8 Bird Notes from the Nile. 



construction, it made the Dongola so heavy 

 in the bows that her steering powers were 

 very Hmited. Our crew consisted of a reis 

 (captain) and six men and a boy, all 

 Nubians ; an Arab cook, and a man that 

 the Mudir of Aswan very kindly sent 

 with us, in case of any difficulty with 

 strange villagers. We had, however, no 

 trouble, and were most civilly received 

 everywhere. 



Travelling thus humbly like themselves, 

 the natives were ready to help us, and 

 never even bothered us for backsheesh. 

 We bought our provisions as we went 

 along, and the country people were always 

 willing to supply us with Arab bread, 

 lentils, meal, and eggs. Milk we got quite 

 fresh, as the cow or buffalo was brought 

 down to the river's bank and milked there 

 for us. We could also get chickens, and 

 so were saved the trouble of carrying 

 our '* poultry yard " with us, and also 

 the sorrow of seeing our pet fowls daily 

 diminish in numbers. A hen, however, 

 which we had bought for dinner one 

 night, laid an G.gg ! We therefore saved 

 her life and kept her on board, and she 



