268 Naturalist at Large 



of summer, is warm enough to talk about afterwards. We 

 have been there several times and on one occasion had a 

 rather amusing experience. We had driven out to see the 

 camel market and the old Fuzzy- Wuzzy town of Suakin. 

 We returned to Port Sudan panting. I saw a sign that said 

 "Cold Beer." I sat down under a sort of arcade beside the 

 dusty square and while I proceeded to try the beer, my 

 wife went off to purchase something or other. I heard her 

 say to a portly Greek, "My, what good English you speak." 

 He replied, "I ought to; I was born in Lawrence, Massa- 

 chusetts." 



If you're lucky you can see flamingos in the salt pans near 

 Aden and near Port Sudan too, and if your ship does not 

 happen to be one of several coming into Aden on the same 

 day, so that the birds are too well fed, you will enjoy the 

 extraordinary flight of Bramany kites which roost in count- 

 less multitudes on the pinnacles of rock about the town and 

 which come swooping and diving in graceful flight to pick 

 up such bits of offal as may be thrown overboard. I was 

 prepared for this scene and had all hands well stocked with 

 ancient griddle cakes, biscuits, and other objects which we 

 tossed into the air for the fun of seeing the kites swoop and 

 catch them before they reached the water. 



Egypt in summer, of course, is pretty warm. On the 

 other hand you have it to yourself. The motor ride from 

 Suez to Cairo across the desert, if you take it at night, is far 

 from uncomfortable and the Sphinx and the Pyramids, I 

 think, look their best undecorated by tourists. 



One summer we decided to "do the Holy Land." A 

 most comfortable train from Cairo takes you to the Canal, 

 which you cross at El Kantara. On the ferry across the 



