The =men of Punt= wore a =pointed beard= and a =loin cloth=, which was kept in position by a kind of belt, from which hung down behind the =tail of an animal=. The beard of the Egyptian was also pointed, and gods, kings, and priestly officials on solemn, ceremonial occasions, wore tails. Thus in the Papyrus of Ani (Judgment Scene) the gods Thoth and Anubis wear tails, and the priestly official in the same scene wears the leopard’s skin, the tail of which is supposed to be hanging behind him. In two statues of Ȧmen-ḥetep III (Northern Egyptian Gallery, Nos. 412, 413), the tail is supposed to be brought forward under the body of the king, and its end is carefully sculptured on the space between his legs. The custom of wearing tails is common in Central Africa at the present day, even the women, in some places, wearing long tails of bast (Schweinfurth, _Heart of Africa_, I, p. 295); and a recent traveller reports that the Gazum people wear tails, about six inches long, for which they dig holes in the ground when they sit down (Boyd Alexander, _From the Niger_, I, p. 78). Many other points of comparison between the Egyptians and the peoples of Central Africa could be mentioned in proof of the views that the indigenous dynastic Egyptians were connected with the people of Punt, and that Punt was situated in the South-Eastern Sûdân. As to the =succession of peoples= in the Nile Valley, or rather of that portion of it which is called Egypt, many theories have been formulated in recent years. Some of the most competent authorities think that the earliest dwellers in Egypt were black folk, who were driven out or killed off by a race of people who possessed many of the characteristics of the Libyans, and who came from the west, or south-west, and took possession of Egypt. It is thought that the next invasions of the country were made by peoples who came from the east, or south-east, and, having settled down on the Nile, mingled with the inhabitants. After these it seems very probable that Egypt was invaded by tribes whose home was some part of Western Asia, probably the country now called Southern Babylonia. Some think that they entered Egypt by the Isthmus of Suez, and others that they crossed from Arabia to Africa by the straits of Bâb al-Mandib at the southern end of the Red Sea. Another view is that the invaders entered Egypt by the Wâdî Ḥammâmât, and that they arrived on the Nile at some place near the modern town of Ḳena. Little by little the invaders conquered the country, and introduced into it the arts of agriculture, brick-making, writing, working in metals, etc. Wheat, barley, and the domestic sheep seem to have been brought into Egypt about this time. The manners and customs of the new comers were very different from those of the men they conquered, and their civilization was of a much higher character than that of the primitive Egyptians; but, among the great bulk of the population, the beliefs, religion, and habits continued to