Page:The Pharaohs and their people; scenes of old Egyptian life and history (IA pharaohstheirpeo00berkiala).pdf/240

 No inscriptions or records have, as yet, been found relating to the long sojourn of the Israelites in Egypt, to the oppression, or to the exodus, though there can be little doubt that some of the highest interest might be brought to light were the exploration of the historic sites of the Delta undertaken in earnest. The chief event recorded of the reign of Menephtah is connected with the western boundary. On the north-east the frontier district bristled with fortresses, where sentinels kept their daily and nightly watch. The great military route that started thence was well guarded, and a regular communication kept up with the Egyptian garrisons, which were still maintained in some parts of Syria. By the same road there was a constant commercial intercourse with Phœnicia, and probably also to some extent with the distant Khetan allies;—we find, at any rate, from an incidental allusion, that during a famine in that land, the lives of the people were saved by corn sent from Egypt at Menephtah's direction. But on the western