  The “Travels of an Egyptian” has first been translated into English by M. C. W. Goodwin (“Cambridge Essays,” 1858, p. 267-269), from a hieratic papyrus in the British Museum, published in fac-simile by the trustees (Fo. 1842, pl. 35-61). In 1866, M. F. Chabas, availing himself of the collaboration of M. Goodwin, published a full translation of the same in French (“Voyage d'un Egyptien en Syrie, en Phenicie,” etc., 4to, 1866), including a copy of the hieratic text with a double transcription into hieroglyphic and Coptic types, and a perpetual commentary. Objections were made by M. H. Brugsch (“Revue Critique,” Paris, 1868, AoÛt et Septembre). But M. Chabas strongly vindicated his views in an additional work, “Voyage d'un Egyptien—RÉponse À la Critique,” ChÂlons, 1868, 4to, since which the matter seems to be settled among Egyptologists. The debate was, however, unimportant in regard to geographical information, as it bore merely on the point to ascertain whether the narrative refers to an actual journey really effected by the Egyptian officer named a Mohar, or a model narrative of a supposed voyage drawn from a previous relation of a similar trip extant at the time. Travels of an Egyptian Section 1 18.3 Thy letter which is full of lacunÆ is loaded with pretentious expressions: such is the retribution of those who wish to understand it; it is a charge 18.4 which thou hast charged at thy will. “I am a scribe, a Mohar,” hast thou repeated: let us respect thy word and set off. 18.5 Thou hast put horses to the chariots; thy horses are as swift as jackals: their eyes flash; they are like a hurricane bursting; thou takest [pg 328]18.6 the reins, seizest the bow: we contemplate the deeds of thy hand. I send thee back the Mohar's portrait: and make thee know 18.7 his actions. Didst thou not then go to the country of the Kheta? Hast thou not seen the land of Aup? Knowest thou not Khatuma, Ikatai 18.8 likewise? how is it? The Tsor of Sesortris, the city of Khaleb on its vicinity?— 19.1 How goes it with its ford? Hast thou not made an expedition to Qodesh and Tubakkhi? Hast thou not gone to the Shasous? 19.2 with the auxiliary body? Hast thou not trampled the road of Pamakar the sky459 was dark on the day when 19.3 there flourished the cypresses, the oaks and cedars, which reached up to heaven: there are many lions, wolves, and hyenas 19.4 which the Shasous track on all sides. Didst thou not ascend the mountain of Shaoua? Hast thou not travelled, thy arms 19.5 placed on the back of thy car separated from its harness by the horses drawing it? 19.6 Oh! come to ... barta. Thou hastenest to get there: thou crossest 19.7 its ford. Thou seest a Mohar's trials. Thy car 19.8 is placed in thy hand: thy strength fails. Thou arrivest at the night: all thy limbs 19.9 are knocked up: thy bones are broken, thou fallest asleep from excess of somnolence: thou wakest up— 20.1 'Tis the hour when sad night begins: thou art absolutely alone. Comes there not a thief to rob the 20.2 things left aside: he enters the stable: the horses are agitated: the thief goes back in the night 20.3 carrying away thy clothes. Thy servant awakes in the night; he perceives the thief's actions: he takes away the rest, 20.4 he goes among the bad ones; and joins the tribes of the Shasous: and transforms himself to an Asiatic. 20.5 The enemy comes to plunder, he finds only the wreck: Thou wakest, dost thou not find them [pg 329]20.6 in their flight? They take thy baggage. Thou becomest an active and quick-eared Mohar? Section 2 20.7 I also describe to thee the holy city, whose name is Kapaon (Gabal). How is it? Of their goddess (we will speak) another time. Therein 20.8 hast thou not penetrated? Come then to Berytus, to Sidon, to Sarepta. The ford 21.1 of Nazana, where is it? Aoutou, how is it? They are neighbors of another city on the sea. Tyre the 21.2 port is its name: water is carried to it in barks, it is richer in fish than in sands. Section 3 21.3 I will speak to thee also of two other small chapters. The entrance of Djaraou, and the order thou hast given to set this city in flames. A Mohar's office is a very painful one. 21.4 Come, set off to return to PakaÏkna. Where is the road of Aksaph? 21.5 In the environs of the city; come then to the mountain of Ousor: its top, 21.6 how is it? Where is the mountain of Ikama? Who can master it? What way has the Mohar 21.7 gone to Hazor? How about its ford? let me go to Hamath, 21.8 to Takar, to Takar-Aar, the all-assembling place of the Mohars; come 22.1 then, on the road that leads there. Make me to see Jah. How has one got to Matamim? 22.2 Do not repel us by thy teachings; make us to know them. Section 4 22.3 I will speak to thee of the towns other than the preceding ones. Wentest thou not to the land of Takhis, to Cofer-Marlon, to Tamena, 22.4 to Qodesh, to Dapour, to Adjai, and to Harnemata? Hast thou not seen Keriath-Anab, near to [pg 330]22.5 Beith-Tuphar? Knowest them not Odulam and Tsidphoth? Knowest thou not the name of 22.6 Khaouretsa, which is in the land of Aup? 'Tis a bull on his frontier, the place where one sees the battle (mÊlÉe) 22.7 of the brave ones. Come then to the image of Sina: let me know Rohob: 22.8 represent to me Beith-Sheal as well as Keriathaal. The fords of the 23.1 Jordan, how does one cross them? let me know the passage to enter Mageddo, whereof it remains to speak. Thou art a Mohar, 23.2 expert in courageous deeds. Is there found a Mohar like thee to march at the head of the soldiers, a Marina 23.3 superior to thee to shoot an arrow! Take care of the gulf in the ravine 2,000 cubits deep, full of rocks and rolling stones. 23.4 Thou makest a dÉtour: seizest thy bow; preparest the iron in thy left hand; showest thyself to the good chiefs. 23.5 Their eye looks down at thy hand: “Slave, give camel for the Mohar to eat.” Thou makest thy name of Mohar known, 23.6 master of the captains of Egypt; thy name becomes like that of Kadjarti, the Chief of Assur, after his encounter with 23.7 the hyenas in the wood, on the defile infected by the wood-hidden Shasous. 23.8 Some of these were four cubits from the nose to the heel: fierce without mildness, not listening to caresses. 23.9 Thou art alone, no guide with thee, nor troop behind thee. Didst thou not meet the Marmar? He makes thee 24.1 pass: thou must decide on departing, and knowest not the road. Anxiety seizes thee, thy hair bristles up: 24.2 thy soul places itself in thy hand: thy way is full of rocks and rolling stones, no practicable passage; the road is obstructed by 24.3 hollies, nopals,460 aloes and bushes called “dog-wolf's [pg 331] 24.4 Thou must advance going down. Thy car strikes the wall and thy horses are startled by the rebound: 24.5 they stop at the bottom of the harness; thy reins are precipitated and left behind; all fall down, thou passest on. 24.6 The horses break the pole and move it out of the path; you cannot think of refastening them, cannot repair 24.7 them. The seats are precipitated from their places; the horses refuse to be loaded with them. Thy heart fails thee. Thou beginnest to 24.8 reel; the sky is clear: thirst torments thee: the enemy is behind thee, thou beginnest to quake; 25.1 a thorny bush hinders thee; thou placest it aside; the horses wound themselves. 25.2 At this moment thou art stretched flat and beholdest the sad satisfaction (of thy state?). Entering Joppa 25.3 thou seest a verdant enclosure in a ripe state. Thou makest an opening for eating the fruit. Thou findest a pretty 25.4 young girl who takes care of the gardens: she yields herself to thee as a companion, and yields to thee her secret charms. 25.5 Thou art perceived: thou art subjected to an interrogatory; thou art recognized as a Mohar. Thy tie of 25.6 sweet servitude, is settled by a compromise. Each night thou liest down; a rug of hair 25.7 is on thee: thou imprudently fallest asleep, a robber takes away thy bow, thy dagger, 25.8 and thy quiver: thy reins are cut in the night, and thy horses run away. Thy valet takes a sliding path: the road mounts before him, he breaks 26.1 thy car in pieces ... thy armor-pieces fall on the ground. 26.2 They sink in the sand. Thou must have recourse to prayers, and thou gettest puzzled in thy address. Give me victuals and water, and I [pg 332]26.3 shall reach my safety. They pretend to be deaf, they do not listen: they do not consent. Thou orderest: 26.4 “Pass to the forge! Pass through the workshops!” Workmen in wood and metals and workmen in leather come before thee: they do 26.5 all thou wishest. They repair thy car, leaving aside all unserviceable pieces: they nail on again 26.6 a new pole: they replace the fittings: they replace the leathers of the harness, and at the back 26.7 they consolidate thy yoke: they replace the metallic ornaments: they incrust the marquetry: 26.8 they put on the handle of thy whip and arrange the thongs. Thou leavest very hastily 26.9 to fight at the perilous post; to perform valiant deeds. Section 5 27.1 Mapou, O chosen scribe! Mohar, who knows his hand, conductor of the Arunas, chief of Tsebaou, explorer of the most distant limits of the land of Pa ... thou dost not 27.2 answer me anyhow: thou givest me no account; come let me tell all that happened to thee at the end of thy road. I begin 27.3 for thee at the dwelling of Sestsou (Rameses): hast thou not forced thy way therein? Hast thou not eaten fishes of...? 27.4 Hast thou not bathed therein? Oh, come, let us describe Atsion to thee: where is its fortress? 27.5 Come to the house of Ouati; to Sestsou-em-paif-nakhtou-ousormara;461 to Sats ... aal, 27.6 also to Aksakaba? I have pictured to you AÏnini. Knowest thou not its customs? Nekhai, 27.7 and Rehoboth, hast thou not seen them since thy birth, O eminent Mohar? Raphia, 27.8 how about its entrenchment? It covers the space of an aour going toward Gaza. [pg 333]27.9 Answer quickly, and speak to me of what I have said of a Mohar concerning thee. I have thunderstruck 28.1 the strangers at thy name of Marina: I have told them of thy fierce humor, according to which word thou saidst: “I am fit for all works; I have been taught by my father, who had verified his judgment millions of times. I 28.2 can hold the reins, and also am skilful in action. Courage never forsakes my limbs; I am of the race Mentou.” All that issues from thy tongue is very thwarting: thy phrases 28.3 are very puzzling: thou comest to me enveloped in difficulties charged with recrimination. Thou cuttest off the discourse of those who come in thy presence; thou dost not disgust thyself with fumbling, and 28.4 with a stern face sayest: “Hasten ye: and desist not! How to do not to be able to succeed in it, and how to do to succeed in it?”462 No! I stop not, for I arrive; let thy preoccupation get calmed: 28.5 tranquillize thy heart: prepare not privations for him who offerest himself to eat. I have mutilated the end of thy book, and I send it to thee back, as thou didst request; thy orders accumulate on my tongue, they rest on my lips: 28.6 but they are difficult to understand; an unskilful man could not distinguish them; they are like the words of a man of Athou with a man of Abou. Yet thou art a scribe of Pharaoh; whose goodness reveals the essence of the universe. 28.7 Be gracious when seeing this work, and say not, “Thou hast made my name repugnant to the rabble, to all men.” See I have made for thee the portrait of the Mohar: I have travelled for thee through foreign provinces. I have collected 28.8 for thee nations and cities after their customs. Be gracious to us: behold them calmly: find words to speak of them when thou wilt be with the prince Ouah. |
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