Amten was no sooner ennobled, than his functions began to expand; villages were rapidly added to villages, then towns to towns, including such an important one as Buto, and finally the nomes of the Harpoon, of the Bull, of the Silurus, the western half of the Saite nome, the nome of the Haunch, and a part of the Fayum came within his jurisdiction.  The western half of the Saite nome, where he long resided, corresponded with what was called later the Libyan nome.  It reached nearly from the apex of the Delta to the sea, and was bounded on one side by the Canopic branch of the Nile, on the other by the Libyan range; a part of the desert as well as the Oases fell under its rule.  It included among its population, as did many of the provinces of Upper Egypt, regiments composed of nomad hunters, who were compelled to pay their tribute in living or dead game.  Amten was metamorphosed into Chief Huntsman, scoured the mountains with his men, and thereupon became one of the most important personages in the defence of the country.  The Pharaohs had built fortified stations, and had from time to time constructed walls at certain points where the roads entered the valley—­at Syene, at Coptos, and at the entrance to the Wady Tumilat.  Amten having been proclaimed “Primate of the Western Gate,” that is, governor of the Libyan marches, undertook to protect the frontier against the wandering Bedouin from the other side of Lake Mareotis.  His duties as Chief Huntsman had been the best preparation he could have had for this arduous task.  They had forced him to make incessant expeditions among the mountains, to explore the gorges and ravines, to be acquainted with the routes marked out by wells which the marauders were obliged to follow in their incursions, and the pathways and passes by which they could descend into the plain of the Delta; in running the game to earth, he had gained all the knowledge needful for repulsing the enemy.  Such a combination of capabilities made Amten the most important noble in this part of Egypt.  When old age at last prevented him from leading an active life, he accepted, by way of a pension, the governorship of the nome of the Haunch:  with civil authority, military command, local priestly functions, and honorary distinctions, he lacked only one thing to make him the equal of the nobles of ancient family, and that was permission to bequeath without restriction his towns and offices to his children.

His private fortune was not as great as we might be led to think.  He inherited from his father only one estate, but had acquired twelve others in the nomes of the Delta whither his successive appointments had led him—­namely, in the Saite, Xoite, and Letopolite nomes.  He received subsequently, as a reward for his services, two hundred portions of cultivated land, with numerous peasants, both male and female, and an income of one hundred loaves daily, a first charge upon the funeral provision of Queen Hapunimait.  He took advantage of this windfall