buried, as one would expect, in a chamber below the surface of the ground, but in a small chamber within the masonry of the pyramid, near the top. One good result attended this

pouvant plus résister à l'ardeur du soleil, dont les brûlants rayons donnaient jusq'à 48° de Réaumur, [i.e., 60° Centigrade, and 140° Fahrenheit], j'allai me reposer avec M. Stefani à l'ombre d'une pyramide voisine. Tout-à-coup je fus appelé par mon fidèle domestique. J'accourus avec mon ami au haut du monument . . . et je sentis déjà mon cœur s'ouvrir à la douce espérance . . Je vois mon domestique couché sur son ventre, sur l'emplacement qu'il avait pratiqué, et cherchant à couvrir de son corps l'ouverture qui venait d'être découverte. Les noirs, poussés par la cupidité, voulaient à toute force chasser mon domestique et plonger leurs mains avides dans le fond de l'ouverture . . . Nous fimes bonne contenance, et les armes à la main, nous les forçâmes de descendre; nous appellâmes d'autres domestiques de confiance, et nous fîmes continuer la fouille en notre présence. L'ouverture nous laissait entrevoir un vide qui contenait des objets que nous ne pouvions distinguer. Ce vide, ou cellule, était formé de grandes pierres grossièrement assemblées. Nous fîmes enlever les pierres les plus larges qui couvraient le plan supérieur, et nous reconnûmes une cellule ayant la forme d'un carré long et composée de grosses pierres superposées qui formaient les quatre murs latéraux correspondant aux gradins de la pyramide. Cette cellule avait quatre pieds de hauteur sur six ou sept de longueur. La première chose qui frappa nos regards ce fut un grand corps couvert d'un tissu en coton d'une éclatante blancheur qui, à peine touché, tomba en poussière. C'était une espèce de table ou autel, soutenue par quatre pieds cylindriques et entourée d'une balustrade de barreaux en bois, grands et petits alternativement placés. Ces barreaux étaient sculptés et représentaient des figures symboliques. C'est sous cette table que se trouva le vase en bronze . . . qui contenait les objets. précieux enveloppés dans du linge semblable à celui dont je viens de parler. Près du vase et sur le plan de la cellule, étaient symé triquement disposés, au moyen de fils, des colliers, des pâtes en verre,, des pierres de couleur, etc. Il y avait aussi quelques talismans, de petites idoles, un étui cylindrique en métal, de petites boîtes travaillées au tour remplies d'une matière pulvérisée dont je donne plus loin l'analyse, une scie, un ciseau, et plusieurs autres objets dont j'ai donné la description dans mon catalogue.”—J. Ferlini, Relation Historique des fouilles opérées dans la Nubie ; Rome, 1838.

'lucky find,' for it became certain that the period when the jewellery was placed in the pyramid was Roman, and the inscriptions showed that the queen for whom the pyramid was built was the great queen who is depicted on the walls of the ruins at Nagaa with rich decorations and pointed nails almost an inch long. The ill result that followed the discovery was the destruction of several pyramids by treasure seekers, and Lepsius relates that when he was there Osman Bey, who was leading back his army of 5,000 men from Tâka, offered him the help of his battalions to pull down all the pyramids, in order to find treasure as Ferlini had done.

In 1903 the writer excavated a number of the pyramids of Meroë for the Sirdar and Governor-General of the Sûdân, Sir F. R. Wingate, who was especially anxious to examine the method of their construction. It was found in every case that the cores of the pyramids were made of rubble, and that there was no chamber of any sort or kind in them. The dead kings and queens were buried in chambers under the pyramids, and few, if any, were mummified; some of the funeral chambers only contained pots, wherein were the remains of bodies which had been burned. The writer is of opinion that the statements made by Ferlini are the result of misapprehension on his part, and that he was not acquainted with all the facts concerning the discovery of the jewellery which, he declared, was found in a pyramid at Мегоё. It is possible that his 'find' consisted of jewellery and other objects which had been hidden by thieves in some portion of a pyramid in ancient days, but it could never have been found in a chamber near the top of a pyramid at Meroë, for the cores were not sufficiently well built to allow of a chamber being made inside them. A discussion of the evidence will be found in the first volume of the writer's History of the Egyptian Súdân.

The following is a brief description of the Pyramids of Groups A and B :

A. Northern Group.

No. 1. The step- pyramid of Queen Kenthäḥebit

www

1498), whose name Lepsius believed to be

the original of the "Candace" of classical authors. She

was also called Amen-rit (8). The reliefs

in the chapel are of considerable interest, and many of them will be familiar to the visitor who has examined the tombs in Egypt. This pyramid is probably one of the oldest of the group.

The

No. 2. In a very dilapidated state; the figures on the west wall of the chapel were mutilated in Cailliaud's time. Some of the figures in the reliefs were coloured. chapel has been used as a sleeping place by many natives, who have left graffiti behind them, and some of the stones have been injured by bees. In front of the door a set of iron fetters was dug up in 1903, and it was thought that they were of the class used by the Dervishes for captives of the better class; they are now in the museum at Kharṭum. On the outside of the north wall of the chapel are sculptured some fine figures of Sûdânî bulls.

No. 3. A pyramid much ruined; the chapel is without reliefs and inscriptions.

No. 4. Pyramid of Åmen.

-akha:

ת

No. 5. Pyramid of Årkenkherel

whose prenomen was Ãnkh-ka-Ra (of U). The inside

walls of the chapel are ornamented with reliefs which refer to

the making of funeral offerings, and the performance of religious ceremonies on behalf of the dead by the STEM priest. On the north wall, in tabular form, are all the vignettes save one of the CXLIVth Chapter of the Book of the Dead, and on the south wall is the Judgment Scene. Over the door inside is cut in large letters "P.C. Letorzec, 1820," ie., the name of Calliaud's fellow traveller. The king for whom this pyramid was built was a priest of Osiris, and he probably lived during the early part of the Ptolemaic Period.

No. 6. Pyramid of Queen Amon-Shipelta (?).

nearly 80 feet high. It was pulled down by Ferlini, an Italian, who declared that he found in a chamber near the top the collection of jewellery, one portion of which was purchased by the Berlin Museum, and the other by the Antiquarium at Munich. Half way down, in the middle of the pyramid, he stated that he also found two bronze vessels, with handles, of very fine workmanship. A portion of the chapel, with a vaulted roof, still remains, and on the walls there exist still reliefs in which the queen who had the pyramid built, is seen wearing a number of elaborate ornaments of curious and interesting workmanship. On the face of the pylon of the chapel may still be traced figures of the queen in the act of spearing her enemies.

No. 7. Pyramid of Murtek

who was

surnamed "Alu-Åmen, the ever-living, beloved of Isis. the angle-stones of the tenth layer from the ground are cut the two eyes of Horus, each of which looks toward the chapel The walls of the chapel are ornamented

with vignettes and texts from the Saïte, or Ptolemaic, Recension of the Book of the Dead.

No. 8. A large, well-built pyramid; the chapel is buried under the stones, sand, etc., which have fallen from its top.

No. 9. A large pyramid, the east side of which is in a state of collapse. The chapel is built of massive stones, but contains neither inscriptions nor reliefs. It is probable that the sepulchral chamber beneath the pyramid was never occupied.

No. 10. The pyramid which stood here was removed in ancient days. Portions of the chapel still remain, and from these we see that its walls were ornamented with the Judgment Scene from the Book of the Dead, the weighing of the heart, and representations of funeral ceremonies.

No. II. This is the largest sepulchral monument on the Island of Meroë. The pyramid was about 80 feet high, and is about 65 feet square, and it is formed of well-cut stones, The buildings in front of it, which consisted, when complete of a fore-court, a pylon, a hall, and a chapel, were about 80 feet long, so that the total length of the monument was nearly 150 feet. In 1903 the hall and the greater part of the chapel were cleared out by Captain Lewin, R.F.A., Captain Drake, R.F.A., and myself, and the rest of the chapel was emptied in 1905 by Mr. J. W. Crowfoot and myself. In the latter year the sculptures from the west wall of the chapel, and other objects were found, and were taken to Kharțûm. The north and south walls of the chapel were removed stone by stone, the former being sent by Sir Reginald Wingate's orders to Khartûm, and the latter to the British Museum, where it has been built up at the south end of the Egyptian Gallery. The reliefs on both the north and south walls of the chapel are very elaborate, and are the finest examples of Meroitic funeral sculpture known.

Nos. 12 and 13. The chapels of these pyramids have not been cleared out.