SPORT IN ABYSSINIA. 1 33 



of the white men to heal and cure — and informed me, 

 in a mysterious tone, that his mother had been mad 

 for some years, and he wanted some medicine to 

 cure her. I with great difficulty explained to him, 

 through the interpreter, that it was impossible for us 

 to cure madness, and that in our country we had 

 asylums, or houses for mad people, set apart. I said 

 that anything I could do to alleviate suffering I 

 should be most happy to attempt. He seemed a 

 nice young fellow, for in the evening he brought us 

 some thick cakes made of maize, which he said his 

 mother had sent us. These were very good and 

 excellent eating, as we had been living on " damper " 

 and Peek and Frean's biscuits, which are very dry. 



