44 SPORT IN ABYSSINIA. 



little concerning Gindar, and what General Kirkham 

 proposes doing there. Gindar is a fertile valley 

 enclosed by hills ; south-south-west lies Debra Bizen, 

 which rears its head high above the rest of the hills. 

 There is a monastery on the top, and the monks are 

 said to be rich and in great favour with King Johannes. 

 The grass in the valley is very good ; at the time I 

 speak of, the Shoho Arabs had driven their flocks 

 here to graze ; and their cattle-stations are found 

 dotted about in the little vales between the hills. 

 The grass of the valley is intermixed with numerous 

 sweet-smelling herbs, such as wild peppermint, 

 thyme, etc. ; the castor-oil plant also grows wild 

 here. 



The sides of the hills are covered with wild olive 

 groves, and in places we came acro.ss velvety lawns 

 which reminded us of a well-kept English pleasure 

 ground rather than the wilds of Abyssinia. Game is 

 abundant, and elephants were in the neighbourhood, 

 as the hunters from Adowa had been here. One of 

 them having broken his clumsy matchlock, was obliged 

 to return to get it mended. Koodoo, gazelle, dik- 

 dik, and other antelopes abound, as well as many 

 large pigs, and, as the Irishman is made to say, 

 guinea-fowl and partridges here "jostle each other." 

 This was, of all others, the place for us, so we de- 

 termined to stay for two or three days. 



