Dec.5] PROCEEDINGS. [4893.mainwaysof reaching the south : one is by boat up the Nile, the
second is by land alongthe river, the third is by the Oases. The
riverpassagewas too difficult in the Vlth dynastyto be customarily
used. In his second expedition(evidentlyby land) Herkhufstates
that he went by way of Elephantine §" •£) T^? T J % ^^ , in the
third he "started fromAsyut(?)^^ A Ibv JL," bv way of
/wvvvs rr\ "^
"theOasis"SfliJs^O^,^,{U'^ Great °**S)'**
findingthatthe king of Amam was pursuing the Libyans in the far
West,followedafterhim,etc Herkhufevidentlyhad a good reason
for choosing the western route.
Thusin the name uhatwe have at length the long-sought origin
of the word Oasis, \j, OTTAg,, 'Oaat?,"Avatn?. It is strange that
it is not found again untilit appears in Coptic, afteran interval of
morethan2,000years. In Egyptian uhatwouldperhapsmean a
"caldron,"or it might be connected with a root meaningto "cut
down" and to " quarry."
In another portion of his inscription Herkhufis said to have
broughta dwarf dancer^v ===. '^^O^ 3 3 3 "from the land
of the Spirits." Thisrecallsthe fiaKapuiv w/iro?of Herodotus, " the
islandof the blessed " which, accordingto the old historian, was
the Greek renderingof the native nameof an oasis, distantseven
daysjourneythroughthe desert fromThebes. Theone name is
almostthe translation of the other, ftaicapwvbeingan excellent ren
deringof aakhu; and when we remember Herkhuf'sexpeditionto the
west,therecan be little doubtthat he brought his dancer fromsome
tribein the Libyan desert,if not from the Great Oasisitself.
The friendly relationswiththe negroes of the South indicatedin
these inscriptionsof the Vlth dynastyis very marked. Una'sarmy
is largely recruited fromthem: their kingsmeetthe king of Egypt
at the first cataract and " smell the ground in homage to him " (see
the graffiti copiedby Professor Sayceon the spot, Rec. de trav., XV,
p. 147) : Herkhuf curriesfavourwiththem,and his services obtain
recognition fromthe negro rulersas well as from Pharaoh. The
" four tribes" of Uauat, Amam,Arthetand Sethu (Meza?) seem to
be hinted at again in the inscription of Ameny at Beni-hasan (Xllth
- Hdt., Bk. iii, cap. 26.
51