The reign of Thothmes, thus reckoned, was a very long one, close upon 54 years, and much of it was passed by the warlike sovereign in other lands and upon distant battle-fields. Nubia was by this time really an Egyptian province, and was governed by a viceroy, who was often one of the king’s sons. In the gold-yielding districts a miserable population—prisoners, slaves, and criminals, were toiling beneath the scorching sun, extracting the gold from the stubborn stone; which had first to be hewn out, then crushed, and finally the grains of the precious metals to be washed out. Elsewhere the province was peopled by an active race, grouped around the temples, fortresses, and garrison towns, where they found employment, and received abundant supplies of food for their sustenance from Egypt; others were engaged in the navigation of the dangerous cataracts. The natives had grown accustomed to Egyptian rule, and were rapidly adopting Egyptian religion and civilisation. Their chief city Napata was indeed destined to become one day the seat of a strong Egyptian dynasty, and a stronghold of the worship of Amen-Ra. There was therefore no cause for anxiety concerning the south, and the eyes of the young sovereign turned eagerly to the regions where his father had made his rapid campaign, and acquired military renown and abundant spoil. The policy of ‘extending the frontiers of Egypt’ was no doubt partly dictated by the desire of rendering the country safe from any further invasion, by subduing the neighbouring lands; but it is certain that the vision of establishing an Egyptian empire fascinated the imagination of Thothmes III., and he was able to realise the dream. The course of Egyptian history had flowed on century after century, for 2000 or 3000 years, in a sort of majestic solitude, like its own mighty river, which for 1800 miles of its course receives no tributary stream. The people might be said to have ‘dwelt alone.’ The position of the land was isolated and secluded, its people had an innate dislike of the sea, and possessed no sea-going ships; they were perfectly content within the bounds of their own luxuriant domains, and knew and cared very little about the world that lay beyond. The frontiers were well guarded and no foe had crossed them, nor had any vision of conquest or wide-spread empire arisen to dazzle the imagination of the early kings.