‘A JOURNEY IN THE EAST? 365 
smoking cigarettes, and examining a specimen of the curious 
kangaroo-like Jerboa which the Grand Duke had shot in the 
course of the morning. 
As soon as the dachshunds arrived we let them go at once 
into the hole, and immediately heard growling and barking ; 
but, alas! the dogs, usually so plucky, hurried out into the 
light of day, frightened and with their tails between their 
legs, nor would they return to the burrow. We now told the 
Bedouins to dig, a proceeding that did not get on very rapidly, 
for the heat was scorching, and free wild sport seemed more 
in accordance with their taste than servile digging. 
Recognizing the futility of, our endeavours, we left off this 
amusement, but not before we had made an interesting dis- 
covery, for we found in the hole a Protestant hymn-book, 
which the creature had probably dragged into it—this habit 
of pulling things into their holes being a characteristic of 
many of the burrowing animals. The volume contained the 
ordinary evangelical hymns and psalms, such as “ Hine feste 
Burg,” and the prayer for the Emperor William, both binding 
and text being well preserved. There were, however, a few 
red blood-like spots on the leaves, and God alone knows how 
this European book had found its way into that desolate 
place and how its owner had lost it; perchance his bones may 
have been bleaching hard by in the impenetrable thickets ! 
We rode home, Salim leading the way at full gallop, and 
sitting his little bay without saddle or pad, while he guided 
the fiery animal by a single rope. 
Close to Jericho I observed a Short-toed Eagle taking a 
bath in the brook, and so covered by the overhanging bank 
that I easily managed to stalk up to it and soon bagged the 
splendid specimen. After this little episode I rode off again, 
and, thanks to the great speed of my grey, quickly reached 
the camp. 
The other sportsmen had also killed a goodly supply of 
