king up his residence
at Elephantine, was borne up the Nile in a fleet of large vessels.* It
probably went as far south as the northern point of the second cataract,
and not having encountered any Ethiopian force,** it retraced its course
and came to anchor at Abu-Simbel.

* The chief graffito at Abu-Simbel says, in fact, that the
king came to Elephantine, and that only the troops
accompanying the General Psammetichus, the son of Theocles,
went beyond Kerkis. It was probably during his stay at
Elephantine, while awaiting the return of the expedition,
that Psammetichus II. had the inscriptions containing his
cartouches engraved upon the rocks of Bigga, Abaton, Philo,
and Konosso, or among the ruins of Elephantine and of
Phila?.

** The Greek inscription says _above Kerlcis_. Wiedemann has
corrected _Kerkis_ into _Kortis_, the Korte of the first
cataract, but the reading Kerkis is too well established for
there to be any reason for change. The simplest explanation
is to acknowledge that the inscription refers to a place
situated a few miles above Abu-Simbel, towards Wady-Halfa.

The officers in command, after having admired the rock-cut chapel of
Ramses II., left in it a memento of their visit in a fine inscription
cut on the right leg of one of the colossi. This inscription informs us
that "King Psammatikhos having come to Elephantine, the people who were
with Psammatikhos, son of Theocles, wrote this. They ascended above
Kerkis, to where the river ceases; Potasimto commanded the foreigners,
Amasis the Egyptians. At the same time also wrote Arkhon, son of
Amoibikhos, and Peleqos, son of Ulamos." Following the example of their
officers, the soldiers also wrote their names here and there, each in
his own language--Ionians, Rhodians, Carians, Phoenicians, and perhaps
even Jews; e.g. Elesibios of Teos, Pabis of Colophon, Telephos of
Ialysos, Abdsakon son of Petiehve, Gerhekal son of Hallum. The whole of
this part of the country, brought to ruin in the gradual dismemberment
of Greater Egypt, could not have differed much from the Nubia of to-day;
there were the same narrow strips of cultivation along the river banks,
gigantic temples half buried by their own ruins, scattered towns
and villages, and everywhere the yellow sand creeping insensibly down
towards the Nile. The northern part of this province remained in the
hands of the Saite Pharaohs, and