* The existence of the wall, or of the line of military posts, is of very ancient date, for the name Kim-Oirit is already followed by the hieroglyph of the wall, or by that of a fortified enclosure in the texts of the Pyramids.

[Illustration:  156.jpg A BARBARIAN MONITI FROM SINAI]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Petrie.  The original is of the time of Nectanebo, and is at Karnak; I have chosen it for reproduction in preference to the heads of the time of the Ancient Empire, which are more injured, and of which this is only the traditional copy.

Snofrui restored or constructed several castles in this district, which perpetuated his name for a long time after his death.  These had the square or rectangular form of the towers, whose ruins are still to be seen on the banks of the Nile.  Standing night and day upon the battlements, the sentinels kept a strict look-out over the desert, ready to give alarm at the slightest suspicious movement.

[Illustration:  157.jpg TWO REFUGE TOWERS OF THE HIRU-SHAITU, IN THE WADY BIAR]

     Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the vignette by E. H. Palmer,
     The Desert of the Exodus, p. 317.

The expression Kim-Oirit, “the very black,” is applied to the northern part of the Red Sea, in contradistinction to Uaz-Oirit, Uazit-Oirit, “the very green,” the Mediterranean; a town, probably built at a short distance from the village of Maghfar, had taken its name from the gulf on which it was situated, and was also called Kim- Oirit.

The marauders took advantage of any inequality in the ground to approach unperceived, and they were often successful in getting through the lines; they scattered themselves over the country, surprised a village or two, bore off such women and children as they could lay their hands on, took possession of herds of animals, and, without carrying their depredations further, hastened to regain their solitudes before information of their exploits could have reached the garrison.  If their expeditions became numerous, the general of the Eastern Marches, or the Pharaoh himself, at the head of a small army, started on a campaign of reprisals against them.  The marauders did not wait to be attacked, but betook themselves to refuges constructed by them beforehand at certain points in their territory.  They erected here and there, on the crest of some steep hill, or at the confluence of several wadys, stone towers put together without mortar, and rounded at the top like so many beehives, in unequal groups of three, ten, or thirty; here they massed themselves as well as they could, and defended the position with the greatest obstinacy, in the hope that their assailants, from the lack of water and provisions, would soon be forced to retreat.*