SPORT IN ABYSSINIA. 87 



was very good, and turning round to his father just 

 before pouring it out lie said laughingly, " I don't 

 know whether we ought to be drinking this tej, which 

 is made for my marriage feast." I asked him if his 

 future wife was pretty ; he said, " Oh, yes, and she 

 has plenty of cattle." This is the usual dowry in 

 Abyssinia, especially among the ballagas ; so my 

 readers will see that people in that country marry for 

 a fortune as much as ours do at home. 



H. and K. now came up to the house. The fat 

 goat was brought and given to one of the servants to 

 drive before him ; and we started for the Mareb, where 

 we were going to stay a little time to shoot. There was 

 a difficulty about finding our way, so we took a guide 

 from one of the villages as we passed. This man did 

 not seem to understand where we wanted to go to, 

 and took us to another village, rather out of our road. 

 Here we had a dispute, as a man from this village 

 refused to go with us as guide ; we tied him by his 

 shaina to our first guide, and sent them on in front 

 of our mules. All the women and some of the men 

 in the village remonstrated and made a great noise, 

 chattering and yelling to the top of their voices ; 

 when I ran in among them and pushed them right 

 and left. This effectually stopped the noise, and we 

 continued our journey in peace, while K. was much 

 amused at my proceedings. 



