1 08 SFOR T IN ABYSSINIA. 



was lost. This was very bad luck, as it was the first 

 deer he had hit. I went down the river in the evening, 

 a very beautiful walk ; the Mareb wound in some 

 places among rocks, in others through thick jungle. I 

 stopped to rest for a short time ; a little gazelle ran out 

 and crossed the river bed a little way off. I shot with 

 my muzzle-loading rifle, and missed. This was another 

 chance gone for the Express. I found when I got 

 back to camp that some natives had been in ; in fact, 

 they were the sportsmen whom we saw in their hut 

 beside the pool. They told us that a lion, a month ago, 

 had killed a man and eight cows, but this was not of 

 much use to us now. Why is it in all sport, whether 

 hunting, shooting, or fishing, you hear that you ought 

 to have been there the other day, or else it is too early 

 — you ought to have come later ; the ground is very 

 hard, or the scent bad ; the birds are still wild ; or 

 else, when you go fishing, the water is thick, or the 

 fish are not on the feed, etc., etc. .-' 



Jan. 27. — I went out this morning with two of the 

 native hunters who had come into camp the day before. 

 We wandered over the hills, but I did not succeed in 

 shooting anything, and only saw two gazelles scouring 

 away in the distance. On the table-land, where I found 

 these gazelles, there was a very singular cavity in 

 the rocks, just on the edge of a cliff; it was almost as 

 if it had been hollowed out by the hand of man ; it 



