Brugsch, Heinrich: Egypt under the pharaohs: a history derived entirely from the monuments (London, 1891)

300 THE LETTER OF PANBESA OH. xin.

lentils ; melons with a taste like honey grow in the irrigated fields.
Its barns are full of wheat and durra, and reach as high as heaven.
Onions and sesame are in the enclosures, and the apple-tree
blooms (?) The vine, the alinond-tree, and the fig-tree grow in the
gardens. Sweet is their wine for the inhabitants of Kamit. They
mix it with honey. The red fish is in the lotus-canal, the Borian-
fish in the ponds, many kinds of Bori-fish, besides carp and pike,
in the canal of Pa-Harotha; fat fish and Khipti-pennu fish are in
the pools of the inundation, the Hauaz-fish in the full mouth of the
Nile, near the ' city of the conqueror' (Tanis). The city-canal
Pshenhor produces salt, the lake-region of Pahir natron. Their sea-
ships enter the harbour ; plenty and abundance is perpetual in it.
He rejoices who has settled there. My information is no jest.
The common people, as well as the higher classes, say, ' Come hither !
let us celebrate to him his heavenly and his earthly feasts.' The
inhabitants of the reedy lake (Thufi) arrived with lilies, those of
Pshenhor with papyrus flowers. Pruits from the nurseries, flowers
from the gardens, birds from the ponds, were dedicated to him.
Those who dwell near the sea came with fish, and the inhabitants
of their lakes honoured him. The youths of the ' Conqueror's city '
were perpetually clad in festive attire. Fine oil was on their
heads of fresh curled hair. They stood at their doors, their hands
laden with branches and flowers from Pa-Hathor, and with garlands
from Pahir, on the day of the entry of Bang Ra-messu Meri-Amen,
the god of war Mentu upon earth, in the early morning of the
monthly feast of Kihith (that is, on the 1st of Khoiak). All people
were assembled, neighbour with neighbour, to bring forward their
complaints.

Delicious was the wine for the inhabitants of the ' Conqueror's
city.' Their cider was like . . . . , their sherbets were like
almonds mixed with honey. There was beer from Kati (Galilee)
in the harbour, wine in the gardens, fine oil at the lake Sagabi,
garlands in the apple-orchards. The sweet song of women re-
sounded to the tunes of Memphis. So they sat there with joyful
heart, or walked about without ceasing. King Ra-messu Meri-Amen,
he was the god they celebrated.

In spite of the unexplained names of the fishes and
plants the scribe could hardly have given a clearer or
livelier account of the impression made upon him by
the new city of Eamses in its festal attire on the day of
Pharaoh's entry. It is the very same place which is
spoken of in the Old Testament as one of the two places