two such towns—­Anit, on its northern boundary, and Nekhnit almost facing Nekhabit on the left bank of the river.* These three towns sometimes formed separate estates for as many independent lords:** even when united they constituted a fiefdom of but restricted area and of slender revenues, its chiefs ranking below those of the great feudal princes of Middle Egypt.  The rulers of this fiefdom led an obscure existence during the whole period of the Memphite empire, and when at length Thebes gained the ascendency, they rallied to the latter and acknowledged her suzerainty.  One of them, Sovkunakhiti, gained the favour of Sovkhotpu III.  Sakhemuaztauiri, who granted him lands which made the fortune of his house; another of them, Ai, married Khonsu, one of the daughters of Sovkumsauf I. and his Queen Nubkhas, and it is possible that the misshapen pyramid of Qulah, the most southern in Egypt proper, was built for one of these royally connected personages.

     * Nekhnit is the Hieraconpolis of Greek and Roman times,
     Hait-Bauku, the modern name of which is Kom-el-Ahmar.

** Pihiri was, therefore, prince of Nekhabit and of Anit at one and the same time, whereas the town of Nekhnit had its own special rulers, several of whom are known to us from the tombs at Kom-el-Ahmar.

The descendants of Ai attached themselves faithfully to the Pharaohs of the XVIIth dynasty, and helped them to the utmost in their struggle against the invaders.  Their capital, Nekhabit, was situated between the Nile and the Arabian chain, at the entrance to a valley which penetrates some distance into the desert, and leads to the gold-mines on the Red Sea.  The town profited considerably from the precious metals brought into it by the caravans, and also from the extraction of natron, which from prehistoric times was largely employed in embalming.  It had been a fortified place from the outset, and its walls, carefully repaired by successive ages, were still intact at the beginning of this century.  They described at this time a rough quadrilateral, the two longer sides of which measured some 1900 feet in length, the two shorter being about one-fourth less.  The southern face was constructed in a fashion common in brick buildings in Egypt, being divided into alternate panels of horizontally laid courses, and those in which the courses were concave; on the north and west facades the bricks were so laid as to present an undulating arrangement running uninterruptedly from one end to the other.  The walls are 33 feet thick, and their average height 27 feet; broad and easy steps lead to the foot-walk on the top.  The gates are unsymmetrically placed, there being one on the north, east, and west sides respectively; while the southern side is left without an opening.  These walls afforded protection to a dense but unequally distributed population, the bulk of which was housed towards the north and west sides, where the remains of an immense number of dwellings may still be seen.