302 JOURNEY TO CENTRAL AFRICA.

brilliant plumage, and the vegetable world was rich and gorgeous beyond description. The Consul remained but a short time here, and then travelled westward to the town of Abou-Harass on the Blue Nile, visiting on the way a curious isolated mountain, called Djebel Attesh. Near Abou-Harass are "the ruins of an ancient Christian town, probably dating from the fourth or fifth century, about which time Christianity, previously planted in Abyssinia, began to advance northward towards Nubia. The Consul obtained from the Governor of Abou-Harass three iron crosses of a peculiar form, a number of beads which had belonged to a rosary, and a piece of incense— all of which were found in removing the bricks used to build the Pasha's palace and other edifices in Khartoum. The room which I occupied during my stay in Khartoum was paved with the same bricks. These remains are in curious contrast with the pyramids of Meroe and the temples of Mesowurat.

The Christian and Egyptian Faiths, advancing towards each other, almost met on these far fields.

The former kingdom of Sennaar included the country between the two Niles — except the territory of the Shillooks — as far south as lat. 12°. It is bounded by Abyssinia on the east, and by the mountains of the savage Galla tribes, on the south. The Djezeereh (Island) el JEfoye, as the country between the rivers is called, is for the most part a plain of grass.

Towards the south, there are some low ranges of hills, followed by other plains, which extend to the unknown mountain region, and abound with elephants and lions. The town of Sennaar, once the capital of this region and the residence of its Meks or Kings, is now of little importance. It was described to me as a collection of mud huts, resembling Shendy. The Egyptian