Napata at the beginning of his third year, and thenceforth
the sheikhs of Kush thought twice before defying the authority of the
Pharaoh.*

* In an inscription in the temple of Amada, it is there said
that the king offered this sacrifice on his return from his
first expedition into Asia, and for this reason I have
connected the facts thus related with those known to us
through the stele of Karnak.

Amenothes'reign was a short one, lasting ten years at most, and the end
of it seems to have been darkened by the open or secret rivalries which
the question of the succession usually stirred up among the kings' sons.
The king had daughters only by his marriage with one of his full
sisters, who like himself possessed all the rights of sovereignty; those
of his sons who did not die young were the children of princesses of
inferior rank or of concubines, and it was a subject of anxiety among
these princes which of them would be chosen to inherit the crown and be
united in marriage with the king's heiresses, Khuit and Mutemuau.

[Illustration: 046.jpg THE GREAT SPHINX AND THE CHAPEL OF THUTMOSIS IV.]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the photograph taken in 1887 by
Emil Brugsch-Bey

[Illustration: 047.jpg THE SIMOOM. SPHINX AND PYRAMIDS AT GIZEH]

One of his sons, named Thutmosis, who resided at the "White Wall," was
in the habit of betaking himself frequently to the Libyan desert to
practise with the javelin, or to pursue the hunt of lions and gazelles
in his chariot. On these occasions it was his pleasure to preserve the
strictest incognito, and he was accompanied by two discreet servants
only. One day, when chance had brought him into the neighbourhood of the
Great Pyramid, he lay down for his accustomed siesta in the shade cast
by the Sphinx, the miraculous image of Khopri the most powerful, the
god to whom all men in Memphis and the neighbouring towns raised adoring
hands filled with offerings. The gigantic statue was at that time more
than half buried, and its head alone was seen above the sand. As soon
as the prince was asleep it spoke gently to him, as a father to his
son: "Behold me, gaze on me, O my son Thutmosis, for I, thy father
Harmakhis-Khopri-Tumu, grant thee sovereignty over the two countries, in
both the South and the North, and thou shalt wear both the white and the
red crown on the throne of Sibu, the sovereign, possessing the earth in
its length and breadth; the flashing e