NAGA— MERGE. 



247 



The remains of the town in which Cailliaud recognised in 1821 the ancient 

 Meroë, " capital of Ethiopia," stand 30 miles below Shendi, a few miles from the 

 rio-ht bank of the Nile ; in the midst of these ruins are scattered a few villages, 

 amongst others that of Es- Sûr, which gives its name to the tarabil, or pyramids. 

 The pylons, temples, colonnades, avenues of animals and statues are still standing ; 

 but the sandstone of Meroë, excavated from the neighbouring quarries, is not so 

 durable as that of Egypt. The pyramids, to the number of about eighty, are 



Fig. 81. — Pyhamids of Meroë. 

 Scale 1 : 125,000. 



^ek. ne 



^-.♦w;.-*»^ 



.#^^* 



a Kubosh'yo 



^--w 



s^f 





i%;« 



55''50' 



L . dt IjreenwioK 



55 MO' 



3 Miles. 



divided into three groups, and mostly stand on hills ; not having been undermined 

 by stagnant waters, tlicse edifices have resisted the ravages of time better than the 

 buildings on the plain. Still none of the pyramids are intact, most of them 

 having been damaged by curiosity-hunters. When accompanying a military 

 expedition to this place, Lepsius with great difficulty prevented the systematic 

 destruction of all the monuments of Meroë. In magnitude the Ethiopian pyramids 

 will not bear comparison with those of Egypt ; the largest are less than 66 feet 

 square, and many do not exceed 13 feet in height. 



