e land of Punt, and with the different precious woods of the divine
land, and with heaps of the resin of incense, with fresh incense
trees, with ebony, (objects) of ivory set in pure gold from the land
of the 'Amu, with sweet woods, Khesit-wood, with Ahem incense, holy
resin, and paint for the eyes, with dog-headed apes, with long-tailed
monkeys and greyhounds, with leopard-skins, and with natives of the
country, together with their children. Never was the like brought to
any king (of Egypt) since the world stands."

The boast contained in the concluding sentence was obviously not
justified, as we know the same claims were made in the inscription in
the valley of Hammamat, describing the previous expedition to Punt,
which took place eleven centuries earlier.

From the frontispiece, Fig. 1, we can form an accurate idea of the ships
used in the Red Sea trade in the time of the eighteenth dynasty. They
were propelled by rowers instead of by paddlers, as in all the previous
examples. There were fifteen rowers on each side, and, allowing four
feet for the distance between each seat, and taking account of the
length of the overhanging portions at bow and stern, the length of each
vessel could have been little short of a hundred feet. They were
apparently decked over and provided with raised cabins at the two
extremities. The projections marked along the sides may indicate the
ends of beams, or they may, as some writers have supposed, have been
pieces of timber against which the oars could be worked in narrow and
shallow water.

[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Nile barge carrying obelisks. About 1600 B.C.]

These vessels were each rigged with a huge square sail. The spars
carrying the sail were as long as the boats themselves, and were each
formed of two pieces spliced together in the middle. The stems and
sterns were not waterborne. In order to prevent the vessel from
hogging under the influence of the weights of the unsupported ends, a
truss was employed, similar in principle and object to those used to
this day in American river steamers. The truss was formed by erecting
four or more pillars in the body of the vessel, terminating at a height
of about six feet above the gunwale, in crutches. A strong rope running
fore and aft was passed over these crutches and also round the mast, the
two ends of the rope having been so arranged as to gird and support the
stem and stern respectively.

The Temple of Der-el-Bahari c