1 66 SPORT IN ABYSSINIA. 



myself by making a small model of the raft that 

 I proposed to use when hunting the hippopotami, in 

 order that Brou might understand how to go on 

 working at it. H. and Fisk went out shooting par- 

 tridges to make broth for me. There were not nearly 

 so many partridges here on the Tackazzee as we 

 found on the Mareb ; for the tamarisk bushes which 

 fringe the banks of the Mareb were, as a rule, full of 

 them. With a couple of dogs we might really have 

 had some very good shooting, and made big bags ; 

 but without dogs it was almost impossible to get the 

 birds up, as they ran so tremendously ; but when they 

 did get up they were not hard to shoot, as they did 

 not seem to fly nearly so strongly as the English 

 birds, which they very much resembled, with one ex- 

 ception, which was that their bills and legs were red, 

 the plumage being exactly the same. We tried to 

 keep some of the birds, in order to give them that 

 gamy flavour which is esteemed in England ; but the 

 weather was too hot, and the flesh got bad too 

 quickly. The rapid setting-in of decomposition was 

 a great drawback when a beast was killed in camp, as 

 the meat had to be eaten almost immediately ; but, 

 both in its raw and cooked state, it is surprising what 

 a quantity the natives will manage to consume. 



Feb. 1 6. — To-day I was very much better, the 

 medicine seemed to have done me good ; but, instead 



