. But whatever may be the origin
of the ancestors of the Egyptians, they were scarcely settled upon the
banks of the Nile before the country conquered, and assimilated them to
itself, as it has never ceased to do in the case of strangers who have
occupied it. At the time when their history begins for us, all the
inhabitants had long formed but one people, with but one language.

This language seems to be connected with the Semitic tongues by many
of its roots. It forms its personal pronouns, whether isolated or
suffixed, in a similar way. One of the tenses of the conjugation, and
that the simplest and most archaic, is formed with identical affixes.
Without insisting upon resemblances which are open to doubt, it may be
almost affirmed that most of the grammatical processes used in Semitic
languages are to be found in a rudimentary condition in Egyptian. One
would say that the language of the people of Egypt and the languages of
the Semitic races, having once belonged to the same group, had separated
very early, at a time when the vocabulary and the grammatical system
of the group had not as yet taken definite shape. Subject to different
influences, the two families would treat in diverse fashion the elements
common to both. The Semitic dialects continued to develop for centuries,
while the Egyptian language, although earlier cultivated, stopped short
in its growth. "If it is obvious that there was an original connexion
between the language of Egypt and that of Asia, this connexion is
nevertheless sufficiently remote to leave to the Egyptian race a
distinct physiognomy." We recognize it in sculptured and painted
portraits, as well as in thousands of mummied bodies out of subterranean
tombs. The highest type of Egyptian was tall and slender, with a proud
and imperious air in the carriage of his head and in his whole bearing.
He had wide and full shoulders, well-marked and vigorous pectoral
muscles, muscular arms, a long, fine hand, slightly developed hips, and
sinewy legs. The detail of the knee-joint and the muscles of the calf
are strongly marked beneath the skin; the long, thin, and low-arched
feet are flattened out at the extremities owing to the custom of going
barefoot. The head is rather short, the face oval, the forehead somewhat
retreating. The eyes are wide and fully opened, the cheekbones not too
marked, the nose fairly prominent, and either straight or aquiline. The
mouth is long, the lips full, and lightly ridg