It would appear that Southern Syria was then in open revolt. "Word had been brought to His Majesty: 'The vile Shausu have plotted rebellion; the chiefs of their tribes, assembled in one place on the confines of Kharu, have been smitten with blindness and with the spirit of violence; every one cutteth his neighbour's throat."* It was imperative to send succour to the few tribes who remained faithful, to prevent them from succumbing to the repeated attacks of the insurgents. Seti crossed the frontier at Zalu, but instead of pursuing his way along the coast, he marched due east in order to attack the Shausu in the very heart of the desert. The road ran through wide wadys, tolerably well supplied with water, and the length of the stages necessarily depended on the distances between the wells. This route was one frequented in early times, and its security was ensured by a number of fortresses and isolated towers built along it, such as "The House of the Lion "--_ta ait pa mau_--near the pool of the same name, the Migdol of the springs of Huzina, the fortress of Uazit, the Tower of the Brave, and the Migdol of Seti at the pools of Absakaba. The Bedawin, disconcerted by the rapidity of this movement, offered no serious resistance. Their flocks were carried off, their trees cut down, their harvests destroyed, and they surrendered their strongholds at discretion. Pushing on from one halting-place to another, the conqueror soon reached Babbiti, and finally Pakanana.** * The pictures of this campaign and the inscriptions which explain them were engraved by Seti I., on the outside of the north wall of the great hypostyle hall at Karnak. ** The site of Pakanana has, with much probability, been fixed at El-Kenan or Khurbet-Kanaan, to the south of Hebron. Brugsch had previously taken this name to indicate the country of Canaan, but Chabas rightly contested this view. W. Max Millier took up the matter afresh: he perceived that we have here an allusion to the first town encountered by Seti I. in the country of Canaan to the south-west of Raphia, the name of which is not mentioned by the Egyptian sculptor; it seems to me that this name should be Pakanana, and that the town bore the same name as the country. The latter town occupied a splendid position on the slope of a rocky hill, close to a small lake, and defended the approaches to the vale of Hebron. It surrendered at the first attack, and by its fall the Egyptians became possessed of one of the richest provinces in the southern part of Kharu. This result having been achieved, Seti took the caravan road to his left, on the further side of Gaza, and pushed forward at full speed towards the Hittite frontier. [Illustration: 163.jpg THE RETURN OF THE NORTH WALL OF THE HYPOSTYLE HALL AT KARNAK, WHERE SETI I. REPRESENTS SOME EPISODES IN HIS FIRST CAMPAIGN] Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph, by Emil Brugsch-Bey.