‘A JOURNEY IN THE EAST’ 289 
at first tried to stalk some large birds of prey by clambering 
about the bare rocks; but as this did not succeed I took to 
hunting about for small game among the bushes on the plain 
and along the bank of the river, bagging during this short 
ramble a number of water-birds and also a Pygmy Dove, 
that charming and beautifully plumaged tropical species of 
African pigeon, which is no larger than a lark and is adorned 
with a long tail *. 
A couple of hours had gone by, and we were looking for 
sandpipers along the bank, when we perceived that our 
steamer was ready to go on; so we at once rowed back to her, 
and resumed the journey which had been so pleasantly broken 
by this excursion. 
Tn the evening after sundown we lay to at El-Kaab on the 
eastern bank, where a narrow strip of cultivation runs between 
‘the river and the not very broad desert-plains, behind which 
rise splendid mountains. Soon after our arrival we resolved 
to utilize the moonlight, so favourable for shooting wild animals, 
and separated in various directions to search for good places 
in which to lie in wait. 
Pausinger and I, guided by a peasant, strolled through the 
cultivated land, and passing a miserable village, got out into 
the desert, where we could see in dim blurred outlines the 
ruins of the ancient Egyptian city of Nechebt, the Hileithyia 
of the Greeks. Its great outer walls of unburnt bricks rise 
above everything else, and show that this place was an im- 
portant fortress in ancient days. On the skirts of the moun- 
tains there are also some rock-tombs, and a rock-temple 
founded by Ptolemy Huergetes, and further on a little sanc- 
tuary dedicated to the goddess Nechebt by Amenhotep III. 
This part of the desert contains a great deal of natron, and 
one breaks through a crackling crust at every step. We 
* [Chalcopelia afra (Linn.), Emerald-spotted Dove. ] 
U 
