212 A SPORTING TRIP THROUGH ABYSSINIA chap. 



to conduct me to the palace. A short distance up-hill, 

 along a miry lane, brought me to the entrance of the 

 enclosure. A pair of massive doors, three inches thick, 

 which were flush with the wall when shut, led into a 

 small gate-house. Great pivots, cut out of the solid 

 wood, let into the sill and the lintel, formed the hinges, 

 while heavy bars, sliding into holes in the masonry, 

 closed the doors on the inside, and gave the appearance 

 of great strength. Once inside the gate-house, I dis- 

 mounted in a courtyard some 50 yards across, with a 

 quite unlevelled surface, on which rocks cropped out in 

 every direction. Opposite me was a large stone-built 

 tucul, with a very ragged roof, having on the right an 

 Italian field-piece partly covered by a Dervish prayer- 

 carpet. A six-foot stone wall ran from either side of 

 this tucul, till it joined the main wall right and left. 

 Overlooking the top of this inner wall was the open 

 front of a tucul, hung with carpets and cloth, in which 

 two men were seated. Below them, drawn up along the 

 wall in an irregular line, were some eighty soldiers, with 

 their officers in front. On reaching the outer gate I 

 was met by some officials of high rank, who led me past 

 the escort to a little door in the left-hand corner of the 

 courtyard. As I passed, the men attempted a weird 

 present, but I kept my countenance and acknowledged 

 the salute. Then the officers at the window bowed ; I 

 returned the compliment by raising my hat, while my 

 Abyssinian attendants bowed to the ground. 



A rough stone external staircase led to a matting 

 door, which being pushed aside, I and my three chief 

 men were admitted to a circular room some 14 feet 



