the eastern provinces of the Delta, filling its towns—­Sais, Damanhur, and Marea—­making its way into the Fayum, the suburbs of Heracleopolis, and penetrating as far south as Abydos; at the latter place they were not found in such great numbers, but still considerable enough to leave distinct traces.** The high priests of Amon seem to have been the only personages who neglected to employ this ubiquitous race; but they preferred to use the Nubian tribe of the Mazaiu,*** who probably from the XIIth dynasty onwards had constituted the police force of Thebes.

* Ramses III. still distinguished between the Qahaka, the Tihonu, and the Mashauasha; the monuments of the XXIInd dynasty only recognise the Mashaiiasha, whose name they curtail to Ma.

** The presence in those regions of persons bearing Asiatic names has been remarked, without drawing thence any proof for the existence of Asiatic colonies in those regions.  The presence of Libyans at Abydos seems to be proved by the discovery in that town of the little monument reproduced on the next page, and of many objects in the same style, many of which are in the Louvre or the British Museum.

*** I have not discovered among the personal attendants of the descendants of Hrihor any functionary bearing the title of Chief of the Mashaiuasha ; even those who bore it later on, under the XXIInd dynasty, were always officers from the north of Egypt.  It seems almost certain that Thebes always avoided having Libyan troops, and never received a Mashauasha settlement.

These Libyan immigrants had adopted the arts of Egypt and the externals of her civilization; they sculptured rude figures on the rocks and engraved scenes on their stone vessels, in which they are represented fully armed,* and taking part in some skirmish or attack, or even a chase in the desert.  The hunters are divided into two groups, each of which is preceded by a different ensign—­that of the West for the right wing of the troop, and that of the East for the left wing.  They carry the spear the boomerang, the club, the double-curved bow, and the dart; a fox’s skin depends from their belts over their thighs, and an ostrich’s feather waves above their curly hair.

* I attribute to the Libyans, whether mercenaries or tribes hovering on the Egyptian frontier, the figures cut everywhere on the rocks, which no one up till now has reproduced or studied.  To them I attribute also the tombs which Mr. Petrie has so successfully explored, and in which he finds the remains of a New Race which seems to have conquered Egypt after the VIth dynasty:  they appear to be of different periods, but all belong to the Berber horsemen of the desert and the outskirts of the Nile valley.

[Illustration:  410.jpg A TROOP OF LIBYANS HUNTING]

     Drawn by Boudier, from the original in the Louvre.

They never abandoned this special head-dress and manner of arming themselves, and they can always be recognised on the monuments by the plumes surmounting their forehead.*