‘4 JOURNEY IN THE EAST, 277 
attention until the sun rose golden-red over the mountains ; 
but nothing came, except one jackal which Herr Rath let slip. 
A glorious morning consoled us for our fruitless trial of 
patience, the short transition from night through twilight to 
sunrise having a richness in changing effects of light and a 
glow of colour such as only the interior of Africa can 
conjure up. 
As we saw numbers of birds coming down to the water to 
drink, we resolved to pass the forenoon in shooting round this 
locality, and killed plenty of small game, including some 
Quails, vast numbers of which here spend the winter. Rambling 
over the fields, we reached the ruins of Karnak ; and then 
several of the gentlemen returned to Luxor, while I selected 
a hiding-place among the heaps of débris and rubbish, in which 
to lie in wait for the large vultures near a carcass ; but untor- 
tunately nothing came except some Kites and Egyptian 
Vultures, at which I did not care to shoot. 
The day was not suitable for this kind of sport; for the 
“ Khamsin” had begun again with renewed vigour, and the 
air was filled with clouds of sand so thick that they even hid 
the neighbouring mountains. I therefore soon quitted my 
ambush and went to a little water-tank, bordered with slabs 
of stone, which lies among the ruins and is of ancient origin. 
There I found several snipe and sandpipers sitting in a 
miserable sort of way on the bare stones, and probably over- 
come by the fatigues of travel; a few shots soon put an 
end to the troubles of their existence. 
I now rode back to Luxor and the steamer by the shortest 
route ; for we had intended to make our first excursion to the 
monuments on the western side of the river during the 
afternoon; but as the storm kept increasing in violence, 
we changed our plans, and determined to proceed on our 
journey next day and postpone our visit to the west side 
‘of Thebes until our return from the Cataracts. 
