* Cailliaud has briefly described the auriferous sand of the Qamamyl, and the way in which it is worked:  it is from him that I have borrowed the details given in the text.  From analyses which I caused to be made at the Bulaq Museum of Egyptian jewellery of the time of the XVIIIth dynasty, which had been broken and were without value, from an archeo- logical or artistic point of view, I have demonstrated the presence of the platinum and silver mentioned by Cailliaud as being found in the nuggets from the Blue Nile.

None of these expeditions produced any lasting results, and the Pharaohs established no colonies in any of these countries.  Their Egyptian subjects could not have lived there for any length of time without deteriorating by intermarriage with the natives or from the effects of the climate; they would have degenerated into a half-bred race, having all the vices and none of the good qualities of the aborigines.  The Pharaohs, therefore, continued their hostilities without further scruples, and only sought to gain as much as possible from their victories.  They cared little if nothing remained after they had passed through some district, or if the passage of their armies was marked only by ruins.  They seized upon everything which came across their path—­men, chattels, or animals—­and carried them back to Egypt; they recklessly destroyed everything for which they had no use, and made a desert of fertile districts which but yesterday had been covered with crops and studded with populous villages.  The neighbouring inhabitants, realizing their incapacity to resist regular troops, endeavoured to buy off the invaders by yielding up all they possessed in the way of slaves, flocks, wood, or precious metals.  The generals in command, however, had to reckon with the approaching low Nile, which forced them to beat a retreat; they were obliged to halt at the first appearance of it, and they turned homewards “in peace,” their only anxiety being to lose the smallest possible number of men or captured animals on their return journey.

As in earlier times, adventurous merchants penetrated into districts not reached by the troops, and prepared the way for conquest.  The princes of Elephantine still sent caravans to distant parts, and one of them, Siranpitu, who lived under Usirtasen I. and Amenemhait II., recorded his explorations on his tomb, after the fashion of his ancestors:  the king at several different times had sent him on expeditions to the Soudan, but the inscription in which he gives an account of them is so mutilated, that we cannot be sure which tribes he visited.  We learn merely that he collected from them skins, ivory, ostrich feathers—­everything, in fact, which Central Africa has furnished as articles of commerce from time immemorial.  It was not, however, by land only that Egyptian merchants travelled to seek fortune in foreign countries:  the Red Sea attracted them, and served as a quick route for reaching the land of Puanit, whose treasures in perfumes and rarities of all kinds had formed the theme of ancient traditions and navigators’ tales.  Relations with it had been infrequent, or had ceased altogether, during the wars of the Heracleo-politan period:  on their renewal it was necessary to open up afresh routes which had been forgotten for centuries.