* We hear from the tablets of several messengers to Babylon, and the Mitanni, Rasi, Mani, Khamassi. The royal messenger Thutii, who governed the countries of the north, speaks of having satisfied the heart of the king in "the isles which are in the midst of the sea." This was not, as some think, a case of hyperbole, for the messengers could embark on Phoenician vessels; they had a less distance to cover in order to reach the AEgean than the royal messenger of Queen Hatshopsitu had before arriving at the country of the Somalis and the "Ladders of Incense." ** The hero of the _Anastasi Papyrus_, No. 1, with whom Chabas made us acquainted in his _Voyage d'un Egyptien_, is probably a type of the "messenger" or the time of Ramses II.; in any case, his itinerary and adventures are natural to a "royal messenger" compelled to traverse Syria alone. Many of them achieved a reputation, and were made the heroes of popular romance. More than three centuries after it was still related how one of them, by name Thutii, had reduced and humbled Jaffa, whose chief had refused to come to terms. Thutii set about his task by feigning to throw off his allegiance to Thutmosis III., and withdrew from the Egyptian service, having first stolen the great magic wand of his lord; he then invited the rebellious chief into his camp, under pretence of showing him this formidable talisman, and killed him after they had drunk together. The cunning envoy then packed five hundred of his soldiers into jars, and caused them to be carried on the backs of asses before the gates of the town, where he made the herald of the murdered prince proclaim that the Egyptians had been defeated, and that the pack train which accompanied him contained the spoil, among which was Thutii himself. The officer in charge of the city gate was deceived by this harangue, the asses were admitted within the walls, where the soldiers quitted their jars, massacred the garrison, and made themselves masters of the town. The tale is, in the main, the story of Ali Baba and the forty thieves.