ect, to excuse from
tribute, to receive presents and hostages, and even princesses destined
for the harem of the Pharaoh, and also to grant the support of troops
to such as could give adequate reason for seeking it.* Their tasks were
always of a delicate and not infrequently of a perilous nature, and
constantly exposed them to the danger of being robbed by highwaymen or
maltreated by some insubordinate vassal, at times even running the risk
of mutilation or assassination by the way.**

* The Tel el-Amarna correspondence shows the messengers in
the time of Amenothes III. and IV. as receiving tribute, as
bringing an army to the succour of a chief in difficulties,
as threatening with the anger of the Pharaoh the princes oL
doubtful loyalty, as giving to a faithful vassal compliments
and honours from his suzerain, as charged with the
conveyance of a gift of slaves, or of escorting a princess
to the harem of the Pharaoh.

** A letter of Ribaddu, in the time of Amenothes III.,
represents a royal messenger as blockaded in By bios by the
rebels.

They were obliged to brave the dangers of the forests of Lebanon and of
the Taurus, the solitudes of Mesopotamia, the marshes of Chaldoa, the
voyages to Puanit and Asia Minor. Some took their way towards Assyria
and Babylon, while others embarked at Tyre or Sidon for the islands of
the AEgean Archipelago.* The endurance of all these officers, whether
governors or messengers, their courage, their tact, the ready wit they
were obliged to summon to help them out of the difficulties into which
their calling frequently brought them, all tended to enlist the public
sympathy in their favour.**

* We hear from the tablets of several messengers to Babylon,
and the Mitanni, Rasi, Mani, Khamassi. The royal messenger
Thutii, who governed the countries of the north, speaks of
having satisfied the heart of the king in "the isles which
are in the midst of the sea." This was not, as some think, a
case of hyperbole, for the messengers could embark on
Phoenician vessels; they had a less distance to cover in
order to reach the AEgean than the royal messenger of Queen
Hatshopsitu had before arriving at the country of the
Somalis and the "Ladders of Incense."

** The hero of the _Anastasi Papyrus_, No. 1, with whom
Chabas made us acquainted in his _Voyage d'un Egyptien_, is
probab