<A JOURNEY IN THE EAST: 285 



as well as I could and fired. My shot was responded to by a 

 piteous howling, and on hurrying to the spot I found a large 

 wolf making painful efforts to drag itself away. I stopped 

 the tough brute with a second dose of heavy shot, and taking 

 it on my back walked at least a hundred yards towards my 

 companion, who was hiding in another place. The apparently 

 dead beast was, however, heavy, and the heat, even at night, 

 considerable ; so I threw down my booty and waited for the 

 Nubian sportsman to come up : but hardly had the wolf lain 

 a few moments on the ground when it began to move again, 

 and kicked about until it got on to its feet, and I had to finish 

 it off with another shot. 



With this capital bag of a wolf and a jackal we now 

 returned to the steamer and had supper. The Grand Duke 

 and Eschenbacher, who had been hiding in one of the domed 

 tombs on the other side of the cemetery, unfortunately came 

 back empty-handed. 



On the 8th of March we all started at seven in the morning, 

 most of us mounted on donkeys ; for only Hoyos and Pausinger 

 cared to ride perched up on camels. 



Biding round Assuan, we reached the desert by a short 

 cut through the city of tombs. Valleys, hills, sands, rocks, 

 and ravines followed each other in pleasant succession, and a 

 deep gorge brought us out into the narrow valley of the Nile, 

 here pent in by rugged mountains, varied in colour and 

 ornamented with black granite. A magnificent view now 

 burst upon us : the dark stern rocks, the river tearing through 

 the narrows, the green island of PhilaB with the ruins of its 

 lofty temple, and southward the broadening valley with its belts 

 of rich vegetation along the waterside, all unrolled themselves 

 in a moment before our eyes. We were in Nubia. 



There lay the lovely island of Philse, surrounded by 

 dark rocks that rose straight up from the water. A large 

 boat took us over to it, and in a few minutes we had reached 



