he customs. And, indeed, even
in Goshen it is as well always to travel in some sort of state. The
people there are of a different race to ourselves. Although they have
dwelt a long time in the land and conform to its customs, still they
are notoriously a stubborn and obstinate people, and there is more
trouble in getting the public works executed there than in any other
part of the country."

"I have heard of them, father. They belong to the same race as the
shepherd kings who were such bitter tyrants to Egypt. How is it that
they stayed behind when the shepherds were driven out?"

"They are of the same race, but they came not with them, and formed no
part of their conquering armies. The shepherds, who, as you know, came
from the land lying to the east of the Great Sea, had reigned here for
a long time when this people came. They were relations of the Joseph
who, as you have read in your history, was chief minister of Egypt.

"He came here as a slave, and was certainly brought from the country
whence our oppressors came. But they say that he was not of their
race, but that his forefathers had come into the land from a country
lying far to the east; but that I know not. Suffice it he gained the
confidence of the king, became his minister, and ruled wisely as far
as the king was concerned, though the people have little reason to
bless his memory. In his days was a terrible famine, and they say he
foretold its coming, and that his gods gave him warning of it. So vast
granaries were constructed and filled to overflowing, and when the
famine came and the people were starving the grain was served out, but
in return the people had to give up their land. Thus the whole tenure
of the land in the country was changed, and all became the property of
the state, the people remaining as its tenants upon the land they
formerly owned. Then it was that the state granted large tracts to the
temples, and others to the military order, so that at present all
tillers of land pay rent either to the king, the temples, or the
military order.

"Thus it is that the army can always be kept up in serviceable order,
dwelling by its tens of thousands in the cities assigned to it. Thus
it is that the royal treasury is always kept full, and the services of
the temples maintained. The step has added to the power and dignity of
the nation, and has benefited the cultivators themselves by enabling
vast works of irrigation to be carried out--works that c