6

in Arabic, father of the dome-palm,' Kedin-kal, Kodokol, Kuru-kol, Ko-n-keli, lions'-mount,' Mara-kol, 'durra-mount.' The well-known Mount Bar-kal certainly owes its name to an older form Berna-kal, 'Mount of Meroë,' unless we should give the preference to Buru-kol, 'virgins'-mount.'1 The southernmost of all the Kols is the Arash-kol in Kordofan, on the west bank of the White Nile.

6

6

The word ato, or, strengthened with the article, ato-ki, signifies the son ;' whence, for example, Kashgi-n-ato-gi, 'the-son-of-the-horse,' that is, the foal.' The Barabra are very fond of personal names taken from animals conspicuous for their appearance or strength. Timsach, crocodile,' and Nimr, panther,' are to this day current among that people as names of honour. It seems to have been just the same in ancient times; for the greater number of the Ethiopian royal names can be completely explained by help of the existing language of the Barabra. Thus Shab-k (Sabaco) answers to the present Sab-ki, the male cat,' a designation which is the more striking, as, at the epoch of king Sabaco, not a few persons among the Egyptians, including even kings, called themselves Pi-ma or Pi-mai, the male cat.' King Shabata-k, the son of Sabaco, is in the Barabra language Sab-ato-ki, 'the male cat's son,' just as a Barabran word Kash-ato, 'horse's-son,' lies at the base of the name Kash-ta.

Like the Jungfrau; but this was named in honour of the Blessed Virgin.-ED.

2 But the inverse order of the English would correspond to the Ethiopic, thus: horse-the-of-son-the.'-ED.

In like manner the Græco-Ethiopic proper name Ammonat is explained as Amon-ato, ' Amon's-son,' and finally the Cushite name of Nimrod (so familiar to us) is equivalent to Nimr-ato, 'panther's-son.'

I regret that space does not allow me to follow out here the further conclusions, which I have deduced from a comparison of the little known language of the Barabra with the Ethiopian proper names. But at all events I was anxious not to omit calling the reader's attention to the almost unknown treasures of a language, the importance of which for historical investigation should by no means be undervalued. I add only the concluding remark, that within the Barabra language there are preserved no small number of oldEgyptian, nay even of Greek words, which attest an early connection and a long intercourse with the Egyptian people. Thus ur, uru, means 'king' (Egypt. ur), whence uru-n-arti king's island'; nabi, 'gold' (Eg. nub); kafa, 'arm' (Eg. kabu); ashiran, bean' (Eg. arushana); uel, 'dog' (Eg. uher, uhel); hada (Eg. hoite), hyena'; minne (Eg. mini, minnu), 'dove'; al (Eg. ial), 'mirror'; siwuit (Eg. sifet), 'sword'; nibit (Eg. nibiti) mat'; kirage (Grk. kyriaké), 'Sunday'; korgos (Grk. krokios), 'yellow '; and many others.

The name of Psamethik also belonged to the Ethiopic language. I will elsewhere give the full proof that its signification was 'son of the Sun,' With him, in fact, a new sunlight breaks forth for Egypt, even though it were only that of the evening sun, illuminating with its brightness the setting of the great monarchy on the Nile.

CHAPTER XIX.

FROM THE TWENTY-SIXTH TO THE THIRTY-FIRST

DYNASTY.

SUCCESSION OF THE KINGS, WITH THE DATES OF THEIR

We are standing beside the open grave of the Egyptian kingdom. The array of kings, whose names are enrolled in these last dynasties-some of them native and some foreigners-appear as the bearers of the old decaying corpse, whose last light of life flickered up once more in the Dynasty of Saïs, only to go out soon and for ever. The monuments become more and more silent, from generation to generation, and from reign to reign. The ancient seats of splendour, Memphis and Thebes, have fallen into ruin, or at all events are depopulated and deserted. Only the strong bulwark of the white citadel' of Memphis serves as a refuge for the persecuted native kings and their warriors in their times of need. The Persian

satraps dwell in the old royal halls of the city. The whole people has grown feeble with age, disordered to the marrow, and exhausted by the lengthened struggle of the petty kings and the satraps of the mighty power of Assyria.

The Persians, who after a short interval took up the part played by the Assyrians, gave Egypt her final deathblow. Although by his sage and well-calculated measures, the distinguished king Psamethik I. succeeded in gaining the throne, as sole sovereign, for himself and his descendants; and though the monuments, from the extant ruins of Saïs to the weatherworn rocks of Elephantine, show the scattered traces of the rule of the Pharaohs of the twenty-sixth dynasty; nevertheless the old splendour was gone-no Ptah, no Hormakhu, no Amon, any longer attests his help, or his thanks to the lord of the land for his great deeds.

The city of Sai (Saïs), in whose temples the great Mother of the Gods, Neit, was invoked and hallowed, standing near the sea, easily accessible for the Greek and Persian foreigners,' formed the last revered divine sanctuary under the Pharaohs, and the new capital of the kingdom, whence the kings issued their edicts to the land.

When Alexander the Great entered Egypt as a conqueror and deliverer, Saïs in its turn became deserted and forlorn. The new capital of Alexandria -which is called the fortress of the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Alexander, on the shore of the great sea of the Ionians; it was before called Ra-kot