THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN attempt made by any European to give to the learned world an idea of the importance and extent of these ruins. His description and drawings of the small, well-preserved temple, the walls of which are ornamented with bas-reliefs after the manner of the large temples of Thebes, attracted well-merited attention, for no scholar or historian had the least idea that such interesting buildings were to 'be found in the Eastern Desert so far from the Nile. Cailliaud rightly deduced from the bas-reliefs on this temple that the rulers of the kingdom which existed in that part of the country were women, and that they enjoyed prerogatives which women did not possess in his day, either in Egypt or Nubia. Their ornaments and dress diifered in many particulars from those of Egyptian queens, and their physique proclaimed them to be not Egyptians; their heads were small, their bodies heavy, and their hips and thighs massive. It seems clear that the natural steatopygy of the women of this region of Africa was developed by artificial means. The natives told Cailliaud that other remains, similar to those of Nagaa, were to be found at a distance of two days' journey from Nagaa, and that a journey of another day and a half would take him to a place called Kly, where a large surface of ground was covered with the remains of another ancient city. It was quite clear that the city which stood on the site now called Nagaa was on the main road which led from the Nile into Abyssinia and to ports on the Red Sea, and that it was one of a series of cities at which caravans to and from Egypt and North Africa halted and were taxed.

Cailliaud found it impossible to follow up the hints which the natives gave him, for his supply of water was running short and he had yet to visit Masawwarat ; he therefore left Nagaa as soon as possible, and set out for that place, which he reached in about five and a half hours. When he entered the great valley of Masawwarat, at the northern end of which are the ruins, he was struck with astonishment in approaching the vast ruins which appeared before his gaze. " I did not," he says, " know in which direction I should '* at first turn my steps, for every part of the site attracted my " attention equally. I set myself to wander from court to court, " and from temple to temple, and from one chamber to the other, " ascending and descending, and passing along the corridors and 48