1 A JOURNEY IN THE EAST: 323 



gazelle from some thick bushes. Away went every one after 

 it in wild disorder, the dogs were let loose, the scattered 

 horsemen came in from all sides, some even riding towards 

 the frightened animal, so that it no longer knew which way 

 to turn and ran amongst the horses. A Bedouin, however, 

 brought the hunt to a speedy conclusion, for he fired a ball 

 at the creature as it was springing wildly about, and knocked 

 it over dead. 



We were now to have tried for hares ; but as the heat was 

 so great, and our chances of success so small, we rode back 

 towards the station. To show us its skill the Sheikh let 

 his noble companion fly at a pigeon, which in a few moments 

 fell to the ground struck by the deadly blow of the falcon's 

 talons. 



We soon arrived at the station, where we took a light 

 breakfast in the railway carriage, and then some of the party 

 returned to Ismailia, while, with the rest of the gentlemen, I 

 went a little way up the Sweet-water Canal in a steam- 

 launch. Halting at a ruinous old house, we crossed the 

 sand-hills to a narrow marsh, which is closely bounded by the 

 desert, and runs along parallel to the canal as far as the 

 Crocodile Lake, near Ismailia. 



It was one of the French gentlemen, a very agreeable man 

 and a keen sportsman, who took us to this ground, which he 

 had often shot over. As soon as we got to the marsh we 

 found plenty of Painted Snipe, a very characteristic African 

 bird, quite new to us, and bagged a good many of them 

 in a very short time. There were also numbers of Common 

 Snipe in the boggy places, and several kinds of marsh and 

 wading birds, as well as Ducks and Spur-winged Plovers, 

 while among the high grass we flushed some Quail. The great 

 locusts were also interesting, for they were the largest insects 

 of the kind that I had ever seen. These creatures rose with 

 a loud whirring noise long before one got near them, and in 



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