SEMNA traces of colour upon " several of the figures " in the reliefs, but I did not notice any. Their disappearance is probably due to the rubbings and wet paper " squeezes " which appear to have been made b} archaeologists since Burckhardt visited the temple. The walls, both inside and outside, are covered with inscriptions and reliefs, chiefly in the style which was in vogue under the XVIIIth Dynasty, but portions of the original ornamentation of the front of the temple were erased by the officials of later kings, who cut in their stead inscriptions commemorating the dedication of offerings, and the greatness of their masters. Mention of these is made in the chapters which deal with the history of the ancient Egyptian occupation of the Sudan.

The temple as it stands is substantially the work of Thothmes III., who seems to have rebuilt it on the site whereon Usertsen III. established his temple, and to have dedicated it to this king, who seems to have been worshipped in it conjointly with the ancient Sudan god called Tetun. Certainly on the west wall we see Thothmes III. and his sent priest making offerings to Usertsen, who in the form of Osiris is seated under a canopy in a sacred boat. The temple built by Thothmes III. was not finished, and the northern end of it is formed of stones of different sizes, roughly cut and laid. We found nothing inside the temple except a headless statue of Osiris, about 3 feet high, which was lying half-buried in the sand at the west end. We cleared away the sand, and carried this statue to Khartum, where it may now be seen in the Government Museum. Although, in my opinion, the statue does not belong to the period either of the founding or rebuilding of the temple, yet it was high time to remove this venerable object to a place of safety, and it is far better that it should be preserved in the capital of the Sudan than in some continental Museum. In taking the statue of Osiris away from the temple we were not tearing the god from his own shrine, but from that of Tetun, an old, indigenous god of the country, which the votaries of Osiris, during a late period of his cult, made the Egyptian god usurp. The walls of the temple rest upon the living rock, and are formed of slabs of sandstone, some of which are nearly 10 feet long, and 3 feet thick. Near the temple, a little to the north, were lying some 477