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Berbers of the Libyan desert, dark brown, much darker than 

 those of Lower Egypt, generally tall and slight in figure, and 

 with features less noble and handsome than those of the more 

 northerly Bedouin tribes. They show an evident admixture 

 of southern and even of negro blood ; and among them are 

 some real negroes, perfectly black fellows, with curly hair. 

 These men have in their childhood been carried off from the 

 interior of Africa as slaves, have regained their freedom 

 among the tribes, and have adopted the language, costume, 

 and habits of the Bedouins, forgetting their origin and even 

 the country of their birth. Such individuals I found among 

 all the tribes with which I became acquainted, both in Africa 

 and Asia. Even the agricultural labourers at Abouksor struck 

 me as differing from the type of the fellaheen inhabiting the 

 valley of the Lower Nile ; for they were bigger and generally 

 darker, a sort of mixed race, with a good many negroes among 

 them, and more like the Bedouins, with whom, in these 

 isolated oases, they are much thrown together. 



Our caravan had hardly been formed when shooting began. 

 In the garden near the factory we found a flock of the striking 

 and truly African Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, a lovely green bird 

 with a long tail and blue cheek-stripes, and succeeded in killing 

 some of them. It is a native of the interior of Africa, and 

 very common in Upper Egypt, but never reaches Cairo, which 

 seems to be too far north for it. The pretty Spur-winged 

 Plovers, those characteristic Egyptian birds, were also running 

 about the fields, together with flocks of Bufl-backed Herons ; 

 for here, as throughout Africa, the rich fauna is congregated 

 within the well-watered and verdant districts in astonishing 

 numbers. Altogether the first look of things seemed to 

 promise some good days of sport. 



We were soon blazing away, and a number of birds were 

 well retrieved from the wet fields by our Arabs. Sportsmen 

 seldom come out as far as this part of the country, so we had 



