HYENA. 41 



Or would yon see the hyena, where he feels most at 

 home, surrounded by scenes and circumstances most con- 

 genial to his habits? Then plod your weary way still 

 further across the sands, and pause not till yon encamj) 

 amid the gorgeous remains of that ancient City of the 

 Wilderness, 



" Whose temples, palaces, — a wondrous dream, 

 That passes not away, — for many a league 

 Illumine yet the desert." 



There sit down alone amid the ruined fanes lighted up 

 by the setting sun, and watch the approach of night, just 

 at the breaking up of the long dry season. Everywhere 

 around are the remains of the glorious city; walls, and 

 gateways, and columns of polished granite of rosy hue, or 

 of marble that gleams like snow in the bright moonlight ; 

 many standing in their desolateness, but many more 

 prostrate and half-buried in the drifted sand. Some of 

 the pillars are but dimly seen in the gloomy shadow of 

 the lofty walls, others stand out boldly and brightly in 

 the soft moonbeams, while here and there a brilliant 

 gleam slants down through the windows of a ruined 

 edifice, and illumines the deep and delicate sculpture of 

 a fallen capital, or spreads over a heap of disjointed 

 stones. Under yon dark and gloomy portal the eye 

 wanders over distant funereal towers crowning the emi- 

 nences, the noble gateway of the grand avenue, and lines 

 of columns gradually lost in the distance. 



But while you gaze, there is a change. The breeze, 

 which had lifted the sand in playful eddies, drops to per- 



I 



