HAUSSALAND AND THE NILE VALLEY 219 of civilisation in Africa was the country watered by the Upper Nile, which was known by the name of Ethiopia to the ancients, and which lay in an easterly direction, between the very latitudes of 10° and 17° that on the western side of Lake Chad fixed the limits of habitation of the higher races of the Soudan. Monuments, of which a more or less consecutive chain can be traced from Nubia to the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, point to the existence in this territory, at a period of great antiX][uity, of a people possessing many of the arts of a relatively high civilisation. The principal state of this Ethiopian country bore the well-known name of Meroe. It occupied the territory watered by the Nile and its tributaries, of which the most northerly point is marked by the meeting of the Atbara and the Nile. The capital of Meroe was a city of the same name, which stood a little below the present Shendy, under 17° N. latitude, and in 32|-° E. longitude. That is to say, Meroe stood, like Ghana, on the extreme edge of the summer rains. The limits of the State of Meroe extended probably at one time to the north of 17° and to the south of 10°. Those parallels may, however, be taken as indicating its permanent limits.

This is not the place, nor am I competent to discuss the arguments which form the ground of belief that the civilisation of Meroe preceded that of Egypt. It is enough to say very briefly, that on the site of the city of Meroe there exist remains of temples and pyramids, from which archaeologists have drawn the conclusion that the pyramid was a form of architecture native to Meroe, and only afterwards brought to perfection in Egypt. It is evident, from the decoration of the temples, that they were dedicated to the worship of Ammon. It is believed that the remains of the temple of the most famous oracle of Jupiter Ammon are to be found in ruins at about eight hours' journey to the north-east of Shendy. This temple of the oracle was known to exist within a few hours' journey of Meroe, and the priestly traditions of