TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION H. 651 
derived from the contents of the so-called prehistoric tombs, a great number of 
which contain deceased in the so-called embryonic posture, which is nothing but 
the sitting posture described by Herodotus as being customary with the African 
population of the Nasamonians. 
The name ‘ prehistoric ’ must not be taken strictly in its chronological sense, 
since it is proved that the civilisation which these tombs represent lasted late in 
historical times. It should be replaced by the word ‘ native’ or rather ‘ African,’ it 
being well understood that ‘ African’ does not mean ‘ negro.’ 
From the pictures cf the vases we gather that the primitive Egyptians lived in 
huts placed on mounds. These huts were surrounded by enclosures in order to 
shelter the inhabitants from wild animals. At the side is a standard bearing the 
totem or the god of the village. The men living in those huts are hunters 
armed with bows and spears; their animals are those of the desert—ostriches, 
antelopes, gazelles. They do not seem to have been agriculturists ; the absence of 
cattle and domestic animals is very striking. Boats with sails are seen occasion- 
ally, showing that they practised navigation and fishing. 
Their physical type is decidedly not negro, though some anthropologists admit, 
a negroid influence. They seem connected with the African natives called in the 
Egyptian inscriptions Jamahu and Jehennu, which originally extended further 
south than at the time of the Pharaohs. Wehave no reasons to dispute the native 
character of those Africans. Their civilisation, which is entirely determined by 
the nature of the soil and by the climate, is decidedly of African growth. 
The name of the prehistoric Egyptians is the dnw, whom we find on theUpper 
Nile in Egypt, where they have left their name to An, Heliopolis, one of the oldest 
cities of the kingdom, and even in Sinai, The Anu are not foreign invaders ; 
they are, on the contrary, the native stock which has been subdued by foreign 
conquerors. 
The invasion took place in prehistoric times. With it appears the hiero. 
glyphic writing. We see the invaders calling their kings ‘ falcons,’ the symbol of 
the god Horus. They are the tribe of Horus coming from South Arabia, from the 
Asiatic land of Punt. The Egyptian sculptures show us only the African Punt, 
which must have been between Massowah and Somaliland. Its inhabitants are 
of the same race as the Egyptians. They, are not Semites; they belong to the 
Hamitic stock. 
The Arabian origin of the Egyptians is stated by several classical writers. The 
conquerors must have crossed the Red Sea somewhere near Massowah; they 
stopped some time on the Upper Nile before they settled finally below the Cataracts, 
The traditions of the old Egyptians also point to their coming from the South. 
The victory of the tribe of Horus or the native stock was commemorated by a 
festival called the ‘ festival of striking the Anu,’ which was celebrated as late as 
the XVIIIth Dynasty. 
The movements of the first dynasties give us an idea of the civilisation of the 
invaders, As soon as they appear, we see domestic animals, not imported, but 
derived from the indigenous fauna, such as the bull, the sheep, the ass. They 
were domesticated by the new-comers. 
On the whole, civilisation seems to have grown entirely in the last settlement 
of the invaders. They adopted and improved the rudimentary culture of the natives, 
in whom they infused their more progressive and active spirit. There is one art 
only which they must have brought from abroad, metallurgy, and in fact the 
legends speak of the blacksmiths who were the companions of Horus. They prob- 
ably brought from the Upper Nile the papyrus. As for the vine, it may have 
come from Africa. 
The first historical king was Menes, who is said to have done a great deal to 
civilise his subjects. He united under his rule the various tribes inhabiting the 
country. But he did not destroy their totems or local divinities, which became 
the great gods of the provinces or nomes. As conquerors and conquered belonged 
to the same race, and as there was no religious feud between them, they very soon 
amalgamated completely and formed one nation, the Egyptians. 
An interesting religious object of the conquerors are the large slate palettes in 
