at a cautious distance overhead.  Birds of prey were of course likewise numerous—­hawks, kites, vultures; and whole flights of large, black crows went by now and then, cawing vociferously.  We could see also prodigious numbers of the ghatta or red-legged partridge flying northward or settling on the edge of the desert.  It seemed as though a grand parliament of the feathered creation were about to be held.

When we reached the desert we found a small Coptic convent standing amidst the ruins of a much larger one near the head of the gisr.  We visited it in the course of the morning, and were civilly received and conducted over the establishment.  However, there was nothing particular to see.  The grottos we found to be of no interest whatever, being only a few feet deep, and containing neither sculptures nor inscriptions.  At the base of the rocks were some oblong mouths of wells, but they were nearly filled with sand, so that, in an antiquarian point of view, we had reason to be disappointed.  We passed some time on the plain, covered with halfeh, a kind of coarse grass, to the north of the convent; succeeded in getting some partridges to add to our water-fowl; and returned in the afternoon with a donkey-load of game to the boat.

On the opposite side of the river there is some good ground for hare-shooting.  We had been there before with success, and determined on a second visit.  The scenery presented a curious contrast to that on the west bank—­no dikes, no ponds, no marshy fields.  The country extends from the bank in a high level plain, principally overgrown with halfeh-grass, to the desert.  Formerly there was scarcely any cultivation; all was abandoned to unprofitable thickets, that grew wild down to the river’s margin.  Now a good deal of dhourra is grown; and in January we saw the bright green blades of wheat coming up amongst the stubble.  The castor-oil plant has been introduced, but as yet the unprofitable silk-tree and the wild bushes are far more common.

The change that has taken place is attributed to the fact, that a Frenchman, in the service of the pacha, has discovered coal-mines in the vicinity; and this is farther confirmed by the name bestowed on the mountains—­Gebel et Fahm (Mountains of Coal.) But none of the valuable mineral has as yet made its appearance, and sceptics pretend that none ever will.  We saw four or five large black heaps at a distance, and thought they might be the produce of the neighbourhood; but on drawing nigh they turned out to be charcoal manufactured in the desert, and brought down for sale by the Bedouins.  There is a village of Ababde beneath the desert hills on the extreme verge of the plain; and the new cultivation seems entirely due to its inhabitants.