of the Pyramids and Temples in the Sudan. 



343 



to guess at without clearing away the tens of thousands of tons of sand 

 with which the whole site is covered. That at the X.E. end of the 

 held is of considerable interest, for it shows traces of a rebuilding, 

 during which the orientation angle was altered. We have seen that 

 tihe pyramid field of Gebel Barkal represented the royal necropolis of 

 the city of Xapata on the north ; to what city, then, did the pyramids 

 of Xuri belong 1 In the absence of the definite knowledge which can 

 oryly be obtained by excavating, we shall probably be right in regard- 

 ing the pyramid field of Xuri as the royal necropolis of the city the 

 remains of which now lie beneath the sand at Senem-abu-D6m. This 

 city was certainly older than Xapata, and therefore the pyramids 

 which form the tombs of its royal rulers are older than those of Gebel 

 Barkal or of any of the other sites which lie further to the south. A 

 remarkable fact is that all the pyramids at Xuri, of which tolerably 

 accurate compass bearings can be taken, are oriented 129° from the 

 true north, and that is the angle of orientation of the " step " pyramid 

 at Gebel Barkal. - From archaeological considerations the pyramids, 

 including those built with steps, which have this angle of orientation 

 should be older than those which have a different angle. The temples in 

 Nubia and other countries, including Egypt, which have this angle of 

 orientation, are as old as the period which lies between the Xllth and 

 XVIIIth dynasties, and I therefore think that the pyramids of Xuri, at 

 least the oldest of them, are considerably older than all the pyramids 

 at Gebel Barkal, with the exception of the "step" pyramid. There is 

 another point to mention : the pyramids at Xuri are on the left bank 

 of the Xile, like all the ancient pyramids of Egypt, and I think this 

 is a strong proof of their great antiquity. With the making of measure- 

 ments of the pyramids, and a careful examination of the ruined 

 shrines in the hope of finding inscriptions, my work at Xuri in 1897 

 came to an end. 



Towards the end of last year I left England for the Sudan, and 

 "before the end of December, thanks to the facilities afforded me by the 

 Sirdar, I arrived at the Atbara Biver. In due course I was sent on to 

 a place called Begrawiyyeh, from where I was able to examine the 

 remains of the temples and pyramids which mark the site of the 

 ancient city of Meroe, and of the home of the great queens who ruled 

 there under the name of " Candace." From the spot where I landed, 

 the ruins of the great temple of Meroe are about one and a half miles 

 distant ; by the side of them, running nearly due north and south, is 

 the old Khartum road, and in a line almost due east lie two groups of 

 pyramids, at a distance of about four and a half miles from the river 

 as the crow flies. The shekh of the district, Muhammad Amin, who 

 had been an officer of some rank under General Gordon, gave me 

 every assistance in his power, but the country had been so ravaged 

 and wasted by the Dervishes led by Mahmud under the Khalifa's 



