the eastern bank of the Nubian territory. Here was situated in ancient times a well-fortified place, provided with walls, trenches, and towers, destined by the Pharaohs for a bulwark against the irruptions of the Nubian tribes. Inscribed blocks of stone, in the neighbourhood, mention the kings Thutmes III., Horemhib, and Ramses II. This place seems at the same time to have been the point of departure for the communication with the gold mines, in which the prisoners of war and malefactors were forced to carry on their laborious works under the burning rays of a tropical sun. Even to the time of the Greeks, the remembrance was preserved of their cruel treatment and of the dreadful condition of those condemned to the gold-washings.

We now give the words of the stone inscription itself.1

(1) In the year three, in the month Tybi, on the fourth day, in the reign of King Ramessu Miamun, the dispenser of life eternally and for ever, the friend of the Theban Amon-Ra of Api.

(2) A court was held on the throne of Hor (that is, of the king), among the living. Like his father, the everlasting Sungod, the divine benefactor, the lord of the south land, the radiant Hud-Hor, a beautiful golden sparrow-hawk, he has spread out his wings over Egypt, giving shade to the inhabitants in the protecting wall of the strong and victorious. When he goes forth thence diffusing terror, it is to (3) display his power for enlarging his boundaries. The glittering brilliancy of colour has been granted to his body by the victories of Monthu.2 He is the lord of the two

1 This inscription is translated by Dr. Birch, in the Records of the Past, vol. viii. p. 75, foll.

2 A very obscure and uncertain passage. The whole inscription is in high-flown and unwieldy language, which makes it difficult for the translator to keep hold of the threads of the description. The introduction is in a singularly bombastic style.

crowns of Hor and of Set. A shout of joy resounded in heaven on the day of his birth. The gods (spake) thus: We have begotten him; (4) the goddesses thus: He is born of us to govern the kingdom of Ra; Amon thus: I am he who formed him, to put truth in its place. The land was set in order, the heaven quieted, the company of the gods satisfied, through his piety. He is a mighty bull for the miserable land of Kush, who pushes back (5) the conspirators from the land of the negroes. His hoof crushes the An (the Kushites) and his horn gores them. He has made himself master of the land of Nubia, and his terror, it has reached the land of Kari. His name resounds in (6) all lands, because of the victories which his hands have achieved. The gold appears on the mountains at his name, as at the name of his father Hor, the lord of Baka, the well-beloved in the land of the south, as at the name of Hor in the land of Maama, the lord of Buhan (Boôn). (7) Thus is King Ramessu Miamun, the dispenser of life eternally and for ever, like his father the everlasting Sun-god.

'Then was the king in the city of Memphis to worship his fathers, the gods, and the lords of South and North Egypt, that they might grant him power and victory and a long duration of life of infinitely many (8) years. On one of these days it came to pass, that the king sat there on his great throne of gold, attired with the royal diadem, and with the ornament of the double plume, to consult about the countries from which the gold is obtained, and to consider the method and way of boring (9) wells on the roads, which are accursed for want of water, since he had heard that there was much gold existing in the land of Akita, but that the approach to it was accursed on account of the utter want of water. There were taken there some (10) gold-washers to the place where it was; but those who had gone thither had died of thirst on the road, together with the asses which were with them. They could not find what was required (11) for them to drink on their upward journey, unless it happened that the rain fell from heaven. So could no gold be obtained in this country, on account of the want of water. Then spake the king to his nobleman, who stood beside him : "Let the princes be called who are present. (12) I will take counsel with them about this land, as to what measures should be taken." As soon as they had been brought before the divine benefactor, they raised their hands to praise his name with speeches in

All the sayings of thy Thy tongue is a balance;

his honour, and to pray before his beautiful countenance. And the king described to them the condition of this land, in order to take (13) their advice upon it, with the view of boring wells on the road. And they spake before the king: "Thou art like the sun. Everything succeeds with thee. What thy heart desires, that comes to pass. When thou conceivest a wish in the night, it is accomplished as soon as the earth becomes light (again). We have hastened to thee to do what there is to do, for (14) great is the number of thy astonishing works, since thou hast appeared as king in the country. We heard nothing, we saw nothing, and yet what is there, it was done just as it is. mouth are like the words of Hormakhu. thy lips are a standard measure (15) according to the just scales of the god Thut. Where is that hidden which thou didst not know? Where is the wise man who might be like thee? There is no place found, which thou hast not seen; there is no land which thou hast not trodden. Everything excellent found an entrance into thy ears since (16) thou wast an Adon of this land. Thou didst act with wisdom when thou didst still sit in the egg. In thy time of childhood that happened which thou saidst, for the welfare of the land. When thou grewest up to boyhood with the lock of hair of youth, no memorial saw the light without thy command. (17) No business was carried out without thy knowledge. Thou wast raised to be an overseer (Rohir) of this land, when thou wast a youth and didst count ten full years. All buildings went forward under thy hand, and the laying of their foundation stones was carried out. When thou spakest to the water: Come upon the mountain, then appeared the rain (18) immediately at thy command. Thou art like the Sun-god. As the body of the Creator, so is that which he begets. Truly thou art the living likeness of Ra, the heir of thy father Tum of Heliopolis. Taste is on thy tongue, feeling is in thy heart. The place of thy tongue is the shrine of truth. The divinity sits on thy lips, and all thy words will be performed for ever. (19) What thy understanding has done is like the works of Ptah, the fashioner of the works of art. Thou art ever he whose intentions are all carried out, whose words are all fulfilled, thou our great lord and ruler! As regards the land of Akita, may a decision be made according to the counsel taken concerning it."

Then spake the king's son of the miserable land of Kush,

(20) saying thus before the king: "(The land) is in this state. It is accursed for want of water since the time of Ra. People die of thirst in it. All former kings wished to bore wells in it, but they were not successful. (21) King Seti I. also did the same. He had a well bored 120 cubits deep in his time, but they abandoned it, for no water made its appearance. If then now thou thyself wouldest speak to thy father, the Nile-god Hapi, (22) the father of the gods: 'Let the water come up on the mountain,' he will do all that thou sayest, yea, indeed, all which thou hast designed will be accomplished before us, and not only according to hearsay, because thy fathers the gods love thee more than all kings (23) which have been since the time of Ra."

'Says the king to the princes: "If all is true that ye have spoken, and water has not been opened in that country since the time of the god, as ye have said, then I will bore a well there, to afford water perpetually, yea! that the well (24) may be under the command of the father Amon-Ra, the Theban god, and of Hor, the lords of the land of Nubia, that their heart may be fixed in love. I will therefore appoint that it be called after [their name." And the princes] (25) praised their lord and entreated him, and fell prostrate before him (the king), and raised shouts of joy (26) to the heights of heaven.

"Then spake the king to a royal scribe [who was near him: "Prepare thyself and betake thyself to the] (27) road to the land of Akita. Let the second day of the month be the day on [which] thou shalt [carry out thy mission." The scribe did] (28) just as he was bidden. Behold, he assembled the people [which were skilful in boring, that they should work and form a well, which should furnish water to those who travelled] (30) the road to the land of Akita. Never was the like done since the earlier kings. [And of the water which streamed out brooks were formed, and] (31) fishermen from the islands in the neighbourhood of the lagoons of Natho enjoyed themselves, for they built [small boats and made use of the .. ] (32) as a rudder with the wind.

'Then there came the bearer of a letter from the king's son of the miserable land of Kush [about the well, to say to the king: "All has in fact been done] (33) that thy Holiness has spoken with his own mouth. There has appeared water out of it 12 cubits deep. There were 4 cubits in it . . . . . . . . the depth. . . . (34). . .. they. . . . out as was the intention of the work.

The god has inclined his heart favourably through thy love. Never has such a thing happened [since the time of the god Ra]."

(35) [And the inhabitants of] Akita made joyful music on great drums (?) Those who had diseased eyes [washed themselves with the water and were healed. They all sang: (36) "Hail] to the king! The water which is in the depth was obedient to him. He hath opened the water on the [mountain." And they offered thanks] (37) to him through the king's son, because of his mission. That was more pleasant to [the heart of the king than all else. Thus then were] (38) his plans well carried out. Beautiful was the acknowledgment which [the inhabitants of the district] uttered. [A road was made from] (39) this well to the well of Ramses Miamun, the conqueror [in the land

Already in the time of the eleventh dynasty we find clear traces of borings for water in the waste valleys of Hammamat. Twelve hundred years before the accession of king Ramses II., one of his ancestors, Sankh-ka-ra, had made four wells on the old road from Coptos to Qosseir, the remains of which can still be distinguished. Thus did the ancients anticipate the enterprises of our later generations, and execute works, the utility and importance of which are still recognised and valued by the travellers through the deserts of Africa in the present day.

From Ramses, the borer of wells, to Ramses the builder of temples and the founder of cities, is only a step. What he performed in this respect in the very commencement of his reign, the Pharaoh has himself narrated to us so explicitly, that it is almost impossible to forget it. Abydus was the first scene of his new erections, although we are incidentally informed that he had built two temple-gates in Thebes and Memphis p. 116.

See above, Vol. I.