As we re-entered the City of the Sun, we passed by the base of an obelisk which Queen Amense is erecting to mark the era and acts of her long reign. Upon it were sculptured representations of her battles with the Ethiopians, her wars with Libya, and her conquest of Arabia. The work was executed by Phœnician and Egyptian artists; and I am rejoiced to see that the painters of Tyre and the sculptors of Sidon are greatly esteemed for the delicacy and perfection of their work. When these persons saw me, they dropped their pencils and chisels, and with their hands upon their bosoms, manifested every sign of delight. You may suppose I responded with more than usual gratification to the homage thus paid me; for in a foreign land the sight of the humblest of one's own countrymen, refreshes the eye and warms the heart. But I have too long occupied your time, dearest mother, with one letter. Your devoted son, SESOSTRIS. LETTER IX. ISLE OF RHODA, NILE. ROYAL AND BELOVED MOTHER: My preceding letters, dearest mother, have enabled you to form some idea of the Hebrew vassalage, which is one of the peculiarities of Egypt. This subject has deeply interested me. In that oppressed people I behold Syrians and men of my own race, as it were, reduced to such a pitiable and miserable condition. My sympathies are therefore naturally with them. Was not Prince Abram, of Palestine, who conquered the enemy of our ancestor's throne in those days, Chedorlaomer, King of Elam and Tidal, and sovereign of the nations east of the inland sea, the founder of their family; and was not the same Abram the friend of Neathor, the founder or restorer of Tyre upon the Isle? When I recall these facts of past history, and how ably the wise Prince Joseph ruled here, I am deeply moved at their present degradation and suffering. Since writing to you, I have conversed with the queen upon the subject. I find her ready and willing, with mind and heart and hand, to take any safe steps for putting an end to this bondage. But, as she feelingly says:-- "It is an evil which descended to me with the crown and sceptre of my father; and I know not how to remove it, and yet protect that crown which I am bound to transmit to Remeses!" Such then, dear mother, is the present condition of Hebrew servitude. When it will terminate, whether by some bold act of Remeses, when he comes to the throne, or by their own act, or by the intervention of the gods, are questions the solution of which lies hidden in the womb of the future.