MERAWI IN 1897 and then advance towards each other, and retire, and raise their right hands to each other, and sing and utter cries for half an hour at a time. Dancing among many Oriental peoples was regarded as an act of devotion, and among African folk generally it was, and still is, cultivated to an unusual degree. One of the oldest Egyptian objects extant, namely, the wooden plaque of king Semti, now preserved in the British Museum, represents this king dancing before the god Osiris, and we know that Usertsen I. danced before the ithyphallic god Menu, and Seti I. before the goddess Nekhebet.

Again, Pepi I., a king of the Vlth Dynasty, declares in one of the texts ~ cut on his pyramid that he will be " the pygmy who danceth " for the god [Osiris] and who maketh " glad the heart before the great "throne." That the Hebrews regarded dancing as an act of worship is proved by the fact that David danced before the Ark of the Lord (2 • Samuel vi. 16). Whether the Sudani folk at the present day know exactly what their dances mean it would be hard to say, but it is probable that they do ; in any case, it is to be hoped that this and many another anthropological question may be finally answered now that British officials are being stationed at all important places in the Sudan.

The amusements of the officers at Merawi were almost as limited as those of the " blacks." The little gatherings which took place on the river bank near the huts of the Intelligence Department each evening were an important feature of the day, for thither came the officers commanding the Battalions, and the officers of the Artillery, Cavalry, and Camel Corps. The SUDANI HARP.

' See Fourth Egyptian Room, Table-Case L, No. 32650. from about B.C. 4200.

Recueil de Travaux, tom. vii., p. 162, line 401.

This object dates