CHAPTER 7The Egyptian ships built sturdily of cedar wood turned into the bay, wind filling their sails and the oarsmen using their great oars merely to steer. It seemed that a thousand small canoes were bobbing towards them on the water, and every cliff and rock on shore as far as the eye could see was crowded with black figures watching their approach. The crews were tired and nervous, but the captains were dressed in clean, crisp linen, hair well oiled and dressed, standing in the prow of each ship, ready for whatever the encounter with these foreigners might bring.
This was the first time an official Egyptian expedition had visited the land of Punt since very ancient times. The trade in precious gold, incense and myrrh was usually carried laboriously overland to Nubia, and thence over
