THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN the civilized world that merchants should deem it worth while to send caravans to the Sudan to bring them away, why, then, have the ancient Egyptians, the Ptolemies, the Romans, the Arabs, the Turks, and the modern Egyptians, fought so long and so fiercely for its possession ? The answer to such questions is not far to seek ; men in all ages have gone to the Sudan in search of GOLD, and they have found it there with comparative ease. Under the earliest dynasties the ancient Egyptians were • content with such quantities of that valuable metal as could be obtained by the ordinary methods of barter. At a later period, i.e., under the Xllth Dynasty, the Egyptians realized that they could get gold more easily and more cheaply if they were the acknowledged masters of the Sudan, therefore did Usertsen III. set out and conquer the country, and occupy it. The kings of the later dynasties consolidated the Egyptian power in the Sudan as much as possible, but they only did so because it paid them to do so. They did not encourage the advance of Egyptian civilization in that country because they wished to improve the mental and phy'sical condition of the Sudani folk, and they did not build temples in the Sudan for the purpose of propagating ancient Egyptian theology and converting the natives to their own beliefs. They built temples in garrison towns, and in mining and trade centres, whenever it paid them to do so, and they maintained them just so long as they were able to squeeze out of the Sudani folk gold enough to justify their policy, and to return them a handsome revenue. As further reference will be made to this matter later in the book, we may at once pass on to notice briefly the usual condition of its inhabitants.

The greater number of the inhabitants of the SudAn must, in all ages, have been pagan savages, who were ruled by the grossest superstitions and beliefs. There is every reason for believing that the whole of the vast extent of this country was broken up into petty kingdoms and principalities, each of which was ruled in an arbitrary manner by some head of a tribe, who had forced himself into the supreme office of chief The road to sovereignty lay through many a bloody battle-field, and the methods followed by a successful rebel in the SudAn, in dealing with the opposition of foes, and with conquered enemies, have been the same in all ages. A man only became king and all-powerful when he had killed 510 I