[My] Majesty to see this pygmy orders have been brought to the _smer_, the overseer of the priests, the governor of the town ... to arrange that rations for him shall be drawn from every station of supply, and from every temple without.... THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AMENI AMENEMHĀT This inscription is cut in hieroglyphs on the doorposts of the tomb of Ameni at Beni-hasan in Upper Egypt. It is dated in the forty-third year of the reign of Usertsen I, a king of the twelfth dynasty, about 2400 B.C. After giving the date and a list of his titles, Ameni says: "I followed my Lord when he sailed to the South to overthrow his enemies in the four countries of Nubia. I sailed to the south as the son of a duke, and as a bearer of the royal seal, and as a captain of the troops of the Nome of Mehetch, and as a man who took the place of his aged father, according to the favour which he enjoyed in the king's house and the love that was his at Court. I passed through Kash in sailing to the South. I set the frontier of Egypt further southwards, I brought back offerings, and the praise of me reached the skies. His Majesty set out and overthrew his enemies in the vile land of Kash. I returned, following him as an alert official. There was no loss among my soldiers. [And again] I sailed to the South to fetch gold ore for the Majesty of the King of the South, the King of the North, Kheperkarā (Usertsen I), the ever living. I sailed to the south with the Erpā and Duke, the eldest son of the king, of his body Ameni.[1] I sailed to the south with a company of four hundred chosen men from my troops; they returned in safety, none of them having been lost. I brought back the gold which I was expected to bring, and I was praised for it in the house of the king; the prince [Ameni] praised God for me. [And again] I sailed to the south to bring back gold ore to the town of Qebti (Coptos) with the Erpā, the Duke, the governor of the town, and the chief officer of the Government, Usertsen, life, strength, health [be to him!]. I sailed to the south with a company of six hundred men, every one being a mighty man of war of the Nome of Mehetch. I returned in peace, with all my soldiers in good health (or safe), having performed everything which I had been commanded to do. I was a man who was of a conciliatory disposition, one whose love [for his fellows] was abundant, and I was a governor who loved his town. I passed [many] years as governor of the Mehetch Nome. All the works (_i.e._ the forced labour) due to the palace were performed under my direction. The overseers of the chiefs of the districts of the herdsmen of the Nome of Mehetch gave me three thousand bulls, together with their gear for ploughing, and I was praised because of it in the king's house every year of making [count] of the cattle. I took over all the products of their works to the king's house, and there were no liabilities against me in any house of the king. I worked the