148 SPORT IN ABYSSINIA. 



A\'ith my Express. My gun-bearers very soon skinned 

 it, and they having succeeded in lighting a fire, I said 

 they might eat some of it. The way an Abyssinian 

 hunter makes a fire in the jungle is this : he takes some 

 of his powder and rubs it on a bit of cotton cloth which 

 he tears off the clothes he is wearing, and then wraps 

 up a percussion cap in the cloth and hammers the cap 

 between two stones till it explodes ; this ignites the 

 dry cloth, and with the help of some twigs and grass, 

 and b}^ blowing very hard on the smouldering cotton, 

 he manages to light a fire. It is wonderful how natives 

 under the most trying circumstances will kindle a 

 flame where no European would think such a thing 

 possible. 



My gun-bearers were soon roasting the hind-quarters 

 of the gazelle on the ashes, and also eating some parts 

 of it raw. I was sitting down under the shade of a 

 tree, and heard Goubasee behind me munching some- 

 thing ; I turned round, and was much disgusted at 

 seeing him eating the stomach of a gazelle, which was 

 not in the least washed, and in fact was a filthy sight. 

 This is considered a great delicacy by Abyssinians, 

 especially when the stomach is covered with the 

 green undigested food of the animal. After we had 

 all rested, and they had eaten sufficient, we tracked 

 back on our old path, and soon struck the regular 

 caravan road. I thought it would have been a lono- 



