dred asses laden
with incense, ebony, _heknu_, grain, panther skins, ivory, ...
boomerangs, and valuable products of every kind. When the Chief of
Arthet, Setu, and Uauat saw the strength and great number of the
warriors of Amam who had come back with me to the Palace, and the
soldiers who had been sent with me, this chief brought out and gave to
me bulls, and sheep, and goats. And he guided me on the roads of the
plains of Arthet, because I was more perfect, and more watchful (or
alert) than any other _smer_ or governor of a caravan who had ever been
despatched to Amam. And when the servant (_i.e._ Herkhuf) was sailing
down the river to the capital (or Court) the king made the duke, the
_smer uat,_ the overseer of the bath, Khuna (or Una) sail up the river
with boats loaded with date wine, _mesuq_ cakes, bread-cakes, and
beer."[1]

[Footnote 1: Herkhuf's titles are here repeated.]

Herkhuf made a fourth journey into the Sudan, and when he came back he
reported his successes to the new king, Pepi II, and told him that among
other remarkable things he had brought back from Amam a dancing dwarf,
or pygmy. The king then wrote a letter to Herkhuf and asked him to send
the dwarf to him in Memphis. The text of this letter Herkhuf had cut on
the front of his tomb, and it reads thus: Royal seal. The fifteenth day
of the third month of the Season Akhet (Sept.-Oct.) of the second year.
Royal despatch to the _smer uat_, the Kher-heb priest, the governor of
the caravan, Herkhuf. I have understood the words of this letter which
thou hast made to the king in his chamber to make him to know that thou
hast returned in peace from Amam, together with the soldiers who were
with thee. Thou sayest in this thy letter that there have been brought
back by thee great and beautiful offerings of all kinds, which Hathor,
the Lady of Ammaau, hath given to the divine Ka of the King of the South
and North, Neferkara, the everliving, for ever. Thou sayest in this thy
letter that there hath been brought back by thee [also] a pygmy (or
dwarf) who can dance the dance of the god, from the Land of the Spirits,
like the pygmy whom the seal-bearer of the god Baurtet brought back from
Punt in the time of Assa. Thou sayest to [my] Majesty, "The like of him
hath never been brought back by any other person who hath visited Amam."
Behold, every year thou performest what thy Lord wisheth and praiseth.
Behold, thou passest thy days and thy nights meditating about