DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49516#0036
16
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
Hoskins, who came through the province in 1833, also noticed the Deffufa on his way
down.1 He says under date of April 19:
We dined and slept last night with the melek, and left him this morning soon after sunrise. We
gave a backsheesh (present) of money to his servants, and, in return for his attention, I gave him
the amber mouth-piece of my pipe. We returned in his boat to Haffeer; but as it was navigated
by only two mariners, and sailed ill, I there procured another from the katshef to visit the granite
quarries near the village of Toumbos.
On the east side, almost directly opposite to Haffeer, there is a brick ruin, half an hour’s walk
from the river. I perceived, at a distance, that it was of no importance; but recollecting that Cail-
liaud mentioned it in his work as resembling the towers represented in the sculptures at Thebes, I
visited it on foot, for want of any conveyance, and suffered severely from the scorching, almost
vertical, mid-day sun. The ruin being situated in the desert, my feet, unprotected with stockings,
which I have long since discarded, were dreadfully burnt by the hot soft sand, in which we sank, at
every step, considerably above the shoes. This ruin has not the slightest resemblance to the towers
in the sculpture at Thebes. It has been apparently for ages so much decayed, as scarcely to present
any other form than that of a mere mass of brickwork; but I conceive it to be Ethiopian, and very
ancient. It is difficult to imagine what has been its exact form (see vignette); but it has evidently
not resembled, in any respect, the elegant fortresses represented on the walls of Thebes. The en-
trance into it, as will be seen by the view, is partly remaining. The name of the village is Korma.
The fullest description of the site of Kerma was given by Lepsius.2 Lepsius’ expedition
visited Kerma on June 20,1844. He misunderstood in some way the names applied locally
to the two mud-brick ruins, calling the one “Kerman’’and the other “Deffufa”; but the
two are spoken of as “Kerman deffufa,” which is, the “deffufa of Kerma.” Locally they
are known as “the upper deffufa” and “ the lower deffufa.” The district is never called
“Kerman”, except in the genitive relation in the Dongolawi speech.
I translate Lepsius’ remarks with corrected names and references to our numbers, as
follows:
[Upper and Lower Deffufa] are the names of two large tombs at the village of Kerma [Kerma I,
a fort and Kerma II, a temple]. They are massively built of good hard unburnt mud-bricks. The
Lower Deffufa is a quarter of an hour from the east bank and the Upper Deffufa an hour. The form
of each is rectangular with the long axis orientated north and south. The Lower Deffufa has an
extension on the east side; the Upper Deffufa, on the south. Round about both of them lie many
burnt bricks, as well as potsherds, fragments of granite and other debris. They are still about forty
feet high. On going up on them, several walls may be distinguished in the interior, but this appear-
ance may be due to the manner in which the mass was built. The holes in the walls were dug later
by animals and people. The whole plain in that direction is covered with bricks and potsherds, in
places also with bones, and is thereby shown to be an immense cemetery which must have belonged
to a very important town. A great bank of sand and earth extends along the river up-stream from
the landing-place and separates the flood-land from the plain lying behind. The plain is consider-
ably lower than the bank and consists of Nile mud lightly covered with waves of sand, which also
partly conceal the (ancient) debris. The Nile mud must be alluvium of the most ancient period.
The two colossal tombs are built on this alluvium as may be seen in a hole dug by modern treasure-
hunters under the Upper Deffilfa.
1 G. A. Hoskins, Travels in Ethiopia, London, 1835, p. 215 and woodcut on p. 216.
2 Karl Richard Lepsius, Denkmaler aus Aegypten und Aethiopien, Erganzungsband V, bearbeitet von Walter
Wreszinski, Leipzig, 1913, pp. 245-247.
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
Hoskins, who came through the province in 1833, also noticed the Deffufa on his way
down.1 He says under date of April 19:
We dined and slept last night with the melek, and left him this morning soon after sunrise. We
gave a backsheesh (present) of money to his servants, and, in return for his attention, I gave him
the amber mouth-piece of my pipe. We returned in his boat to Haffeer; but as it was navigated
by only two mariners, and sailed ill, I there procured another from the katshef to visit the granite
quarries near the village of Toumbos.
On the east side, almost directly opposite to Haffeer, there is a brick ruin, half an hour’s walk
from the river. I perceived, at a distance, that it was of no importance; but recollecting that Cail-
liaud mentioned it in his work as resembling the towers represented in the sculptures at Thebes, I
visited it on foot, for want of any conveyance, and suffered severely from the scorching, almost
vertical, mid-day sun. The ruin being situated in the desert, my feet, unprotected with stockings,
which I have long since discarded, were dreadfully burnt by the hot soft sand, in which we sank, at
every step, considerably above the shoes. This ruin has not the slightest resemblance to the towers
in the sculpture at Thebes. It has been apparently for ages so much decayed, as scarcely to present
any other form than that of a mere mass of brickwork; but I conceive it to be Ethiopian, and very
ancient. It is difficult to imagine what has been its exact form (see vignette); but it has evidently
not resembled, in any respect, the elegant fortresses represented on the walls of Thebes. The en-
trance into it, as will be seen by the view, is partly remaining. The name of the village is Korma.
The fullest description of the site of Kerma was given by Lepsius.2 Lepsius’ expedition
visited Kerma on June 20,1844. He misunderstood in some way the names applied locally
to the two mud-brick ruins, calling the one “Kerman’’and the other “Deffufa”; but the
two are spoken of as “Kerman deffufa,” which is, the “deffufa of Kerma.” Locally they
are known as “the upper deffufa” and “ the lower deffufa.” The district is never called
“Kerman”, except in the genitive relation in the Dongolawi speech.
I translate Lepsius’ remarks with corrected names and references to our numbers, as
follows:
[Upper and Lower Deffufa] are the names of two large tombs at the village of Kerma [Kerma I,
a fort and Kerma II, a temple]. They are massively built of good hard unburnt mud-bricks. The
Lower Deffufa is a quarter of an hour from the east bank and the Upper Deffufa an hour. The form
of each is rectangular with the long axis orientated north and south. The Lower Deffufa has an
extension on the east side; the Upper Deffufa, on the south. Round about both of them lie many
burnt bricks, as well as potsherds, fragments of granite and other debris. They are still about forty
feet high. On going up on them, several walls may be distinguished in the interior, but this appear-
ance may be due to the manner in which the mass was built. The holes in the walls were dug later
by animals and people. The whole plain in that direction is covered with bricks and potsherds, in
places also with bones, and is thereby shown to be an immense cemetery which must have belonged
to a very important town. A great bank of sand and earth extends along the river up-stream from
the landing-place and separates the flood-land from the plain lying behind. The plain is consider-
ably lower than the bank and consists of Nile mud lightly covered with waves of sand, which also
partly conceal the (ancient) debris. The Nile mud must be alluvium of the most ancient period.
The two colossal tombs are built on this alluvium as may be seen in a hole dug by modern treasure-
hunters under the Upper Deffilfa.
1 G. A. Hoskins, Travels in Ethiopia, London, 1835, p. 215 and woodcut on p. 216.
2 Karl Richard Lepsius, Denkmaler aus Aegypten und Aethiopien, Erganzungsband V, bearbeitet von Walter
Wreszinski, Leipzig, 1913, pp. 245-247.