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Dr. E. A. Wallis Budge. On the Orientation 



according to any definite plan, and to put on record for the use of 

 those interested in the subje:t such notes and figures as I was able to 

 make. 



The pyramid fields of the Sudan may be enumerated as follows : — 

 (1) Kurru, (2) Zuma, (3) Tankassi, (4) Gebel Barkal, (5) Nuri or 

 Nawari, (6) Merawi, i.e., the Meroe of the Greeks. The pyramids 

 which stood upon these sites of which any remains at all exist are in 

 number about two hundred, and it is quite certain that those which 

 have been destroyed may be reckoned at another two hundred at least. 

 But a pyramid field to be useful for working out the theory of orienta- 

 tion according to a certain plan must possess certain characteristics, 

 such as the following : — (1) The pyramids upon it must be in a good 

 state of preservation at their bases, and all should not, if possible, be 

 oriented in the same direction. (2) One or more temples should be 

 either on or near the pyramid field, so that the direction of the orienta- 

 tion of both kinds of buildings may be readily compared. Now, every 

 pyramid which I have seen in the Sudan, with the exception of those 

 of Nuri, consists not of a solid mass of cut stones carefully built up 

 with a funeral chamber inside it, but of a core formed of a mixture of 

 stones, sand, and lime which has been surrounded with a casing of 

 stones, each measuring about 18 inches by 12 inches by 10 inches. It 

 seems to me that the core was first built, and the casing of cut stones 

 put round it afterwards. Curiously enough, every pyramid, with the 

 exception of those at Nun, is truncated, and it is this peculiarity 

 which has worked its ruin. For the rain has run through the flat 

 layer of stones at the top in large quantities, and in passing between 

 the stones at the sides, which are built without mortar, has taken with 

 it the lime and sand from the inside a hollow has thus been formed 

 round the core, and the stones, aided by the furious winds which rage 

 in the Sudan at certain times of the year, have by their own weight 

 fallen in upon it. Sometimes the casing has been built at too steep an 

 angle, and the upper parts of the sides have fallen in or fallen out, as 

 the case may be. 



Yet another reason for the ruin of the Sudan pyramids must be 

 mentioned. The stones of which the sides are built, unlike the stones 

 which form the pyramids of Egypt, are relatively small, and the 

 natives have found them to be admirably adapted for certain purposes. 

 As a result they have been filched from their places, and used to make 

 the foundations of water-wheel supports and of houses, and also to line 

 the shallow trenches in which the Muhammadans have buried their 

 dead for countless generations. Thus the pyramids have, one by one, 

 been stripped of their stone coverings, and the wind and rain together 

 have beaten the cores so much out of shape that it is sometimes diffi- 

 cult, if not impossible, to distinguish them from small natural hills. 

 The pyramids which have been built in the mountains, or at any great 



