SrOR T IN ABYSSINIA. 8 1 



With these victuals I made a tolerably fair lunch, 

 washed down with water — fames optimum condi- 

 mentum, as the Latin grammar says. It was getting 

 late in the day and I was becoming bored, so I 

 said to Brou, who had been loitering behind on the 

 road and had not long come up, " We had better go 

 to the village to forage, as perhaps there has been a 

 difficulty about getting our baggage carried on from 

 Koudoofellassie, and the things will not come up to- 

 night." He answered, "Very well." So we all started 

 to the village. 



I went up to the old chicker's house and asked for 

 bread, or, in fact, anything that he had. His wife — 

 who was as big a liar as himself — told me that she 

 had nothing. So I went straight in and took a large 

 jug of beer and a jar of honey, gave them to my 

 servants to carry, and walked back towards our future 

 camping-place. The old lady now began to yell, and 

 the other women of the village joined in chorus. The 

 men in the village all turned out with spears, shields, 

 guns, sticks, etc., and surrounded us, making a horrid 

 noise. They managed to get the beer away from us, 

 but we stuck to the honey, and one of the servants 

 and myself brought it to the tree where I had been 

 sitting. The natives continued yelling, and Brou tried 

 to pacify them. Some of the young fellows said, " We 

 will die ! we will die ! but you shall not keep the 



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