ssion of an
hereditary fief, and transformed the son or grandson of a prosperous
scribe into a feudal lord. It was from people of this class, and from
the children of the Pharaoh, that the nobility was mostly recruited.
In the Delta, where the authority of the Pharaoh was almost everywhere
directly felt, the power of the nobility was weakened and much
curtailed; in Middle Egypt it gained ground, and became stronger and
stronger in proportion as one advanced southward. The nobles held the
principalities of the Gazelle, of the Hare, of the Serpent Mountain, of
Akhmim, of Thinis, of Qasr-es-Sayad, of El-Kab, of Aswan, and doubtless
others of which we shall some day discover the monuments.

[Illustration: 077.jpg HUNTING WITH THE BOOMERANG AND FISHING WITH THE
DOUBLE HARPOON IN A MARSH OR POOL]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Gayet.

They accepted without difficulty the fiction according to which Pharaoh
claimed to be absolute master of the soil, and ceded to his subjects
only the usufruct of their fiefs; but apart from the admission of the
principle, each lord proclaimed himself sovereign in his own domain, and
exercised in it, on a small scale, complete royal authority.

[Illustration: 078.jpg PRINCE API, BORNE IN A PALANQUIN, INSPECTS HIS
FUNERARY DOMAIN]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Emil Brugsch-
Bey. The tomb of Api was discovered at Saqqara in 1884. It
had been pulled down in ancient times, and a new tomb built
on its ruins, about the time of the XIIth dynasty; all that
remains of it is now in the museum at Gizeh.

Everything within the limits of this petty state belonged to him--woods,
canals, fields, even the desert-sand: after the example of the Pharaoh,
he farmed a part himself, and let out the remainder, either in farms or
as fiefs, to those of his followers who had gained his confidence or
his friendship. After the example of Pharaoh, also, he was a priest, and
exercised priestly functions in relation to all the gods--that is,
not of all Egypt, but of all the deities of the nome. He was an
administrator of civil and criminal law, received the complaints of his
vassals and serfs at the gate of his palace, and against his decisions
there was no appeal. He kept up a flotilla, and raised on his estate a
small army, of which he was commander-in-chief by hereditary right. He
inhabited a fortified mansion, situated sometimes within the capital of
the p