140 SAM DARLING'S REMINISCENCES 



after all, a vulture does not merit any sympathy. 

 They got up when we were about thirty yards off, 

 and there were four down, of which, however, 

 only three were picked up, and they were not 

 vultures at all, but common or garden kites, 

 and we had thus incurred the reproaches of some 

 of the passengers, who pointed to us as terrible 

 examples of how Englishmen are always wanting 

 to kill something. 



" In the afternoon half a dozen or more miser- 

 able donkeys had arrived, and these were ridden, 



„ , ^ without saddles, by the ladies in such 

 Sports by '' 



the Nile races as could be extemporised, until 



side 



one lady, falling oft backwards, alarmed 

 the rest, and that sport was stopped. Many 

 native children had now put in an appearance, 

 and scrambled with much delight for all that 

 was thrown to them, some of the boys looking 

 particularly comic, with their heads all shaved 

 except a top knot of about four inches in diameter 

 — a sort of tonsure the reverse way. Meanwhile, 

 however, the work at the forge and anvil did not 

 seem to be getting within measurable distance of 

 an end, though the chief engineer and his men 

 had worked without a moment's relaxation. Only 

 last night he was describing to us sundry accidents 

 similar to this, but no one thought we were so 

 soon to have such an experience. For those who 



