A papyrus roll exists, named after Prisse, and dating from the twelfth dynasty, that is, from before the irruption of the Hyksos, written in an abbreviated running hieroglyphic character, which reached its highest perfection in the fourteenth century B.C., that is to say, before the exodus of the Jews. From this originated, in the eighth century B.C., the demotic or popular writing a character with alphabetical sounds; but the Semites had previously adopted several of these; at least thirteen if not fifteen of the Phoenician letters were derived from the hieratical characters.36 In examining how far the nature of the country was accessory to this early ripening of civilization, our thoughts turn at once to the Nile and the regular rise and fall of its surface. According to the observations made in 1848-61, at the dam at the point of the delta,37 the stream is at its feeblest in the month of May. It is true that in February the sun has already produced rains, which have filled the river beds of the White Nile, yet the greatest amount of rain falls between April and August. In the low lands the Nile begins to swell gradually from the latter half of June to the latter half of July, and from that time it increases with extreme rapidity. Meanwhile the tropical rains have descended upon Habesh, and have found their way into the Blue Nile, and somewhat later into the Atbara. In the middle of August the Nile reaches its high-water level, and remains at the same height till the third week of October, after a maximum of high water itself has occurred in the beginning of the month and has again disappeared. From the end of October the surface falls very steadily, at first somewhat faster than later on. In October the Nile contains about twenty times the volume of water which it had in May, or rather it does not contain it between its banks, but sends it right and left towards the desert. The fertilizing effect of the Nile is due to the floating matter in its waters. Its mud has repeatedly been analysed,38 recently 36 Ebers, Ageypten und die Bücher Mose's, vol. i. 37 Heinrich Barth in die Zeitschrift für Erdkunde. 38 Leonard Horner gives eight different analyses. actions, vol. cxlv. London, 1855. p. 147. New series, vol. xiv. Philosophical Trans by W. Knop,39 who detected very little organic matter, but found in the fine clays, known by all as existing in the Egyptian mud, the highest power of absorption (135) combined with the greatest number of siliceous bases (13.42), which produce the most useful effects on agriculture. Now we know that the White Nile, since it passes through lakes which act as a filter, is poor in floating minerals, and its greenish hue is produced only by vegetable particles. Its waters therefore serve only to fill the bed and for purposes of irrigation in dry seasons, but not for fertilization. The fertilizing elements are contributed by the Blue Nile and the Atbara.4° Other streams also overflow the districts near their mouths; yet none distribute such rich blessings as the Nile. The hydraulic mechanism of this great river is unique. Under the microscope the Nile mud appears in the form of homogeneous grains of from too millionth part of an inch in diameter, which, when traversed by a ray of light, reflect the most beautiful prismatic colours.41 It is known that the Nile receives the Atbara as its last tributary, and then flows through fourteen degrees of latitude in a double curve, while the desert winds absorb its surface. The tract is so arranged that no other tributary again contaminates the pulverized clays with coarse detritus. From Assouan, or the last cataract to Cairo, the fall amounts to eleven, and below Cairo, to only four feet in 100,000; even from Wadi Halfa, the second cataract to Assouan, the fall diminishes to nine inches in the English mile, so that even in this part but little coarse sand can be carried down. But it is owing to its slow speed that only the fine floating particles, or pulverized clays, can be carried forward. Let us remember that were the speed of the river to diminish to 05 feet in the second, even the finest particles must also sink to the ground. If the Nile ever slackened to this degree it would no longer reach Lower Egypt of a chocolate brown colour, but as a clear stream.42 But science can foresee such a condition. 39 Landwerthschaftliche Versuchstationen, vol. xv. 1872. 40 S. Baker, Nile Streams of Abyssinia. 41 Leonard Horner, Philosophical Transactions, vol. cxlv. 42 The mean speed of the Nile, which is, however, less important than the highest, is 24 miles in the hour. Sir John Herschel, Physical Geography. With the diminution of the fall in the last reach the speed must diminish also. If the bed of the Nile at the cataracts consisted of soft sandstone instead of hard syenite, the Nile would long ago have deepened its bed and decreased its fall to the extreme minimum; but the hardness of the rocks in the district of the cataracts has hindered the occurrence of this calamity. Above Phile an old Nile mark is actually seen 28-38 feet above the present level; and under Amenemha III.43 of the twelfth dynasty, the river actually flowed on a bed twenty-five feet higher.44 The time of the wonderful powers of the Nile is therefore unquestionably limited. At the present day the Fellah, without previous labour, still throws the seed from his boat into the wet mud when the water is partially withdrawing from the plains; 45 yet, as early as the age of the pyramids, the fields were ploughed or loosened with the pickaxe,46 while the seed itself was trodden in. In the cultivation of plants for commerce the soil is much manured; but this was certainly not the case in ancient times. The present yield of wheat is from eight to twenty fold, of barley from four to eighteen, of maize from fourteen to twenty, of Durrah (Sorghum vulgare) from thirty-six to forty-eight fold.47 Kaffir corn is not mentioned among the agricultural produce, and was perhaps not cultivated in ancient times, 48 in which case civilization is indebted for it to the negroes. Whatever may be said to the contrary, Herodotus is right in maintaining that the earth nowhere yields agricultural produce in return for so little labour as in Lower Egypt, and gives back the seed so plentifully. The population in the delta of the Nile was thus enabled to become extremely dense. But on the other hand these natural advantages fell into worthy hands. Had the irrigating and fertilizing apparatus of the Nile been situated on the western 43 According to Brugsch (Histoire d'Egypte), he reigned from 2653-2611 B.C. 44 Lauth, Aegyptische Reisebriefe; Allgem. Ztg. p. 1334. 45 Leonard Horner, Philosophical Transactions for 1858. Aegypten. Leipzic, 1863. 46 Ebers, Durch Gosen zum Sinai, p. 468. 1873. A. von Kremer, 47 Heinrich Stephan, Das heutige Aegypter, p. 82. Leipzic, 1872. 48 E. Ringer, Botanische Streifzüge, in Transactions of the Vienna Academy, vol. xxxviii. p. 100. Semitic Characters. 493 coast of South Africa, it would indeed have worked wonders, but not such great prodigies of civilization as in Egypt. The mouth of the Nile is close to the isthmus which connects Asia with Africa, therefore its advantages could not long remain concealed. Whether national migrations were directed from Africa to Asia, or whether tribes were driven into Africa from the already overcrowded parts of Western Asia, they invariably reached the Nile, and the permanent possession of the low country would finally accrue to the race which could best turn to account the advantages it offered for the rapid increase of the population. II. SEMITES. This branch of the Mediterranean family peoples Western Asia and parts of Eastern Africa. It possesses all the characters of the other members of the race, is more bearded than the Hamites, and is more frequently gifted with expressive features, thin lips, high and generally aquiline noses, and well-marked eyebrows. The colour of the skin varies from a rather dark shade to a deep brown. Measurements of the skulls of this family are scanty. According to Welcker's tables the Jews are almost mesocephalic, but yet rank among the low brachycephals. The Arabs, on the contrary, approach the limits of dolichocephalism, but must still be classed among the high mesocephals. Lastly, the Abyssinians, with an index of breadth of 69° and an index of height of 76° are high, negro-like dolichocephals. But we have little guarantee for the fact that the skulls from Habesh belong to the descendants of true unmixed Semitic immigrants.' Those who have studied the ancient Egyptian and the Semitic languages, long ago conjectured that, at a period which is at present beyond the reach of research, the Hamites and Semites developed their languages in a common primeval home, at least 1 We expressly deny that the above words refer to a book which appeared at Gotha in 1872, under the title of "The Semites in their Relations to the Hamites and Japhites" (Die Semiten in ihrem Verhältniss zu Chamiten und Japhiten). as far as the roots of the pronouns. In the Old Testament also a system of ethnography of the Mediterranean nations is sketched,2 in which, in the naïve language of the patriarchal state, it attributes the names of countries, nations, or towns to fictitious heads of families. Thus the Jews represent their ancestor Eber to be the grandson of Arphaxad, but Arphaxad is the district of Arrapachitis near Ptolemæus, not far from Ararat, and still called Albak.3 At the time when the national genealogy of Genesis originated, likenesses which were afterwards lost may have been recognizable in the various races. As the Cushites were derived from Ham, while the Canaanites were regarded as the descendants of Cush, and the Phoenician town of Sidon is described as the eldest son of Canaan, the Old Testament favours the opinion that the Semite and Hamite families were very nearly allied in old times. The text of the Bible nevertheless contradicts itself more than once; Havilah, for example, is in one place counted among the Cushites, and in another among the Arab sons of Joktan.4 Now, if the ethnographer, or rather the Elohistic and Jahvistic ethnographers of Genesis, based their system solely on the colour of the skin, as is frequently maintained by those versed in biblical archæology, modern science can attribute no value to their statements, for it must even then have been the case that the slight gradations of colour which occur varied from district to district, and in each horde the extreme varieties must have been connected by transitions. Modern ethnology must judge only by language and its remains, of which the type has already been described.5 They admit of a somewhat marked division into Northern and Southern Semites. The northern people may be again subdivided into Aramaians, Hebrews, Canaanites, Assyrians, and Babylonians. Aramaic was spoken in the north of Syria and in Assyria, but is now extinct except in two isolated spots, the dialects of which are different. Between Mosul and Diarbekr, and as far as lakes Van and Urmia on the north-east, live Nestorian Christians, who without reason call themselves Chaldeans, and speak a corrupt 2 Gen. x. 1-32. 3 F. Spiegel in the Ausland, p. 1035. 1872. 5 See above, p. 122. |