‘A JOURNEY IN THE EAST, 323 
gazelle from some thick bushes. Away went every one after 
it in wild disorder, the dogs were let loose, the scattered 
horsemen came in from all sides, some even riding towards 
the frightened animal, so that it no longer knew which way 
to turn and ran amongst the horses. A Bedouin, however, 
brought the hunt to a speedy conclusion, for he fired a ball 
at the creature as it was springing wildly about, and knocked 
it over dead. 
We were now to have tried for hares ; but as the heat was 
so great, and our chances of success so small, we rode back 
towards the station. To show us its skill the Sheikh let 
his noble companion fly at a pigeon, which in a few moments 
fell to the ground struck by the deadly blow of the falcon’s 
talons. 
We soon arrived at the station, where we took a light 
breakfast in the railway carriage, and then some of the party 
returned to Ismailia, while, with the rest of the gentlemen, I 
went a little way up the Sweet-water Canal in a steam- 
launch. Halting at a ruinous old house, we crossed the 
sand-hills to a narrow marsh, which is closely bounded by the 
desert, and runs along parallel to the canal as far as the 
Crocodile Lake, near Ismailia. 
It was one of the French gentlemen, a very agreeable man 
and a keen sportsman, who took us to this ground, which he 
had often shot over. As soon as we got to the marsh we 
found plenty of Painted Snipe, a very characteristic African 
bird, quite new to us, and bagged a good many of them 
in a very short time. There were also numbers of Common 
Snipe in the boggy places, and several kinds of marsh and 
wading birds, as well as. Ducks and Spur-winged Plovers, 
while among the high grass we flushed some Quail. The great 
locusts were also interesting, for they were the largest insects 
of the kind that I had ever seen. These creatures rose with 
a loud whirring noise long before one got near them, and in 
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