reasury is well filled with gold, silver,
copper, apparel, incense, honey, and unguents.... Defend ye the city
till I return." Tafnekht mounted a horse and rode away to the north.

[Footnote 1: The son of Khepera, or Tem, or Nebertcher.]

At daybreak Piankhi went forth to reconnoitre, and he found that the
waters of the Nile were lapping the city walls on the north side of the
city, where the sailing craft were tied up. He also saw that the city
was extremely well fortified, and that there was no means whereby he
could effect an entrance into the city through the walls. Some of his
officers advised him to throw up a mound of earth about the city, but
this counsel was rejected angrily by Piankhi, for he had thought out a
simpler plan. He ordered all his boats and barges to be taken to the
quay of Memphis, with their bows towards the city wall; as the water
lapped the foot of the wall, the boats were able to come quite close to
it, and their bows were nearly on a level with the top of the wall. Then
Piankhi's men crowded into the boats, and, when the word of command was
given, they jumped from the bows of the boats on to the wall, entered
the houses built near it, and then poured into the city. They rushed
through the city like a waterflood, and large numbers of the natives
were slain, and large numbers taken prisoners. Next morning Piankhi set
guards over the temples to protect the property of the gods, then he
went into the great temple of Ptah and reinstated the priests, and they
purified the holy place with natron and incense, and offered up many
offerings. When the report of the capture of Memphis spread abroad,
numerous local chiefs came to Piankhi, and did homage, and gave him
tribute.

From Memphis he passed over to the east bank of the Nile to make an
offering to Temu of Heliopolis. He bathed his face in the water of the
famous "Fountain of the Sun," he offered white bulls to Ra at
Shaiqaem-Anu, and he went into the great temple of the Sun-god. The
chief priest welcomed him and blessed him; "he performed the ceremonies
of the Tuat chamber, he girded on the _seteb_ garment, he censed
himself, he was sprinkled with holy water, and he offered (?) flowers in
the chamber in which the stone, wherein the spirit of the Sun-god abode
at certain times, was preserved. He went up the step leading to the
shrine to look upon Ra, and stood there. He broke the seal, unbolted and
opened the doors of the shrine, and looked upon