<A JOURNEY IN THE EAST: 235 



misty vapours and surrounded by the most vivid hues, the 

 sun was just sinking below the yellow Libyan desert, and 

 gilding the Pyramids, the high battlements and minarets of 

 the city, the citadel, and the stern cliffs of the Mokattam 

 mountains. It was a scene so rich and splendid in effects of 

 colour, and so adorned by points of natural and architectural 

 interest, that it would be hard even to imagine anything 

 grander. 



Amidst the refuse and rubbish stands the deserted and 

 ruinous mosque of Kasr-el-Ain, and in its walls dwell numbers 

 of Stone-Curlews, those singular birds of nocturnal habits 

 which in the evening leave their hiding-places and fly down 

 to the neighbouring Nile, uttering those incessant whistling 

 cries which one nightly hears throughout Egypt. 



We posted ourselves along the wall of the mosque, and as 

 soon as it began to get dark several of these strange birds 

 darted out of their retreats, but so quickly that Hoyos was 

 the only one of us who managed to bring down a specimen. 

 We then scrambled back to our carriages over the heaps 

 of ruins and refuse, followed by the yelpings of frightened 

 dogs, and stared at by the wondering Arabs who had crept 

 out of their dens. 



The first part of the homeward drive was very slow, for we 

 had to pass through the labyrinthine ruins of Old Cairo in 

 complete darkness before we came to some gardens, and at 

 last got to the fashionable part of the town, where the well- 

 lighted streets were pretty lively. 



On reaching home we dined, and then came a brilliant 

 torchlight procession got up by our countrymen in the 

 gardens of Kasr-el-Nusha, where our national anthem of 

 " Gott erhalte " and the shouts of Hoch ! Eljen ! and Zivio ! 

 sounded strange as they rang through the quiet splendour of 

 an African night. 



