Mr. Beke on the Complexion of the Ancient Egyptians. 351 



that of the already mixed breed of the Egyptians and Milz- 

 rites. Hence the complexions of the inhabitants of Egypt 

 must necessarily have become fairer and fairer in each suc- 

 cessive generation ; so that, at the time when the Romans ac- 

 quired the supremacy of that country, its natives, or at all 

 events those of Lower Egypt, would have been little, if at all, 

 darker in colour than the inhabitants of the neighbouring 

 countries of the Levant. I will say nothing of the immense 

 number of Jewish emigrants in Egypt; although, not impro- 

 bably, they likewise would have aided in bringing about this 

 result. 



Whilst however these changes were gradually taking place, 

 it is evident that shades of colour of every degree, from the 

 darkest up to the very fairest, would have existed at one and 

 the same time among the inhabitants of Egypt, in the same , 

 manner as, in the present day, we find to be the case in places 

 where the population is compounded of European whites and 

 African blacks ; and these diversities must, to a certain extent 

 at least, have continued to exist in the time of the Ptolemies, and 

 even of the Caesars ; — and this, doubtless, to a greater degree 

 in the southern than in the northern portions of the country. 

 Hence it may not be unreasonable to imagine, that cases would 

 sometimes arise, in which it might be considered advisable, 

 in documents of a legal nature, to state, not merely the names, 

 descriptions, and ages of the parties to them, (in like manner 

 as is customary in such documents now-a-days,) but also their 

 complexions. That the complexions of the parties to legal 

 documents were sometimes described, is clear, from the Greek 

 papyri translated by Dr. Young ('Discoveries in Hierogly- 

 phical Literature,' London, 1823, pp. 66. 69.); and without 

 attaching any undue importance to this circumstance, »I think 

 it is at least deserving of consideration in the light above sug- 

 gested. 



It is however most natural that the lower classes would have 

 been those whose blood derived the smallest proportion from 

 an exotic source, and who, consequently, would longest have 

 retained the physical characters of the primitive Ethiopian 

 stock: hence it is not impossible, that the young Egyptian 

 sailor, described by Lucian, may have been an individual of 

 the lowest class [of the Egyptians] ; although, as before stated, 

 it is more probable that he was a negro or Nubian slave. 



In thus attributing the origin of the primitive Egyptians to 

 a black African stock, I must however be distinctly under- 

 stood as opposing the notion, that the type of that stock is to 

 be sought for in the negro of the present day. On the con- 

 trary, 1 conceive the negroes of Africa to be the descendants, 



