'A JOURNEY IN THE EAST: 2S3 



While we were at lunch the kites, which live here in 

 myriads, kept cruising about over the vessel and eagerly 

 picked up the bits of bread that were thrown into the water ; 

 nor were the greedy creatures even scared by being fired at. 

 As soon as our meal was finished we started off again to make 

 an excursion to the quarries so celebrated since the days of 

 antiquity. 



The town was quickly traversed, and we came to a broad 

 valley, very uneven at the bottom and bounded by low hills 

 adorned with the burial-places of sheikhs. This valley is, from 

 its commencement at Assuan and for about two miles inland, 

 a literal city of tombs. 



There the party divided, some riding home, while Hoyos 

 and I climbed up the rather high, stony, and utterly barren 

 hill that bounds the valley near Assuan. 



At the top of it stands the old tomb of a sheikh a round 

 domed building, in front of which we had already had a 

 carcass laid, as some large vultures were soaring overhead. 



We at once took possession of this capital place of con- 

 cealment, and in a few minutes the Kites and Egyptian 

 Vultures began pecking at the dead sheep ; but the hour 

 was too late for the larger birds of prey, and I shot nothing 

 but an Egyptian Vulture. 



Time was now pressing ; so we left the gloomy tomb and 

 had a good look at the splendid landscape. To the north, 

 just below us, was the narrow valley of the Nile, enclosed 

 by mountains, with the river forcing its way thrpugh the 

 wild rifts of the cataracts. Behind us lay the tropical 

 island of Elephantine, the picturesquely situated town of 

 Assuan, and the dismal city of the dead ; while on all sides 

 was an endless maze of hills, valleys, plains, and plateaus, 

 all desolate and barren, true deserts of stone and sand. 

 Bathed in the fierce sunlight, everything quivered in a glow 

 of reflected heat and was of a dazzling white, only here 



