THE SHEPHERD KINGS OF EGYPT. 233 



ham by Kettirali, is not at all at variance with an Ashchurite con- 

 nection, inasmuch as we have found these families in union with that 

 of the father of Tekoa. 



Branches of the same great stock, starting from the Delta of Egypt? 

 passed, the one westward at first a,nd then north, along the African 

 coast of the Mediterranean to Sai'dinia and Sicily, Spain, Gaul, Italy, 

 &c. ; the other eastward and north, along the sea coast of Palestine, 

 Phoenicia and Syria to Asia Minor, Thrace, Greece and more northern 

 lands ; while a vigorous offshoot, passing to the east of Jordan, occu- 

 pied successively Babylonia, Mesopotamia, Armenia, Assyria, Persia, 

 India, and even China. Although we have found traces of the Ash- 

 churites among peoples nominally Semitic or Semito-Hamitic, we are 

 not to suppose that these were anything but Japhetic tribes. 



IV.— TRACES OF THE ASHCHURITES IN THE TRADITIONS, &c. 

 OF THE ORIENTAL NATIONS OF THE INDO-EUROPEAN STOCK. 



Persia, India, Armenia, the countries about Caucasus, and the 

 nations of Asia Minor, contribute to our knowledge of the remark- 

 able family under consideration. I do not mean to assert that all 

 the populations of these lands were Ashchurite. This would be to 

 people the greater part of the world from the town of Tekoa. The 

 Ashchurites, like the Horites, were a ruling class. At first their 

 domination extended to Canaanite tribes of Hittites and others, after- 

 wards to subject Mizraites, then to Arabian and Assyrian Cushites 

 and Asshurites. With the exception of the Israelites, the Semitic 

 races possessed little or no history, and the Hamites after Nimrod 

 had none at all. The same may be pi-edicated of many of the Japhetic 

 families. It is, however, among the latter that we find the makers 

 and transmitters of history. It was given to a few of them to exei'- 

 cise authority over their fellows, and, over a large portion of the 

 earth, through many generations, to be kings of men. The three 

 great families of royal men were and are those of Jerahmeel, Hor 

 and Ashchur, and of these that of Ashchur has ever been incom- 

 parably the greatest. In many lands these families dwelt together, 

 sometimes in peace, oftener in conflict, so that no history can be 

 complete without some account of all three. The Horites I have in 

 part already treated of; the Ashchurites I am now engaged upon; and 

 the Jerahmeelites I hope soon to be able to introduce to the student 

 of historical antiquities. I do not therefore profess by means of 



