30 JOURNEY TO CENTRAL AFRICA.

windows, adorned with wooden frames, carved in the Moorish

Style. A divan, huilt of clay and whitewashed, extended along

one side of the room, and on this we seated ourselves cross-leg-

ged, while the host prepared the little coffee-cups and filled the

pipes. Through the open door we saw the Nile, gleaming

broadly under the full moon, and in the distance, two tall palm-

trees stood clearly against the sky. Our boatmen, whom we

had treated to hooza, the Egyptian beer, sat before us, and

joined in the chorus of a song, which was sung to entertain us.

The performers were three women, and a man who played a

3oarse reed flute. One of the women had a tambourine, another

I small wooden drum, and the third kept time by slapping the

closed fingers of the right hand on the palm of the left. The

song, which had a wild, rude harmony that pleased me, was

followed by a dance, executed by one of the women. It was

very similar to the fandango, as danced by the natives of the

Isthmus of Panama, and was more lascivious than graceful. The women, however, were of the lowest class, and their per-

formances were adapted to the taste of the boatmen and camel-

drivers, by whom they are patronized.

The next day the yellow hills of the Libyan Desert, which

in some places press the arable land of the Delta even to the

brink of the Nile, appeared in the west. The sand appeared

to be steadily advancing towards the river, and near Werdan

had already buried a grove of acacias as high as their first

branches. The tops were green and flourishing above the

deluge, but another year or two would overwhelm them com-

pletely. We had a thick fog during the night, and the follow-

ing day was exceedingly hot though the air was transparent as

crystal. Our three faces were already of the color of new