.
Occasionally they passed through scattered villages, where the women
came to their doors to look at the strangers, and where generally
offerings of milk and fruit were made to them. The men were for the
most part at work in the fields.

"They are a stout-looking race. Stronger and more bony than our own
people," Chebron remarked to the leader of the party.

"They are stubborn to deal with," he replied. "They till their ground
well, and pay their portion of the produce without grumbling, but when
any extra labor is asked of them there is sure to be trouble. It is
easier to manage a thousand Egyptian peasants than a hundred of these
Israelites, and if forced labor is required for the public service it
is always necessary to bring down the troops before we can obtain it.

"But indeed they are hardly treated fairly, and have suffered much.
They arrived in Egypt during the reign of Usertuen I., and had land
allotted to them. During the reign of the king and other successors of
his dynasty they were held in favor and multiplied greatly; but when
the Theban dynasty succeeded that of Memphis, the kings, finding this
foreign people settled here, and seeing that they were related by
origin to the shepherd tribes who at various times have threatened our
country from the east, and have even conquered portions of it and
occupied it for long periods, regarded them with hostility, and have
treated them rather as prisoners of war than as a portion of the
people. Many burdens have been laid upon them. They have had to give
far more than their fair share of labor toward the public works, the
making of bricks, and the erection of royal tombs and pyramids."

"It is strange that they do not shave their heads as do our people,"
Chebron said.

"But I do not," Amuba laughed, "nor Jethro."

"It is different with you," Chebron replied. "You do not labor and get
the dust of the soil in your hair. Besides, you do keep it cut quite
short. Still, I think you would be more comfortable if you followed
our fashion."

"It is all a matter of habit," Amuba replied. "To us, when we first
came here, the sight of all the poorer people going about with their
heads shaven was quite repulsive--and as for comfort, surely one's own
hair must be more comfortable than the great wigs that all of the
better class wear."

"They keep off the sun," Chebron said, "when one is out of doors, and
are seldom worn in the house, and then when one comes in one can w