and
he is convinced that the statements made by Ferlini are the result of
misapprehension on his part. The pyramids are solid throughout, and the
bodies are buried under them. When the details are complete the proofs
for this will be published." Dr. Budge has also written upon the subject
of the orientation of the Jebel Barkal and Nure pyramids.

[Illustration: 454.jpg THE ISLE OF KONOSSO, WITH ITS INSCRIPTIONS]

It is very curious to find the pyramids reappearing in Egyptian
tomb-architecture in the very latest period of Egyptian history. We
find them when Egyptian civilization was just entering upon its vigorous
manhood, then they gradually disappear, only to revive in its decadent
and exiled old age. The Ethiopian pyramids are all of much more
elongated form than the old Egyptian ones. It is possible that they may
be a survival of the archaistic movement of the XXVIth Dynasty, to which
we have already referred.

These are not the latest Egyptian monuments in the Sudan, nor are the
temples of Naga and Mesawwarat the most ancient, though they belong
to the Roman period and are decidedly barbarian as to their style and,
especially, as to their decoration. The southernmost as well as latest
relic of Egypt in the Sudan is the Christian church of Soba, on the Blue
Mie, a few miles above Khartum. In it was found a stone ram, an emblem
of Amen-Ra, which had formerly stood in the temple of Naga and had been
brought to Soba perhaps under the impression that it was the Christian
Lamb. It was removed to the garden of the governor-general's palace at
Khartum, where it now stands.

The church at Soba is a relic of the Christian kingdom of Alua, which
succeeded the realm of the Candaces. One of its chief seats was at
Dongola, and all Nubia is covered with the ruins of its churches. It
was, of course, an offshoot of the Christianity of Egypt, but a late
one, since Isis was still worshipped at Philse in the sixth century,
long after the Edict of Theodosius had officially abolished paganism
throughout the Roman world, and the Nubians were at first zealous
votaries of the goddess of Philo. So also when Egypt fell beneath the
sway of the Moslem in the seventh century, Nubia remained an independent
Christian state, and continued so down to the twelfth century, when the
soldiers of Islam conquered the country.

Of late pagan and early Christian Egypt very much that is new has been
discovered during the last few years. The period of t