In §§ 103-105, of his Second Book, Herodotus writes thus:--Sesostris "overturned both the Scythians and the Thracians; and here, in my mind, the Ægyptian army reached its furthest point. Thus far the pillars in question appear; beyond, there are none. From these parts he turned back, and when he came to the river Phasis, I am unable to say truly, which of two things occurred; whether the King himself, having separated a portion of his army, left it as a settlement in the country, or whether some of his soldiers, harassed by their wanderings, stayed behind on that river. For the Colchians are evidently Ægyptians. I say this, having observed it myself, before I heard from any one else. And, whilst I was considering it, I asked both; and the Colchians remembered the Ægyptians better than Ægyptians the Colchians. The Ægyptians said, that they thought that the Colchians were from the army of Sesostris. This is what I guessed myself, from the fact of their being both black-skinned and curly-haired. This, however, goes for nothing. Others are so also. The main reason is that the Colchians, the Ægyptians, and the Æthiopians are the only men who originally practised circumcision: since the Phœnicians and the Syrians of Palestine confess that they learned it of the Ægyptians; whilst the Syrians about the rivers Thermodon and Parthenius, and the Macrones, who are their neighbours, say that they learned it recently, from the Colchians. Come, now, I must mention another fact concerning the Colchians, wherein they resemble the Ægyptians. They and the Ægyptians are the only ones who work flax in the same way. And the whole manner of life and language are mutually alike. The flax from Colchis is called by the Greeks, _Sardonicon_: that from Ægypt, _Ægyptian_." As no external evidence will make it probable that the Georgians, _as a nation_, are of Ægyptian origin, and as, on the other hand, Herodotus speaks from personal observation, the exact truth is not easily attainable. Probably, there was an Ægyptian colony on the Black Sea. Possibly--though not probably--the Colchians were not Dioscurian aborigines, but immigrants. 2. _The Orpelian settlement from China._--In the thirteenth century, according to those who are most willing to allow a comparatively high antiquity to Armenian literature, a work was composed in Armenian, by Stephen, Archbishop of Siounia. In this, it is stated that a noble family, called _Ouhrbélêan_, or Orpelian, entered Georgia, settled on the frontiers of Orpeth, and became the founders of one of the great families of Georgia; to which family the historian himself belonged. Finally, it is added, that this family came from _Djenasdan_ or _China_. This is probably a mere tradition; one which, even if true, would denote an immigration wholly unconnected with the real ante-historical relations between Caucasus and the Seriform area.