8 SPORT IN ABYSSINIA. 



things, which are also used at Massowah, and which I 

 was told are not made in the country, but are brought 

 to Jidda by large steamers from India. 



The boats, or rather rafts, that the people go out 

 fishing in in the harbour of Massowah are very primi- 

 tive, being made of a few logs of wood turned up at 

 the ends. The paddler is always wet with the sea, 

 but as he wears no clothes, except a rag about his 

 loins, it does not matter so much, the sun soon dries 

 him. These fishermen are more like fishes than human 

 beings, as they are in and out of the water every 

 minute. 



All the export trade of Abyssinia comes to Mas- 

 sowah, and the goods are mostly shipped by the 

 Hindoo Banians, who have had a monopoly of the 

 trade of this place for many years. The merchandise 

 is sent to Bombay, by Aden, in native boats called 

 sambouks. There is a pearl fishery off the island of 

 Dhalac, thirty-five miles from the coast of Massowah, 

 and the Banians make a good thing of it, paying for 

 pearls in clothes and those necessaries the natives of 

 the island are likely to want, and selling their pur- 

 chases for rupees at Bombay. 



Dec. 30. — The first day in camp was certainly un- 

 comfortable in all respects, as was to have been 

 expected, but we soon got straight, and then had 

 time to look about us. The hills of Abyssinia in the 



