432 SUPERSTITION AMONGST CAMEL-DRIVERS. 
of wheat stubble-fields on the banks of the Nile, and 
on our right rose the variously - coloured rocks of 
the desert. The river is about three hundred yards 
across, and has a current of two and a half miles per 
hour. When passing a roadside house about half- 
way, we halted to go through a superstitious cere- 
mony. A burial-ground was close by, with cups upon 
many of the graves, said to be placed there for re- 
ceiving offerings of frankincense or money. We all 
dismounted at the hut, which had no appearance of 
being regularly inhabited, and found several jars of 
drinking water, which a boy served to us ; the skull 
of a lion was stuck upon a pole, and stood high over 
the hut. Our guide received from the boy two hand- 
fuls of sand, some of which he strewed over his per- 
son, some he put into his pockets, some he licked, 
some he put on the camels, pistols, and saddles, and 
he finished off by putting the last grains carefully into 
the bag slung from his riding animal. This odd cus- 
tom is common over the desert, and is adopted by 
camel-men to insure their safety on a journey. We 
came upon old acquaintances as we made for the 
north : the white kite, raven, sand-grouse, and stone- 
finches were recognised after we left Berber, and be- 
came the most common birds of the desert. At Aboo 
Hasheem we were allotted a two-storeyed house to 
rest in. We observed that here six or eight donkeys 
in a knot are used for treading out the wheat, and are 
prevented from eating it by a band tied round the 
lower jaw, crossing the forehead, and fastened behind 
their long ears — an artful contrivance. The afternoon 
march, made to Gcegee, on the Nile, occupied us till 
1 1 p.m. We had not seen the river the whole way ; 
