greatly enlarged the temple
of Ammon, begun by Amenemhat I., and continued under his son, the first
Usurtasen, by adding to it the cloistered court in front of the central
cell--a court two hundred and forty feet long by sixty-two broad,
surrounded by a colonnade, of which the supports were Osirid pillars, or
square piers with a statue of Osiris in front. This is the first known
example of the cloistered court, which became afterwards so common;
though it is possible that constructions of a similar character may have
been made by the "Shepherd Kings" at Tanis, Thothmes also adorned this
temple with obelisks. In front of the main entrance to his court he
erected two vast monoliths of granite, each of them seventy-five feet in
height, and bearing dedicatory inscriptions, which indicated his piety
and his devotion to all the chief deities of Egypt.

Further, at Memphis he built a new royal palace, which he called "The
Abode of Aa-khepr-ka-ra," a grand building, afterwards converted into a
magazine for the storage of grain.

The greatness of Thothmes I. has scarcely been sufficiently recognized
by historians. It may be true that he did not effect much; but he broke
ground in a new direction; he set an example which led on to grand
results. To him it was due that Egypt ceased to be the isolated,
unaggressive power that she had remained for perhaps ten centuries, that
she came boldly to the front and aspired to bring Asia into subjection.
Henceforth she exercised a potent influence beyond her borders--an
influence which affected, more or less, all the western Asiatic powers.
She had forced her way into the comity of the great nations. Henceforth
whether it was for good or for evil, she had to take her place among
them, to reckon with them, as they reckoned with her, to be a factor in
the problem which the ages had to work out--What should be the general
march of events, and what states and nations should most affect the
destiny of the world.

XI.

QUEEN HATASU AND HER MERCHANT FLEET.

Hasheps, or Hatasu, was the daughter of the great warrior king, Thothmes
the First, and, according to some, was, during his later years,
associated with him in the government. An inscription is quoted in which
he assigns to her her throne-name of Ra-ma-ka, and calls her "Queen of
the South and of the North," But it was not till after the death of her
father that she came prominently forward, and assumed a position not
pr