, which in those days would have the purchasing value
of about L600 in our money, and 3100 grammes of silver, equal to about
L2200.[1]

[Footnote 1: See Weigall: Catalogue of Weights and Balances in
the Cairo Museum, p. xvi.]

[Illustration: PL. XII. A reed box for holding clothing, discovered in
the tomb of Yuaa and Tuau.
--CAIRO MUSEUM.]

[_Photo by E. Brugsch Pasha._

Wenamon must have slept little that night, and early on the following
morning he hastened to the palace of King Bedel to lay his case before
him. Fortunately Bedel did not ask him for his credentials, but with the
utmost politeness he gave his consideration to the affair. Wenamon's
words, however, were by no means polite, and one finds in them a
blustering assurance which suggests that he considered himself a
personage of extreme consequence, and regarded a King of Dor as nothing
in comparison with an envoy of Amon-Ra.

"I have been robbed in your harbour," he cried, so he tells us in the
report, "and, since you are the king of this land, you must be regarded
as a party to the crime. You must search for my money. The money belongs
to Nesubanebded, and it belongs to Herhor, my lord" (no mention,
observe, of the wretched Rameses XII.), "and to the other nobles of
Egypt. It belongs also to Weret, and to Mekmel, and to Zakar-Baal the
Prince of Byblos."[2] These latter were the persons to whom it was to be
paid.

[Footnote 2: The translation is based on that of Prof. Breasted.]

The King of Dor listened to this outburst with Sicilian politeness, and
replied in the following very correct terms: "With all due respect to
your honour and excellency," he said, "I know nothing of this complaint
which you have lodged with me. If the thief belonged to my land and went
on board your ship in order to steal your money, I would advance you the
sum from my treasury while they were finding the culprit. But the thief
who robbed you belonged to your ship. Tarry, however, a few days here
with me and I will seek him."

Wenamon, therefore, strode back to the vessel, and there remained,
fuming and fretting, for nine long days. The skipper Mengebet, however,
had no reason to remain at Dor, and seems to have told Wenamon that he
could wait no longer. On the tenth day, therefore, Wenamon retraced his
steps to the palace, and addressed himself once more to Bedel. "Look,"
he