Travels Of An Egyptian In The Fourteenth Century BC

The “Travels of an Egyptian” has first been translated into English by M.
C. W. Goodwin (“Cambridge Essays,” 1858, p. 267-269), from a hieratic
papyrus in the British Museum, published in fac-simile by the trustees
(Fo. 1842, pl. 35-61). In 1866, M. F. Chabas, availing himself of the
collaboration of M. Goodwin, published a full translation of the same in
French (“_Voyage d’un Egyptien en Syrie, en Phenicie_,” etc., 4to, 1866),
including a copy of the hieratic text with a double transcription into
hieroglyphic and Coptic types, and a perpetual commentary. Objections were
made by M. H. Brugsch (“_Revue Critique_,” Paris, 1868, _Août et
Septembre)._ But M. Chabas strongly vindicated his views in an additional
work, “_Voyage d’un Egyptien—Réponse à la Critique_,” Châlons, 1868, 4to,
since which the matter seems to be settled among Egyptologists. The debate
was, however, unimportant in regard to geographical information, as it
bore merely on the point to ascertain whether the narrative refers to an
actual journey really effected by the Egyptian officer named a Mohar, or a
model narrative of a supposed voyage drawn from a previous relation of a
similar trip extant at the time.

TRAVELS OF AN EGYPTIAN

_Section 1_

18.3 Thy letter which is full of _lacunæ_ is loaded with pretentious
expressions: such is the retribution of those who wish to understand it;
it is a charge

18.4 which thou hast charged at thy will. “I am a scribe, a Mohar,” hast
thou repeated: let us respect thy word and set off.

18.5 Thou hast put horses to the chariots; thy horses are as swift as
jackals: their eyes flash; they are like a hurricane bursting; thou takest

18.6 the reins, seizest the bow: we contemplate the deeds of thy hand. I
send thee back the Mohar’s portrait: and make thee know

18.7 his actions. Didst thou not then go to the country of the Kheta? Hast
thou not seen the land of Aup? Knowest thou not Khatuma, Ikatai

18.8 likewise? how is it? The Tsor of Sesortris, the city of Khaleb on its
vicinity?—

19.1 How goes it with its ford? Hast thou not made an expedition to Qodesh
and Tubakkhi? Hast thou not gone to the Shasous?

19.2 with the auxiliary body? Hast thou not trampled the road of Pamakar
the sky(459) was dark on the day when

19.3 there flourished the cypresses, the oaks and cedars, which reached up
to heaven: there are many lions, wolves, and hyenas

19.4 which the Shasous track on all sides. Didst thou not ascend the
mountain of Shaoua? Hast thou not travelled, thy arms

19.5 placed on the back of thy car separated from its harness by the
horses drawing it?

19.6 Oh! come to ... barta. Thou hastenest to get there: thou crossest

19.7 its ford. Thou seest a Mohar’s trials. Thy car

19.8 is placed in thy hand: thy strength fails. Thou arrivest at the
night: all thy limbs

19.9 are knocked up: thy bones are broken, thou fallest asleep from excess
of somnolence: thou wakest up—

20.1 ’Tis the hour when sad night begins: thou art absolutely alone. Comes
there not a thief to rob the

20.2 things left aside: he enters the stable: the horses are agitated: the
thief goes back in the night

20.3 carrying away thy clothes. Thy servant awakes in the night; he
perceives the thief’s actions: he takes away the rest,

20.4 he goes among the bad ones; and joins the tribes of the Shasous: and
transforms himself to an Asiatic.

20.5 The enemy comes to plunder, he finds only the wreck: Thou wakest,
dost thou not find them

20.6 in their flight? They take thy baggage. Thou becomest an active and
quick-eared Mohar?

_Section 2_

20.7 I also describe to thee the holy city, whose name is Kapaon (Gabal).
How is it? Of their goddess (we will speak) another time. Therein

20.8 hast thou not penetrated? Come then to Berytus, to Sidon, to Sarepta.
The ford

21.1 of Nazana, where is it? Aoutou, how is it? They are neighbors of
another city on the sea. Tyre the

21.2 port is its name: water is carried to it in barks, it is richer in
fish than in sands.

_Section 3_

21.3 I will speak to thee also of two other small chapters. The entrance
of Djaraou, and the order thou hast given to set this city in flames. A
Mohar’s office is a very painful one.

21.4 Come, set off to return to Pakaïkna. Where is the road of Aksaph?

21.5 In the environs of the city; come then to the mountain of Ousor: its
top,

21.6 how is it? Where is the mountain of Ikama? Who can master it? What
way has the Mohar

21.7 gone to Hazor? How about its ford? let me go to Hamath,

21.8 to Takar, to Takar-Aar, the all-assembling place of the Mohars; come

22.1 then, on the road that leads there. Make me to see Jah. How has one
got to Matamim?

22.2 Do not repel us by thy teachings; make us to know them.

_Section 4_

22.3 I will speak to thee of the towns other than the preceding ones.
Wentest thou not to the land of Takhis, to Cofer-Marlon, to Tamena,

22.4 to Qodesh, to Dapour, to Adjai, and to Harnemata? Hast thou not seen
Keriath-Anab, near to

22.5 Beith-Tuphar? Knowest them not Odulam and Tsidphoth? Knowest thou not
the name of

22.6 Khaouretsa, which is in the land of Aup? ’Tis a bull on his frontier,
the place where one sees the battle (mêlée)

22.7 of the brave ones. Come then to the image of Sina: let me know Rohob:

22.8 represent to me Beith-Sheal as well as Keriathaal. The fords of the

23.1 Jordan, how does one cross them? let me know the passage to enter
Mageddo, whereof it remains to speak. Thou art a Mohar,

23.2 expert in courageous deeds. Is there found a Mohar like thee to march
at the head of the soldiers, a Marina

23.3 superior to thee to shoot an arrow! Take care of the gulf in the
ravine 2,000 cubits deep, full of rocks and rolling stones.

23.4 Thou makest a _détour_: seizest thy bow; preparest the iron in thy
left hand; showest thyself to the good chiefs.

23.5 Their eye looks down at thy hand: “Slave, give camel for the Mohar to
eat.” Thou makest thy name of Mohar known,

23.6 master of the captains of Egypt; thy name becomes like that of
Kadjarti, the Chief of Assur, after his encounter with

23.7 the hyenas in the wood, on the defile infected by the wood-hidden
Shasous.

23.8 Some of these were four cubits from the nose to the heel: fierce
without mildness, not listening to caresses.

23.9 Thou art alone, no guide with thee, nor troop behind thee. Didst thou
not meet the Marmar? He makes thee

24.1 pass: thou must decide on departing, and knowest not the road.
Anxiety seizes thee, thy hair bristles up:

24.2 thy soul places itself in thy hand: thy way is full of rocks and
rolling stones, no practicable passage; the road is obstructed by

24.3 hollies, nopals,(460) aloes and bushes called “dog-wolf’s shoes.” On
one side is the precipice, on the other rises the vertical wall of the
mountain.

24.4 Thou must advance going down. Thy car strikes the wall and thy horses
are startled by the rebound:

24.5 they stop at the bottom of the harness; thy reins are precipitated
and left behind; all fall down, thou passest on.

24.6 The horses break the pole and move it out of the path; you cannot
think of refastening them, cannot repair

24.7 them. The seats are precipitated from their places; the horses refuse
to be loaded with them. Thy heart fails thee. Thou beginnest to

24.8 reel; the sky is clear: thirst torments thee: the enemy is behind
thee, thou beginnest to quake;

25.1 a thorny bush hinders thee; thou placest it aside; the horses wound
themselves.

25.2 At this moment thou art stretched flat and beholdest the sad
satisfaction (of thy state?). Entering Joppa

25.3 thou seest a verdant enclosure in a ripe state. Thou makest an
opening for eating the fruit. Thou findest a pretty

25.4 young girl who takes care of the gardens: she yields herself to thee
as a companion, and yields to thee her secret charms.

25.5 Thou art perceived: thou art subjected to an interrogatory; thou art
recognized as a Mohar. Thy tie of

25.6 sweet servitude, is settled by a compromise. Each night thou liest
down; a rug of hair

25.7 is on thee: thou imprudently fallest asleep, a robber takes away thy
bow, thy dagger,

25.8 and thy quiver: thy reins are cut in the night, and thy horses run
away. Thy valet takes a sliding path: the road mounts before him, he
breaks

26.1 thy car in pieces ... thy armor-pieces fall on the ground.

26.2 They sink in the sand. Thou must have recourse to prayers, and thou
gettest puzzled in thy address. Give me victuals and water, and I

26.3 shall reach my safety. They pretend to be deaf, they do not listen:
they do not consent. Thou orderest:

26.4 “Pass to the forge! Pass through the workshops!” Workmen in wood and
metals and workmen in leather come before thee: they do

26.5 all thou wishest. They repair thy car, leaving aside all
unserviceable pieces: they nail on again

26.6 a new pole: they replace the fittings: they replace the leathers of
the harness, and at the back

26.7 they consolidate thy yoke: they replace the metallic ornaments: they
incrust the marquetry:

26.8 they put on the handle of thy whip and arrange the thongs. Thou
leavest very hastily

26.9 to fight at the perilous post; to perform valiant deeds.

_Section 5_

27.1 Mapou, O chosen scribe! Mohar, who knows his hand, conductor of the
Arunas, chief of Tsebaou, explorer of the most distant limits of the land
of Pa ... thou dost not

27.2 answer me anyhow: thou givest me no account; come let me tell all
that happened to thee at the end of thy road. I begin

27.3 for thee at the dwelling of Sestsou (Rameses): hast thou not forced
thy way therein? Hast thou not eaten fishes of...?

27.4 Hast thou not bathed therein? Oh, come, let us describe Atsion to
thee: where is its fortress?

27.5 Come to the house of Ouati; to
Sestsou-em-paif-nakhtou-ousormara;(461) to Sats ... aal,

27.6 also to Aksakaba? I have pictured to you Aïnini. Knowest thou not its
customs? Nekhai,

27.7 and Rehoboth, hast thou not seen them since thy birth, O eminent
Mohar? Raphia,

27.8 how about its entrenchment? It covers the space of an _aour_ going
toward Gaza.

27.9 Answer quickly, and speak to me of what I have said of a Mohar
concerning thee. I have thunderstruck

28.1 the strangers at thy name of Marina: I have told them of thy fierce
humor, according to which word thou saidst: “I am fit for all works; I
have been taught by my father, who had verified his judgment millions of
times. I

28.2 can hold the reins, and also am skilful in action. Courage never
forsakes my limbs; I am of the race Mentou.”

All that issues from thy tongue is very thwarting: thy phrases

28.3 are very puzzling: thou comest to me enveloped in difficulties
charged with recrimination. Thou cuttest off the discourse of those who
come in thy presence; thou dost not disgust thyself with fumbling, and

28.4 with a stern face sayest: “Hasten ye: and desist not! How to do not
to be able to succeed in it, and how to do to succeed in it?”(462) No! I
stop not, for I arrive; let thy preoccupation get calmed:

28.5 tranquillize thy heart: prepare not privations for him who offerest
himself to eat. I have mutilated the end of thy book, and I send it to
thee back, as thou didst request; thy orders accumulate on my tongue, they
rest on my lips:

28.6 but they are difficult to understand; an unskilful man could not
distinguish them; they are like the words of a man of Athou with a man of
Abou. Yet thou art a scribe of Pharaoh; whose goodness reveals the essence
of the universe.

28.7 Be gracious when seeing this work, and say not, “Thou hast made my
name repugnant to the rabble, to all men.” See I have made for thee the
portrait of the Mohar: I have travelled for thee through foreign
provinces. I have collected

28.8 for thee nations and cities after their customs. Be gracious to us:
behold them calmly: find words to speak of them when thou wilt be with the
prince Ouah.