their dominion over any of those countries
which had been the objects of the cupidity of their forefathers, while
the peoples of Kharu and Phoenicia, thrown back on their own resources,
had not ventured to take up arms against the Pharaoh. The yoke lay
lightly upon them, and in no way hampered their internal liberty; they
governed as they liked, they exchanged one prince or chief for another,
they waged petty wars as of old, without, as a rule, exposing themselves
to interference from the Egyptian troops occupying the country, or from
the "royal messengers." These vassal provinces had probably ceased to
pay tribute, or had done so irregularly, during the years of anarchy
following the death of Siphtah, but they had taken no concerted action,
nor attempted any revolt, so that when Ramses III. ascended the throne
he was spared the trouble of reconquering them. He had merely to claim
allegiance to have it at once rendered him--an allegiance which included
the populations in the neighbourhood of Qodshu and on the banks of the
Nahr el-Kelb. The empire, which had threatened to fall to pieces amid
the civil wars, and which would indeed have succumbed had they continued
a few years longer, again revived now that an energetic prince had been
found to resume the direction of affairs, and to weld together those
elements which had been on the point of disintegration.

One state alone appeared to regret the revival of the Imperial power;
this was the kingdom of Libya. It had continued to increase in size
since the days of Minephtah, and its population had been swelled by the
annexation of several strange tribes inhabiting the vast area of the
Sahara. One of these, the Mashauasha, acquired the ascendency among
these desert races owing to their numbers and valour, and together with
the other tribes--the Sabati, the Kaiakasha, the Shaiu, the Hasa, the
Bikana, and the Qahaka*--formed a confederacy, which now threatened
Egypt on the west. This federation was conducted by Didi, Mashaknu,
and Maraiu, all children of that Maraiu who had led the first Libyan
invasion, and also by Zamaru and Zautmaru, two princes of less important
tribes.** Their combined forces had attacked Egypt for the second time
during the years of anarchy, and had gained possession one after another
of all the towns in the west of the Delta, from the neighbourhood of
Memphis to the town of Qarbina: the Canopic branch of the Nile now
formed the limit of their dominion, an