36 SPORT IN ABYSSINIA. 



courbatch* and thrashed the tent well all round. The 

 reader will, doubtless, wonder why I did this, but it is 

 an old soldier's dodge, and the reason for it is that 

 it makes the threads of the canvas — which, in hot 

 countries, become shrunken and open — to close 

 together, so that, after the application of the cottr- 

 batch, the tent, instead of getting leaky with the rain, 

 becomes more waterproof than before ; a large pliable 

 bundle of twigs will do just as well. H. came in, 

 having shot a small bird or two for his collection, and 

 having seen some pig down the watercourse. 



* The courbatch is a whip made of hippopotamus hide, and used in 

 Egypt and in the provinces belonging to that country. It is with this 

 whip that malefactors and offenders against the law are chastised. 

 Every stroke of it, if well laid on, will cut into the flesh. 



