240 



REPORT OF THEMICAL LABORATORY 



of the site, has been very siiuill — about a foot in a thousand years — and this is on high 

 ground, whii'h is niori' likely to have bcconic denuded than eovereiJ. 



" The use of asbestos as a funeral shroud is, so far as I know, unparalleled ; it suggests 

 that the deeeasud looked forward to some fiery ordeal, but these grim expectations are 

 coMinion to both (Christians ami Muslims. 



" The absence of traditions about the place shows that it is not iiuite recent, but we know 

 so little about the history of the Sudan that one cannot say at what period the people who 

 lived here Well- so advanced as to have learnt the properties of asbestos, and how to weave it 

 into a winding-sheet. 



" Further excavation will nrtainly tell us whether this cemetery is Muslim or not." 



Ancient Gilukd Pottkuy 



" Gilding " of 



ancient 



potiery 



Mica as gilding 

 material 



Two fragments of ancient pottery covered with a dull golden coloured substance were 

 submitted for examination by Jlr. Crowfoot. The gilding was found to consist of a rather 

 tine scaly powder of golden-coloured mica. So far as I am aware this is the only instance of 

 mica having been employed for such purpose. The following notes have been furnished by 

 Mr. Crowfoot : — 



" Both these fragments of pottery came from the Haifa province. 



" One was found inside the small temple on Gezirat Al Malik, an island near Senna. 

 This temple was probably begun under the middle Empire, as a stele of Usertses III. was 

 found against it, but the decoration, and at least one figure found inside it, belonged to the 

 18th Dynasty. The vase from which this fragment comes was a long-necked wheel-made 

 vase of red well-levigated clay, and was painted with the gold coloured dust inside and 

 outside. 



" The second fragment was picked up inside the walls of the old fort at Shelfak, between 

 Senna anil Sarras ; it is of rather coarser clay than the first. Nothing is known as to the 

 date of this fort, but it probably belongs to old Egyptian days." 



Gunpowder madk hy thk Khalifa 



Khalifat 

 gunpowder 



The following results were obtained from the examination of a sample of gunpowder 

 made in the time of the Khalifa. The sample was obtained from the Department of Works, 

 the powder now being used for blasting. 



Cluircoai . . . . . . 13'9 per cent. 



Sulphur . . . . . . 10'5 „ 



Nitn 75-6 



Tota 



lOUil 



The nitre is of very fair quality, containing very little impurity. The powder is well 

 mixed, but the grains are rather irregular in size. 



The above figures are well within the limits of ordinary gunpowder, which is usually a 

 mixture of 75 parts of nitre with 12* to 15 parts of charcoal and lU to I'iA parts of 

 sulphur. 



