In contradistinction to this secular title we find the [Egyptian **] “Divine Sealer,” the priest who had charge of the temple treasure, furniture, and goods that were kept under the temple seals. This title, like the one that we have just discussed, occurs also at an early period, and continued in use till very late times.[40] These “Divine Sealers” were attached to the service of various gods, or they were employed by the religious authorities of certain districts. In the first case they are specified as “of Amen,”[41] “of Horus,” etc.; while in the second as “of Abydos,”[42] “of Thebes,” etc. It is possible that they were placed under a _mer_[43] or “Superintendent,” but the title is so rare that this was not usually the case. It was the Divine Sealer’s duty to obtain and supervise the transport of stone for the temple buildings,[44] and to pay for and, if necessary, to collect in far distant countries precious things for the service of the gods. In order to obtain stone for statues or for temple buildings, he sometimes led semi-military expeditions to quarries far in the deserts,[45] and when it was necessary to convey the huge blocks of granite and other material down the river, he was usually placed in command of the transport ships.[46] From the time of the Middle Kingdom[47] (_circa_ B.C. 2000) onwards the title [Egyptian **] _mer khetem_,[48] “Superintendent” or “Keeper of the (Royal) Seal”[49] is constantly occurring in the hieroglyphic inscriptions. During the first half of the Twelfth Dynasty, while each province was yet ruled over by semi-independent chieftains, there appears to have been a Keeper of the (Royal) Seal employed in the administration of each nome,[50] whose duty it was to collect and transmit treasure to the central office. Next to the chieftain himself, he was perhaps the most important personage in the province, for he had control over its revenues, and all its public works were carried out under his supervision. Baqt, the Keeper of the (Royal) Seal in the Oryx nome, supervised the excavation and adornment of Khnemhetep’s magnificent monument at Beni Hasan.[51] When that great nomarch’s officials defiled before him, the Keeper of the (Royal) Seal stood in the place of honour[52] behind the _uhem_ or “Herald,” and in front of the _mer meshau_ or “General of the Troops.” He was the nomarch’s trusted friend, and accompanied him on his hunting and fowling[53] expeditions in the desert and on the river, while in Khnemhetep’s funeral procession to Abydos, his place was in the State barge at the side of the deceased prince’s children.[54] A very interesting scene at Beni Hasan shows the Keeper of the (Royal) Seal seated in his _kha_[55] or “office,” watching one of his assistants weighing gold, or some other precious metal, in a balance, while a seated scribe writes down the weight on a wooden tablet or sheet of papyrus (see fig. 15). The office here shown was very similar to that of the Vezîr;[56] it was a columned