wild beasts and of robbers lurking in every valley, while
transporting beyond the isthmus products of Egyptian manufacture, such
as fine linens, chased or _cloisonne_ jewellery, glazed pottery, and
glass paste or metal amulets. Adventurous spirits who found life dull
on the banks of the Nile, men who had committed crimes, or who believed
themselves suspected by their lords on political grounds, conspirators,
deserters, and exiles were well received by the Asiatic tribes, and
sometimes gained the favour of the sheikhs. In the time of the XIIth
dynasty, Southern Syria, the country of the "Lords of the Sands," and
the kingdom of Kaduma were full of Egyptians whose eventful careers
supplied the scribes and storytellers with the themes of many romances.

Sinuhit, the hero of one of these stories, was a son of Amenemhait I.,
and had the misfortune involuntarily to overhear a state secret. He
happened to be near the royal tent when news of his father's sudden
death was brought to Usirtasen. Fearing summary execution, he fled
across the Delta north of Memphis, avoided the frontier-posts, and
struck into the desert. "I pursued my way by night; at dawn I had
reached Puteni, and set out for the lake of Kimoiri. Then thirst fell
upon me, and the death-rattle was in my throat, my throat cleaved
together, and I said, 'It is the taste of death!' when suddenly I lifted
up my heart and gathered my strength together: I heard the lowing of the
herds. I perceived some Asiatics; their chief, who had been in Egypt,
knew me; he gave me water, and caused milk to be boiled for me, and
I went with him and joined his tribe." But still Sinuhit did not feel
himself in safety, and fled into Kaduma, to a prince who had provided an
asylum for other Egyptian exiles, and where he "could hear men speak the
language of Egypt." Here he soon gained honours and fortune. "The chief
preferred me before his children, giving me his eldest daughter in
marriage, and he granted me that I should choose for myself the best of
his land near the frontier of a neighbouring country. It is an excellent
land, Aia is its name. Figs are there and grapes; wine is more plentiful
than water; honey abounds in it; numerous are its olives and all the
produce of its trees; there are corn and flour without end, and cattle
of all kinds. Great, indeed, was that which was bestowed upon me when
the prince came to invest me, installing me as prince of a tribe in the
best of his land. I ha