ARABS LIKE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 17 The camel-drivers, who mostly belong to the Hadendowa tribe, live on the mainland. Most of them wear long hair standing up straight on the crown of the head, and of a fine but woolly texture, while that at the back of the head generally reaches to the shoulders, and is sometimes worn in plaits : when properly dressed, the whole is covered with fat, and a wooden skewer, by way of comb, stuck in it. We saw one or two men with their heads covered with fat that had been mixed with grated sandalwood, and presented a red-ochre appearance : these, we were informed, were about to enter the marriagestate.

The hair is, with all Arabs, a source of pride ; and the men of various tribes may frequently be distinguished by little differences in their mode of dressing it. No traveller in these parts can fail to be struck by the great similarity in physique, and general appearance, of many of the wandering tribes of Arabs, to the ancient Egyptians as depicted on the walls of their temples and tombs. The mode of wearing the hair is identical ; the curious little wooden pillows they use for their heads when sleeping are exactly of the same form and make as those which may be seen in museums containing ancient Egyptian curiosities ; as, too, are also the chairs that they use. A very intelligent Greek, whom we afterwards met in Cassala, and who had given some attention to the study of the language spoken by the Hadendowa Arabs in the neighbouring country, and had, moreover, some knowledge of hieroglyphics, told us that there was often a striking similarity in many of their words.

My brother Arthur in 1877 made the journey from Souakim to Cassala ; meeting the rest of the party, who had taken the Nile route, in the interior. He had with him a Hadendowa Arab, who had originally started as guide to the caravan from