in it. Sinuhit ceased to be an
Asiatic "barbarian," and became once more a civilized Egyptian.

The travels of Sinuhit were involuntary, but a time came when a tour in
Palestine was almost as much the fashion as it is to-day. The conquests
of Thothmes III. had made Syria an Egyptian province, and had introduced
Syrians into the Egyptian bureaucracy. Good roads were made throughout
the newly-acquired territory, furnished with post-houses where food and
lodging could be procured, and communication between Egypt and Canaan
thus became easy and frequent. The fall of the eighteenth dynasty caused
only a momentary break in the intercourse between the two countries;
with the establishment of the nineteenth dynasty it was again resumed.
Messengers passed backward and forward between Syria and the court of
the Pharaoh; Asiatics once more thronged into the valley of the Nile,
and the Egyptian civil servant and traveller followed in the wake of the
victorious armies of Seti and Ramses. _The Travels of a Mohar_ is the
result of this renewed acquaintance with the cities and roads of
Palestine.

The writer is anxious to display his knowledge of Syrian geography.
Though he had not himself ventured to brave the discomforts of foreign
travel, he wished to show that he knew as much about Canaan as those who
had actually been there. A tour there was after all not much to boast
of; it had become so common that the geography of Canaan was as well
known as that of Egypt itself, and the stay-at-home scribe had
consequently no difficulty in compiling a guide-book to it.

The following is the translation given by Dr. Brugsch of the papyrus,
with such alterations as have been necessitated by further study and
research. "I will portray for thee the likeness of a Mohar, I will let
thee know what he does. Hast thou not gone to the land of the Hittites,
and hast thou not seen the land of Aupa? Dost thou not know what Khaduma
is like; the land of Igad'i also how it is formed? The Zar (or Plain) of
king Sesetsu (Sesostris)--on which side of it lies the town of Aleppo,
and how is its ford? Hast thou not taken thy road to Kadesh (on the
Orontes) and Tubikhi? Hast thou not gone to the Shasu (Beduin) with
numerous mercenaries, and hast thou not trodden the way to the
Maghar[at] (the caves of the Magoras near Beyrout) where the heaven is
dark in the daytime? The place is planted with maple-trees, oaks, and
acacias, which reach up to heaven, full of beast