Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/313

 The remains of the town in which Cailliaud recognised in 1821 the ancient Meroë, "capital of Ethiopia," stand 30 miles below Shendi, a few miles from the right bank of the Nile; in the midst of these ruins are scattered a few villages, amongst others that of Es-Súr, which gives its name to the tarabil, or pyramids. The pylons, temples, colonnades, avenues of animals and statues are still standing; but the sandstone of Meroë, excavated from the neighbouring quarries, is not so durable as that of Egypt. The pyramids, to the number of about eighty, are

divided into three groups, and mostly stand on hills; not having been undermined by stagnant waters, these edifices have resisted the ravages of time better than the buildings on the plain. Still none of the pyramids are intact, most of them having been damaged by curiosity-hunters. When accompanying a military expedition to this place, Lepsius with great difficulty prevented the systematic destruction of all the monuments of Meroë. In magnitude the Ethiopian pyramids will not bear comparison with those of Egypt; the largest are less than 66 feet square, and many do not exceed 13 feet in height.