an island, or rather peninsula, of Nubia, formed by the Nile and its tributaries the Atharrn and Bahr-el-Azrek, and having the mountains of Abyssinia on the E. and the desert of Bahiunda on the W. It is about 400 miles in length from N.W. to S.E., by 200 in breadth, and consists of extensive plains. In ancient times Meroe was very productive and well cultivated; and although the soil is still good, the country is now for the most part covered with trees and herbage, or barren and desert, while very little cultivation is carried on. The ancient inhabitants of this district had attained to so great a degree of civilization and commercial prosperity that it has been by some supposed that the arts of cultivated life were transmitted from this country to Egypt. This, however, is not very likely, and the most probable conjecture that can be formed seems to be, that in the seventh century B.C. the military caste of Egypt, having left their country on account of some injustice received from the king, settled in Meroe, reduced to subjection the natives of that region, and established there a system of government somewhat similar to that of Egypt, but differing from it in the restraints put upon the power of the kings, and the greater influence of the priestly caste.

The ruins of Meroe, the capital, are situated on the right bank of the Nile, 26 miles N.E. of Shendy, and they consist of pyramids and temples for the most part in a state of great dilapidation. The pyramids are in number about 80; and they vary in size from 12 to 60 feet square at the base. The largest is about 160 feet high. They are not of great antiquity, and bear traces of a declining period of art, compared with that of the Egyptian monuments. At various other places in the island of Meroe similar remains and brick mounds have been discovered, from which it would appear that in ancient times this district had been thickly studded with towns and villages.