eys
at night through a world of darkness; and both were identical with Tum,
the Sun-god of the evening. The gods who watched over the great cities
of Egypt, some of which had been the capitals of principalities, were
identified with the Sun-god in these his various forms. Thus Ptah of
Memphis became one with Osiris; so also did Ra, the Sun-god of
Heliopolis, while in those later days when Thebes rose to sovereign
power its local god Amon was united with Ra.

Along with this higher and spiritual religion went--at least in
historical times--a worship of sacred animals. The anomaly can be
explained only by that mixture of races of which archaeology has assured
us. Beast-worship must have been the religion of the pre-historic
inhabitants of Egypt, and just as Brahmanism has thrown its protection
over the superstitions of the aboriginal tribes of India and identified
the idols of the populace with its own gods, so too in ancient Egypt a
fusion of race must have brought about a fusion of ideas. The sacred
animals of the older cult were associated with the deities of the
new-comers; in the eyes of the upper classes they were but symbols; the
lower classes continued to see in them what their fathers had seen, the
gods themselves. While the Pharaonic Egyptian adored Horus, the older
race knew of Horus only as a hawk. If we may trust Manetho, the Egyptian
historian, it was not till the beginning of the Second historical
dynasty that the sacred animals of popular worship were received into
the official cult.

The Pharaonic Egyptian resembled in body and character the typical
native of Central Egypt to-day. He was long-headed, with a high and
intellectual forehead, straight nose, and massive lower jaw. His limbs
were well-proportioned and muscular, his feet and hands were small. He
belonged to the white race, but his hair and eyes were black, the hair
being also straight. His artistic and intellectual faculties were highly
developed, he was singularly good-tempered and light-hearted, averse to
cruelty, though subject at times to fits of fanatical excitement and
ferocity. At once obstinate and industrious, he never failed to carry
out what he had once taken in hand. The Nile valley was reclaimed for
the use of man, and swamp and jungle, the home of wild beasts and
venomous serpents, were turned by his labours into a fruitful paradise.

By the side of the long-headed Egyptian of the ruling classes we find in
the age of the earlier