176 - SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 
this Cretan problem. At the end of my address I shall very briefly 
refer to the much-neglected modern Egyptians, and to the need there 
is to study them. Much has been written during the last twenty years 
about the origins of the Egyptian civilisation, but there are some 
facts which, I think, have either escaped notice or have not been duly 
considered, and there are others upon which, in my opinion, insufficient 
stress has been laid. I am not going to deal with the physical charac- 
teristics of the people, for that is not my province. I shall confine 
myself to certain inferences that I believe can be drawn from the 
monuments of pre-dynastic and dynastic times. 
It is generally agreed that the habits, modes of life, and occupations 
of all communities are immediately dependent upon the features and 
products of the land in which they dwell. Any inquiry into Egyptian 
origins ought, therefore, to begin with the question, What were the 
physical conditions that prevailed in the Lower Nile Valley immediately 
preceding, and during, the rise of its civilisation? Until this question 
is answered I do not think that we are in a position to deal with such 
important problems as, ¢.g.—agriculture, architecture, shipbuilding, 
tool-making, or weaving. The first thing that we ought to know is 
what were the kinds of trees, plants, and animals that were to be found 
in Egypt in the wild state, and what was the economic value of the 
indigenous flora and fauna. We ought, in fact, to know what the 
country was like in pre-agricultural days. If there was no timber in 
the country, then it may, I think, be confidently said that the art of 
the carpenter did not originate in Egypt; that the architectural styles 
founded on wood construction could not have arisen there; that the art 
of shipbuilding (at all events of building ships of wood) did not originate 
there. Similarly, if there were no incense-bearing trees or shrubs in 
the country, it is difficult to imagine that the ceremonial use of incense 
arose there. Again, the art of weaving presupposes the presence of 
sheep or goats for wool, or of flax for linen thread. All these kinds 
of problems depend upon the natural products of a country, or they 
did so depend in the early days of civilisation, 
We are accustomed to regard Egypt as a paradise, as the most 
fertile country in the world, where, if we but scratch the soil and 
scatter seed, we have only to await and gather the harvest. The 
Greeks spoke of Egypt as the most fit place for the first generations 
of men, for there, they said, food was always ready at hand, and it 
took no labour to secure an abundant supply. But there can be no 
doubt that the Egypt of to-day is .a very different place from the Egypt 
of pre-agricultural times. There has been a great, but gradual, change 
in the physical condition of the whole country. In the mortuary 
chapels of tombs of the Old and Middle Kingdoms, as well as in many 
of the Empire, are scenes of papyrus swamps and reed marshes; in 
these swamps and marshes are figured the animals and birds that then 
frequented them. Among the animals are the hippopotamus and the 
wild boar, the crocodile, the ibis, and a great variety of water-fowl. 
These animals, and some of the birds, have now disappeared from the 
region north of the First Cataract. Only very recently has the croco- 
dile become extinct north of Aswan. It was still occasionally seen in 
ee. 
