SFOR T lA^ AB\ SSINIA. ■ 227 



does feci very helpless without money, no matter 

 where one finds oneself, and this fact, combined with 

 my prostrate condition (of which, no doubt, these 

 men knew as well as I did), rendered me incapable of 

 much exertion. So I had to make up my mind to 

 get my already rather weary servants to carry the 

 things ; and the proverb, " Money makes the mare 

 to go," came bitterly home to me. 



After resting myself, I rode towards the village of 

 Chickut, which was, my readers will remember, the 

 scene of my night march on our way to the Tackazzee. 

 The country through which I passed presented a 

 beautiful appearance — one continual grove of wild 

 olive-trees, and great Oualquals dotted here and there. 

 This part was not at all cultivated, yet I should 

 think that these olives, if properly trained and cared- 

 for, would make a valuable property ; but the natives 

 of Abyssinia have no idea of making oil from the 

 berries. This place is only four days from the coast, 

 and transport of the oil, when made, would not be very 

 expensive. I was very ill all the day, and in the after- 

 noon was so bad that I had to get off my mule and 

 rest under a tree. When I arrived at Chickut I pitched 

 my tent close to a little Coptic church. The village is 

 built on a high hill, and the houses are not like those 

 in the other part of Abyssinia through which I had 

 been travelling ; they were flat-roofed, and the walls 



