Together these invaders had formed a new race which called
itself ``Remi'' or ``the Men'' just as we sometimes call America
``God's own country.'' They had good reason to be grateful
to a Fate which had carried them to this narrow strip of land.
In the summer of each year the Nile turned the valley into a
shallow lake and when the waters receded all the grainfields
and the pastures were covered with several inches of the most
fertile clay.
In Egypt a kindly river did the work of a million men and
made it possible to feed the teeming population of the first
large cities of which we have any record. It is true that all
the arable land was not in the valley. But a complicated
system of small canals and well-sweeps carried water from
the river-level to the top of the highest banks and an even
more intricate system of irrigation trenches spread it throughout
the land.
While man of the prehistoric age had been obliged to spend
sixteen hours out of every twenty-four gathering food for himself
and the members of his tribe, the Egyptian peasant or the
inhabitant of the Egyptian city found himself possessed of a
certain leisure. He used this spare time to make himself many
things that were merely ornamental and not in the least bit
useful.
More than that. One day he discovered that his brain was
capable of thinking all kinds of thoughts which had nothing
to do with the problems of eating and sleeping and finding a
home for the children.
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