SrOR T IN ABYSSINIA. 20 1 



had heard I was coming up, came out to meet me and 

 say " How do you do ?" I found that Guyndem, whom 

 I had sent on, had not built a " das," as the people 

 would not lend him any tools for making it, or give 

 him any assistance. I went straight up to a cluster of 

 houses, and said I should pitch my tent inside the 

 hedge which surrounded them. The people were very 

 civil at first, and brought some milk. I asked them to 

 give me some dry grass, which they used for thatching 

 their houses, to put on an ajigarcb which they had lent 

 me.* I was in great pain at the time, and was very 

 much annoyed at their not bringing this grass, so I 

 sprang up with my revolver in my hand. Before 

 going any farther I must tell the reader that the ad- 

 venture which followed nearly cost me my life, and it 

 was all owing to my own foolishness. It is a great 

 mistake to flash your weapons if you really do not 

 mean to use them. I ran down among some houses 

 where my servants were talking trying to persuade 

 the people to give me some dried grass, and said if 

 they did not give me some I would shoot them. It 

 was getting rather dark, and I fired my revolver off in 

 the air. The women screamed, and in a minute 

 the whole village was up in arms. Some of the men 



* Angareb is an Arabic word for an oblong framework raised on 

 legs ; a network of raw hide is stretched on the frame, and the whole 

 forms the sort of bed that is used nearly all over the East. 



