THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN this day. On the reverse of the object are the lower portions of the bodies of two giraffes, which evidently were feeding upon the leaves of a palm tree. Now, the giraffes on the reverse suggest that the scene sculptured on the obverse took place in some country which was situated to the south of Egypt, and the wool on the heads, and the noses and thick lips of the men, proclaim that they belonged to some negroid race. That the men are circumcised need cause no surprise, for circumcision has undoubtedly been practised by the peoples of North-east Africa from time immemorial. The observance of this rite can be traced back to the earliest dynasties in Egypt, and, as Prof. Maspero has pointed out, the inscription on the walls of the pyramid of king Teta, about B.C. 3300, actually mentions a being called Tu-a, or Tchu-a, whose title was the " Circumciser."

These facts taken together indicate that the Egyptians in Predynastic and in early I Dynastic times went to hunt in the deserts of the Sudan, and that I subsequently disputes of a serious character arose, which in the 1 end developed into fierce fights. The early kings of Egypt and their followers were stronger and better armed than the natives, and were therefore able to work their will on them. The appearance of the giraife among the sculptures on the slate objects makes it certain, in my opinion, that the country wherein these fights took place was the Sudan, and the physical characteristics of the men render it impossible for them to have been anything but negroes. In connection with the fact that they were circumcised it may bs mentioned that ancient Christian tradition in Ethiopia asserts that circumcision was known and practised in that country long before Christianity entered it, and the history of Ethiopia shows that the preachers of the Gospel, when they introduced the Christian rite of baptism, permitted their converts to retain their ancient custom of circumcision.

// The earliest mention at present known of the Sudan in J; Egyptian inscriptions is found on the now famous stele of X " -;) Palermo, which was first published by Signor A. Pellegrini.'* 40 C_/ ' The word rendered "circumciser" is thesebu % > 1 1 (* y ; it is yV x akin to the Coptic C6fii.l, and the determinative is conclusive.

nO - Notasopra un iscrizione egizia del Museodi Palermo, Palermo, 1896.

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