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of the men of the East, and where is the wisdom to govern 
them if subdued ? 
The Egyptians and their Early Neighbours. 
The Egyptians called themselves ( Retou ) the men of Egypt, 
and probably spoke of themselves to foreigners arriving amongst 
them as the Autochthones of the country, and “ men ” par 
excellence. The fertile valley of the Nile formed, in their opinion, 
the heart or centre of the whole world. To the west were the 
Ribou or Libou , the Libyans inhabiting ( Tesar ) “the Red 
Country,” contrasted with the Black Country ( Kern or Kemi ), 
of rich alluvial soil, in which they themselves delighted. These 
Libyans, according to the monuments, belonged to the white 
race, with blue eyes and blond hair, who probably came from 
Europe, and invaded North Africa, displacing, in part at least, 
the original population, whose traits are preserved in the monu- 
ments of the IVth Dynasty, and who were probably the Lehabim 
of Gen. x. The negro tribes, who are represented with all 
the characteristics of the present period, were called Nahasou. 
The Kar, or Kal (the Dallas, apparently, of our day), Ethiopians 
rather than negroes, are also mentioned in the Egyptian 
records. 
The great mass of Eastern people were called by the generic 
name Amou, perhaps from the Coptic word ame, in the plural 
ameou. They are painted with skins of a yellow colour. Their 
costume was of great simplicity, sometimes characterized by a 
certain richness, especially in the choice of designs and colours, 
such as Jacob sought out for his beloved Joseph.* It must be 
noted as an incontestable fact that the Amou, even in the most 
glorious times of the history of Egypt, occupied the centre 
of the Delta, in the environs of the present Lake Menzalek. 
These were probably the Casluhim of Gen. x., out of whom 
came Philistim. The Naphtuhim tribe remind of Nephthys, 
the sister of Osiris. 
A great number of the towns, the canals, and lakes situated 
in this quarter were called by purely Semitic names. The 
centre of this colony of Amou had the name of Zdn. It is “ the 
field of Zoan ” of the Bible, and was, doubtless, a territory of 
immense fertility. Amongst the peasantry at present inhabit- 
ing the borders of the lake above mentioned, it is said to be 
easy to recognize the stern features of the shepherds, as these 
are represented in the statues of the Hycshos dynasty, and to 
* Brugsch, Egypte, p. 9. 
