occasion of the visit of the first envoy.



Then the priests of Khensu Nefer-hetep carried the statue of this god
to the place where was the statue of Khensu surnamed "Pa-ari-sekher,"
i.e., the "Worker of destinies," who was able to repel the attacks of
evil spirits and to drive them out. When the statues of the two gods
were facing each other, Rameses II. entreated Khensu Nefer-hetep to
"turn his face towards," i.e., to look favourably upon Khensu. Pa-ari-
sekher, and to let him go to Bekhten to drive the devil out of the
Princess of Bekhten. The text affords no explanation of the fact that
Khensu Nefer-hetep was regarded as a greater god than Khensu Pa-ari-
sekher, or why his permission had to be obtained before the latter
could leave the country. It is probable that the demands made upon
Khensu Nefer-hetep by the Egyptians who lived in Thebes and its
neighbourhood were so numerous that it was impossible to let his statue
go into outlying districts or foreign lands, and that a deputy-god was
appointed to perform miracles outside Thebes. This arrangement would
benefit the people, and would, moreover, bring much money to the
priests. The appointment of a deputy-god is not so strange as it may
seem, and modern African peoples are familiar with the expedient.
About one hundred years ago the priests of the god Bobowissi of
Winnebah, in the Tshi region of West Africa, found their business so
large that it was absolutely necessary for them to appoint a deputy.
The priests therefore selected Brahfo, i.e., "deputy," and gave out
that Bobowissi had deputed all minor matters to him, and that his
utterances were to be regarded as those of Bobowissi. Delegates were
ordered to be sent to Winnebah in Ashanti, where they would be shown
the "deputy" god by the priests, and afterwards he would be taken to