ABOU-HAMMED. 195 good-will expressed in savage features. In fact, all the faces I now saw were of a superior stamp to tliat of the Egyptians.

They expressed not only more strength and independence, but more kindness and gentleness.

I procured a lean sheep for eight piastres, and after Achmet had chosen the best parts for my dinner, I gave the remainder to Eyoub and the Bisharees. The camels were driven down to the river, but only three drank out of the six. I took my seat in the shade of the tent, and looked at the broad blue current of the Nile for hours, without being wearied of the scene. Groups of tall Bisharees stood at a respectable distance, gazing upon me, for a Frank traveller was no common sight. In the evening I attempted to reduce my desert temperature by a bath in the river, but I had become so sensitive to cold that the water made me shudder in every nerve, and it required a double portion of pipes and coffee to restore my natural warmth.

I left Abou-Hammed at noon the next day, having been detained by some government tax on camels, which my Bisharees were called upon to pay. • Our road followed the river, occasionally taking to the Desert for a short distance, to cut off a bend, but never losing sight of the dark clumps of palms and the vivid coloring of the grain on the western bank. The scenery bore a very different stamp from that of Egypt. The colors were darker, richer and stronger, the light more intense and glowing, and all forms of vegetable and animal life penetrated with a more full and impassioned expression of life. The green of the fields actually seemed to throb under the fiery gush of sunshine, and the palm leaves to thrill and tremble in the hot blue air. The people were glorious barbarians — ■