HAUSSALAND AND THE NILE VALLEY 221 that of Egypt, that it may be conjectured with the greatest confidence that the arts, sciences, and religion descended from Nubia to the lower country of Misraim ; that civilisation descended the Nile, built Memphis, and finally, something later, wrested by colonisation the Delta from the sea."

The monuments, though eloquent, are not the only grounds upon which this conclusion has been reached.

The fame of the Ethiopians was widespread in ancient history. Herodotus describes them as '* the tallest, the most beautiful and long-lived of the human race," and before Herodotus, Homer, in even more flattering language, described them as '* the most just of men ; the favourites of the gods." The annals of all the great early nations of Asia Minor are full of them. The Mosaic records allude to them frequently ; but while they are described as the most powerful, the most just, and the most beautiful of the human race, they are constantly spoken of as black, and there seems to be no other conclusion to be drawn, than that at that remote period of history the leading race of the Western world was a black race. When we reflect that this black race flourished within the very latitudes of Africa which European nations are now engaged in opening to modern civilisation, a great interest is added to the study of their possible descendants.

The people of Ethiopia colonised to the north and west. Amongst their colonies to the north, one of the most important was Thebes. Thebes and Meroe together founded the colony of Ammonium in the western desert, and through Thebes the religion of Meroe was carried into Lower Egypt. It was at a much later period, about 1500 B.C., that Egypt returned upon Meroe and conquered it.

In the ancient world, as in ours, commerce and religion were constantly associated. The routes of pilgrimage were also the routes of trade, and with the Heeren, " Historical Researches : African Nations."