No. 57 B. M.—“To the King my Lord my God my Lord of Hosts, by letter thus (says) _Yabitiri_ (Abiathar?) thy servant, the dust of the feet of the King my Lord my God my Lord of Hosts. Seven times and seven times I bow. As thou seest I am among the faithful servants of the King my Lord. I am arraying. But if I am arraying has not he been furious? and I am arraying before the King; and he has been furious. Shall the brick (letter) hide it under deceptions? But I will not conceal under deep sayings (_emiki_) to the King my Lord. And the King my Lord shall ask _Yankhamu_ his _Paka_. Lo! I am a warrior, and I am casting down the rebellion, O King my Lord, and I am sending out from the pass belonging to the King my Lord. And let the King my Lord ask his _Paka_ (‘head man’). Lo! I am defending the pass (or great gate) of the city of _’Azati_ (Gaza) and the passage of the city of _Yapu_ (Joppa), and I myself and the soldiers (_bitati_) of the King my Lord have marched to the lands. I myself (am) with them, and now, and lo! now, I myself (am) with them. The yoke of the King my Lord (is) on my neck and I will bear it.” 71 B. M.—The usual salutation from a servant of the King, whose name is broken, but reads _Mus_ ... _ni_. “I hear the messages of the King my Lord which he sends to his servant, hearing what is spoken by thy chief (_Ka_), and (it is) ‘Strengthen thou the fortresses of the King thy Lord which are with thee.’ Now they have minded the message of the King my Lord to me, and the King my Lord learns of his servant. Now _Biia_ the son of the woman _Gulata_(303) was my ... of my brethren whom I am despatching to go down from the city _Yapu_ (Joppa), and to be the defenders of the messengers returning to the King my Lord; and now _Biia_ is the son of _Gulata_, he took them; and the King my Lord shall learn this message of his servant. Thus since the King my Lord said to me, ‘Make him leave thy city, on the appearance of _Biia_.’ He also indeed is made to leave; and both go, and indeed both are sent down O King my Lord day and night till they reach the place.” Joppa is not mentioned in the history of Joshua’s wars in the south, but the “border before (east of) Japho” is noticed in the later topographical charter (Josh. xix. 46). LETTERS FROM ASCALON 129 B.—“To the Great King my Lord _Dagantacala_(304) thy servant speaks. Seven times and seven times at the feet of the Great King my Lord I bow. And now behold _Dagantacala_ is thy servant O Great King my Lord. He hears carefully the message of the Great King his Lord ... like my fathers, (and) what my fathers have not done for the Great King I have done for the Great King my Lord. And the Great King my Lord says to me, ‘Listen thou for us to the head man (_Ka_) thy governor.’(305) I hear this carefully as to the chief governor, and the ruler knows it.”