EGYPTIAN VICEROYS IN THE SUDAN was under the rule of a governor who was responsible to the Prince of Kash.

On the death of Amen-hetep I. the desert tribes of the Sudan rebelled according to their custom, and the first result of the revolt was the suspension of the payment of tribute by them, and interference with the caravans. The news of the death of the king spread rapidly through the desert, and everywhere the nomad tribes closed in on the Egyptian forts along the Nile, and began to harass the officers of the Egyptian Government. Their attempts were seconded by the thousands of wretched natives who worked in the mines, and who, naturally, were always hoping that something would happen which would enable them to escape from their life of hard labour. When Thothmes I., the son of Amenhetep I., ascended the throne, he sent out an announcement of the fact to the governors of the provinces of Egypt, and set out in it the names and titles which he had adopted. At the end of the royal message he commands that the offerings, i.e., tribute, which are due to the "gods of the south'" at Elephantine shall be offered, together with wishes for his happiness, and that all whom it concerns shall take the oath of allegiance to him.

These things, however, the tribes of the Sudan refused to do, and Thothmes I. was therefore obliged to go to Nubia with an army to punish the natives and to make them pay their tribute.

Amasis, the son of Baba, conveyed the king to Khent-hen-nefer, i.e., to the regions south of Khartum whence came the slaves, and ebony and ivory, and fought with his usual bravery and success. The Egyptian fleet of boats met the enemy in their boats on the river, and a fierce fight took place. During the conflict some of the enemy's boats were capsized in mid-stream, and floated on to the mud banks ; Amasis the captain must have played a prominent and decisive part in the fight, for he was promoted to be " Chief of the sailors," or Admiral of the Fleet. The king attacked his enemies in person, and Amasis tells us that *' he raged at them like a lion (or panther). He hurled " his javelin, which pierced the body of his foe, who fell down " headlong before the king. The enemy suffered a great defeat, " and large numbers of them were captured alive. Then his " Majesty sailed down the river, and all the people made submission 567