their own sovereign or in those of the Pharaoh; but no sooner did they
venture within the borders of those turbulent states which separated
the two great powers, than they were exposed to dangers at every turn.
Safe-conducts were of little use if they had not taken the additional
precaution of providing a strong escort and carefully guarding their
caravan, for the Shaûsû concealed in the depths of the Lebanon or the
needy sheikhs of Kharû could never resist the temptation to rob the
passing traveller.*

* The scribe who in the reign of Ramses II. composed the
_Travels of an Egyptian_, speaks in several places of
marauding tribes and robbers, who infested the roads
followed by the hero. The Tel el-Amarna correspondence
contains a letter from the King of Alasia, who exculpates
himself from being implicated in the harsh treatment certain
Egyptians had received in passing through his territory; and
another letter in which the King of Babylon complains that
Chaldoan merchants had been robbed at Khinnatun, in Galilee,
by the Prince of Akku (Acre) and his accomplices: one of
them had his feet cut off, and the other was still a
prisoner in Akku, and Burnaburiash demands from Amenôthes
IV. the death of the guilty persons.

The victims complained to their king, who felt no hesitation in passing
on their woes to the sovereign under whose rule the pillagers were
supposed to live. He demanded their punishment, but his request was not
always granted, owing to the difficulties of finding out and seizing the
offenders. An indemnity, however, could be obtained which would nearly
compensate the merchants for the loss sustained. In many cases justice
had but little to do with the negotiations, in which self-interest was