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The Monuments of Rameses The: Cush

Thus spake the chiefs of Okau; then a great dignitary, the second in the empire, the viceroy of Ethiopia, came forward to sustain their request with the weight of his opinion. "It is but too true," said the royal son of Cush.

In their country the grass has been burned since the reign of the gods, and all the Pharaohs, thy predecessors, desired that a well should be dug on the borders of the road that leads thither, but their wish was in vain. At the command of Seti, of glorious memory, search was made to the depth of one hundred and twenty cubits for the sheet of water intended to refresh the soil: it did not reach the surface. But thou, if thou saidst to Hapi-Mou, thy father and the father of the gods: Cause the water to cover the face of the desert! it would be as it is with all thy words, all thy orders which are fulfilled in thy very presence. If they are instantly obeyed is it not because thou art dear to the gods of thy ancestors above all the monarchs that have reigned since the sun?"

To the royal son of Cush, and to the chiefs of the country of Okau, Rameses replied: "Your request is just; as you have declared, there has been no well dug near this road since the reign of the gods; and, it is my will that a well shall be made there to yield water without ceasing, as though it sprang from the exhaustless bosom of the Nile. The gods who heap their favors upon me, and who have flooded my heart with joy, will help me in this circumstance. Under their protecting auspices, I proclaim, then, the order to pierce a living well at one of the intermediate stations of the road that leads from the Nile to Okau. Let this order, copied by the scribes on duty, be reproduced and published by the aid of the chief of the transcribing bureau, in my double dwelling of light, and let a copy of the order be sent to the royal son of my land of Cush, who continues charged with its execution."