<A JOURNEY IN THE EAST. 1 289 



at first tried to stalk some large birds of prey by clambering 

 about the bare rocks ; but as this did not succeed I took to 

 hunting about for small game among the bushes on the plain 

 and along the bank of the river, bagging during this short 

 ramble a number of water-birds and also a Pygmy Dove, 

 that charming and beautifully plumaged tropical species of 

 African pigeon, which is no larger than a lark and is adorned 

 with a long tail *. 



A couple of hours had gone by, and we were looking for 

 sandpipers along the bank, when we perceived that our 

 steamer was ready to go on ; so we at once rowed back to her, 

 and resumed the journey which had been so pleasantly broken 

 by this excursion. 



In the evening after sundown we lay to at El-Kaab on the 

 eastern bank, where a narrow strip of cultivation runs between 

 the river and the not very broad desert-plains, behind which 

 rise splendid mountains. Soon after our arrival we resolved 

 to utilize the moonlight, so favourable for shooting wild animals, 

 and separated in various directions to search for good places 

 in which to lie in wait. 



Pausinger and I, guided by a peasant, strolled through the 

 cultivated land, and passing a miserable village, got out into 

 the desert, where we could see in dim blurred outlines the 

 ruins of the ancient Egyptian city of Nechebt, the Eileithyia 

 . of the Greeks. Its great outer walls of unburnt bricks rise 

 above everything else, and show that this place was an im- 

 portant fortress in ancient days. On the skirts of the moun- 

 tains there are also some rock-tombs, and a rock-temple 

 founded by Ptolemy Euergetes, and further on a little sanc- 

 tuary dedicated to the goddess Nechebt by Amenhotep III. 



This part of the desert contains a great deal of natron, and 

 one breaks through a crackling crust at every step. We 



* [Chcdcopelia afra (Linn.). Emerald-spotted Dove.] 



U 



