, are said to surpass them in architectural beauty, and the sepulchres evince the greatest purity of taste. But the most important and striking proof of the progress of the Ethiopians in the art of building, is their knowledge and employment of the arch. Mr. Hoskins has stated that these pyramids are of superior antiquity to those of Egypt.

The Ethiopian vases depicted on the monuments, though not richly ornamented, display a taste and elegance of form that has never been surpassed. In sculpture and coloring, the edifices of Mer'oë, though not so profusely adorned, rival the choicest specimens of Egyptian art.

We have already noticed the favorable position of Mer'oë for commercial intercourse with India and the interior of Africa: it was the entrepôt of trade between the north and south, between the east and west, while its fertile soil enabled the Ethiopians to purchase foreign luxuries with native productions. It does not appear that fabrics were woven in Mer oë so extensively as in Egypt; but the manufactures of metal must have been at least as flourishing. But Mer'oë owed its greatness less to the produce of its soil or its factories, than to its po

•Acts vii. 33.

sition on the intersection of the leading caravan-routes of ancient com merce. The great changes in these lines of trade, the devastations of successive conquerors and revolutions, the fanaticism of the Saracens, and the destruction of the fertile soil by the encroachments of the moving sands from the desert, are causes sufficient for the ruin of such a powerful empire. Its decline, however, was probably accelerated by the pressure of the nomad hordes, who took advantage of its weakness to plunder its defenceless citizens.

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