THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN had put aside for removal to our boat. When we reached the top of the ruin, the scene which met our eyes was a remarkable one. We found ourselves in a kind of fort which contained several rooms and passages, with immensely thick walls ; the outer walls were still thicker, and they were in places about forty feet high and crenellated. The inside space was filled with heaps of broken stones and crude and baked mud bricks, all scattered about in hopeless confusion, and it was clear that the upper portions of many of the walls had been overthrown by mam force.

In one portion of the enclosure we came upon the remains of bases of columns which were manifestly of Egyptian work, and we turned on our workmen to dig round in the hope of finding inscribed stelae. In a very short time they found a large granite stele, with a rounded top, lying face downwards ; we raised it with some difficulty, and then saw that it was inscribed with several lines of hieroglyphics of a large size which were almost illegible. Brushing and rubbing revealed the fact that the stele was set up by Amen-hetep III., to commemorate his conquest of the country, and the building of the temple among the ruins of which we were then standing. The stele was too large for us to remove, but the Inspector made a note to send men to bring it away at the end of the summer, when its transport by river to Haifa would be easy. We selected for removal also several inscribed stones and portions of the ornamental stone-work from the pillars of a Coptic church.

The site on which the Castle of Sai is built is one of great strategic importance, and, though there is no proof of it at present, I believe it was first fortified by Usertsen III., a king ofthe Xllth Dynasty. Under the XVIIIth Dynasty it was occupied by troops under the command of Egyptian officers, and a very strong fort was built there. Within the fort was a temple, built as we have seen by Amen-hetep III. As Seti I. built a temple at Sesebi, and his son Rameses II. built another at Gebel Barkal, we are justified in assuming that they were masters ofthe Island of Sai. Of the history of the Island in late dynastic times nothing is known. During the Christian Period the Copts turned the temple of Amen-hetep III. into a church, of which we found some of the decorations. From what we saw about us, however, it 462 i