KHARTUM and, advancing to Lord Cromer, placed it on his head, saying as they did so formulae which were probably many centuries old, and had been repeated from time immemorial over the heads of newly-crowned Shilluk and Dinka kings. His Lordship having made a fitting answer, the crown was removed.

Now as Lord Cromer had become a Shilluk king, he was obliged to receive from his subjects the gifts which testified to their loyalty and service. The Delegates therefore produced a few small elephants' tusks and other things, and laid them at his feet, uttering appropriate words of homage as they did so. It was now Lord Cromer's turn to make gifts to his subjects and " children," and in answer to a sign from him some Egyptian soldiers came forward with rolls of Sudani cloth, and some gaudily coloured Manchester stuffs, &c., and he and the Sirdar gave to every man a useful gift. Special care was taken to give each of the Shilluk and Dinka women a very liberal allowance of the brightflowered stuffs, and they were so delighted with their new apparel that they wanted to undress and wind the strips of stuff round their bodies then and there ! The tusks which the Delegates had brought as tribute and the other gifts were returned to them as bakshtsJi, and the Shilluks and the Dinkas went down the steps in great happiness.

Before I left Khartum, a few days later, Sir Reginald Wingate thoroughly discussed the question of excavations at the Pyramids of Bagrawiya, He was most anxious to preserve all the ancient remains in the Sudan, whether Pagan or Christian, and declared it to be his intention to investigate the sites of the ancient cities as soon as possible. However, nothing could be done that winter, for the want of population in the country formed one of the most serious of the difficulties which the Government had to contend with, and there was no money available to import labour from Egypt. Thus matters stood until the summer of 1902, when Sir Reginald Wingate came to the British Museum, and, having described to the Director, Sir Edward Maunde Thompson, K.C.B., his plans for archaeological work in the Sudan, applied to the Trustees for the loan ofmy services during the coming winter. The Trustees ordered me to go to the Sudan again, and I therefore left England at the end of December, and 323 I