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after a journey of ten hours, the ruins of Nagaa are reached; these are usually called by the natives of the district, Muṣawwarât* an-Nagaa, i.e., the 'sculptures of Nagaa,' as opposed to the Muṣawwarât al-Kirbîkân, i.e., the sculptures of Bâ Nagaa in the Wâdî Kirbîkân, and the Musawwarât as-Sufra, i.e., the sculptures of the Wâdî as-Sufra. The ruins consist of the remains of at least seven temples, and there is no doubt that they belong to the late Ptolemaic or early Roman period. The reliefs here illustrate how closely the architects and masons tried to copy Egyptian models, and the cartouches show that the kings, whoever they were, adopted prenomens formed on the same lines as those used by the old kings of Egypt. The gods worshipped were the same as those of Napata and other Nubian cities, but there are here in addition to them a god with three lion's heads, a god with rays emanating from his head (Apollo or Helios ?), and a god resembling in form Jupiter Sarapis. Before satisfactory plans of the temples could be drawn, excavations and clearances on a large scale would have to be made.

Twelve miles from Nagaa, in a north-easterly direction, is a comparatively small circular valley, which, because it resembles in shape a circular brass tray, is called Aş-Şufra. Here are the Muṣawwarât aș-Șufra, or ruins of a group of buildings enclosed within walls, without inscriptions and without reliefs, which, according to Hoskins, measured 760 feet by 660 feet; there were no entrances on any side except the north-west, where there were three. The walls enclosed five or six small temples, in one of which were several pillars. Cailliaud thought that the ruins of the main building were those of a school, and Hoskins of a hospital, while Lepsius offered no opinion;

Arabic sculptures, bas-reliefs, images, paintings, and the like.

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but it is useless to theorize until systematic excavations have shown what the plan of the group of buildings actually was. These ruins are about 50 minutes' ride from Bir Nagaa, i.e., the Well of Nagaa.' This well is very deep, and its sides are lined with stone. Representatives of all the tribes who pasture their flocks in the neighbouring deserts come here and draw up water in goat skins, which are tied at the four corners, and pour it into the shallow troughs scooped in the ground, wherefrom the animals drink. Women, as well as men, arrayed in scanty garments, draw water, and when a number of them are hard at work, and the ground round about the well is covered with flocks, the traveller has before him a phase of desert life which once seen will never be forgotten.

About 1 miles distant are the ruins of a small temple with reliefs, on which men are depicted riding elephants, lions, panthers, and other wild animals; all the ruins in this neighbourhood seem to belong to the Roman period. From Shendî an almost direct route runs to Nagaa, distance about 30 miles, and there is another to As-Sufra, distance about 26 miles.

At mile 511 Al-Mêga is passsed. Near Gebel Gari, 525 miles from Wadi Halfa, begins the Sixth Cataract, commonly called the Shablûka Cataract; it begins at the north end of Mernat Island, on which General Gordon's steamer, the 'Bordein,' was wrecked on January 31st, 1885, and extends to Gebel Rawyân, a distance of 11 miles. At the entrance to the Shablûka gorge, the channel turns sharply to the east, and is only 200 yards wide; in July the rate of the current through this channel exceeds 10 miles per hour. The Dervishes guarded the northern end of the channel by five forts, four on the western, and one on the eastern bank. From this point to Omdurman there is little to be seen of general interest. At mile 538 the Station of Rawyan is passed, and at mile 547 is Wad

Ramla; near the latter place is Gêli, where Zuber Pâshâ has taken up his abode. At mile 560 is Kubâlâb. The hills of Kerreri, seven miles from Omdurmân, on the west bank, mark the site of the great Battle of Omdurmân, which took place on Friday, September 2nd, 1898, when the Khalifa's army was practically annihilated; on the same day the Sirdar marched into the city of Omdurmân, and the rule of the Khalifa was at an end.

At mile 575 from Wâdî Ḥalfa the station of Halfâya is reached. Halfâya owes whatever importance it may possess to the fact that it is the terminus of the railway, for the native village has always been insignificant. It lies on the right bank of the Blue Nile, a little above Tuti Island, and is exactly opposite Khartûm. There is no bridge, at present, across the river, but the passage by steam ferry is short Borings are now being made in the river-bed with the view of finding a suitable place for a bridge to connect Ḥalfâya (Khartûm North) and Kharțûm. It is also intended to build a bridge to join Kharțûm and Omdurmân.

The town of Omdurman, or more correctly Umm Durman, 200 miles from the Atbara, population 50,000, was, in the year 1882, nothing but a small village lying nearly opposite to Khartûm, with very few inhabitants, most of whom were brigands. The huts were made of straw and palm branches, and resembled those of most of the other unimportant villages in the Sûdân. Near this village General Gordon built a fort, which was called Omdurman Fort,' and, with the forts on Tûtî Island, it formed the chief external defences of Kharțûm. He placed in command of it Faragalla Pâshâ, who had been promoted by Gordon from the rank of captain to that of general officer in one year. In January, 1885: the Mahdi detailed Abû Anga and Fadl al-Mawla to besiege the fort, and the former succeeded in entrenching himself between it and the river. When the food and

ammunition came to an end, Faragalla signalled to Gordon for instructions, and as Gordon could do nothing to support this brave man, he told him to capitulate. This was done, and the fort fell into the Mahdi's hands on 15th January, 1885. The Mahdi called the town "AlBuk'ah," ie., "the country (of the Mahdi)." After the fall of Khartûm on 26th January, 1885, the Khalifa occupied Omdurmân, and made it the centre of his power in everyway. He declared that it was the sacred city of the Mahdî, notwithstanding the fact that the Mahdi had said it was only a temporary camp, as the Prophet had revealed to him that he should depart this life in Syria, after conquering Egypt and Arabia. As soon as the Khalifa had settled in Omdurmân, the village began to grow into a town, and it extended subsequently along the river bank for a distance of six miles, being about three miles wide in its widest part. The length of the town is accounted for by the fact that everybody wished to live as near the river as possible, so that he might obtain water easily. The mosque was originally an oblong enclosure surrounded by a mud wall 460 yards long and 350 yards wide: subsequently a building was made of burnt bricks, which were whitewashed. The Khalifa next built brick houses for himself, his brother, and his son Yakub, and he proclaimed that all the town south of the mosque was his own private property; the ground on the north of it he gave to Khalifa Sherif and 'Ali Wâd-Helu. Yakub's house lay to the east of that of the Khalifa. The compound of the Khalifa's House is enclosed by a high wall built of red bricks, and is subdivided into several smaller centres, each of which is in communication with another; his private apartments are quite close to the mosque, which he entered through a large door in the eastern wall. Passing through the main gate a porch is reached, which leads into a small court with two rooms; from this court a door opens into the private apartments. The buildings in the compound have

verandahs, and on one of these the Khalifa built a second story, on all four sides of which are windows: thus the occupant can see what is going on in every part of the town. The furniture of the Khalifa's house consisted of brass and iron beds, with mosquito curtains, carpets, silk-covered cushions, curtains, etc. His son Yakub's house was furnished with still greater luxury, and it contained chandeliers which were stolen from Gordon's palace at Khartûm. A granite tablet let into a wall close by marks the spot where the Hon. H. G. L. Howard, special correspondent of the New York Herald and Times, was struck by the fragment of a shell and killed in September, 1898.

Near Yakub's house is the Bêt al-Amâna, or Arsenal, where all the munitions of war were stored, and near it were the buildings in which the Emîrs' flags and the Khalifa's war drums were kept. The Bêt al-Mål, or Treasury, is on the north side of the town, near the river, and its enclosure covers a large area. The Prison is in the south-east quarter, near the river, and was provided with a high wall; in the inner court the Khalifa had built a number of mud and stone huts, in which horrible cruelties were perpetrated. These huts had no windows, and each night crowds of wretched prisoners were driven into them until they were filled to the utmost, and then the doors were locked upon them. Many poor creatures died of suffocation, and many were maimed for life as the result of the fighting and struggling which went on in these huts. The site of the Slave Market is to the south of the Bêt al-Mâl, and the sale of slaves was organized there by Ibrahîm Adlân, the Khalifa's collector of revenues, who levied a tax on every purchaser of a slave. The proceeds of this abominable and detestable traffic were considerable, even though girls were sold for as little as the equivalent of about thirty shillings, and rarely for more than the equivalent of £5. Adlân was notorious as the coiner of the Khalifa's quarter, half, and whole dollars,

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