16 Bird Hunting on the White Nile. 



we noticed particularly that the hooded or grey crows* 

 so common north of Assouan, were no- longer to be seen. 



The scenery was bold and impressive, and the colour- 

 ing exceedingly beautiful. The blue-grey river, edged 

 with a strip of bright green crops, and here and there 

 a patch of dazzling white sand, led one's eye away 

 above the bank where the desert seemed to have over- 

 flowed, and poured forth between the rocks great streams 

 of sand of a deep rich orange colour. A background 

 of pinkish hills, and the pure blue sky above, completed 

 a scheme of colouring difficult to surpass. One night 

 by the light of a brilliant moon all these colours were to 

 be clearly distinguished, even to the pink of the distant 

 rocks and the blue of the sky, but of such delicacy was 

 the colouring that the whole scene became etherealised. 



Our progress by the river was slow and laboured. 

 Owing to the shallowness of the water, it being the midst 

 of one of the driest of dry seasons, the steamer grounded 

 and stuck continually, notwithstanding its flat bottom and 

 shallow draught. By dint of much twisting and turning 

 and a vast amount of hard labour on the part of our 

 crew in poling and hauling, as well as in lightening the 

 boat, we were not called upon to wait until the Nile 

 rose before reaching our destination. Judging by their 

 * Corvux comix, Linn. 



