‘A JOURNEY IN THE EAST. 235 
misty vapours and surrounded by the most vivid hues, the 
sun was just sinking below the yellow Libyan desert, and 
gilding the Pyramids, the high battlements and minarets of 
the city, the citadel, and the stern cliffs of the Mokattam 
mountains. It was a scene so rich and splendid in effects of 
colour, and so adorned by points of natural and architectural 
interest, that it would be hard even to imagine anything 
grander. 
Amidst the refuse and rubbish stands the deserted and 
ruinous mosque of Kasr-el-Ain, and in its walls dwell numbers 
of Stone-Curlews, those singular birds of nocturnal habits 
which in the evening leave their hiding-places and fly down 
to the neighbouring Nile, uttering those incessant whistling 
cries which one nightly hears throughout Egypt. 
We posted ourselves along the wall of the mosque, and as 
soon as it began to get dark several of these strange birds 
darted out of their retreats, but so quickly that Hoyos was 
the only one of us who managed to bring down a specimen. 
We then scrambled back to our carriages over the heaps 
of ruins and refuse, followed by the yelpings of frightened 
dogs, and stared at by the wondering Arabs who had crept 
out of their dens. 
The first part of the homeward drive was very slow, for we 
had to pass through the labyrinthine ruins of Old Cairo in 
complete darkness before we came to some gardens, and at 
last got to the fashionable part of the town, where the well- 
lighted streets were pretty lively. 
On reaching home we dined, and then came a brilliant 
torchlight procession got up by our countrymen in the 
gardens of Kasr-el-Nusha, where our national anthem of 
“ Gott erhalte” and the shouts of Hoch! Eljen! and Zivio! 
sounded strange as they rang through the quiet splendour of 
an African night. 
