<A JOURNEY IN THE EAST. 1 277 



attention until the sun rose golden-red over the mountains ; 

 but nothing came, except one jackal which Herr Rath let slip. 



A glorious morning consoled us for our fruitless trial of 

 patience, the short transition from night through twilight to 

 sunrise having a richness in changing effects of light and a 

 glow of colour such as only the interior of Africa can 

 conjure up. 



As we saw numbers of birds coming down to the water to 

 drink, we resolved to pass the forenoon in shooting round this 

 locality, and killed plenty of small game, including some 

 Quails, vast numbers of which here spend the winter. Rambling 

 over the fields, we reached the ruins of Karnak ; and then 

 several of the gentlemen returned to Luxor, while I selected 

 a hiding-place among the heaps of debris and rubbish, in which 

 to lie in wait for the large vultures near a carcass ; but unfor- 

 tunately nothing came except some Kites and Egyptian 

 Vultures, at which I did not care to shoot. 



The day was not suitable for this kind of sport ; for the 

 " Khamsin " had begun again with renewed vigour, and the 

 air was filled with clouds of sand so thick that they even hid 

 the neighbouring mountains. I therefore soon quitted my 

 ambush and went to a little water-tank, bordered with slabs 

 of stone, which lies among the ruins and is of ancient origin. 

 There I found several snipe and sandpipers sitting in a 

 miserable sort of way on the bare stones, and probably over- 

 come by the fatigues of travel ; a few shots soon put an 

 end to the troubles of their existence. 



I now rode back to Luxor and the steamer by the shortest 

 route ; for we had intended to make our first excursion to the 

 monuments on the western side of the river during the 

 afternoon; but as the storm kept increasing in violence, 

 we changed our plans, and determined to proceed on our 

 journey next day and postpone our visit to the west side 

 of Thebes until our return from the Cataracts. 



