In Any Case The Human Species, In Course Of Deterioration Through Overstrain, Would Find Amongst These Singers Of The Shaduf And These Labourers With The Antiquated Plough, Brains Unclouded By Alcohol, And A Whole Reserve Of Tranquil Beauty, Of Well-Balanced Physique, Of Vigour Untainted By Bestiality.

CHAPTER X

A CHARMING LUNCHEON

We are making our way through the fields of Abydos in the dazzling splendour of the forenoon, having come, like so many pilgrims of old, from the banks of the Nile to visit the sanctuaries of Osiris, which lie beyond the green plains, on the edge of the desert.

It is a journey of some ten miles or so, under a clear sky and a burning sun. We pass through fields of corn and lucerne, whose wonderful green is piqued with little flowers, such as may be seen in our climate. Hundreds of little birds sing to us distractedly of the joy of life; the sun shines radiantly, magnificently; the impetuous corn is already in the ear; it might be some gay pageant of our days of May. One forgets that it is February, that we are still in the winter - the luminous winter of Egypt.

Here and there amongst the outspread fields are villages buried under the thick foliage of trees - under acacias which, in the distance, resemble ours at home; beyond indeed the mountain chain of Libya, like a wall confining the fertile fields, looks strange perhaps in its rose-colour, and too desolate; but, nevertheless amidst this glad music of the fields, these songs of larks and twitterings of sparrows, you scarcely realise that you are in a foreign land.

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