99 
the court of the patriot Egyptian governor Ra-sekenen, of 
whom we have spoken. “ The inscription/' he says, “ which 
exists in the hall of sacrifice of this tomb, on the wall oppo- * 
site to the door of entrance, contains the following simple 
child-like representation of his happy existence on earth, 
owing to his great riches in point of children : f The chief at 
the table of princes. Baba, the risen again, he speaks thus : 
I loved my father, I honoured my mother ; my brother and 
my sisters loved me : I stepped out of the door of my house 
with a benevolent heart ; I stood there with refreshing hand, 
and splendid were the preparations of what I collected for the 
feast-day. Mild was (my) heart, free from noisy anger. The 
gods bestowed upon me rich fortune on earth. The city 
wished me health, and a life full of freshness. I punished 
the evildoers. The children which stood opposite to me in 
the town during the days which I have fulfilled were, small as 
well as great [I think f small' may mean grandchildren, H.G.T.], 
sixty : there were prepared for them as many beds, chairs (?) 
as many, tables (?) as many. They all consumed 120 epha of 
durra, the milk of three cows, fifty-two goats, and nine she- 
asses, of balsam a hin, and of oil two jars. My speech may 
appear a joke to some opponent, but I call as witness the god 
Month, that my speech is true. I had all this prepared in 
my house. In addition I gave cream in the pantry, and beer 
in the cellar, in a more than sufficient number of hin mea- 
sures. I collected the harvest, a friend of the harvest-god 
[ f loving the good god'*], I was watchful at the time of 
sowing, and now when a famine arose, lasting many years, I 
issued out corn to the city at each famine (or also, to each 
hungry person) .' " 
“ There ought not," continues the distinguished historian, 
“ to be the smallest doubt as to whether the words of the last 
inscription relate to an historical fact or not ; to something 
definite or something only general. Strongly as we are in- 
clined to recognise a general way of speaking in the narra- 
tive of Ameni (see p. 154), where years of famine are spoken 
of, here we are compelled, by the context of the report before 
us to understand the term, ‘ the many years of the famine 
which arose,' as relating to a definite historical time. For 
famines following one another on account of a deficiency of 
water in the overflowing of the Nile were of the greatest rarity, 
and history knows and mentions only one example of it. 
* See the note Histoire, 177, 
H 2 
