differed but little from the native feudal chiefs.  We see here a case of what generally happens when a horde of barbarians settles down in a highly organised country which by a stroke of fortune they may have conquered; as soon as the Hyksos had taken complete possession of Egypt, Egypt in her turn took possession of them, and those who survived the enervating effect of her civilization were all but transformed into Egyptians.

If, in the time of the native Pharaohs, Asiatic tribes had been drawn towards Egypt, where they were treated as subjects or almost as slaves, the attraction which she possessed for them must have increased in intensity under the shepherds.  They would now find the country in the hands of men of the same races as themselves—­Egyptianised, it is true, but not to such an extent as to have completely lost their own language and the knowledge of their own extraction.  Such immigrants were the more readily welcomed, since there lurked a feeling among the Hyksos that it was necessary to strengthen themselves against the slumbering hostility of the indigenous population.  The royal palace must have more than once opened its gates to Asiatic counsellors and favourites.  Canaanites and Bedouin must often have been enlisted for the camp at Avaris.  Invasions, famines, civil wars, all seem to have conspired to drive into Egypt not only isolated individuals, but whole families and tribes.  That of the Beni-Israel, or Israelites, who entered the country about this time, has since acquired a unique position in the world’s history.  They belonged to that family of Semitic extraction which we know by the monuments and tradition to have been scattered in ancient times along the western shores of the Persian Gulf and on the banks of the Euphrates.  Those situated nearest to Chaldaea and to the sea probably led a settled existence; they cultivated the soil, they employed themselves in commerce and industries, their vessels—­from Dilmun, from Magan, and from Milukhkha—­coasted from one place to another, and made their way to the cities of Sumer and Accad.  They had been civilized from very early times, and some of their towns were situated on islands, so as to be protected from sudden incursions.  Other tribes of the same family occupied the interior of the continent; they lived in tents, and delighted in the unsettled life of nomads.  There appeared to be in this distant corner of Arabia an inexhaustible reserve of population, which periodically overflowed its borders and spread over the world.  It was from this very region that we see the Kashdim, the true Chaldaeans, issuing ready armed for combat,—­a people whose name was subsequently used to denote several tribes settled between the lower waters of the Tigris and the Euphrates.  It was there, among the marshes on either side of these rivers, that the Aramoans established their first settlements after quitting the desert.  There also the oldest legends of the race placed the cradle of the Phoenicians;