to Ras Banat, which they called the “Head of Nekhabit,” on the Red Sea; arrived at the spot where in later times stood one of the numerous Berenices, and having quickly put together a boat from the wood of the neighbouring forest, they made voyages along the coast, as far as the Sinaitic peninsula and the Hiru-Shaitu on the north, as well as to the land of Puanit itself on the south.  The small size of these improvised vessels rendered such expeditions dangerous, while it limited their gain; they preferred, therefore, for the most part the land journey.

[Illustration:  269.jpg SMALL WADY, FIVE HOURS BEYOND ED-DOUEIG, ON THE ROAD TO THE RED SEA]

     Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Golenischeff.

It was fatiguing and interminable:  donkeys—­the only beast of burden they were acquainted with, or, at least, employed—­could make but short stages, and they spent months upon months in passing through countries which a caravan of camels would now traverse in a few weeks.*

* The History of the Peasant, in the Berlin Papyri Nos. ii. and iv., affords us a good example of the use made of pack-asses; the hero was on his way across the desert, from the “Wady Natrun” to Henasieh, with a quantity of merchandise which he intended to sell, when an unscrupulous artisan, under cover of a plausible pretext, stole his train of pack- asses and their loads.  Hirkhuf brought back with him a caravan of three hundred asses from one of his journeys; cf. p. 278 of the present work.

The roads upon which they ventured were those which, owing to the necessity for the frequent watering of the donkeys and the impossibility of carrying with them adequate supplies of water, were marked out at frequent intervals by wells and springs, and were therefore necessarily of a tortuous and devious character.  Their choice of objects for barter was determined by the smallness of their bulk and weight in comparison with their value.  The Egyptians on the one side were provided with stocks of beads, ornaments, coarse cutlery, strong perfumes, and rolls of white or coloured cloth, which, after the lapse of thirty-five centuries, are objects still coveted by the peoples of Africa.  The aborigines paid for these articles of small value, in gold, either in dust or in bars, in ostrich feathers, lions’ and leopards’ skins, elephants’ tusks, cowrie shells, billets of ebony, incense, and gum arabic.  Considerable value was attached to cynocephali and green monkeys, with which the kings or the nobles amused themselves, and which they were accustomed to fasten to the legs of their chairs on days of solemn reception; but the dwarf, the Danga, was the rare commodity which was always in demand, but hardly ever attainable.*