186 THROUGH UNKNOWN AFRICAN COUNTRIES. 
being cut through rock, impressed me with the belief 
that they were dug by these ancient colonists. 
After two more short marches we came to some Boran 
villages called Goff, lying in a bushy, undulating plain, where 
there were wells even more extensive than those at Le, the 
passage being longer, and descending to sixty feet below 
the surface. I managed to buy a few sheep, but the 
natives did not impress me as being very peaceably in- 
clined. The country now changed considerably for the 
better, becoming more open, and covered with long 
luxuriant grass. 
Another tramp of about five hours brought us to a 
plain a mile square, in which there were several more of 
the curious wells above described. Several natives on 
horseback kept moving about the plain, but would not 
approach, and many more could be seen spying at us 
from among the bushes. After pitching camp and 
getting a bite to eat, I started out with Karsha to try 
for some curious looking gazelles which were grazing a 
long way off, and which I imagined belonged to a new 
species. 
I only had a hard time for nothing, and was very nearly 
killed. The gazelles were the wildest I ever saw, and would 
not let me get within two hundred yards of them at first. 
It began to rain heavily, but I was so eager to get one 
of the strange animals that I kept on stalking and stalk- 
ing. The lightning flashed all about me, and the wind 
and rain obscured the view. I could now just see the white 
rumps of the gazelles, moving slowly, not far off. Karsha 
followed silently. The elements seemed to break forth in 
vengeance upon the earth. But my blood was aroused, and 
a gazelle I was determined on shooting, to compensate for 
my soaking. What was that! A sheet of lightning al- 
most upon us, that blinded us for the moment. Another 
