"The Sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Phut and Canaan, and the sons of Cush: Sela, Havilah, Sabtah, Raama, Sebtecha, and Cush begat Nimrod." The sons of Cush as here seen were six in number, and if born in the order here given, the youngest, Nimrod, was he who first arose to that eminence of national greatness as a Monarch, which till this day has made his name famous among the greatest princes.
From all that can be gathered by research, Cush took up his line of march (his father, Ham, among his followers) southwesterly, settling a colony in Asia, contiguous to Egypt on the territory terminating at the Isthmus of Suez, known as "the land of Midian," How long he remained there cannot be ascertained, but he with his father Ham, is known to have entered through the Isthmus into Africa, Ham settling permanently on the Delta or territory formed by the mouths of the river Nile; while Cush pushed inwardly up the Nile, farther into Africa.
From what we are able to glean from history, it is very probable that his next brother, as Prince of Midian, when Cush and Ham left; Mizraim in time either being sent for by his father, or from the growing importance of the little kingdom, left Midian under his next brother Phut, the third son of Ham, as Prince of Midian, when he joined his father Ham in Egypt, as co-ruler of the people.
That the rule of Cush extended from the Nilotic borders of Egypt quite in toward the interior of the country, the whole of which was called Ethiopia, is indisputable,; and it is a fact which learned men will not dispute, that in the early settlement of those countries, Egypt and Ethiopia were united Kingdoms, under joint rule of three Princes, father and two sons.
Says a great work published in London in 1705: "Pliny relates that Ethiopia was anciently divided into forty five kingdoms," Again says the same author: "According to Diodorus Sicullus, the laws of Ethiopia agreed in substance with those of Egypt." Again, "Jupiter Ammon according to the Greek and Latin authors, seems to have been the principal object of religious worship in Ethiopia;" and in a foot note he continues: "Diodorus Sicullus tells us that the Ethiopians valued themselves upon their being the first nation that had a religious establishment. They believed that for this reason," adds he, "their sacrifices were more acceptable to the gods than those offered by any other people, which notion," continues Diodorus, "Homer himself seems to countenance, when he introduces Jupiter attended by the other gods, as present at an anniversary sacrifice, or grand entertainment prepared for him by the Ethiopians."
We have, we think sufficiently shown the proximity of Ethiopia and Egypt in customs, to justify the belief in their once unity of national interests. Ham, the head, first prince and ruler in Egypt, in the course of time dies of old age, leaving the rule to Mizraim, when the old King, Ham, is at once deified and worshipped as a god, under the name of Jupiter Ammon, and symbolic representation of a ram, having the head of a ram upon the body of a man; or the head of a man with the great horns of a ram, as he was represented both ways. He is also consecrated with the royal dynastic title of Rameses I.
Mizraim in turn when passing away, was also worshipped as a god, symbolized as an oxen, a bull, taking the royal title of Ramses II. The reign of this prince in succession to his father is said to have been magnificent in the extreme, and conjointly with his brother Cush, a matchless prince in the adjoining kingdom, Ethiopia, it is believed was commenced as an international policy, these invaluable intellectual blessings to the human race, of propagating these science of letters. That hieroglyphics were, till this period, the only method of communicating by written signs, there is no doubt. These two great princes acted in concert for the mutual benefit of both countries, in the erection of the Pyramids, a style of architectural monuments with which they were familiar, having themselves taken part in the construction of the Tower of Babel, the Catacombs, the enlargement and architectural improvement of their common countries and principal cities, as Meroe in Ethiopia, and Thebes in Egypt, pushed forward with an energy and determination unsurpassed, if equalled in the history of man.
The three principal Pyramids, no doubt, were originally erected for and dedicated to these great princes, father and two sons; Jupiter Ammon or Rameses I. Sesostris or Rameses II.; and when he also in time had been "gathered to his father's" Cush was deified and worshipped under the symbol of a dog, with the divine complimentary title of Osiris, because he was the great leader of the family to Africa; he was also consecrated with the royal dynastic title of Rameses III. and this is thought to have been the time when Ethiopia and Egypt were united under the rule of one prince.
It was doubtless his kingdom which extended from the Nile to the Niger, and thus gave rise to the idea of calling the two rivers one, or the Niger the wife of the Nile representing them as the great serpent guarding the Garden of the Hesperides.
"According to Diodorus Siculus, the laws of Ethiopia agree in substance with those of Egypt. This," continues the same author, "the Ethiopians accounted for by asserting that Egypt was first peopled by a colony drawn from their country. In order to evince this point, for a considerable period, entirely covered with water, and afterwards raised gradually, so as to become inhabited by fresh accessions of mud the Nile brought every year out of Ethiopia.
This is likewise confirmed by Herodotus, who affirms Egypt to be the gift of the Nile, and that the whole region, except the territory of Thebes, in the time of Meus was one continued morass." Thus says the great historian, from whom we have frequently quoted, and this goes far toward establishing on the belief of the first colonial settlement in Africa being on the upper regions of the Nile by Cush with his father Ham, in consequence of the daily inundation of the Delta of Lower Egypt by the tide, until the alluvial deposits from the waters of the river, elevated that low flat land, encouraging the people from Ethiopia or Upper Egypt, to go down to cultivate rice, which required embankments, making the territory habitable like that of Holland, by dikes, when the old head, Ham, surrounded by his colony, commenced the establishment of the government.
And the culture of rice as a bread stuff of that newly settled region, would have been a great incentive to the rapid growth and fame of that country, on account of which may have been the main cause of Mizraim leaving Midian, if not, indeed, being sent for by the old Prince, his father, who found the demands of a rapidly growing national too great for the capacity of his fast declining energy.
"As the Ethiopians agreed with the Egyptians in most of the laws, their splendid funerals, the deification of their princes, the several colleges of priests, circumcision, and in fine, most of their sacred and civil institutions, it is highly probable that the same arts, science and learning, as well as religion prevailed among both nations. Nay, this seems to be expressly asserted by Diodorus Siculus, when he informs us, that not only the same kind of statues, but likewise the same hieroglyphic figures and characters were used in Egypt and Ethiopia, since it is generally allowed that those were the repositories of Egyptians wisdom and literature. Ibid
Continues the same author in a footnote: "Diodorus relates, that the Egyptians learned the custom of deifying their kings from the Ethiopians; nay, according to him, the Egyptians derived statuary, and even their letters themselves from the same source. This author also observes, that the Egyptian and Ethiopian priests, as well as kings, wore caps, wreathed around with serpents, called asps, by which was intimated that every person guilty of treason would certainly suffer death as if he had been but by that poisonous animal."
The progress of Cush into the interior toward the Niger, was comparatively easy, because having no opposing foe or people to resist, but simply an unsettled country before him, he was, undoubtedly, the pioneer in the peopling and settlements of communities in Africa, and all Soudan and Nigratia now teem with the millions of his descendants.
Our subject is the "Origin of Races and Color," and our present theme the "Progress of the African Race;" hence, we shall closely confine ourselves to what pertains to the original settlers, Ham and his sons, without regard to their successors, who centuries after, succeeded them in the persons of the descendants of Shem and Japheth, to usurp their places and imitate their greatness.
