One state alone appeared to regret the revival of the Imperial power; this was the kingdom of Libya. It had continued to increase in size since the days of Mînephtah, and its population had been swelled by the annexation of several strange tribes inhabiting the vast area of the Sahara. One of these, the Mashaûasha, acquired the ascendency among these desert races owing to their numbers and valour, and together with the other tribes--the Sabati, the Kaiakasha, the Shaîû, the Hasa, the Bikana, and the Qahaka*--formed a confederacy, which now threatened Egypt on the west. This federation was conducted by Didi, Mashaknû, and Mâraîû, all children of that Mâraîû who had led the first Libyan invasion, and also by Zamarû and Zaûtmarû, two princes of less important tribes.** Their combined forces had attacked Egypt for the second time during the years of anarchy, and had gained possession one after another of all the towns in the west of the Delta, from the neighbourhood of Memphis to the town of Qarbîna: the Canopic branch of the Nile now formed the limit of their dominion, and they often crossed it to devastate the central provinces.***
* This enumeration is furnished by the summary of the campaigns of Ramses III. in _The Great Harris Papyrus_. The Sabati of this text are probably identical with the people of the Sapudiu or Spudi (Asbytse), mentioned on one of the pylons of Medinet-Habû.
** The relationship is nowhere stated, but it is thought to be probable from the names of Didi and Mâraîû, repeated in both series of inscriptions.
*** The town of Qarbîna has been identified with the Canopus of the Greeks, and also with the modern Korbani; and the district of Gautu, which adjoined it, with the territory of the modern town of Edkô. Spiegel-berg throws doubt on the identification of Qarbu or Qarbîna, with Canopus. Révillout prefers to connect Qarbîna with Heracleopolis Parva in Lower Egypt.