88 SPORT IN ABYSSINIA. 



We passed by Aila Mareb, a village on the side of 

 the hill. This is the last village before entering the 

 desert, as the Abyssinians call all wild jungle ; that 

 is to say, parts of the country that are not inhabited. 

 On the right of the path we were travelling along 

 rose a large hill, with a table-land at the top. The 

 peculiar shape of it struck me very much ; as another 

 ridge rose on the table-land, it looked in the dis- 

 tance like a vast breastwork. This hill overlooks a 

 large jungled plain through which the Mareb runs — 

 celebrated at one time as the abode of a noted 

 " shifter," or robber, who defied the king's troops for 

 some time and used to ravage the villages lying near 

 the plain. He was caught at last ; and the king said 

 he would not kill him, as it was a pity to send him 

 out of the world without giving him time to repent. 

 So his eyes were put out with a hot iron, and he was 

 allowed to live among his family and friends. This 

 is a good instance of Abyssinian subtlety and cruelty. 



Our road now lay through thick jungle, and in some 

 parts high grass. The hills soon ceased, and we found 

 ourselves in the valley of the Mareb. All of a sudden, 

 on emerging from the thick jungle, we came on a 

 fallow field ; the crop had been reaped, and was 

 stacked close by. The ballagas living near the valley 

 of the Mareb very often sow crops after the rains, as 

 the soil by the side of the river is very fertile indeed. 



