This inscription is cut in hieroglyphs upon a slab of stone, which was originally in the tomb of Herkhuf at Aswan, and is now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and upon parts of the walls of his tomb.  Herkhuf was a Duke, a smer uat, a Kher-heb priest, a judge belonging to Nekhen, the Lord of Nekheb, a bearer of the royal seal, the shekh of the caravans, and an administrator of very high rank in the South.  All these titles, and the following lines, together with prayers for offerings, are cut above the door of his tomb.  He says: 

“I came this day from my town.  I descended from my nome.  I builded a house and set up doors.  I dug a lake and I planted sycamore trees.  The King praised me.  My father made a will in my favour.  I am perfect.... [I am a person] who is beloved by his father, praised by his mother, whom all his brethren loved.  I gave bread to the hungry man, raiment to the naked, and him who had no boat I ferried over the river.  O ye living men and women who are on the earth, who shall pass by this tomb in sailing down or up the river, and who shall say, ’A thousand bread-cakes and a thousand vessels of beer to the lord of this tomb,’ I will offer them for you in Khert Nefer (the Other World).  I am a perfect spirit, equipped [with spells], and a Kher-heb priest whose mouth hath knowledge.  If any young man shall come into this tomb as if it were his own property I will seize him like a goose, and the Great God shall pass judgment on him for it.  I was a man who spoke what was good, and repeated what was loved.  I never uttered any evil word concerning servants to a man of power, for I wished that I might stand well with the Great God.  I never gave a decision in a dispute between brothers which had the effect of robbing a son of the property of his father.”

Herkhuf, the Duke, the smer uat, the chamberlain, the Judge belonging to Nekhen, the Lord of Nekheb, bearer of the royal seal, the smer uat, the Kher-heb priest, the governor of the caravans, the member of council for the affairs of the South, the beloved of his Lord, Herkhuf,[1] who bringeth the things of every desert to his Lord, who bringeth the offering of royal apparel, governor of the countries of the South, who setteth the fear of Horus in the lands, who doeth what his lord applaudeth, the vassal of Ptah-seker, saith: 

[Footnote 1:  Some titles are here repeated.]

“His Majesty Merenra, my Lord, sent me with my father Ara, the smer uat and Kher-heb priest, to the land of Amam to open up a road into this country.  I performed the journey in seven months.  I brought back gifts of all kinds from that place, making beautiful the region (?); there was very great praise to me for it.  His Majesty sent me a second time by myself.  I started on the road of Abu (Elephantine), I came back from Arthet, Mekher, Terres, Artheth, in a period of eight months.  I came back and I brought very large quantities of offerings from this