SPORT IN ABYSSINIA. 1 65 



always lurking. I rode towards camp feeling very 

 desponding, and on the way II. fired at some pig, 

 and wounded one badly, but the beast managed to 

 get away, leaving large tracks of blood on its path. 

 We also saw some strange-looking deer, of a colour 

 resembling that usual with donkeys, but with short 

 horns curving back from their foreheads like thope 

 of goats : they stood, I should think, very nearly 

 fourteen hands from the ground. On our way back 

 we passed the spot which had been the scene of our 

 unlucky exploit with the lion, and, curiously enough, 

 two gazelles came bounding past at the time, but we 

 succeeded in missing them ; we were fated to kill no 

 game in this place. When I rode into camp, Hadji 

 Mahomet, the old native we had brought from 

 Massowah, came up to welcome us back, and said, in 

 Arabic, "Allah has brought you safely back." I felt 

 very much inclined to reply, and I believe I did at 

 the time, " No, my mule has brought me back," as I 

 felt very disappointed, and looked upon the expedition 

 we had made as a total failure. I was very glad to 

 get into a comfortable bed, as the coolie, who had lost 

 his way, had succeeded in finding the camp the ser- 

 vants had pitched a little way off from the Tackazzee. 

 Feb. 15. — I was still bad with this horrid com- 

 plaint, and so I stayed in camp reading the few books 

 we had with us, and took medicine ; I also amused 



