THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN siderable size stood here at one time, and the fragments of pottery which are strewn about in all directions for a considerable distance probably mark its site and its extent. The town was no doubt an important centre of trade, and a halting place for caravans.

Having collected our workmen and tools, we dropped down the river about nine o'clock, and landed on the west bank, and were soon at work clearing portions of the ruins of the temple which we had visited the evening before. After about an hour's digging we found that the stele of Rameses II. had at some time or other been broken to pieces, which had been roughly stuck together with mud and plaster, and that the monument had been re-erected and was held in position by a thick mud wall built up behind it. The inscription, so far as I could see it, gave no new facts, and as the stele was made of very soft stone, we decided to cover it up again and leave it there until men could go with a wooden frame and cement, and remove it carefully. We made several trial diggings in other parts of the site, but we found nothing worth carrying away. We noticed the serious disintegrating effect which the wind-driven sand had upon the stone slabs of the temple, and it seemed to me that this was the principal cause of its destruction. The approaches to the temple are covered with sand to the depth of several feet, and those who excavate them will find it necessary to build a high mud wall as a screen, for the wind fills up the trenches almost as fast as they are cleared. Having covered the bases of the pillars, &c., which we had laid bare, we returned to our boat and set out for Kosha without delay.

In about two hours we reached the southern end of the Island of Atab, where we landed in order to examine the remains of a fortified building which our captain had pointed out to us. At a little distance from the island the " Castle " could hardly be recognized, so well had its walls been made to join on to the foundations of the living rock on which it stood. We climbed the rocks and found that this " Castle " covered much ground, and that the mud walls were enormously strong, being in some places as much as 20 feet thick. Huge slopes formed of well-made bricks served as buttresses to the upper walls, and made approach on the sides where they - existed practically impossible. Several of the 468 i