by the corresponding Canaanite word, also in cuneiform, but
marked as a translation. Like the Egyptian kings, so the Asiatic
sovereigns had each his staff of scribes. One of the petty chiefs,
Tarkhundarash of Arsapi, was evidently so unhappy as to have none in his
Court who could read or write a letter in Babylonian, for letters to him
were written in his own tongue. The scribe of the Hittite king produced
only a species of dog Latin, while the scribe of the king of Alashia trots
out his whole vocabulary unhampered by grammar. On the other hand, the
letters of the king of Mitani are drawn up in the characters known as
Assyrian; and it is probable that the Assyrian system of cuneiform may
have originated in Mitani. If so, for the Mitani scribe there could be no
question of any special difficulty in using the acknowledged language of
diplomacy in the Ancient East.

It is evident that the Babylonian royal scribes at length showed some
consideration for their unfortunate Egyptian correspondents by writing as
a rule in phonograms which could be easily spelt out, since strange
ideograms might have brought the reader to a standstill. The sources of
the letters may be distinguished also by the colour and consistency of the
material of the tablets, which are of all shades of clay, from pale yellow
to red or dark brown. Side by side, too, with hard and legible pieces, lie
broken and crumbling fragments which have suffered sadly during the few
years that have elapsed since they were again exposed to the air.

II. THE EGYPTIAN COURT AND ADMINISTRATION.

The two Pharaohs of the Tell el Amarna Period belong to the XVIIIth
Dynasty, which about 1560 B.C. had freed the land from the yoke of certain
Asiatic invaders known as the Shasu. The new dynasty soon began to
encroach upon Asia. King Thutmosis III. (1503 to 1449 B.C.) after many
chequered campaigns conquered Syria as far as the Gulf of Iskanderun. On
the African side he extended the bounds of his kingdom to the confluence
of the Nile and the Atbara, so that the greater part of Nubia owned his
sway. The terror of his name did not die with him, but for long did good
service to his successors, the first of whom, Amenophis II., seems
moreover himself to have maintained energetically the fame of Egyptian
arms. To this influence our clay tablets bear witness by twice making
emphatic reference to the days of the powerful "Manakhbiria"--the prenomen
of King Thutmosis III. With