[ 190 ] 
TWELFTH DAY. 
—~— 
Azout six o’clock we were awakened by our men, and, 
speedily donning our shooting-attire, we hastened on deck 
and found that it was a cold, rainy, and most disagreeable 
morning, everything being enveloped in a uniform, detestable, 
light grey, while thin mists were floating up and down the 
river. 
The steamer had left Karlowitz very early, and when we 
sat down to breakfast we were only a little way from the 
village of Kovil, the final goal of our journey. Hodek had 
already come to meet us at Karlowitz, bringing very good 
news from the forests which were now to serve as our hunting- 
grounds for a couple of days. 
To our great regret we learned from our men that while 
we were still asleep the steamer had, on several occasions, 
passed within easy shot of Sea-Hagles on the sandbanks, and 
at one spot my jager had counted as many as six of these 
great birds sitting bolt upright; but while pacing the deck 
and smoking our after-breakfast cigars, we saw nothing but a 
few flocks of Grey and Purple Herons and some Black Terns 
still on their upstream migration to their breeding-places. 
The character of the country was very monotonous and 
almost ugly, with its low grey-green “auen” on the left 
bank, and on the right broad fields and heaths, alternating 
with equally insignificant woods. 
We soon reached Kovil, which lies among fields and sand- 
hills on the left side of a broad arm of the river, and is separated 
from the main stream by a large island. 
