54 SPORT IN ABYSSINIA. 



the place where merchants from the interior generally 

 stop on their way to Massowah. 



There was good water in the valley ; we pitched 

 our tents, but everything was wet and miserable. 

 Kirkham told us that to-morrow we should be out of 

 these rains, which I was very thankful to hear. 



The cook Ali, a Cairo man, who, like all his species, 

 did not relish this sort of life, but wished himself on 

 board a comfortable diabeha navigating the Nile and 

 smoking cigarettes in the sun, made a bad fire, and I 

 saw very little prospect of dinner. I had to take his 

 place ; and I concocted some soup with the help of 

 Liebig's. extract, and I made a venison stew. We 

 ate this and then turned in as quickly as we could, 

 before our blankets got wet with the mist. 



