ect of the royal household (or _harim_), I kept
accounts of everything which His Majesty desired, and I gave them unto
him, and I made satisfactory all their statements. Because of the
greatness of my knowledge nothing ever escaped me.

I made a _mekha_ boat for my town, and a _sehi_ boat, so that I might
attend in the train of my Lord, and I was one of the number of the great
ones on every occasion when travel or journeying had to be performed,
and I was held in great esteem, and entreated most honourably. I
provided my own equipment from the possessions which His Majesty, the
Horus Uahankh, the King of the South, the King of the North, the son of
the Sun, Antef, who liveth like Ra for ever, gave unto me because of the
greatness of his love for me, until he departed in peace to his horizon
(_i.e._ the tomb). And when his son, that is to say, the Horus
Nekhtneb-Tepnefer, the King of the South, the King of the North, the son
of Ra, Antef, the producer of beneficent acts, who liveth for ever like
Ra, entered his house, I followed him as his body-companion into all his
beautiful places that rejoiced [his] heart, and because of the greatness
of my knowledge there was never anything wanting (?). He committed to me
and gave into my hand every duty that had been mine in the time of his
father, and I performed it effectively under His Majesty; no matter
connected with any duty escaped me. I lived the [remainder] of my days
on the earth near the King, and was the chief of his body-companions. I
was great and strong under His Majesty, and I performed everything which
he decreed. I was one who was pleasing to his Lord all day and every
day.

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AAHMES (AMASIS),
THE NAVAL OFFICER

This inscription is cut in hieroglyphs on the walls of the tomb of
Aahmes at Al-Kab in Upper Egypt; this distinguished marine flourished in
the reigns of the first kings of the eighteenth dynasty, about 1600 B.C.
The text reads:

The captain of the transport men, Aahmes, the son of Abana, the
truth-speaker, saith: O all men, I will declare unto you, and will
inform you concerning the favours that were conferred upon me. Seven
times was I given gold in the sight of the whole land, and likewise
slaves, both male and female, and grants of land for estates to be held
by me in perpetuity were also made to me. Thus the name of a man bold
and brave in his deeds shall not be extinguished in this