‘A JOURNEY IN THE EAST, 231 
graced his head, and he carried a long gun, while he was 
attended by a peasant and a couple of very unsporting-looking 
curs. 
For more than an hour we toiled up a desolate mountain- 
ravine, where high hill-slopes quite shut out the view on both 
sides, and there was nothing to be seen but bare dazzling 
white masses of rock surrounded by narrow belts of ever- 
green bushes, the whole place having the true sunburnt look 
of so many mountain districts of the south, such as those of 
Dalmatia and Spain. 
The dogs hunted among the stones, and the priest bounded 
about the rocks with tremendous energy, his gun loaded and 
at full cock. Still nothing stirred, only high above us circled 
some Imperial Hagles. 
At last we reached the ridge of the mountain, where we 
had a fine view of the sea and of the high plateau with its 
medley of stones, rocks, peaks, and summits. While resting 
there for a quarter of an hour we heard several shots at no 
great distance, which were followed by the appearance of 
some peasants with their guns—they had missed one of the 
few hares of the island. 
On the way back I struck across the hill and was taking 
the most direct line to the monastery, when suddenly a little 
hare (probably Lepus mediterraneus) jumped up in front of 
me, but as it was too far off I did not fire. Thereupon the 
dogs gave chase and the priest, too, pursued the noble animal 
with long strides; but of course the hare outran them and 
soon vanished, and the poor priest came back panting and 
haranguing me in Greek, for, thanks to its great rarity, a hare 
plays a very important part in Zante. 
On the 16th the weather was favourable and we left this 
island, arriving at Alexandria on the 18th. leaving the 
‘Miramar’ on the 19th, we travelled by Tantah from Alex- 
andria to Cairo in a special train of the Viceroy’s, which went 
