wonder, then, that he regarded his children as divine manifestations and
hesitated to bestow them in marriage.

Kadashman-Bel seems to have thoroughly appreciated this little weakness,
and no doubt the mortal gods on the Nile were a subject for mockery at the
Courts of Western Asia, even in those days. Thus, a remark of Nimmuria's
to the effect that no princess had ever been given away from Egypt is
answered with delightful dryness:

"Why so? A king art thou, and canst do according to thy will. If
thou give her, who shall say anything against it? I wrote before,
'Send, at least, a beautiful woman.' Who is there to say that she
is not a king's daughter? If thou wilt not do this, thou hast no
regard for our brotherhood and friendship."

Kadashman-Bel threatened that he in his turn would hesitate to give his
daughter in marriage, and would make similar evasive excuses. At last,
however, the negotiations came to the desired conclusion, and for a time
gifts flowed more freely on both sides.

Valuable, though in many respects puzzling, is a large tablet containing a
letter of Nimmuria to Kadashman-Bel. Possibly it may have been kept as a
copy, and in that case it must belong to the early part of the
correspondence. More probably however, the letter is an original which
came back "undelivered" to Egypt, the addressee having died in the
meantime. Kadashman-Bel had complained that his sister, who had been given
by his father in marriage to the Egyptian, had subsequently never once
been seen by any Babylonian ambassadors. Certainly a woman in royal garb
had been pointed out, but not one of them had recognised her as their own
princess. "Who knows that it was not some beggar's daughter, a Gagaian, or
a maiden of Hanirabbat or Ugarit whom my messengers saw?" Then Nimmuria
took up the tale, and complained that Kadashman-Bel sent only ambassadors
who had never frequented his father's Court, and were moreover of adverse
bias. "Send a _kamiru_" (evidently a eunuch is meant) "who knows thy
sister." Further misunderstandings come under discussion, from which it is
evident that the general situation between the two princes was very much
strained.

King Tushratta of Mitani was a phenomenon in his way. In Egyptian
inscriptions his kingdom is called Naharina--_i.e._, "Mesopotamia." One of
his tablets bears the following official memorandum, written in red ink
and in hieratic:

"[Received] in the two-[and