tians had no deteriorating effect on them, as had been the case
with the Shardana, and they preserved nearly all their national
characteristics. If here and there some of them became assimilated with
the natives, there was always a constant influx of new comers, full
of energy and vigour, who kept the race from becoming enfeebled. The
attractions of high pay and the prospect of a free-and-easy life drew
them to the service of the feudal lords. The Pharaoh entrusted their
chiefs with confidential offices about his person, and placed the
royal princes at their head. The position at length attained by these
Mashauasha was analogous to that of the Oossasans at Babylon, and,
indeed, was merely the usual sequel of permitting a foreign militia
to surround an Oriental monarch; they became the masters of their
sovereigns. Some of their generals went so far as to attempt to use the
soldiery to overturn the native dynasty, and place themselves upon the
throne; others sought to make and unmake kings to suit their own taste.
The earlier Tanite sovereigns had hoped to strengthen their authority
by trusting entirely to the fidelity and gratitude of their guard; the
later kings became mere puppets in the hands of mercenaries. At length
a Libyan family arose who, while leaving the externals of power in
the hands of the native sovereigns, reserved to themselves the actual
administration, and reduced the kings to the condition of luxurious
dependence enjoyed by the elder branch of the Ramessides under the rule
of the high priests of Amon.

There was at Bubastis, towards the middle or end of the XXth dynasty,
a Tihonu named Buiuwa-buiuwa. He was undoubtedly a soldier of fortune,
without either office or rank, but his descendants prospered and rose to
important positions among the Mashadasha chiefs: the fourth among these,
Sheshonq by name, married Mihtinuoskhit, a princess of the royal line.
His son, Namaroti, managed to combine with his function of chief of
the Mashauasha several religious offices, and his grandson, also called
Sheshonq, had a still more brilliant career. We learn from the monuments
of the latter that, even before he had ascended the throne, he was
recognised as king and prince of princes, and had conferred on him the
command of all the Libyan troops. Officially he was the chief person in
the state after the sovereign, and had the privilege of holding personal
intercourse with the gods, Amonra included--a right which belon