jpg REPRESENTATION OF SETI I. VANQUISHING THE LIBYANS
AND ASIATICS ON THE WALLS, KARNAK]

Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Ernil Brugsch-Bey.

Seti, however, does not appear to have had a confirmed taste for war.
He showed energy when occasion required it, and he knew how to lead his
soldiers, as the expedition of his first year amply proved; but when the
necessity was over, he remained on the defensive, and made no further
attempt at conquest. By his own choice he was "the jackal who prowls
about the country to protect it," rather than "the wizard lion marauding
abroad by hidden paths,"* and Egypt enjoyed a profound peace in
consequence of his ceaseless vigilance.

* These phrases are taken direct from the inscriptions of
Seti I.

A peaceful policy of this kind did not, of course, produce the amount
of spoil and the endless relays of captives which had enabled his
predecessors to raise temples and live in great luxury without
overburdening their subjects with taxes. Seti was, therefore, the more
anxious to do all in his power to develop the internal wealth of the
country. The mining colonies of the Sinaitic Peninsula had never ceased
working since operations had been resumed there under Hatshopsitu and
Thutmosis III., but the output had lessened during the troubles under
the heretic kings. Seti sent inspectors thither, and endeavoured to
stimulate the workmen to their former activity, but apparently with no
great success. We are not able to ascertain if he continued the revival
of trade with Puanit inaugurated by Harmhabi; but at any rate he
concentrated his attention on the regions bordering the Red Sea and the
gold-mines which they contained. Those of Btbai, which had been worked
as early as the XIIth dynasty, did not yield as much as they had done
formerly; not that they were exhausted, but owing to the lack of water
in their neighbourhood and along the routes leading to them, they were
nearly deserted. It was well known that they contained great wealth,
but operations could not be carried on, as the workmen were in danger
of dying of thirst. Seti despatched engineers to the spot to explore the
surrounding wadys, to clear the ancient cisterns or cut others, and
to establish victualling stations at regular intervals for the use of
merchants supplying the gangs of miners with commodities. These stations
generally consisted of square or rectangular enclosures, built of
stones without mortar, an