gypt further southwards, I brought back
offerings, and the praise of me reached the skies. His Majesty set out
and overthrew his enemies in the vile land of Kash. I returned,
following him as an alert official. There was no loss among my soldiers.
[And again] I sailed to the South to fetch gold ore for the Majesty of
the King of the South, the King of the North, Kheperkara (Usertsen I),
the ever living. I sailed to the south with the Erpa and Duke, the
eldest son of the king, of his body Ameni.[1] I sailed to the south with
a company of four hundred chosen men from my troops; they returned in
safety, none of them having been lost. I brought back the gold which I
was expected to bring, and I was praised for it in the house of the
king; the prince [Ameni] praised God for me. [And again] I sailed to the
south to bring back gold ore to the town of Qebti (Coptos) with the
Erpa, the Duke, the governor of the town, and the chief officer of the
Government, Usertsen, life, strength, health [be to him!]. I sailed to
the south with a company of six hundred men, every one being a mighty
man of war of the Nome of Mehetch. I returned in peace, with all my
soldiers in good health (or safe), having performed everything which I
had been commanded to do. I was a man who was of a conciliatory
disposition, one whose love [for his fellows] was abundant, and I was a
governor who loved his town. I passed [many] years as governor of the
Mehetch Nome. All the works (_i.e._ the forced labour) due to the palace
were performed under my direction. The overseers of the chiefs of the
districts of the herdsmen of the Nome of Mehetch gave me three thousand
bulls, together with their gear for ploughing, and I was praised because
of it in the king's house every year of making [count] of the cattle. I
took over all the products of their works to the king's house, and there
were no liabilities against me in any house of the king. I worked the
Nome of Mehetch to its farthest limit, travelling frequently [through
it]. No peasant's daughter did I harm, no widow did I wrong, no field
labourer did I oppress, no herdsman did I repulse. I did not seize the
men of any master of five field labourers for the forced labour
(corvee). There was no man in abject want during the period of my rule,
and there was no man hungry in my time. When years of hunger came, I
rose up and had ploughed all the fields of the Nome of Mehetch, as far
as it extended to the south and to the