14 ANCIENT EGYPT. 



them with a period going back from our own times perhaps 

 8,000 years. 



The history of Egypt may not improperly be said to begin 

 with Menes, probably the first king of the first dynasty to 

 wear the pshent, or double crown, of united Egypt; but we 

 know practically nothing about him. Eusebius states that 

 Manetho makes mention in his book, written b.c. 286, that 

 Menes altered the course of the Nile, and that he was killed 

 by a hippopotamus while hunting. No contemporary monu- 

 ment of his reign has been found. 



Who can tell what illustrious lines preceded him? That 

 Ptah, Ra, Shu, Seb, Osiris, Set, and Horus really reigned in 

 the flesh is probable enough ; and that the civilization was old 

 when Menes lived, who can doubt? For these traditional 

 dynasties begin to loom fitfully through the mists of untold 

 ages, as suggested by light thrown on the ancient myths by 

 more recent discoveries, and in the finds of jewelry and 

 examples of the faiance of very early times, exhibiting an 

 amount of artistic skill which must involve an apprenticeship 

 of many centuries. It is interesting to know Manetho's views, 

 as culled from the archives of the temples, concerning pre- 

 historic Egypt. Eusebius, quoting him, says, that the reigns 

 of the gods and demi-gods extended over 24,900 years; while 

 the " Servants of Hor " (Horus) are referred to in the Turin 

 papyrus, about b.c. 1700, as the predecessors of that known 

 as the first dynasty. 



The great sphinx, with its somewhat Nubian cast of features, 

 and its temple, are now believed to belong to pre-historic 

 times ! 



What high destinies may yet be in store for the down- 

 trodden inhabitants of this wonderful land, where nature is so 

 bountiful. I have known the country well for many years, 

 and the contrast between its condition when I first visited it 

 and to-day is truly startling, in its material prosperity, the 

 numbers and character of its population, as well as in the 

 area of land under cultivation, 



