the sheykh was greatly pleased. Then followed the dishes he had sent in, which were excellent and many, but as I did not write the menu down at the time, I am unable to remember anything but a kind of pickled radish, which both the Englishman and the Scot liked greatly, but which the Antiquary could not manage to eat.

They were surprised that the boy was allowed to sit down with his uncle. True, he went round and kissed his hand before he would sit down at the table, and probably asked his leave beforehand : but it is one of the prettiest features of Arab manners that sons never sit in their father's presence. On a subsequent occasion, when a young gentleman came to see us, and sat smoking for some time till his father arrived, he immediately rose and remained standing, and could not be prevailed on to finish his cigar, till he had gone formally and kissed his father's hand while he asked leave.

When dinner was over we were amused at the violent hiccoughs and eructations which the little boy made. He had eaten very little, being evidently shy, and unaccustomed to the use of knives and forks, but it seemed that these noises were intended to make us believe he had eaten so much that he could hardly keep it down.

Here, I think, the Collector would have preferred even French politeness.

The Desert-A Prize-Dendera-The Ferry-Camping Ground at Keneh-The Cook's Estate-The Inevitable Potentate.

THE next day was one of the most pleasant we had. After everything had been got ready for the start, and far more than the requisite number of guides and

guards had come together, we prepared to start.

But

at the last moment the Collector was detained. The others rode on, however, and he overtook them just as they emerged from the cultivated country upon the high sandy desert above the reach of the inundations. His face was sad. Evidently something had occurred, but he did not speak, and his companions seeing that probably some remarkable bargain was hovering in the balance, did not intrude on his secret thoughts. Presently a man overtook us, and walking beside the Collector's ass, talked to him in a low voice. They fell behind, and soon after we saw the Arab turn his back towards our cavalcade and take the road home. We delayed for a minute, and the Collector came up with his comrades. This time the expression of his countenance was changed. It was, so to speak, rippling with smiles, which, no matter what the subject on which we conversed, every now and then broke out at the lips and spread all over the face. About an hour he kept the secret, riding the while with his right hand every now and then thrust within his waistcoat and at once withdrawn. Presently he asked the Antiquary to ride a little apart with him for a moment.

This was, however, not so easily done. William hated secrets; and just at that point perceived in the distance some dear familiar face, and after violently agitating himself for a brief period with a seesaw motion rather like that of a rocking-horse, he set

up the loud whisper which was all he had left of hist old bray, and starting off at an angle from the way he should go, was not brought back until the Collector, no longer able to contain himself, had told his story to the Scot.

That gentleman only made the tantalising remark that it was indeed very wonderful. The Irishman dismounted, and, letting William go where he listed, though he carried the annotated Murray in the saddle-bag, walked alongside the Collector until he had seen that wonderful thing. The Collector had certainly made a hit. The Wonderful Thing-it deserves capitals-was indeed such a treasure as few Collectors can ever hope to find. Should nothing else be found on the journey, this one treasure would make it not in vain.

Our feelings of exhilaration were enhanced by the desert air. On our right stretched the mountainsnot the flat-topped mountain of which we had got so tired, but a range of varied outline, and showing here and there a peak of considerable pretensions to a decided outline. On the left our path sometimes approached very near the river, the arable land being here all at the opposite side. Ahead we saw the mountains of the other bank tending away towards the east, while the mountain on our side drew forward and shut us in.

"Dendera," said the Collector, "is just at the foot of the foremost spur. Nearly opposite, on the eastern

side of the Nile, is Keneh. That break in the eastern. mountains, where they seem to dip below the desert horizon, is the pass which leads from Keneh to Cosseir, on the Red Sea. Formerly trade went to the Red Sea from Coos. Previously, during the time of the Pharaohs, it went from Gypt, or Coptos. They lie side by side in the valley to the south of Keneh. Soon you will see a row of whitewashed windmills on a hill. Keneh is just below them."

We were now once more on the black alluvial soil and among the fields of beans and pease. The green fields were full of life, swarming with herds, birds, and children. Here a half-naked boy with a following of little brothers and sisters, among whom one scanty suit of clothes seemed to have been distributed, superintended the grazing of the family buffalo. There a woman shrouded in blue, with an emaciated baby on her shoulder, endeavoured to concentrate the attention of her flock of sheep and goats upon one patch of grass. The sheep were brown, the goats black, and their human companions partook of both colours. causeway of earth heaped up from the flat fields on both sides, wound among groves of lofty palms, and under the shade of green tamarisks, whose foliage had a soft feathery outline against the blue sky. A line of laughing girls, each bearing on her head an enormous earthen jar, caused us, with our donkeys, to draw aside from the path for a moment. They drew their hoods across their faces as they passed, but gazed at

A