84 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 



but in small flights, and clouds of sparrows, which 

 are the terror of the Nubians, as they devour at 

 Jeast one-third of the harvest. A species of lap- 

 wing is also extremely common ; and a white water- 

 bird of the size of a large goose, called Kork, which 

 inhabits the sandy islands in flocks of several hun- 

 dreds together. Burckhardt saw no bird of the 

 shape of the Ibis ; nor is that part of the country 

 visited by the bird Zakzak, frequently seen in Up- 

 per Egypt, which is said to creep into the crocodile's 

 mouth, and to feed upon the digested food which 

 that animal throws up from its stomach. 



When at Assouan, Burckhardt had projected a 

 lateral excursion into the Nubian desert towards 

 the Red Sea, and thence to cross into Arabia, before 

 setting out on his western tour; but a delay of 

 several months occurred, in consequence of the dis- 

 turbed state of the country, which was much in- 

 fested by robbers, and the scarcity of provisions 

 along the Nile as far as Sennaar, occasioned by the 

 locusts, who had entirely devoured the last winter 

 crops. These causes continued to operate from 

 May 1813 to August 1814, during which time 

 Burckhardt was under the necessity of remaining at 

 Esne, where he still kept his usual disguise of a 

 poor Mohammedan trader, taking care to be as little 

 known or noticed as possible. 



At length (March 2) the caravan set out, cross- 

 ing the Nubian desert in twenty-three days' slow 

 travelling, nearly in the same route by which Bruce 

 returned from Abyssinia, fifty years before. At 



