THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN the solid rock in the hill of Contra Syene, on the left bank of the Nile, opposite to the modern town of Aswan. He was a man of high rank, and was chancellor of the civil and ecclesiastical revenues of his town ; he was also a priest highly placed, and his dignity was that of a suier udt. It seems that his father Ara was a merchant, for king Mer-en-Ra sent him on a trading expedition to the country of Amam, and Ara took his son Her-khuf with him.

The journey to and from Amam occupied seven months in all, and father and son returned laden with Sudani products. The king approved highly of the result of Ara's expedition, and forthwith sent Her-khuf a second time to the south ; he went without his father, and visited the countries of Meskher, Teres, Arthet, and Sethu, the last two of which, he says, had never been visited by any official before.

Her-khuf's second journey occupied eight months, and it seems that he went further south than his father had been ; he returned laden with Sudani products as before. The king was again satisfied with the results of the mission, and he sent him to Amam a third time. On his way thither he found that the king of Amam was engaged in war against the king of the land of Themeh,' and, having made gifts to him, Her-khuf joined his forces, and marched with him to Themeh. The king of Themeh was, apparently, beaten, and it seems as if this result was brought about either by the advice or help of Her-khuf, for we next read that the king of Amam sent a company of his soldiers to Egypt with Her-khuf s caravan,' which consisted of three hundred asses, laden with incense, ebony, skins of animals, boomerangs, &c. On his way back to Memphis Her-khuf passed through the lands of Arerthet, Sethu, and Uauat, and, when the king of these regions saw that he was accompanied by an armed force, he made haste to send him a gift of oxen and goats. In due course Her-khuf reached the Nile, and as he was sailing down the river, he met his brother official Una on his way up to meet him with a number of boats, laden with wine and other luxuries, which king Mer-en-Ra had sent to him as a reward for all the toil and trouble of his travels.

It has already been said that the positions of the lands of y I 2 More correctly Kayrawan \J)j 520