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Chapter Third

GOING ASTRAY

HE Midianites in their flight had followed a northwesterly course which would end at the Northern Walls of Egypt. These walls were erected on the solid land stretching from one lagoon to another and connecting them as one continued barrier to the incursions of the covetous Semites of the East. Egypt, which was called "Kemi" or "Kemt" in the language of the land, probably reminiscent of Cham (or Ham), the originator, through Chus, of the first race of Egyptians, was designated by outsiders as Mizraim, the "Land of the Two Walls." Hence in the written language of the country of the Nile all foreigners, but in particular the Semites, who sat on the borders of the eastern deserts which separated Egypt from the Chaldees, were also marked with a specific sign, representing a wall (

), at the end of their names or descriptions. At the time of our story the ancient Chamitic race had been conquered and was now forced back, up the river, upon Thebes and the adjacent fertile fields of the Upper Kingdom. The late invaders and conquerors, probably Hittites and other Chanaanitic tribes, associated with them, were undoubtedly of

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