I WRITE TO THE EMPEROR MENELEK. 81 
and jerky, the voice being raised to almost a screech at 
the end of each sentence. They claim their descent from 
Menelek, son of Solomon by the Queen of Sheba, while 
the Gallas, they claim, are descended trom an Abyssinian 
princess who was given in marriage to a slave from a 
country south of Curague. According to Sir Richard 
Burton, the Gallas derive their name from the river Galla 
in Curague, where they gained a decisive victory over their 
kinsmen the Abyssinians. 
Wal-da-Gubbra said it would be impossible for him to 
let me pass through his country without first receiving 
orders from Emperor Menelek. He said that if I would 
write to the Emperor, in nine days I could have a reply, as 
the journey to New Antoto, or Abdis Ababa, which is now 
the capital of Abyssinia, only took four days on mules; 
and he promised also that Menelek would surely do all he 
could to aid us on our journey. Accordingly, on October 
17 I despatched a letter to the Emperor by some Abys- 
sinians on mule-back, and determined to wait the nine days, 
at any rate, for a reply. In my letter I stated to the 
Emperor Menelek that I had found myself, quite unex- 
pectedly, in his country; that I was journeying simply for 
the purpose of collecting natural-history specimens, and to 
have interesting tales to relate of a country that had never 
before been visited by a white man; that when we left 
Berbera we had no idea that the country about Sheikh 
Husein was owned by Abyssinians, or, in fact, that such a 
town existed. I begged his Majesty that he would allow 
us to proceed on our course, as we should interfere in no 
way with his people. 
Crowds of Abyssinians continually came to me with 
various complaints, and begging for medicine. 
What from the questioning, gazing crowd in the daytime, 
teh =) 
and the fleas and other vermin at night, Fred and I had 
ra) 
