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and there broken by orange rocks and masses of black 

 granite ; while over all stretched the ever-blue sky, cloud- 

 less and clear as crystal. 



We quickly got back to Assuan ; but as soon as the sun 

 was sinking and flooding the lovely landscape with the most 

 glorious colour, Hoyos and I again left the vessel. 



A white-robed Nubian with a long gun, well known as a 

 sportsman in Assuan, guided us through the town to its 

 outermost houses, where he advised us to wait a little while, 

 as the wild beasts come every evening to the outskirts of the 

 town to look for plunder. 



Dogs were barking, children screaming, and a band of 

 Ababdehs were bawling out as they went along to their 

 home in the desert; yet, in spite of all this noise, a jackal 

 showed itself on the mound of a little windmill, but instantly 

 vanished again among the stones. 



As twilight was now fast advancing, we hurried on to the 

 cemetery, where I knocked over a jackal that ran by, with 

 a lucky shot. We then proceeded to an old tank situated 

 in a little depression among the sandhills near the beginning 

 of the tombs, and not far from the foot of the mountain at 

 the top of which we had shot the Egyptian Vulture in the 

 afternoon. There a carcass had been already exposed, and 

 a hiding-place dug out in which we now secreted our- 

 selves. 



The moon rose, and in this pure air shed a brilliant radiance 

 over the weird and solemn landscape. The desert, the grave- 

 stones, and the old domed tombs of the sheikhs glistened in 

 its white light ; while a death-like silence that reigned around 

 was only broken by the howling of the dogs and jackals. 



We had hardly been sitting half an hour in our very un- 

 comfortable ambush when I heard the rustle of an approaching 

 animal, and soon saw it glide past like a shadow several times ; 

 but at last I made out its form, and, trusting to luck, aimed 



