inundation comes to an end almost as quickly as it began.
In a short time nothing remains of it but some shallow pools scattered
in the hollows, or here and there small streamlets which rapidly dry up.
The flood, however, accelerated by its acquired velocity, continues to
descend towards the sea. The devastated flanks of the hills, their
torn and corroded bases, the accumulated masses of shingle left by
the eddies, the long lines of rocks and sand, mark its route and bear
evidence everywhere of its power. The inhabitants, taught by experience,
avoid a sojourn in places where tempests have once occurred. It is in
vain that the sky is serene above them and the sun shines overhead; they
always fear that at the moment in which danger seems least likely to
threaten them, the torrent, taking its origin some twenty leagues off,
may be on its headlong way to surprise them. And, indeed, it comes so
suddenly and so violently that nothing in its course can escape it:
men and beasts, before there is time to fly, often even before they
are aware of its approach, are swept away and pitilessly destroyed. The
Egyptians applied to the entire country the characteristic epithet of
To-Shuit, the land of Emptiness, the land of Aridity.

[Illustration: 154.jpg MAP SINAITIC PENINSULAR, TIME OF MEMPHITE EMPIRE]

They divided it into various districts--the upper and lower Tonu, Aia,
Kaduma. They called its inhabitants Hiru-Shaitu, the lords of the Sands;
Nomiu-Shaitu, the rovers of the Sands; and they associated them with the
Amu--that is to say, with a race which we recognize as Semitic. The type
of these barbarians, indeed, reminds one of the Semitic massive
head, aquiline nose, retreating forehead, long beard, thick and not
infrequently crisp hair. They went barefoot, and the monuments represent
them as girt with a short kilt, though they also wore the _abayah_.
Their arms were those commonly used by the Egyptians--the bow, lance,
club, knife, battle-axe, and shield. They possessed great flocks of
goats or sheep, but the horse and camel were unknown to them, as well as
to their African neighbours. They lived chiefly upon the milk of their
flocks, and the fruit of the date-palm. A section of them tilled the
soil: settled around springs or wells, they managed by industrious
labour to cultivate moderately sized but fertile fields, flourishing
orchards, groups of palms, fig and olive trees, and vines. In spite of
all this their resources were i