ce must,
therefore, have been in or near the plains. It may be the Nezib of the
Bible (Josh. xv. 43), now _Beit Nusib_, eight miles northwest of Hebron,
close to Keilah. The chariots could easily reach this vicinity from the
plain, by the broad flat highway of the Valley of Elah.

55 B. M.--With the usual salutation, _Ben Addu_, captain of the King's
horse, says: "Now they watch the land of the King my Lord exceedingly. And
who am I--a dog.... He will hear the messages of the King my Lord and of
the _Ka-pa_ (for _Paka?_) of the King my Lord. To (_Sagusi Khasi?_) ...
thus (says) _Ben Addu_: I bow at thy feet. All is failing. So now those
who are our friends are fleeing to the King; will not he despatch ... the
road.... Now they guard the road: it is cleared for thee."

56 B. M.--The usual salutation from _Ben Addu_, of the city of _Pitazza_;
continues: "Now they guard the city, and land of the King my Lord, the Sun
from heaven: all that the King has said they watch--the allies. And the
decree of the message of the King my Lord _Bel Anapa_ (Baal Anubis) the
_Paka_ of the King my Lord has uttered. The King my Lord is mighty as the
Sun in heaven. Whom I but a dog, and shall such a one not mind the message
of the King my Lord the Sun from heaven?"

153 B.--From the same _Ben Addu_, of _Pitazza_, with the usual salutation,
and to the same effect as the preceding, but too broken to read.

The only site which seems to be suggested by Pitazza is the important ruin
of _Futeis_, southeast of Gaza. It is near the road to Egypt and in the
plains. The letters probably refer to arrangements for the flight of the
kings of Jerusalem and Gezer, or of their wives.

77 B. M.--A short broken letter by _Satiya_, who was apparently chief of
the city (or chief town) of _Eni-Saam_(_si_), which is perhaps En-Shemesh,
close to Zorah, in the Valley of Sorek, now _'Ain Shems_. It is the
Ir-Shemesh of the Bible (Josh. xix. 41), otherwise Beth-Shemesh (Josh. xv.
10). Here, again, we find an Egyptian station in an open valley, on one of
the main roads to Jerusalem.

133 B.--"To the King my Lord by letter thus (says) the chief of _Kanu_ thy
servant: at the feet of the King my Lord seven times and seven times I
bow. Thou thyself hast sent to me, to muster to meet the Egyptian soldiers
(_bitati_); and now I with my soldiers and with my chariots (am) in sight
of the soldiers of the King my Lord, as far as the place you will march
to."

This town ca