to actual conflict with the enemy while the
rear-guard would only be entering the defiles in the neighbourhood
of Aluna. The second route bore a little to the east, crossing the
mountains beyond Dutina and reaching the plain near Taanach; but it
offered the same disadvantages as the other. The third road ran north
of _Zafiti_, to meet the great highway which cuts the hill-district of
Nablus, skirting the foot of Tabor near Jenin, a little to the north of
Megiddo. It was not so direct as the other two, but it was easier for
troops, and the king's generals advised that it should be followed. The
king was so incensed that he was tempted to attribute their prudence to
cowardice. "By my life! by the love that Ra hath for me, by the favour
that I enjoy from my master Amon, by the perpetual youth of my nostril
in life and power, My Majesty will go by the way of Aluna, and let him
that will go by the roads of which ye have spoken, and let him that will
follow My Majesty. What will be said among the vile enemies detested of
Ra: 'Doth not His Majesty go by another way? For fear of us he gives
us a wide berth,' they will cry." The king's counsellors did not insist
further. "May thy father Amon of Thebes protect thee!" they exclaimed;
"as for us, we will follow Thy Majesty whithersoever thou goest, as it
befitteth a servant to follow his master." The word of command was given
to the men; Thutmosis himself led the vanguard, and the whole army,
horsemen and foot-soldiers, followed in single file, wending their way
through the thickets which covered the southern slopes of Mount Carmel.*

* The position of the towns mentioned and of the three roads
has been discussed by E. de Rouge, also by P. de Saulcy, who
fixed the position of Yahmu at El-Kheimeh, and showed that
the Egyptian army must have passed through the defiles of
Umm el-Rahm. Conder disagreed with this opinion in certain
respects, and identified Aluna, Aruna, at first with
Arrabeh, and afterwards with Arraneh; he thought that
Thutmosis came out upon Megiddo from the south-east, and he
placed Megiddo at Mejeddah, near Beisan, while Tomkins
placed Aruna in the Wady el-Arrian. W. Max Millier seems to
place Yahinu too much to the north, in the neighbourhood of
Jett.

They pitched their camp on the evening of the 19th near Aluna, and on
the morning of the 20th they entered the wild defiles through which it
was necessary