COMMERCE OF INDIA. 



201 



other. For a still later period Marco Polo is a trustworthy 

 reporter. 



If we turn our eyes from the East to the West, Egypt 

 claims our attention, being one of the countries that were 

 earliest civilized on this globe. Its history goes back as 

 far as 5000 B.C. It is difficult, if not impossible, to prove a 

 direct trade between the old Egyptians and the Hindus, but 

 that a commerical intercourse existed cannot be denied. The 

 Egyptians, though not themselves a seafaring people, had in 

 their relatives, the neighbouringKushite races, the most famous 

 sailors of the old world, and through their medium kept up their 

 commercial relations. When in consequence of the Aryan 

 advance, to which we have already alluded, the Kanaaniteswere 

 driven to the West, a part of them entered Egypt, dethroned 

 the kings of the 14th dynasty residing in Xois, the modern 

 Sakha, and founded in 2214 the dynasty of the Hyksos or 

 Shepherd kings. These kings reigned, when Abraham was 

 staying in Egypt. Altogether they ruled in this country for 

 511 years and during the reign of the last king of this dynasty, 

 Apepi, Joseph came to Egypt. The story of Joseph is 

 moreover a notable evidence of the early caravan trade, which 

 crossing Arabia, carried the merchandise of India to Egypt, 

 Syria and Babylonia. A part of this commerce was then in 

 the hands of the Midianites. By a remarkable coincidence 

 we possess a proclamation of this very king Apepi, containing 

 the title Zaphnath, sustainer of the world, a title given by 

 that king to Joseph (Gren. xli, 45). After the expulsion of 

 the Hyksos, which took place at the beginning of the 18th 

 century B.C., (1703), indigenous sovereigns once more ruled 

 the country of the Nile and great kings like Amosis, Tuth- 

 mosis, Amenophis, Sesostris (Ramses ) carried the glory and 

 the arms of the Egyptians far beyond the boundaries of their 

 fatherland, but not so far as the legends want to make us 

 believe ; Media, Persia, Bactria and India were never invaded 



