ng the soil or sowing grain, but delighted in the marshy expanses
of the Delta, where they gave themselves up to a semi-savage life
of hunting and of tending cattle. The nobles among them, clothed and
schooled after the Egyptian fashion, and holding fiefs, or positions at
court, differed but little from the native feudal chiefs. We see here a
case of what generally happens when a horde of barbarians settles down
in a highly organised country which by a stroke of fortune they may have
conquered; as soon as the Hyksos had taken complete possession of Egypt,
Egypt in her turn took possession of them, and those who survived the
enervating effect of her civilization were all but transformed into
Egyptians.

If, in the time of the native Pharaohs, Asiatic tribes had been drawn
towards Egypt, where they were treated as subjects or almost as slaves,
the attraction which she possessed for them must have increased in
intensity under the shepherds. They would now find the country in the
hands of men of the same races as themselves--Egyptianised, it is true,
but not to such an extent as to have completely lost their own language
and the knowledge of their own extraction. Such immigrants were the more
readily welcomed, since there lurked a feeling among the Hyksos that it
was necessary to strengthen themselves against the slumbering hostility
of the indigenous population. The royal palace must have more than once
opened its gates to Asiatic counsellors and favourites. Canaanites and
Bedouin must often have been enlisted for the camp at Avaris. Invasions,
famines, civil wars, all seem to have conspired to drive into Egypt not
only isolated individuals, but whole families and tribes. That of the
Beni-Israel, or Israelites, who entered the country about this time, has
since acquired a unique position in the world's history. They belonged
to that family of Semitic extraction which we know by the monuments
and tradition to have been scattered in ancient times along the western
shores of the Persian Gulf and on the banks of the Euphrates. Those
situated nearest to Chaldaea and to the sea probably led a settled
existence; they cultivated the soil, they employed themselves in
commerce and industries, their vessels--from Dilmun, from Magan, and
from Milukhkha--coasted from one place to another, and made their way to
the cities of Sumer and Accad. They had been civilized from very early
times, and some of their towns were situated on islands,