102 THROUGH UNKNOWN AFRICAN COUNTRIES. 
On the 20th of November we found ourselves in the 
broad undulating plain we had seen south of us on our 
marches to Sheikh Husein. The temperature changed 
considerably, and there was none of the piercing cold at 
night that we had felt in the mountains. Two Abyssin- 
lans accompanied us, and made the natives in the various 
little villages we passed cut the bushes ahead for us; but 
they did not supply us with half enough food, and I was 
obliged to draw largely on our supply of rice and dates. 
We continued our journey in an easterly direction, par- 
allel to the river Daroli, as the Darde is called in this 
party of the country. 
The country was poorly populated, and many human 
bones were lying about the deserted villages, testifying to 
the raids made by the Abyssinians. The treatment of 
the natives by the Abyssinians is everywhere the same, — 
they are whipped about like dogs, and have always the 
appearance of a whipped dog when their conquerors are 
about. 
On November 22, after a twelve-mile march, we camped 
on the banks of the Daroli, determining to rest the next 
day, and let the camels recuperate. The caravan con- 
sisted of a hundred and three camels, twenty sheep and 
goats, and the four milch cows and their calves that Wal-da- 
Gubbra had given us. The next day a great surprise was 
in store for me in the shape of a letter from the Emperor 
Menelek. The letter was in Abyssinian, but translated 
by a Frenchman into French and English, and was en- 
closed in an envelope bearing a gilt crown (see Appendix). 
As he stated in his letter that he did not forbid my 
going where I liked, but only advised me, etc., I deter- 
mined once more to push for Lake Rudolf by going to the 
southwest. So we started off the next morning in good 
spirits, hardly imagining that Wal-da-Gubbra would wish to 
