er intercourse, without involving original
derivation. The fundamental character of the Egyptian in respect of
physical type, language, and tone of thought, is Nigritic. The Egyptians
were not negroes, but they bore a resemblance to the negro which is
indisputable. Their type differs from the Caucasian in exactly those
respects which when exaggerated produce the negro. They were darker, had
thicker lips, lower foreheads, larger heads, more advancing jaws, a
flatter foot, and a more attenuated frame. It is quite conceivable that
the negro type was produced by a gradual degeneration from that which we
find in Egypt. It is even conceivable that the Egyptian type was
produced by gradual advance and amelioration from that of the negro.

Still, whencesoever derived, the Egyptian people, as it existed in the
flourishing times of Egyptian history, was beyond all question a mixed
race, showing diverse affinities. Whatever the people was originally, it
received into it from time to time various foreign elements, and those
in such quantities as seriously to affect its physique--Ethiopians from
the south, Libyans from the west, Semites from the north-east, where
Africa adjoined on Asia. There are two quite different types of Egyptian
form and feature, blending together in the mass of the nation, but
strongly developed, and (so to speak) accentuated in individuals. One is
that which we see in portraits of Rameses III, and in some of Rameses
II.--a moderately high forehead, a large, well-formed aquiline nose, a
well-shaped mouth with lips not over full, and a delicately rounded
chin. The other is comparatively coarse--forehead low, nose depressed
and short, lower part of the face prognathous and sensual-looking, chin
heavy, jaw large, lips thick and projecting. The two types of face are
not, however, accompanied by much difference of frame. The Egyptian is
always slight in figure, wanting in muscle, flat in foot, with limbs
that are too long, too thin, too lady-like. Something more of
muscularity appears, perhaps, in the earlier than in the later forms;
but this is perhaps attributable to a modification of the artistic
ideal.

As Egypt presents us with two types of physique, so it brings before us
two strongly different types of character. On the one hand we see, alike
in the pictured scenes, in the native literary remains, and in the
accounts which foreigners have left us of the people, a grave and
dignified race, full of serious a