362 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



known to have contained a great proportion of words 

 belonging to that stem of nations, and the Armenian 

 people were styled Haikos or Haik wearers, which is 

 the same as Hyksos. They are even made to be the 

 same as the Cathai, Beni Kous, who may have been 

 the Kufa of High Asia opposed to Sesostris, the fair- 

 haired nation of the ancient Arabian records, and the 

 present Nesearies of the hills ; so early were the in- 

 vasions from the north-east towards Egypt, and so 

 confused become nations when the ruling tribe and 

 the masses are of different typical forms. 



Above the Egyptian races, the Nubian. Nuba, or 

 swarthy Cushite people, were fixed at a remote age, 

 though Syncellus and their own traditions represent 

 them to be colonists from the banks of the Indus ; and 

 the claim is countenanced by the local names of Kutch, 

 Gujerat, Catty war, provinces on the east side of the 

 present delta of the river ; and the circumstance, that 

 the Abyssinian kings were, and still are, styled Nagus, 

 while in the most ancient kingdoms of the delta of the 

 Indus or Neel, denominated Patala, the Naga or Ser- 

 pent was venerated in the capital Nagara, and the 

 people were Nagas. Tribes of Cushites had fought 

 their way by sea or by land, and formed a great power 

 in Arabia Felix, till the present Arabians compelled 

 them to cross the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb. They 

 returned, however, more than once, to hold dominion 

 in Yemen, carrying the first coffee plant with them 

 from Africa, and continuing to hold up the commercial 

 prosperity of the country to the time of the Hegira. 



