nd many of the ancients, to believe that Africa
had once been an island--Egypt having been separated from Syria and
Arabia by the union of the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. Colonel Leake,
in his map of Egypt, observes, "that there is no material obstacle to a
communication by lakes and inundations from Suez to the lake Menzaleh,
and to Tineh--by which Africa would become an island." And some
observations on the formation of a canal in this valley, will be found
in the _Memoire sur la communication de la Mer des Indes a la Mediterranee
par la Mer Rouge et l'Isthme de Soueys_, in the great French work on
Egypt.[2]

[1] Meteorologica, i. 14.

[2] Chap. iii. Sec. iii. and iv. p. 60 of the _Memoire_.

The valley running from Suez to Tineh is joined, about halfway between
the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, by another valley called Seba Biar,
which meets it at right angles, stretching in latitude from the
elevated ground on the right bank of the eastern branch of the Nile.
The valley of Seba Biar was the land of Goshen.[1] When this district
is first mentioned in history, it consisted of a low level, liable to
partial inundation, and affording good pasturage, though hardly suited
to regular cultivation. For this reason, and from its vicinity to
Syria, it was given by Joseph to the children of Israel, who were a
pastoral tribe. Though Joseph was the prime minister of the country,
under a dynasty of foreign conquerors--the Hyksos or Nomad Arabs--still
the laws and usages of a dense native population placed such restraint
on the sovereign's power, that the Israelites, being a race of
shepherds, would not be mixed with the Egyptians, or put in possession
of any arable land. On this account, Joseph told his father and
brethren to say to the king--"Thy servants' trade hath been about
cattle from our youth even until now, both we and also our fathers;
that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen: for every shepherd is an
abomination unto the Egyptians."[2]

[1] On this point D'Anville, Gosselin, and Major Rennell agree.

[2] Genesis, xlvi. 34.

Yet, with this restraint on his power, Joseph succeeded in effecting
the greatest change in the condition of the Egyptians which any nation
ever submitted to in peace. As vizier of the country, he converted the
property of all the agricultural class from a freehold inheritance into
a lease from government, at a rent of one-fifth of the produce of the
land.[1] The project was doubtless adopt