THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN proceeded to Khartum. On my arrival I found that the Governor-General had gone up the White Nile on a tour of inspection with Lord Cromer, and that excavations either at the Pyramids of Bagrawiya, or elsewhere, could not begin until their return.

This delay placed about ten clear days at my disposal, and through the kindness of Colonel F. J. Nason, Civil Secretary to the Governor-General, and Lieut. Percy Lord, R.E., I was able to spend them in a profitable manner. Lieut. Percy Lord proposed that we should visit Wad Ba Nagaa, Nagaa, and theWadi As-Sufra, and with characteristic energy and kindness set to work to make arrangements for our journey. At that time it was quite impossible to travel anywhere in the Sudan without the countenance and help of the Government, and, but for the friendly assistance of the British officers and the kindness of the British railway officials from one end to the other of the Haifa- Khartum line, all attempts to visit ancient sites in the Sudan would have been in vain.

Whilst Lieut. Lord was making arrangements for a supply of camels, &c., an opportunity of visiting Soba, the site of the capital of the Christian kingdom of 'Aiwa, presented itself, and I went there with Colonel E. A. Stanton, the Mudir of Khartum, who had already made a careful examination of the ruins, and made some excavations there. Soba lies on the right bank of the Blue Nile, about thirteen miles above Khartum. Whilst there. Colonel Stanton collected a small party of men, and we went to the ruins of an ancient temple which had been subsequently used as a Christian church, and began to dig among the pillars near the east end of it. After clearing away a considerable amount of sand and earth, we found a number of mastabas, or rectangular benches, about 3 feet high, built of mud, and they so much resembled in form the tombs of ecclesiastical officials which I had seen in the churches of monasteries in Mesopotamia that for me it was impossible not to regard them as tombs. We dug through two of them and found bodies at a depth of about two feet below the surface of the ground, and the supposition was thus proved to be correct. There was nothing found in the graves which served to indicate the period when they were made, but they appear to belong to the Christian Period of Sudan history. On some of the pillars the Coptic cross was cut, and it was 324 I