'A JOURNEY IN THE EAST: 233 



Kingfishers, those true Egyptian birds, while, scared by the 

 train, a wolf scurries across the fields, and hawks, vultures, 

 and myriads of kites are cruising round the villages. 



Varied and gorgeous in colour, full of life, rich in human 

 interests, remarkable in its fauna, and swathed in the haze of 

 the noontide heat 'tis thus old Lower Egypt presents itself 

 to the traveller. 



It was in the neighbourhood of Cairo, which we reached 

 on the 19th, that we had our first shooting-excursion. 



After a hasty lunch some of us went out with Baron 

 Saurma. The town had first to be traversed, so we crossed 

 the canal and drove through the broad streets of the European 

 part of the city, passing the pretty houses and luxuriant 

 gardens of the wealthier inhabitants, and getting a distant 

 glimpse of the entrance to the Arab quarter. The streets 

 were very amusing with their wild confusion of European 

 carriages, wretched cabs, pack and saddle asses, mules, camels, 

 rich and poor, beggars and showy Orientals, true believers 

 and semi-European Levantines, and added to all this a great 

 throng of real western folk tourists and the like. Passing 

 Kasr-el-Nil and driving over the bridge, we soon reached the 

 embankments and high avenues which run through the large 

 gardens outside the town, and came to some extensive sugar- 

 cane plantations near Tassum Pasha's palace, which were 

 surrounded by canals and half-flooded fields. In one of these 

 plantations we intended to hunt. 



Prince Taxis and Baron Saurma's brother were awaiting 

 us, so the guns were at once posted and the dogs uncoupled. 

 For a long time the dachshunds seemed to find no scent, 

 but at last they began to hunt and approached the edge of 

 the field, giving tongue loudly ; but unfortunately the wolf 

 broke from the cover at an unguarded point, so we went oft' 

 to another cane-field which lay beyond a broad canal. The 

 dogs were again let loose, but we soon had to take them up, 



