CHAPTER VIII 



A Russian officer and his wife — M. Ilg, Councillor of State — Leontieff and 

 his doings on the Omo — Vexatious travelling — We reach the capital — 

 The British Agency — The Italian Residency and a New Year's 

 dinne'r — Captain Harrington's reasons for our going to Rudolf. 



On Sunday morning, the last day of the year, H. had us 

 up at three o'clock, though the muleteers had said they 

 could not load till daylight. They proved as good 

 as their word, for no amount of threats or promises 

 would induce them to start before seven o'clock. 

 After a march of an hour and a half, we halted at 

 Duhatta, on a patch of rough grassy land, by a small 

 stream, and close to a farmstead. Here a Russian 

 officer and his wife, an Abyssinian lady, passed us, 

 on their way to the coast. Of the lady we could 

 see nothing, because she was completely muffled up in 

 wraps, as is customary among the wives of the high 

 officials of the country. We exchanged greetings with 

 the officer, who told us that M. Ilg, the Swiss adviser to 

 the Emperor, was also on the road a short distance 

 behind him. We heard afterwards that this Russo- 

 Abyssinian marriage had caused much comment among 

 the European community in Adis Ababa, this being the 



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