<A JOURNEY IN THE EAST: 365 



smoking cigarettes, and examining a specimen of the curious 

 kangaroo-like Jerboa which the Grand Duke had shot in the 

 course of the morning. 



As soon as the dachshunds arrived we let them go at once 

 into the hole, and immediately heard growling and barking ; 

 but, alas ! the dogs, usually so plucky, hurried out into the 

 light of day, frightened and with their tails between their 

 legs, nor would they return to the burrow. We now told the 

 Bedouins to dig, a proceeding that did not get on very rapidly, 

 for the heat was scorching, and free wild sport seemed more 

 in accordance with their taste than servile digging. 



Recognizing the futility of our endeavours, we left off this 

 amusement, but not before we had made an interesting dis- 

 covery, for we found in the hole a Protestant hymn-book, 

 which the creature had probably dragged into it this habit 

 of pulling things into their holes being a characteristic of 

 many of the burrowing animals. The volume contained the 

 ordinary evangelical hymns and psalms, such as " Eine feste 

 Burg," and the prayer for the Emperor William, both binding 

 and text being well preserved. There were, however, a few 

 red blood-like spots on the leaves, and God alone knows how 

 this European book had found its way into that desolate 

 place and how its owner had lost it; perchance his bones may 

 have been bleaching hard by in the impenetrable thickets ! 



We rode home, Salim leading the way at full gallop, and 

 sitting his little bay without saddle or pad, while he guided 

 the fiery animal by a single rope. 



Close to Jericho I observed a Short-toed Eagle taking a 

 bath in the brook, and so covered by the overhanging bank 

 that I easily managed to stalk up to it and soon bagged the 

 splendid specimen. After this little episode I rode off again, 

 and, thanks to the great speed of my grey, quickly reached 

 the camp. 



The other sportsmen had also killed a goodly supply of 



