190 GEOLOGY AND HISTORY 



So far as the writer in Genesis is informed, he 

 does not seem to be aware of any sons of Japhet 

 having colonised Palestine or Egypt. It was only in 

 the later reflux of population that the sons of Javan 

 gained a foothold in these regions. They were both 

 colonised primarily by Hamites and subsequently 

 intruded on by Semites. 



Here a little prehistoric interlude noted by the 

 writer, or by an author whom he quotes, gives a 

 valuable clue not often attended to. The oldest son 

 of Ham, Cush, begat Nimrod, the mighty hunter and 

 prehistoric conqueror, who organised the first empire 

 in that Euphratean plain which subsequently became 

 the nucleus of the Babylonian and Assyrian power. 

 The site of his kingdom cannot be doubted, for 

 cities well known in historic times, Babel, Erech, 

 Accad, and Calneh, were included in it, as well as 

 probably Nineveh. The first point which I wish to 

 make in this connection is that we cannot suppose 

 this to have been a Semitic empire. Its nucleus 

 must have been composed of Nimrod's tribal con- 

 nections, who were Hamites and presumably Cushites. 

 He is, indeed, said to have gone into or invaded the 

 land of Ashur, and if by this is meant the Semitic 

 Ashur, he must have been hostile to these people, 

 as indeed the Chaldeans were in later times. The 

 next point to be noted is that the Nimrodic 

 empire must have originated at a time when the 

 Cushites were still strong on the Lower Euphrates, 

 and before that great movement of these people 



