e earliest
times, but even as early as the IVth Dynasty was reserved for the
gods. Further, the word _Punt_ is always written without the hieroglyph
determinative of a foreign country, thus showing that the Egyptians did
not regard the Punites as foreigners. This certainly looks as if the
Punites were a portion of the great migration from Arabia, left behind
on the African shore when the rest of the wandering people pressed on
northwards to the Wadi Hammamat and the Nile. It may be that the modern
Gallas and Abyssinians are descendants of these Punites.

Now the Sky-god of Edfu is in legend a conquering hero who advances down
the Nile valley, with his _Mesniu_, or "Smiths," to overthrow the people
of the North, whom he defeats in a great battle near Dendera. This may
be a reminiscence of the first fights of the invaders with the Neolithic
inhabitants. The other form of Horus, "Horus, son of Isis," has also a
body of retainers, the _Shemsu-Heru_, or "Followers of Horns," who are
spoken of in late texts as the rulers of Egypt before the monarchy. They
evidently correspond to the dynasties of _Manes_,

[Illustration: 041greek.jpg]

or "Ghosts," of Manetho, and are probably intended for the early kings
of Hierakonpolis.

The mention of the Followers of Horus as "Smiths" is very interesting,
for it would appear to show that the Semitic conquerors were notable
as metal-users, that, in fact, their conquest was that old story in the
dawn of the world's history, the utter overthrow and subjection of the
stone-users by the metal-users, the primeval tragedy of the supersession
of flint by copper. This may be, but if the "Smiths" were the Semitic
conquerors who founded the kingdom, it would appear that the use of
copper was known in Egypt to some extent before their arrival, for we
find it in the graves of the late Neolithic Egyptians, very sparsely
from "sequence-date 30" to "45," but afterwards more commonly. It was
evidently becoming known. The supposition, however, that the "Smiths"
were the Semitic conquerors, and that they won their way by the aid of
their superior weapons of metal, may be provisionally accepted.

In favour of the view which would bring the conquerors by way of the
Wadi Hammamat, an interesting discovery may be quoted. Immediately
opposite Den-dera, where, according to the legend, the battle between
the _Mesniu_ and the aborigines took place, lies Koptos, at the mouth of
the Wadi Hammamat. Here, in 1894,