158 A SPORTING TRIP THROUGH ABYSSINIA chap. 



the right, I struck across a ford close to the only fair-sized 

 bridge near the capital. This I found blocked up with 

 thorn trees, for it is only allowed to be used when the 

 water is too deep to wade. After mounting three 

 ridges, I arrived at a place called Jumo in the evening, 

 and found that my four Somalis and six Abyssinians 

 had only just begun to arrange the camp. They had 

 been continually repacking thrown loads all the way, the 

 result being a good deal of damaged property and much 

 delay. Next morning, while the caravan proceeded 

 through a gap in the hills, I struck off straight for the 

 range, and in a couple of hours was skirting the base of 

 the forest of Managasha itself. From the jungle which 

 covers these hills all the wood-supply for Adis Ababa is 

 drawai. The waste of timber is so great that not 25 

 per cent of the trees felled ever reach the market, and 

 although some measures have now been taken to mend 

 matters a great quantity is still lost. The forms of timber 

 that fetch the largest price are the poles 25 feet long by 

 6 inches diameter, with a fork at the end, employed as 

 roof-timbers, and the split spars 7 feet long used for the 

 walls. The former are cut from the straightest young 

 trees of the required thickness, while for the latter the 

 finest conveniently situated tree is selected, and a notch 

 cut some four feet from the ground and enlarged, till the 

 tree falls, damaging much good timber, and as likely as 

 not splitting itself. A lo-foot length is then chopped 

 off the butt end, in which operation 2 or 3 feet are lost in 

 chips. The next process is to drive in wedges to split 

 the wood, and, if this does not come out evenly, the 

 whole piece of timber is abandoned, and another tree 



