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ed to augment the revenues of the crown, for the purpose of improving the irrigation, and augmenting the produce and population of Egypt. We know that it made the race of Egyptians a race of warriors and conquerors, until it exhausted their resources; and then, by placing the property of the people at the mercy of the government, is prepared the way for the extermination of the native Egyptian or Coptic population. [1] Genesis, xlvii. 18-26. The Nomads, or Hyksos, were driven from the throne of Egypt by the kings of Thebes, a native race; and under their government the prosperity and population of the country rapidly increased. The demand for land capable of cultivation became immense. Moeris constructed the wonderful artificial lake, for the purpose of regulating the inundation, and augmenting the productive powers of Egypt, which was always regarded as one of the most extraordinary undertakings of man. Monsieur Linant has lately discovered the traces of this lake, and has shown that it was formed by making embankments round a high level, from which the waters could be drawn off for irrigation. The absurd opinion of many travellers and geographers, that the _Birket-el-Karaun_, a salt lake in a deep natural basin, was the lake of Moeris, is therefore completely exploded; that lake could never have been any thing but a cess-pool for the superabundant waters of the lake Moeris, and a sink for the waste waters of the Nile. When land became of so great value in Egypt as to cause such vast undertakings to be made for improving its fertility as the formation of the lake Moeris, it is not to be supposed that the Egyptians would overlook the capabilities of the land of Goshen. The Israelites were regarded with no favourable eye. They had been the friends of the foreign rulers of the land; and, consequently, both the people and the native princes declared against them, and resolved to drive them from the territory they occupied.[1] This was effected in the reign of Amenoph II., after they had remained in Egypt 430 years.[2] [1] Exodus, i. 8, 9. [2] Exodus, xii. 40. At the time of the exodus, therefore, it is evident that no canal could have existed in the valley of Goshen. The population of Israelites and Nomads, however, which dwelt on the confines of the irrigable land, must have been very great; as the Hebrews alone exceeded 600,000 souls, and they were accompanied by "a mixed multitude," which is the phrase used
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