MY FRIEND *s: ACCOUNT. 67 
/ 
be useless to try to help me in collecting. ‘“ Why,” they 
said, “do you only eat the wings?” 
On the 15th of October, when I had nearly reached 
Ginea, I met Fred and his boys in the road. He had won- 
dered why I had not come the day before, and had started 
back to Sheikh Husein; but he now decided he would go 
with me to Ginea. We were delighted to see each other, 
as when we parted the last time we did not know what 
might come of our dealings with the Abyssinians. 
Sitting down at once to tiffin, we had a good long talk, 
the following being my friend’s story of his journey to 
Ginea : — 
“We started from the camp at Sheikh Husein at 11 A.M. 
It presented a most touching scene, — we might have been 
going to certain death, such were the tender farewells that 
were taken of us; the men formed a group and offered up 
prayers for our safety, and then one by one shook us by 
the hand in the most solemn manner. Our road, which 
led in a southerly direction, was at least eight yards across, 
and quite the best I had seen in Africa, being the main 
road to Sheikh Mohammed, made in Sheikh Husein’s time, 
and leading through a dense jungle of bush that would 
otherwise have defied a passage. The two Shoans rode on 
ahead in great spirits at having successfully accomplished 
their mission. 
“ After a little over an hour we followed a path that 
branched off from the main road and led to the mountains. 
From this time we began to ascend. The bushes changed 
into trees, and they in turn increased in size till we met 
with some it would have taken two men to have spanned. 
[ noticed a parasite on the trees that was an exact vegetable 
representation of red coral. In places we had to use the 
axe to make a way for the camel, cutting down large trees 
that barred the path. When the aneroid marked six thou- 
