14 Bird Hunting on the White Nile. 



it, and study the birds of a small portion at all events of 

 what had become, bj right of conquest, partly English 

 territory. 



So on the last day of February, 1900, I set out from 

 England, joining at Marseilles Messrs. E. H. Saunders 

 and C. F. Camburn, two taxidermists who were to 

 accompany me, and we reached Cairo on March 6th. 



The journey from Cairo to Wady Haifa, even under 

 the new conditions created by the railway, is to-day 

 so well known that it requires but a brief description. 



Instead of a long journey by boat up the Nile one 

 can now travel from Cairo to Assouan in about 22 hours 

 in a train, which for ease and luxury would not shame 

 any European railway. Notwithstanding the lowness 

 of the Nile at the time of our visit, the country from 

 Cairo to Luxor was green and luxuriant. Camels, cattle, 

 sheep and goats abounded, and everywhere the half- 

 naked people of many shades of chocolate, brown, and 

 black were working on the land- Beyond Luxor the 

 area of cultivated land grew gradually less. Wells, 

 sakiehs, and shadoofs were not so frequent, villages were 

 passed at longer intervals, and the inhabitants and their 

 cattle became more rare in the landscape. 



At Assouan we found every comfort. From this point 

 to Omdurman we travelled under the joint Government 



