XXI THE GOVERNOR OF DAMOT 225 



journey, but that, if I stuck to the road, I could not 

 expect to shoot much. I repHed that I had no wish 

 to travel by the direct road to Simien, and asked on 

 which side I should find most game. The Ras then 

 said that the Emperor's letter to the king only gave 

 permission for me to shoot at Simien, and not on the 

 road. I agreed that that was so, but that in the general 

 passport given me later Menelik had said, " where there 

 are wild beasts on the way show them so that he 

 may hunt"; however, this hardly seemed to convince 

 the Ras, who evinced no special desire to help me. 

 When I got out Rowland Ward's book and began 

 talking about shikar, all his indifference to me and my 

 affairs at once vanished, and he became much interested 

 over the pictures and in the question of where I should 

 find the different animals. He told me I had passed 

 a good lion-country lying to the west of Dembatcha, 

 that all the buffalo which used to be found near here 

 had died of rinderpest, and that I should have to go 

 towards Metemmeh from Lake Tana to find any. He 

 asked why Englishmen sought so hard and far for shikar. 

 I tried to explain to him that, besides the pleasure of 

 slaying big game, we took great interest in collecting 

 specimens of all the different kinds of animals and learn- 

 ing about their habits and place of abode. I told him 

 of the great collection at South Kensington, about which 

 he asked many questions. When he had finished looking 

 at the pictures, he remarked that he had been present 

 at my first audience with Menelik, and had heard that 

 I was coming north alone. He then asked me how 

 long it would take me to reach London from Massowah, 



Q 



