ABSTRACT
The Hamitic as applied is derived from the tenth chapter of Genesis, which embodies a very ancient and valuable record of ethnological tradition. This has been very generally misunderstood, through the supposed necessity of making it account for all the races in the world. The sons of Ham are said to have been Gush, Mizraim, Phut and Canaan, which really means that the nations known by those names at the time when this document was written, were believed to be descended from a common ancestor. Fuller knowledge of these languages has solved several difficulties, e.g., as to the proper position of Hausa and Masai. The Fulbe, or Fulani of West Africa, of whom we shall have more to say in the next chapter, are also nomadic herdsmen. They are Hamitic by race and language, but their language stands, in a sense, by itself.
