south to open up the country. This distinguished man held many offices under the king, for being one of the feudal lords of Ele-phantine and Syene, and governor of the South, his authority over the Nubians was great. He was also a caravan master" and it was through him that many of the products of Nubia entered Egypt VIth Dynasty; he was probably acquainted with the He made

With the collapse of the V lth Dynasty Egypt lost whatever power she had over Nubia, and there seems to be little doubt that after the death of Netaqert a revolution of a serious character took place. WTith the fall of the central power in Egypt, all social order was destroyed, and a period of anarchy took place during which the temples of the Old Kingdom were thrown down, the priesthoods robbed and driven out of their temples, and might alone was right. Whilst the struggle for sovereignty went on between the descendants of the royal house of Memphis (V llth Dynasty) and the usurpers and impostors who are spoken of as the V U Ith Dynasty, Nubia had nothing to fear from Egypt, and her chiefs were relieved from the payment of “ tribute” to her. Meanwhile the feudal lords of Henesu, or Herakleopolis, gradually extended their authority and consolidated their power, and Khati I, Khati II, Tefaba and others of them became the kings of the IX th and Xth Dynasties. In their inscriptions they speak of chastising the “ Lands of the South,” but as we know that their authority was disputed by the feudal lords of Siut (Cynopolis) and Thebes, it is impossible for them to have had any authority in Nubia. So from them Nubia had nothing to fear, and her people were free to traffic in all parts of the Sudan, and had no need to fear that they would be called upon to pay dues and taxes on their caravans. They carried on a very profitable trade with the natives of Upper Egypt, and little by little established their markets at Daraw on the east bank of the Nile, and at Edfu and Asna (Esneh) on the west bank. The armed guards who travelled with the caravans that traded with the countries to the south and west of the White Nile, and with the districts along the Blue Nile and the Island of Meroe, formed a body of men who were accustomed to fight and were to all intents and purposes soldiers. With the caravans from the south came also, even as was the case fifty years ago, “ blacks,” some of whom were slaves and others would-be settlers in Egypt.