<A JOURNEY IN THE EAST: 273 



same time an opportunity of seeing the highly primitive and 

 dirty abode of a dweller in the valley of the Nile. 



From Arabat-el-Madfune we rode through the cultivated 

 country back to Beliane, shooting as we went along. A 

 variety of small game was killed, the most interesting bird 

 being the Black-winged Kite, that truly African white-and- 

 bluish-grey-coloured hawk which is by no means uncommon 

 among the palm-groves and near the draw-wells. 



We reached the steamer in the afternoon, and ran two 

 hours up-stream before it began to get dark, resuming our 

 journey at daybreak next morning. The forenoon we passed 

 on deck looking at the beautiful but somewhat undiversified 

 scenery. Green fields, groves of dom and date-palms, a 

 few little towns, and the high mountains which bound the 

 valley of the Nile glided by us in monotonous succession ; but 

 on the long sandbanks there was this morning an unusual 

 amount of life, for large flocks of pelicans, herons, and 

 geese were observed, and my jager was sure that he had seen 

 a crocodile. 



At noon we got to Keneh, a rather large town of grey- 

 brown mud-built houses, and adorned with lofty minarets. 

 There we lay to by the crumbling banks of the Libyan side 

 of the river opposite the town, and immediately landed. We 

 then mounted some donkeys, and riding past a fine palm- 

 grove and a miserable-looking village, where the disgusting 

 Egyptian Vultures were sitting among the dirt and rubbish 

 like domestic fowls, we soon reached a well-cultivated plain. 



At this point the Nile makes a bend and comes close up to 

 the Libyan mountains, so that the belt of arable land is very 

 narrow. A ride of half an hour brought us to the large and 

 celebrated temple of Dendera, which, like the ruins of Abydus, 

 lies among the sands of the desert close to the margin of the 

 fertile ground. 



By the light of torches we examined all the halls, narrow 



T 



