goat of the Sinai desert; one of the group is playing on a lyre of antique form. The children are carried in panniers, and women walk by their side; asses laden with baggage bring up the rear. [Illustration: Vincent Brooks-Day & Son, Lith. ASIATIC IMMIGRANTS.] This occurred in the sixth year of Usertesen II., and it was a scene that was very likely often-times repeated. Families of foreigners came to settle in Egypt, attracted by its luxuriant plenty, and gradually developed into colonies. In the Delta more especially, foreigners settled in great numbers. There were colonists bent on peaceful industry, but there were others of a more restless and warlike type. It is possible that some may have been established there since the dark and troubled days that followed the sixth dynasty, when foreign tribes very probably held possession of part at least of the Delta for a time. Egypt had often maintained a severe conflict on her southern frontier, where the boundary line was now marked by grim fortresses; but if trouble should ever overwhelm the land the storm would assuredly gather in the north-east. Fortresses had been erected there also, and Amenemhat’s wall of defence was still standing, but there was no absolute line of demarcation. The north-east of Egypt was inhabited by many settlers, aliens, who were allied more or less closely in blood to restless and warlike peoples beyond the frontier. Their presence was but of ill omen to the land of their adoption. FOOTNOTES: [24] Egypt is the name given to the country by the Greeks, and is of very uncertain derivation. [25] Pharaoh is derived from the words _Per-aa_, ‘Great House,’ and answers pretty nearly to the ‘Sublime Porte’ at Constantinople. Later on it is used as the sovereign’s name. [26] This god, symbolised in the moon, was more especially the god of knowledge and science. He was the inventor of all arts, and the inspirer of the sacred writings, the lawgiver, and the advocate and justifier of the good before the tribunal of Osiris. CHAPTER VII. Invasion and Rule of the Hyksos—War of Liberation. (_Circa_ 2100-1600 B.C.)