Chapter XXVIII: Letter XXV: Dongola, the 23rd June, 1844

Yesterday we returned from an excursion of four days to the nearest cataract, which we were able to reach by water. We were rewarded far beyond our expectations, for we found a number of ancient Pharaonic monuments, the only ones in the whole province of Dongola, and some of them of extreme antiquity.

On the island of Argo we discovered the first Egyptian sculptures from the Hyksos period; and at KERMÂN, on the right bank, the traces of a town extending far across the plain, with an immense necropolis attached to it, in which two huge monumental tombs were distinguished above all the others, one of which was called Kermân (like the village), the other DEFÛFA. They are not Pyramids, but of an oblong form; the first 150 by 66 feet, the second 132 by 66 feet in extent, and about 40 feet high, built massively of good, solid unburnt bricks of Nile mud; each provided with an outer building, which might have corresponded to the temples in front of the Egyptian Pyramids. Several fragments of statues from the best ancient style scattered round them, some, having good hieroglyphics upon them, testify their great antiquity, and lead us to suppose that the oldest Egyptian settlement of any importance on Ethiopian territory must have been on this spot: it was probably occasioned by the Egyptian power having been driven back towards Ethiopia during the rule of the Hyksos in Egypt. No doubt the enormous granite quarries which we found on the right bank, some hours to the north of Kermân, opposite the island of TOMBOS, at the entrance of the Cataract country, were connected with this. The inscriptions on the rock contain Shields of the 17th Dynasty, and an inscription of eighteen lines, mentions the second year of Tuthmosis I.

I have also, here in Dongola, begun to study the Kong´âra language of Dar Fûr. A negro soldier, a native of that dreaded warlike country, with woolly hair, and thick projecting lips, and who we took with us last year from Korusko to Wadi Halfa, as a military attendant, instead of Ibrahim Aga, who had been sent away, found us out here again, and was given up to me by the Pascha for my studies in language. He promises well, but in half an hour I am obliged to exchange him with the Nubian. The Kong´âra language is quite different from the Nubian, and in particular points seems to me to show a stronger analogy with certain South African languages.

I was rejoiced here to see the fortress built by Ehrenberg in 1822, which has suffered indeed by the inundations, but still always serves as a dwelling for the governor, now Hassan Pascha. We shall also leave a monumental structure behind us, for Hassan Pascha has requested Erbkam to give him the plan of a powder-magazine, and to seek out a suitable site for it.