24 THE RESTORATION. 



was their true fatherland. They lived aloof from the 

 Egyptians ; they did not ally themselves with the 

 country gods; they did not teach the people whom they 

 had conquered to regard them as the successors of the 

 Pharaohs. Their art of government began and ended 

 with the collection of a tax. The Shepherd Kings were 

 associated in the minds of the Egj^ptian fellahs, not 

 with their ancient and revered religion, not with the 

 laws by which they were still governed under their 

 local chiefs, but only with the tribute of corn which 

 was extorted from them every harvest by the whip. 

 The idea of revolution was always present in their 

 minds. Misfortune bestowed upon them the ferocious 

 virtues of the desert, while the vice of cities crept into 

 the Bedouin camp. The invaders became corrupted 

 by luxurious indolence and sensual excess, till at 

 length a descendant of the Pharaohs raised an army 

 in Ethiopia and invaded Egypt. The uprising was 

 general, and the Arabs were driven back into their 

 own harsh and meagre land. 



The period which followed the Restoration is the 

 most brilliant in Egyptian history. The expulsion of 

 the Bedouins excited an enthusiasm which could not 

 be contained within the narrow valley of the Nile. 

 Egypt became not only an independent but a conquer- 

 ing power. Her armies overran Asia to the shores of 

 the Euxine and of the Caspian Sea. Her fleets swept 

 over the Indian Ocean to the mud -stained shallows at 

 the Indus mouth. On the monuments we may read 

 the proud annals of those campaigns. We see the 

 Egyptian army, with its companies of archers shooting 

 from the ear like the Englishmen of old ; we see their 

 squadrons of light and heavy chariots of war, which 

 skilfully skirmished or heavily charged the dense 



