SPORT IN ABYSSINIA. 99 



Jan. 24. — I started very early indeed this morning 

 — in fact, by moonlight — in order to get on the 

 ground where I thought I should find game, before the 

 heat arose. The day before, I had seen a conically- 

 shaped mountain lying north of where I had been 

 shooting. Instead of leaving my mule in the culti- 

 vated ground near the river, I turned up a path on 

 the right bank of the river, and rode some little way 

 into the hills. I left my mule on a little eminence 

 just below the edge of the table-land which I had shot 

 over the day before, and walked on towards the 

 mountain. I saw nothing but tracks of deer till I got 

 nearly to the top, and it was a very steep climb 

 indeed. On a little open space just below the sum- 

 mit of the mountain I saw some jungle fowl pecking ; 

 they were not in the least like the Indian jungle fowl 

 but brown-looking birds ; in fact, they had the same 

 colour throughout, and exactly the shape of little 

 bantam hens. Unluckily, I had not my shot gun with 

 me, as I would have given much to have shot one of 

 these little creatures ; but they ran away into the 

 jungle in a long file, and I did not see them again. I 

 now made for the summit of the mountain. There 

 was a small, thickly-wooded hollow just below where 

 I was climbing, and I thought very likely there might 

 be something lying in it, so I picked up a stone and 

 rolled it down, when out leaped two of those mouse- 



