Abstract
AT a meeting of the Royal Anthropological Institute held on October 25, Dr. W. H. R. Rivers, president, in the chair, Mr. T. F. Mcllwraith read a paper on “The Influence of Egypt on African Death Ceremonies.” He said that there was strong evidence of Egyptian influence in modern Africa, particularly in the region south and west of the Sahara. In West Africa and the Congo preservation of the dead had a wide distribution. The methods employed included desiccation and pressure, frequently assisted by preservatives, such as honey, palm-wine, salt, and spices. Not only were these methods strikingly similar to those practised in Egypt, but there were also resemblances in arbitrary details, such as the plugging of the nostrils, sewing up the opening in the body, placing plates over the mouth and eyes, and wrapping the corpse in bandages. Equally important was the limitation of the preservation of the body to chiefs. Mummification had a slow growth In Egypt under favourable climatic conditions, but it was highly improbable that similar methods should have been evolved in the humid atmosphere of tropical Africa.
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