SIX months' bird collecting in egypt. 97 



draw water, and the naked children with potbellies and 

 filthy flies clustering around their eyes, and marvels anew 

 at each bend of the river. As he smokes and lounges on the 

 quarter-deck, he hearkens with amusement to the shrieks 

 for backshish with which an infant population rend the air, 

 in the insane hope that the Diabeyha will stop for the 

 express purpose of giving them a present. Backshish is the 

 potent word of Egypt, and it is probably the first they learn 

 to utter. It assails the traveller almost before he can set 

 foot upon the quay, it follows him out shooting, it goes with 

 him to the temples, it becomes obstreperous at the Pyramids, 

 and the night after his visit there, backshish will mingle with 

 his dreams of those mighty relics of the past. 



The principal stopping place is generally made at Thebes, 

 which is only a small place, but the unrivalled ruins — 

 grander than any others in the whole known world — are 

 naturally a great attraction. The magnate of the place is 

 Her Majesty's Consul, Mustapha Basha. To him we lent 

 " Moss Gathered," or a " Guide Book to Thebes," by 

 R. S. Ferguson, which must have tickled the old gentleman, 

 who had never seen it, and who there found his peculiarities 

 and the minutiae of his daily life set down at full length! 



I do not like to pass by Thebes without describing the 

 glories of the great hall of Karnac, but I feel that I can say 

 nothing which has not been better said by others before me. 

 With regard to the superb tombs of the kings, I shall not 

 forget what a broiling walk I had to them, how deliciously 

 cool they were after it, and how richly the sight of the 

 paintings, fresher far than anything I saw in any other part 

 of Egypt, rewarded me. That day is fixed in my mind for 

 another reason, for, coming back from the rocky gorge, I 

 encountered five new species of birds (Lesser Kestrel, Rock 

 Thrush, Nightingale, Collared Flycatcher, and Glossy Ibis,) 

 and shot four of them. 



At Thebes, in accordance with the custom, we illuminated 



H 



