ENCAMPMENT ON THE NILE. 197 kee, but only water and milk — a true offshoot of the golden age!

Abebdeb Flute and Tambour Players.

We encamped for the night in a cluster of douru-palms, near the Nile. The soil, even to the edge of the millet-patches which covered the bank, was a loose white sand, and shone like snow under the moon, while the doum-leaves rustled with as dry and sharp a sound as bare boughs under a northern sky.

The wind blew fresh, but we were sheltered by a little rise of land, and the tent stood firm. The temperature (72°) was delicious ; the stars sparkled radiantly, and the song of crickets among the millet reminded me of home. No sooner had we encamped than Eesa ran off to some huts which he spied in the distance, and told the natives that they must immediately bring all their sheep and fowls to the Effendi. The poor people came to inquire whether they must part with their stock, and were very glad when they found that we wanted nothing.

I took only two cucumbers which an old man brought and hxunbly placed at my feet