FRONTIER STELE OF USERTSEN Til.

13. " those who had possessions [when I] appeared at their " wells, I slew their bulls, I destroyed their grain, 14. " setting tire to their houses. This I swear by my own " life and by my father ; I speak truth, there is no doubt " about the matter, and 15. "that which cometh forth from my mouth cannot be " gainsaid. Furthermore, every son of mine who keepeth " intact this boundary, 16. " which my Majesty hath made, is indeed my son, and " one begotten by my Majesty, and he is the son who " protecteth his father, 17. " and keepeth intact (literally, makes to flourish) the " boundary of him that begot him.' Besides, he who " alloweth it to be set back, and doth not do battle 18. " for it, is not my son, and behold, he hath not been " produced by me. And moreover, my Majesty hath " caused to be made [and set up] a statue 19. " of my Majesty on this boundary, not only with the " desire that ye should prosper thereby, but also that ye " should do battle for it." The stele from which the above rendering has been made is preserved in the Royal Museum in Berlin (No. 1157), where it was taken by Lepsius. In the official Verzeichnis (p. iii) it is said that the upper portion of it was inadvertently left at Semna, and that this is now in Cairo. In the last edition (1904) of his Histoire Ancienne (p. 126), Prof. Maspero says in a note to his remarks on Usertsen's decree of the eighth year of his reign, and on the stele set up in the sixteenth year, that " these inscriptions, which had been mutilated by the travellers who wished to carry them away, have passed from the Museum of Giza to that of Berlin," The stele with the duplicate text in twenty-two lines, the left-hand bottom corner of which is broken off, was, as we have already said, removed with great difficulty by Mr. J. W, Crowfoot and myself, from the top of the hill on the Island of Gazirat al-Malik to Khartum, where it now is.

1 I.e., this son is the counterpart of Horus, who protected his father Osiris.

- The stele with nineteen lines of text was first published by Lepsius, Denkmdler, Bd, ii., 136.

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