[Illustration:  362.jpg THE ROUTES LEADING FROM THE NILE TO THE RED SEA, BETWEEN KOPTOS AND KOSSEIR.]

Traffic was confined almost entirely to two or three out of the many,—­one which ran from Elephantine or from Nekhabit to the “Head of Nekhabit,” the Berenice of the Greeks; others which started from Thebes or Koptos, and struck the coast at the same place or at Sau, the present Kosseir.  The latter, which was the shortest as well as the favourite route, passed through Wady Hammamat, from whence the Pharaohs drew the blocks of granite for their sarcophagi.  The officers who were sent to quarry the stone often took advantage of the opportunity to visit the coast, and to penetrate as far as the Spice Regions.  As early as the year VIII. of Sonkheri, the predecessor of Amenemhait I., the “sole friend” Hunu had been sent by this road, “in order to take the command of a squadron to Puanit, and to collect a tribute of fresh incense from the princes of the desert.”  He got together three thousand men, distributed to each one a goatskin bottle, a crook for carrying it, and ten loaves, and set out from Koptos with this little army.  No water was met with on the way:  Hunu bored several wells and cisterns in the rock, one at a halting-place called Bait, two in the district of Adahait, and finally one in the valleys of Adabehait.  Having reached the seaboard, he quickly constructed a great barge, freighted it with merchandise for barter, as well as with provisions, oxen, cows, and goats, and set sail for a cruise along the coast:  it is not known how far he went, but he came back with a large cargo of all the products of the “Divine Land,” especially of incense.  On his return, he struck off into the Uagai valley, and thence reached that of Rohanu, where he chose out splendid blocks of stone for a temple which the king was building:  “Never had ‘Royal Cousin’ sent on an expedition done as much since the time of the god Ra!” Numbers of royal officers and adventurers followed in his footsteps, but no record of them has been preserved for us.  Two or three names only have escaped oblivion—­that of Khnumhotpu, who in the first year of Usirtasen I. erected a stele in the Wady Gasus in the very heart of the “Divine Land;” and that of Khentkhitioiru, who in the XXVIIIth year of Amenemhait II. entered the haven of Sau after a fortunate cruise to Puanit, without having lost a vessel or even a single man.  Navigation is difficult in the Red Sea.  The coast as a rule is precipitous, bristling with reefs and islets, and almost entirely without strand or haven.  No river or stream runs into it; it is bordered by no fertile or wooded tract, but by high cliffs, half disintegrated by the burning sun, or by steep mountains, which appear sometimes a dull red, sometimes a dingy grey colour, according to the material—­granite or sandstone—­which predominates in their composition.  The few tribes who inhabit this desolate region maintain a miserable existence by fishing and hunting:  they were considered,