hem to the place where Hatiba, the queen of the
city, was. I met her as she was going out of one of her houses into
the other. I greeted her and said unto the people who stood by her, 'Is
there not one among you who understandeth the speech of Egypt?' One
of them replied, 'I understand it.' I said unto him, 'Say unto thy
mistress: even as far as the city in which Amen dwelleth (i. e. Thebes)
have I heard the proverb, "In all cities is injustice done; only in
Alashiya is justice to be found," and now is injustice done here every
day!' She said, 'What is it that thou sayest?' I said unto her, 'Since
the sea raged and the wind drove me upon the land in which thou livest,
therefore thou wilt not allow them to seize my body and to kill me, for
verily I am an ambassador of Amen. Remember that I am one who will be
sought for always. And if these men of the Prince of Byblos whom they
seek to kill (are killed), verily if their chief finds ten men of thine,
will he not kill them also?' She summoned the men, and they were brought
before her. She said unto me, 'Lie down and sleep...'"

At this point the papyrus breaks off, and we do not know how Uenuamen
returned to Egypt with his wood. The description of his casting-away and
landing on Alashiya is quite Homeric, and gives a vivid picture of the
manners of the time. The natural impulse of the islanders is to kill
the strange castaway, and only the fear of revenge and of the wrath of a
distant foreign deity restrains them. Alashiya is probably Cyprus, which
also bore the name Yantinay from the time of Thothmes III until the
seventh century, when it is called Yatnan by the Assyrians. A king
of Alashiya corresponded with Amenhetep III in cuneiform on terms of
perfect equality, three hundred years before: "Brother," he writes,
"should the small amount of the copper which I have sent thee be
displeasing unto thy heart, it is because in my land the hand of Nergal
my lord slew all the men of my land (i.e. they died of the plague), and
there was no working of copper; and this was, my brother, not pleasing
unto thy heart. Thy messenger with my messenger swiftly will I send, and
whatsoever amount of copper thou hast asked for, O my brother, I,
even I, will send it unto thee." The mention by Herhor's envoy of
Nesibinebdad (Smendes), the King of Tanis, a powerful ruler who in
reality constantly threatened the existence of the priestly monarchy
at Thebes, as "him to whom Amen has committed the w