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THE ELEMENTS OF PRIMAEVAL FINANCE. 121and valuation of the goods of Kameses III given by theHarris Papyrus.9Beyond equalbarter on the basis of the standardvalue? there would be no need for a self-supportingcountry to go. In fact, we know that Egypt never feltthe need of a coinage before it became thoroughly subjugatedto the customs of the Greeks. Itfollows, therefore,that foreign trade did not enter into Egyptianinternal politics,and that the acquisitionof wealth,other than the natural produce of the land, was not anobject in life to the ordinary Egyptian.Egyptian foreign trade was of a distinctly limitednature. No foreign merchants were allowed to havea depot within the country. Naukratis, the firstopenport, was a concession to the Greeks in the fourthcentury B.C. Foreigners were only allowed to settletemporarily in the Delta. There is, however, noevidence that even they were other than shepherds.The "Shepherd" Kings of the middle dynasties wereprobably members of these races, who gained an entryinto the country by false pretences. There is, however,at present no sufficient evidence of their identity.The great expeditions to foreign parts undertaken bythe Egyptians were usually royal enterprises, and noelement of general trade entered into their economy.When undertaken by others, they would, more oftenthan not, take the form of private ventures, or predatoryexpeditions, such as the men of Devon and Cornwallused to fit out in the sixteenth century of our era. Thepersons involved were the principals, and not agents ;the object of the expedition was for some specific want,9Breasted, Ancient Records, iv. 151 seq.