Apparently there had been spread abroad some statement reflecting on the faithfulness of the writer, who seeks to justify himself by appealing to his former services to the Egyptian king. His letter has a ring of sincerity in it which is wanting in many of the communications of this nature. Reference has already been made to the caravans which passed through the territory of the various rulers, and the protection which those rulers were supposed to extend to them. Burra-buriaš, in his letter translated above, complains that Babylonian caravans had been attacked in the land of Canaan, and asks for the punishment of the persons involved. To all appearance the protection of the caravans was entrusted to certain chiefs, owing allegiance to the Egyptian king, who always held themselves ready to perform this duty. The following translation shows how one of the chiefs or governors of a Canaanitish district looked after the caravans, as his father did before him— Letter From Mut-Zu’u To The King Of Egypt. “To the king, my lord and my sun, say thus: ‘It is Mut-zu’u(63) thy servant, the dust of thy feet, the earth for thee to tread upon. Seven times, twice seven times, I fall down at the feet of the king my lord.’ “The king my lord has sent by Ḫâya to speak of the Ḫana-galbat(64) caravan. This I have dispatched and have directed it. Who am I, that I should not dispatch the caravans of the king my lord? Behold, (Lab)’aya, my father, (who was faithful) to the king his lord, used to send (a caravan, and give directions concerning it. The cara)vans (which) the king (di)rected to the land of Ḫana-galbat (and) to the land of Kara-duniaš let the king my lord send. (As to) the caravan, I will bring it so that it is safe.” As will be seen from this, Mut-zu’u was one of the humble vassals of “the king his lord,” who at that time—evidently the peaceful days of Amenophis III.—was the happy possessor of many such. As examples of the relations between the smaller rulers and their suzerain, may be quoted two of the numerous letters of Yidia of Askelon, who provided the necessaries for the Egyptian army in Palestine. Yidia, The Askelonite, Concerning The King’s Representative. “To the king, my lord, my Sun, the Sun who (cometh) from the heavens, (say also) thus: ‘(It is) Yidia, the Askelonite, thy servant, the dust of thy feet, thy charioteer.(65) I fall down before the feet of the king my lord seven times and twice seven times, back and breast.’ “Now (for) my (lord), (for) the gods of the king my lord, my god, my Sun, I guard this city, and again ... let me protect all his land. “I have heard the words of the king my lord to his representative, when he is not able to protect the country of the king my lord. So now the king my lord has appointed Rianappa, the representative of the king my lord, to whom(66) I will bring (?) good fortune for the king. “Whatever cometh out of the mouth of the king my lord, lo, that will I keep day and night.”