‘A JOURNEY IN THE EAST,’ 275 
rays through the dense dust, looked like a red disk. Every- 
thing was covered with sand ; it even penetrated into the 
closed cabins, annoying us terribly. The air, too, which had 
lately been so beautiful, was now heavy and depressing ; and 
we gazed with wonder upon this phase of nature, which was 
so entirely new to us. 
Long and ineffective shots were fired at Pelicans, huge Sea- 
Hagles, and a variety of waterfowl ; and we passed several 
towns, among which were Kuft and Kus. The character of 
the country remained the same; but the mountains kept 
receding, to leave room for the plains of Thebes, so famed in 
ancient chronicles for its wealth and civilization. 
At twelve o'clock we put in to the landing-place of the some- 
what important town of Luxor, and immediately going ashore, 
climbed up the steep sandy bank and hired some donkeys at 
the primitive square in front of the dirty little ‘“ Hétel Luxor.” 
We soon reached the open country and trotted merrily along 
an embankment which ran through palm woods and well-tilled 
fields towards the high gates, columns, and walls of the cele- 
brated ruins of Karnak, which we could already see in the 
distance. 
At the entrance to the ruins there is a small village and a 
plantation of young trees, where we found a flock of the lively 
Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters whirring about with their butterfly- 
like flight, and shot a good many of these lovely African birds 
for the sake of their plumage. 
After this little interlude of sport we entered the field of 
majestic ruins, and when we had rambled through the great 
halls and the forest of columns, as well as the huge heaps of 
débris surrounding the temple, we all returned to Luxor by 
the same road. 
In the evening the Grand Duke and I again rode out to 
Karnak to shoot, while the other gentlemen remained at 
Luxor. An Arab sportsman, named Khalil, took us close up 
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